Tag: Creative Industry
Defending Democracy with Humor and Dilemma Actions Tactics
- Sophia McClennen (USA) - Director of the Center for Global Studies, and Professor of International Affairs and Comparative Literature at Pennsylvania State University.
- Khumbulani Maphosa (Zimbabwe) - Director of the Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights
- Ivan Marovic (Serbia) - International Center on Nonviolent Conflict
- Pedro Silva (USA) - Founder of The Liberation Comedy Project
- David Purdue (USA) - Activist and Comedian
- Moderator: Xochilt Hernandez (Organizing Fellow at Horizons Project)
If you missed the event, go here for a recording of the event.
Resources on Art, Cultural Work & Inclusive Democracy
Artistic and cultural processes are uniquely well-suited to address our current challenges of democratic decline and rising authoritarianism because they engage us cognitively, emotionally, sensorily, and, in some cases, spiritually. They can be crafted to cultivate the relationships and understandings needed for effective movement-building to resist current systems of oppression, to mobilize masses to stand up for our values, and to inspire people to come together to build our shared future. When we align the arts, cultural work and pro-democracy organizing, we enliven our sensibilities – sense of justice; sense of humor; sense of beauty; sense of integrity – and energize us to work with conviction, creativity and compassion.
Successful pro-democracy movements involve a wide range of sectors and actors who play different roles, with diverse insights and practices that arise from a variety of disciplines, organizing traditions, lived experiences and modes of knowing. Horizons is committed to supporting these many actors to come together to build the relational infrastructure to bolster democracy and confront the global rise of authoritarianism. We believe this will take a whole-of-system approach, taking into account the multiple forces contributing to democratic decline and amplifying the many bright spots that are fostering societal repair and democratic renewal. Arts and cultural work are an integral part of this pro-democracy ecosystem, with unique approaches to energize movements and actors to be nourished, supported, lifted up, and linked together in mutually reinforcing ways.
The following resources were curated by the Horizons Project in collaboration with Cindy Cohen, Senior Fellow with IMPACT, Inc. Launched in 2022, IMPACT, Inc. advocates for arts and culture to transform conflict and build more creative, inclusive societies. With a global network of doers, thinkers and influencers, IMPACT brings people together through events and platforms, and raises awareness of diverse voices and contexts. IMPACT, Inc. supports those delivering impactful work through capacity building, making connections and creating opportunities for sharing practice and learning.
The resources listed and described here are by no means comprehensive; instead, they are meant to suggest the breadth and depth of work being done at the intersection of arts, culture and inclusive democracy. If you would like to suggest additional themes or resources, please contact us at [email protected].
- Mobilizing voters
Elections matter, and yet we know that modern autocratic regimes are often democratically elected. Countering authoritarianism in the US therefore involves much more than electoral politics. Nevertheless, the need to mobilize people to vote, and to vote for candidates that uphold democratic principles, is an urgent and indispensable part of a multipronged strategy. Here we highlight successful practices of engaging artists and cultural workers in mobilizing voters; as well as two examples of locally rooted initiatives involving artists and cultural workers collaborating with organizers to get out the vote in the 2022 and 2020 elections in the US.
Artists For Democracy - People For the American Way
Art has the power to change perceptions and inspire action, cutting through the noise and speaking to our hopes, fears, and dreams. Artists are working to create art across four (and possibly more!) swing states: Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. They are conveying the stakes we’re up against in this election on billboards, in radio announcements, and at public gatherings. Related article in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/apr/10/artists-for-democracy-2024.
“A nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to building the political power of young people. For 30 years, Rock the Vote has revolutionized the way we use pop culture, music, art, and technology to engage young people in politics and build our collective power. For over thirty years, it has continuously adapted to the changing landscapes of media, technology and culture to break through and empower each new generation.”
