Thursday, February 05, 2004 (Permalink)

Two key social change groups, Ruckus Society and Training for Change, joined together to host this event at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in Northern California. The aims were to learn how to best offer our movements strategy trainings and how to increase strategic thinking. This is my personal take on what happened.

What is working?
We have a lot of successful tools. We only got to the tip of the iceberg, but there were a lot of very useful things introduced, including:
-Spectrum of allies, that allows for a mapping of the range of people and groups who would be affected or connected to a particular issue, campaign, strategy.
-SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
-Reclaiming our ability to tell the story and use “smart memes” (for more info on this check out http://www.smartmeme.com- very compelling stuff)
-Storytelling and “case studies,” This included watching the film “Bringing Down A Dictator” about the student-led movement Otpor that led to the overthrow of Milosevic in Serbia. The film, and participant members’ stories about their own strategic highs were incredibly effective in generating discussion and principles.
-Six-stage campaign framework, as developed and used by MLK and the Civil Rights movement. The stages are: gathering info, doing education and leadership development, negotiate, increase motivation for struggle, direct action, new relationship with opponent.
-Scenario work (see fuller description at the end)
-Tableaus, that allow us to reconnect with a particular moment in time (from our activist work) and the visceral impact of success or transformation or pain.


Questions for the future

1. What are the new forms and language that will assist activists to engage in dialogue about strategy that has not just winning, but liberation at the heart? This would mean that strategy would systematically and explicitly be set in a context much broader than planning and tactics. And it would mean new language and framework to replace winning/losing and us/them.

2. What are the new forms and language that will assist activists to engage in dialogue about strategy, across multiple lines of difference? By this I mean not just identity (race/ethnicity, age, gender, and sexual orientation) but also our ideological differences and our different approaches. This is the kind of diversity we have not yet begun to engage adequately. Similarly, we need to do a bit more definitional work upfront – what do we each mean by strategy? What are the growing edges of our work in this realm? What is working?

3. What are the new sources of inspiration, the new models that offer us possibility? We can still learn a lot from the Civil Rights movement for example, but only alongside more modern day examples, like the emerging global justice movement, youth organizing in the Balkans, etc.

Scenario work
I have been learning some about scenario work from a mentor and friend, Katherine Fulton at the Global Business Network. It is a way of engaging people with the future and with things that are out of their control. I like it because it gives us permission for not knowing. It also gives us another way of thinking about strategy beyond the often-felt despair of feeling like current conditions will continue indefinitely and getting stuck in a fantasy-land when we only think about what should be. Here is a look at the steps, a very basic version:

1. Develop a focal question
This should be specific, open-ended, non-rhetorical, and in a future frame of ten years. Folks work on their question, first alone, then with a partner. We decided we wanted more guidance on the best way to develop these questions, but people felt sufficiently satisfied with where they ended up.

2. Certainties and uncertainties
The next part is to make a list of certainties (things that probably will not change in ten years, for example – the state of U.S. military power or the use of the Internet) and uncertainties (things that probably will) that will affect the focal question. There can be a lot of juicy debate about which fit where. Again, folks work on these two lists individually and then share with their partner.

3. Creating the matrix
You choose the two uncertainties that would have the most impact and create a matrix. This was all very eye-opening for people. This was when the real strategy work would begin, the fleshing out of each the four quadrants that result from the matrix. I shared some thoughts about how to do this: consider what you know about these variables, how people often react in the face of them, what has been true in the past, what you can imagine. Many of our other strategy tools would now be useful in each of these quadrants as well.

.: posted by Claudia Horwitz at 3:20 PM

Saturday, October 26, 2002 (Permalink)

Like many, I have felt completely undone by Paul Wellstone's death, sobbing uncontrollably at various intervals. I've been noticing how so many of us, nearly everyone I know, is overwhelmed, exhausted or sick. We stand on the precipice of yet another unjust war. We feel the anxiety and fear generated by the DC sniper regardless of where we live. Now we face the devastating loss of a man of conscience, one of the lone voices of sanity and vision in an arena where integrity is sacrificed at the drop of a hat. I feel like I’ve been punched in the stomach.

My despair was countered somewhat by a successful anti-war vigil today in Durham. Upset that he couldn’t go to Washington for the big anti-war rally at the Capitol, my friend Tom Stern had drafted an email 36 hours before proposing a local solidarity event, and five of us circulated it around. The result? 250 people turned out to line the sidewalks outside a busy shopping area on a main street, holding signs with numerous anti-war messages. (Mine said “Honor Paul with Peace.”) Even the police officer and the shopping center security guard were all smiles by the end, though they were clearly a bit concerned at the beginning. I counted maybe five or six people in their cars who gave us the finger or told us to go home. (“I am home!” I said, smiling) But they were hugely outnumbered by the hundred or more cars who honked their horns in solidarity or held up the peace sign with their fingers out their car windows was inspiring. People do not want this war.

At the end of the vigil, we gathered in a parking lot so folks could see each other’s faces, make announcements, and here about the connections with the folks who had gone to DC. We ended by singing: "We have come too far; we won't turn around. We’ll flood the streets with justice. We are freedom bound."

And here is the other great news: we got good press coverage. Tonight we were the lead story on ABC local news, WTVD-11. They did a long, thoughtful piece on the vigil (and the DC rally) with excerpts from three interviews with participants, and many shots of people standing with their signs. It was such a blessing to see this story up-front and well-covered, when peace and justice work is so easily marginalized in the mainstream media. I called the station immediately to thank them. The Durham Herald-Sun ran a wonderful story that captured both the spirit and the message of the event. We also had a smaller mention in the News and Observer.

A few obvious lessons stand out for me from today:

-The turnout was email-driven. Of course, we need additional outreach strategies for more substantive work but it’s vital to recognize what a tool this has become. I know many of us are overloaded with email, but it remains the quickest, most cost efficient means we have of getting information across.

- Relationships go a long way. Those of us who helped to guide the vigil activity were able to stay organized and make quick decisions because we have known and loved each other for a long time. We didn’t have much of a plan, but we had a lot of trust in each other. And we each stepped up quickly to play various roles: talking to the media, collecting email addresses, leading the song, handling the police, doing a head count, etc.

- I want to keep preparing to be surprised. I was amazed at the coverage we got on television. Of course it’s sad that this would be so surprising, but still, it deserves recognition.

The truth is marching on. We’ll miss you, Paul.

(For remembrances, go to www.wellstone.org)

.: posted by Claudia Horwitz at 8:34 PM

Wednesday, October 02, 2002 (Permalink)

Welcome to the new website for "The Spiritual Activist." Many thanks to Andrew Boardman at MANOVERBOARD for his amazing handywork on the site. The book was published by Penguin Compass in August, 2002. At stone circles, the organization that sponsors much of the work contained in the book, we are in the process of planning a series of trainings around the country to build on the ideas of the book and support locally-based spiritual activism. This web log will be updated regularly with thoughts, news, and commentary on the world of spirituality and social change. Stay tuned!

.: posted by Claudia Horwitz at 3:35 PM