Art for the Polls - The Center for Artistic Activism
A program of the Center for Artistic Activism that supports U.S. artists creatively engaging in the 2024 election. Art moves people, making it vital in an election year where potential voters are fatigued, frustrated, fearful, and maybe even furious. Fortunately, we know creative minds like yours can communicate hope, perseverance, and the power of collective action through evocative visual and experiential art. Online and in-person workshops provide resources and insights to help artists channel unique skills and imagination into effective civic engagement in 2024.
Voter Mobilization and the Arts, Art2Action & Animating Democracy; Andrea Assaf, Michael Rohd, and Frances Valdez
“Ongoing voter suppression, disinformation, the overturning of laws protecting women’s rights: U.S. democracy is in distress…. this session [prior to 2022 elections] explores the roles that artists can play in working together with organizers to motivate voting and civic participation, and to promote dialogue about the state of our democracy. How can artists and activists navigate their different ways of working, and how can cross-training prepare them for strong collaborations and impactful results? What creative strategies have worked best? How do organizing bodies integrate the artistic imagination, and how can artists integrate organizing principles into their work? What’s needed to animate democracy right now?”
Artists and Cultural Workers Mobilize the Vote, Art2Action
“Houston in Action awarded 12 projects to selected artists & cultural workers to create culturally relevant artistic expressions that inspire & mobilize voter engagement. THE GOAL: To activate Youth, Black, Latinx, & Asian American communities to register & turn-out to vote in Houston, TX (and beyond!).”
- Bridging Differences
Pro-democracy movements require people to work together across many lines of difference to effectively organize and mobilize for change and constructively engage with conflict. To achieve the multi-racial, pluralistic and inclusive democracy we seek in the future, arts and culture can help to strengthen our collective capacity to work with those who may have opposing views; flex the muscles of dialogue and deliberation; and to find common ground to work together on shared issues of concern. Creative approaches to bridging differences can draw on qualities of deep listening, respect and presence cultivated by engaging with artistic practices and historic and cultural wisdom.
Bridge Entertainment Labs was created “to help reverse the trend towards deepening division in America by promoting the creation of content that humanizes political tribes to one another, develop shared cultural spaces for Americans of different backgrounds and beliefs, and fosters the societal preconditions for healthy civic debate and collaborative problem-solving.” Its founders “believe the entertainment industry has a powerful role to play in helping us overcome the ‘us versus them’ dynamics that are fracturing our country.”
Guidelines for Story Circles, John O’Neal, in Acting Together: Resources for Getting Started, pp. 3 - 5
These Guidelines offer a straightforward easy-to-implement framework for facilitating democratic story-sharing and community-building conversations, as described by a leader of the US Civil Rights movement. Listen to John O’Neal describe a specific story circle here!
In Your Shoes™, The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics
In Your Shoes™ is a program of the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University which “harnesses the power of theatrical performance, dialogue, and deep listening to surface and celebrate the rich life experiences that shape who we are and how we interact. Participants dwell ‘in each other’s shoes’ by performing each other’s words back to one another with exquisite care and creativity.” In Your Shoes™ was created and developed by acclaimed international theater-maker and educator Derek Goldman through over a decade of intensive workshops in a range of global contexts, including China, Russia, Bangladesh, and Sudan, and with diverse and often polarized university and community participants throughout the United States.
Currently investigates civic discourse focusing “on how the action of theatre making can be best applied to the process of civic decision making; how creative practice can release creative collaborations and imaginative problem-solving in multi-party, cross ideological contexts.”
Healing, Bridging, Thriving: A Summit on Arts and Culture in Our Communities, January 30, 2024
An archive of the summit can be found here, including a session on Arts, Culture and Civic Infrastructure, described as: “Arts, culture, and the humanities knit the social fabric of our communities and are essential to advancing equitable outcomes. We must develop pathways for artists who are eager to work with other sectors and support them holistically in their endeavors.”
Art in a Democracy: Selected Plays of Roadside Theater, Vol 1 & Vol 2, Ben Fink
“This two-volume anthology tells the story of Roadside Theater’s first 45 years; Roadside has spent 45 years searching for what art in a democracy might look like. The anthology raises questions such as, "What are common principles and common barriers to achieving democracy across disciplines, and how can the disciplines unite in common democratic cause?” See also “Art in a democracy,” Episode 68 in ‘Cultural Democracy’ on Change the Story, Change the World “Our conversation with editor Ben Fink and contributor Arnaldo J. Lopez explores Roadside's 50-year history of creative collaboration percolating at the crossroads of art, community, and America's struggle to craft an authentic living democracy.”
“The Imagining America consortium (IA) brings together scholars, artists, designers, humanists, and organizers to imagine, study, and enact a more just and liberatory ‘America’ and world. Working across institutional, disciplinary, and community divides, IA strengthens and promotes public scholarship, cultural organizing, and campus change that inspires collective imagination, knowledge-making, and civic action on pressing public issues. By dreaming and building together in public, IA creates the conditions to shift culture and transform inequitable institutional and societal structures.”
“Let’s Make a Better World Podcast: Songs and Stories,” Jane Wilburn Sapp
Podcast episodes explore Imagination and Agency, Resilience and Transformation, Freedom and Justice, Music and Human Rights, Building Community. They feature Jane Sapp in conversation with civil rights leader Rose Saunders and LGBTQ/Women’s/Anti-racist activist Suzanne Pharr, among others, and illustrate the power of cultural work and music to bring people together across differences.
- Art, Culture, and Justice
This section highlights a sampling of projects and organizations working towards greater racial, social, gender-based and environmental justice. Given the extent to which anti-Black racism and the genocide of Native American people are woven into the fabric of American society, pro-democracy efforts are indelibly linked with movements for racial and cultural justice and repair. We are inspired by the many diverse approaches taking place at community, state-wide, regional and national levels, and involving artists, arts organizations, cultural institutions, and philanthropies.
Center for Performance and Civic Practice (CPCP)
CPCP “believes that with the right approach, the same tools and capacities that artists use to make meaningful art can be utilized to transform systems and improve the impacts of government and community-driven efforts and programs. Civic Practice refers to projects that bring artists into collaboration and co-design with community partners and local residents around a community-defined aspiration, challenge or vision.”
“Alternate ROOTS is an organization that supports the creation and presentation of original art that is rooted in community, place, tradition or spirit. We are a group of artists and cultural organizers based in the South creating a better world together. As Alternate ROOTS, we call for social and economic justice and are working to dismantle all forms of oppression – everywhere. As a progressive arts organization, ROOTS is at the forefront of establishing model programs for regional cultural organizing in the US.”
A treasure trove of resources including books, case studies, essays, a glossary, frameworks for evaluation of arts and civic engagement initiatives, profiles of municipal – artist/partnerships, and other resources exploring arts-based civic engagement for social change.
Arts & Democracy cross pollinates culture, participatory democracy, and social justice. It supports cultural organizing and cross-sector collaborations; raises the visibility of transformative work; connects cultural practitioners with activists, organizers and policymakers; and creates spaces for reflection.
United States Department of Arts and Culture (USDAC)
“The U.S. Department of Arts and Culture contributes to the strength and vibrancy of the movement for collective liberation by resourcing and mobilizing cultural organizers and artists. As a people-led and people-centered arts and culture department, we merge organizing, political education, and performance to create a vibrant ecosystem that activates and harnesses spaces ripe for social, cultural and political change. The USDAC contributes to the strength and vibrancy of the movement for collective liberation by resourcing and mobilizing cultural organizers and artists.”
Americans for the Arts: Cultural Equity
To support a full creative life for all, Americans for the Arts commits to championing policies and practices of cultural equity that empower a just, inclusive, equitable nation. Cultural equity embodies the values, policies, and practices that ensure that all people—including but not limited to those who have been historically underrepresented based on race/ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, socioeconomic status, geography, citizenship status, or religion—are represented in the development of arts policy; the support of artists; the nurturing of accessible, thriving venues for expression; and the fair distribution of programmatic, financial, and informational resources.
Borders to Bridges: Arts-based Curriculum for Social Justice, Lynn Glixon Ditchfield
Borders to Bridges is designed to promote dialogue in schools and communities by engendering deeper understanding and discussion to counter the myths and fears that negatively affect our learning institutions. This guidebook contains practical lesson plans, narratives, poetry, mixed media artwork, and resources for K-12 educators to enrich learning and engage students about critical issues that touch their lives and communities. Contributors include world-renowned educators, poets, artists, and writers from 38 countries and 20 states of the U.S.
Theatre for Community Conflict and Dialogue: The Hope Is Vital Training Manual, Michael Rohd
“The first step forward in working with today's youth is to create a dialogue, and that is exactly what this exciting new book does. It helps you provide opportunities for young people to open up and explore their feelings through theatre, offering a safe place for them to air their views with dignity, respect, and freedom through the Hope Is Vital interactive theatre techniques.”
“How can we make democracy an everyday practice for everyone? Given the warnings about the end of democracy, our discussion about the role of culture in the labor and civil rights movements, and the inseparable nature of imagination and democracy is timely, to say the least.”
“Sipp Culture uses food and story to support rural community development in Utica, Mississippi. We believe that history, culture, and food affirm our individual and collective humanity. So, we are strengthening our local food system, advancing health equity, and supporting rural artistic voices – while activating the power of story – all to promote the legacy and vision of our hometown.”
Theatre in the Age of Climate Change: Creating Work in Series in the Anthropocene, Changal Bilodeau
“I want to invite audiences into a sacred space where grief, anger, and despair can be laid bare and transformed into joy, courage, and hope. As I stand here, surrounded by the vastness of Iceland, I start to formulate a question: what happens once we have so thoroughly imposed our will on the earth systems that we no longer feel small?”
Sustaining Places: An Encyclopedia of Resources for Small Historical Organizations.
“The museum field is currently experiencing a paradigm shift which places people, not objects, at the core of a museum’s purposes. This new paradigm responds to changing ideas about cultural authority, in which the community’s voice is as important as the expert’s voice…. Museums operating within the new paradigm empower their communities by fostering dialogue, with the goal of re-evaluating the past and the present in order to envision a more just future.”
- Art and Creative Nonviolent Action
Artistic and cultural processes can be crafted to embody a compelling but non-coercive power that can be mobilized in support of creative nonviolent action. They can reach beneath the defensive structures of guilt, shame and rage to restore capacities for agency and collective action; they can challenge existing assumptions; they can support expression that is otherwise forbidden; they can bring reluctant adversaries into conversation; they can lower barriers of fear and motivate people to challenge injustices and repression; they can offer new ways of framing issues. Even when confronted with the power of violence, racism, and domination – whether economic, political, social, gender-based, or cultural – artistic and cultural processes can challenge and subvert widely accepted patterns of supremacy, fear, exclusion and repression. [Adapted from ‘Lessons from the Acting Together Project, Acting Together: Performance and the Creative Transformation of Conflict, Volume II. Cynthia Cohen, Roberto Gutierrez Varea and Polly O. Walker. P. 191]
Creative Boom: Celebrating Art as Nonviolent Resistance, Taylor Alarcon
As many artists know, there is an everlasting connection between social justice, activism and creativity. Art can, and continues to be, a medium for commentary and resistance – and another way that we engage in challenging our society. This piece by Creative Boom introduces a few names whose work continues the legacy of King, reveals a "deep faith" in a possibly different future, and uses art and creativity to share that unique message.
Tracing the Long Story of “We Shall Overcome,” Kate Stewart
In 1956, a 12-year-old girl named Jamila Jones participated in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. About two years later, she came to the Highlander Folk School for nonviolent activist training. As Jones recalls in an interview conducted for the Civil Rights History Project, Highlander was raided by the police, who shut off all the lights in the building. She found the strength to sing out into the darkness, adding a new verse to “We Shall Overcome.” When a police officer, trembling, asked her to sing more quietly, she realized the power of music in the struggle for civil rights, and sang louder and louder along with others in the room. To listen to excerpts from an oral history interview scroll down the page.
Why Nazis are so Afraid of These Clowns, Sarah Freeman-Woolpert
Clowns have an impressive track record of subverting Nazi ideology, de-escalating rallies and bringing communities together in creative resistance. This 2017 article in Waging Nonviolence documents several effective examples, including a performance in Knoxville, Tennessee in which clowns feigned confusion at neo-Nazi demonstrators’ cries of “White power!” calling back “White flour?”, “White flowers?”, “Tight shower?”, and “Wife Power!” The neo-Nazis called off their demonstration several hours early. “Since humor and clowning can incorporate so many community members — children and the elderly, musicians and athletes, politicians and school teachers — they draw everyone into a joyful, silly expression of solidarity. That’s something a band of tiki torch-wielding neo-Nazis don’t stand a chance against.”
Don't Look Away: Art, Nonviolence, and Preventive Publics in Contemporary Europe, Brianne Cohen
This book delves deeply into the role that art can play in creating public commitment to curbing structural violence in Europe. Art often looks at past violence, and has, at times, enabled it. In Don’t Look Away, Brianne Cohen explores how it can be used to prevent violence, particularly by helping to create a “shared social sense of vulnerability” and “mass stranger relationality.” “Art can have a critical role to play not only in challenging injurious public discourse but also in actively reconceiving the groundwork of more ethically self-reflexive, pluralistic public spheres,” she writes. “I wish to transform a question of informed public action in the aftermath of violence to one of informed public prevention of both direct and more indirect aggression.”
Conclusion Paper: How can arts, civic pride and culture contribute to boosting local resilience and democracy against extremism, hate crimes and other threats to democracy? Radicalization Awareness Network
This paper from the Radicalization Awareness Network highlighted examples of initiatives in 17 participating countries and concluded that “promoting arts, cultural activities and civic pride can significantly enhance local resilience and democracy and in turn prevent violence, extremism, hate crimes and other threats by: promoting diversity and inclusion, reducing polarization; empowering individuals and communities, thereby reducing the appeal of radicalization; building social cohesion, creating a sense of belonging; fostering critical thinking; countering misinformation; providing powerful counter-narratives to extremism; fostering a sense of responsibility of one’s community; offering positive role models who embody democratic values; enhancing resilience against extremist recruitment tactics; and providing neutral ground for discussion of sensitive topics, fostering understanding and empathy.”
Culture and Conflict Summit Resource Guide, USIP and the British Council
This resource guide is the beginning of a comprehensive resource for educators and peacebuilders interested in using arts both inside and outside academia. It is meant to be a useful guide to those who are teaching about using arts in conflict scenarios for the purposes of peace, and those who will engage in it in practice. The resources cover a variety of mediums – including music, theater, books, and more.
- Art and Transitional Justice
A sustainable, robust and truly just democracy requires its citizens to acknowledge past harms, address unjust conditions in the present, and together imagine a fairer future. Artistic and cultural processes can be crafted to support communities to do the difficult work of mourning losses, composing more complex narratives, seeking justice and imagining a better future, even when relationships have been adversarial, where harms have been inflicted, and where trust must gradually be restored.
Artistic Imagination as a Force for Change, Art2Action & Animating Democracy; adrienne maree brown, Sage Crump, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
“This session, honoring the vibrant legacy of the late Grace Lee Boggs, explores artists’ imaginative power to grow the personal and collective soul, featuring cultural activists adrienne maree brown and Sage Crump, both with deep roots in Detroit, and Urban Bush Women’s founder Jawole Zollar. These three powerful thought leaders delve into the relationship between the artistic imagination and civic/social/political action, and how artistic strategies and emergent strategies can bolster movements and make progress toward change.”
BLIS Collective: Black Liberation - Indigenous Sovereignty
The BLIS Collective is “borne out of the idea that we must repair the damages done to Black and Indigenous people in what we now call the United States and create a future where every individual, no matter their identity, has equal opportunity to live life freely and fully… We produce and support original works of literature and art and cultivate a community of artists, storytellers, filmmakers, historians, cultural bearers, comedians, poets, and athletes committed to forwarding narratives of liberation and decolonization.” It also produces a newsletter: “Reparations Daily (ish).”
Echoes of a Coup - Scene on Radio
“In November 1898, an armed White supremacist mob—supported by most White elites in North Carolina—murdered untold Black Wilmington residents and drove the city’s elected Fusionist government from power, installing Democrats in their place. (Fusionists were a biracial coalition of mostly-Black Republicans and mostly-White members of the Populist Party.) The coup in North Carolina’s then-largest city violently snuffed out some of the last flickers of multiracial democracy in post-Civil War America. Scene on Radio Season 6, Echoes of a Coup, a five-episode podcast tells the story of 1898 and puts these events in historical context, at a time when the United States is once again facing threats of political violence, amid orchestrated attacks on democracy—from within.”
Art, Dialogue, and Race, Art2Action & Animating Democracy; Kim Pevia, Katrina Browne and James Scruggs
“In the context of countless murders of Black people, racially-motivated assaults on Asian and Arab Americans, and continuing systemic and structural racism against Black, Indigenous/First Nations, and people of color communities, art and artists can advance meaningful, transformative dialogue and racial reckoning. The artists and leaders in this session explore this path, from deepening understanding, to shifting minds and hearts, to healing historical wounds, to advancing actions, policies, and systemic and structural change. Through the lens of their radically different artistic approaches, they will examine the role of art to disrupt narratives, reveal complicity, deepen dialogue, and make progress toward truth and reconciliation.”
Creative Approaches to Reconciliation, Cynthia Cohen
This chapter explains why the arts and cultural work are critical to promoting coexistence and reconciliation in the aftermath of violent conflict. It lays out theoretical frameworks for reconciliation and for the nature of aesthetic engagement that explain why the arts and cultural work should be effective resources for peace-builders. Then it offers examples of how the arts and cultural work are already being used to facilitate seven different educational tasks crucial to reconciliation, including assisting former adversaries to appreciate each other’s humanity, to empathize with each other’s suffering, to address injustice, and to imagine a new future.
Acting Together on the World Stage Resources
The Acting Together initiative is a global multi-media educational initiative intended to document and strengthen the contributions of performance and ritual to social justice and conflict transformation. It consists of a feature documentary, a two-volume anthology, mini-docs on targeted issues, and PDF resources for learning and teaching. The documentary includes sections on resistance, re-humanization and reconciliation. Watch the trailer here.
Case studies include “Do You Smell Something Stinky? Notes from conversations about Making Art while Working for Peace in Racist, Imperial America in the 21st Century,” by John O’Neal available here.
Here I Am, The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics
“Here I Am weaves narrative, music, and multimedia imagery, inviting the audience on an experiential journey celebrating Mélisande Short-Colomb’s 11 generations of maternal grandmothers and exploring her complicated relationship with the institution that enslaved her ancestors. Mélisande Short-Colomb is a direct descendant of families sold into slavery by the Society of Jesus in 1838 to keep Georgetown University solvent, (The GU 272), and has been an anchoring member of President’s Task Force Examining Loyola’s Connections to Slavery.”
International Journal of Transitional Justice Special Issue on Creative Approaches to Transitional Justice: The Contributions of Arts and Culture, Volume 14, Number 1, March 2020.
Articles highlight creative transitional justice processes in Myanmar, Colombia, Tunisia, South Africa, Bosnia Herzegovina, Argentina, Cambodia, Peru among others.
A long-term investment in growing and maintaining the capacity of communities and institutions to collectively imagine, so that they are able to see, feel and think differently in order to act differently. Imagination Infrastructures recognize that collective imagination is a practice that you develop overtime, and therefore our capacity to do so can be strengthened.
- Global Perspectives
Art can be a medium for expressing dissent and subverting status quo norms; it provides a voice, and thus power, to voices deemed unimportant or dangerous. As such, art can threaten authoritarian control and help dream up alternative, more free, futures. It is no surprise then that artists, their resources, and their creations are highly targeted by authoritarian regimes. Artists and cultural workers from around the world are sharing knowledge about the vulnerabilities of being an artist under authoritarian regimes, as well as creative contributions to successful efforts to overthrow dictatorships and oppose authoritarian tendencies.
Why Authoritarians Attack the Arts, Eve L Ewing
After referencing the silencing of artists under several authoritarian regimes, past and present, Ewing concludes that “[w]e need the arts because they make us full human beings. But we also need the arts as a protective factor against authoritarianism. In saving the arts, we save ourselves from a society where creative production is permissible only insofar as it serves the instruments of power. When the canary in the coal mine goes silent, we should be very afraid — not only because its song was so beautiful, but also because it was the only sign that we still had a chance to see daylight again.”
Artist at Risk Connection, PEN America
PEN America’s Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) safeguards the fundamental right to artistic freedom of expression worldwide. Its mission is to ensure that artists and cultural workers can live and create without fear, regardless of their country or discipline. ARC plays the critical role of connecting at-risk artists from any country and discipline to available resources across a global network of more than 800 organizations, providing urgent support, fellowships, and legal support. In addition, ARC provides emergency grants, resilience grants, and technical assistance, bolstering protection and resilience for artists at risk. ARC’s impact is amplified by its regional protective networks in Africa and Latin America. By advocating for policy reforms that uphold the safety and well-being of artists under international human rights law, ARC works tirelessly with its coalitions to create a more secure environment for artistic expression worldwide.
To learn more about the artists around the world who have used their creative talents to uplift, sustain, and mobilize social and political movements, check out ARC’s 2023 publication Art is Power: 20 Artists on How They Fight for Justice and Inspire Change. The report was written by PEN America’s Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) and features profiles of 20 artists from across the globe, exploring why they became artists, how they became involved in social and political movements, and the persecution they have faced as a result of their creative expression.
Authoritarian Apprehensions: Ideology, Judgment and Mourning in Syria, Lisa Wedeen
If the Arab uprisings initially heralded the end of tyrannies and a move toward liberal democratic governments, their defeat not only marked a reversal but was of a piece with emerging forms of authoritarianism worldwide. In Authoritarian Apprehensions, Lisa Wedeen draws on her decades-long engagement with Syria to offer an erudite and compassionate analysis of this extraordinary rush of events—the revolutionary exhilaration of the initial days of unrest and then the devastating violence that shattered hopes of any quick undoing of dictatorship. Developing a fresh, insightful, and theoretically imaginative approach to both authoritarianism and conflict, Wedeen asks, What led a sizable part of the citizenry to stick by the regime through one atrocity after another? What happens to political judgment in a context of pervasive misinformation? And what might the Syrian example suggest about how authoritarian leaders exploit digital media to create uncertainty, political impasses, and fractures among their citizens? Drawing on extensive fieldwork and a variety of Syrian artistic practices, Wedeen lays bare the ideological investments that sustain ambivalent attachments to established organizations of power and contribute to the ongoing challenge of pursuing political change.
A European body condemns Turkey’s sentencing of an activist for links to 2013 protests
Osman Kavala, the founder of Anadolu Kultur, a nonprofit organization that focuses on arts and cultural projects promoting peace and dialogue, was imprisoned in Turkey on charges of attempting to overthrow the government through involvement in the Gezi Park protests. To learn more about Kavala and his impact on Turkey’s civil society check out this documentary.
The Contributions of Arts and Culture to Pro-Democracy Anti-Authoritarian Movements: A report on sessions of the 22nd Century Conference/Forging a People-Powered Democracy, Cynthia Cohen, IMPACT Senior Fellow.
How are artists and cultural workers contributing to strengthening just and vibrant democracies and opposing rising authoritarianism – in the US and around the world? What approaches have been effective and in what contexts? How have artists and cultural workers minimized risks of harm to themselves and others? How could experiences of friends and colleagues from around the world be of help to artists and cultural workers aligning with the emerging multi-sectoral anti-authoritarian movement in the United States? This report shares stories from Kenya, the Philippines, Iran, Australia and the United States.
Romanian Artist Tackles Art and Freedom in Authoritarian Times
Geta Brătescu’s work positions the artist as a creator of freedom even in oppressive times.
This set of videos includes examples of creative approaches to resistance to authoritarian regimes (Argentina, Serbia, Uganda); re-humanization in the aftermath of violence and oppression (Peru, United States, Australia); building capacity for democracy (Palestine).
Acting Together Summaries of chapters
This set of chapter summaries highlights performances in contexts of, and in the aftermath of, authoritarian regimes, including in Serbia, Sri Lanka, Palestine, Peru, Cambodia, the United States, and Australia.
“Your hub for global theatre conversations…a free and open platform for theatre makers worldwide….We function as a commons – a social structure that invites open participation around shared values: Generosity and abundance; Community and collaboration; Diverse aesthetics; Equity, inclusivity and accessibility; Global citizenship (local communities intersecting with global practice.
- Theory and Practice
The transformative power of art and cultural work derive in part from their aesthetic integrity. Linking art and activism requires integrating strategic thinking with these embodied and emotional modes of apprehending and interpreting the world and its challenges. The resources in this section offer frameworks for understanding how art, culture and pro-democracy efforts are working together, drawing insights from the fields of conflict transformation, neuroscience, journalism and more. They offer examples from the United States and around the world.
Art Works: How Organizers and Artists Are Creating a Better World Together, Ken Grossinger
“When artists and organizers combine forces, new forms of political mobilization follow—which shape lasting social change. And yet few people appreciate how much deliberate strategy often propels this vital social change work. Behind the scenes, artists, organizers, political activists, and philanthropists have worked together to hone powerful strategies for achieving the world we want and the world we need. In Art Works, noted movement leader Ken Grossinger chronicles these efforts for the first time, distilling lessons and insights from grassroots leaders and luminaries such as Ai Weiwei, Courtland Cox, Jackson Browne, Shepard Fairey, Jane Fonda, Elizabeth Alexander, Bill McKibben, JR, Jose Antonio Vargas, and more.”
The Center for the Study of Art and Community: Change the Story, Change the World
CSA&C has over thirty years experience building arts partnerships in educational, community and social institutions. We have provided expert guidance for developing artistic, educational, funding, community development collaborations with over 250 partners from the arts and other community sectors. CSA&C's clients include artists and arts organizations, educational, health, human service, and criminal justice agencies, state and local government, and the business and philanthropic communities.
The Craftivist Collective Handbook, Sarah Corbett
If we want our world to be more beautiful, kind and fair, can we make our activism more beautiful, kind and fair? ‘Gentle Protest’ is a unique methodology of strategic, compassionate and visually intriguing activism using handicrafts as a tool. Since its creation in 2009, the award-winning global Craftivist Collective has helped change laws, policies, hearts and minds around the world as well as expand the view of what activism can be. Dreams inspire positive action, so stitch a Dream Cloud to hang up at home or work and prompt you to think past a problem to the solution. Sew a Gentle Nudge Label to help keep your conscience sharp and your spirit strong. Craft your own Mini Protest Banner to turn heads and influence change, or fly solidarity’s flag for those suffering as a result of the world’s injustices. Stitch a Handmade Hedgerow to champion one of the solutions to the climate crisis or if you are nervous about protesting in public or if there’s a ban on public rallies where you live, let a doll speak your truth by creating a Toy Protest. Listen to the author discuss craftivism, a form of activism and collective empowerment that is centered on practices of craft, here.
The Center for Artistic Activism
“In 2009, the Center for Artistic Activism saw artists struggling to affect change, but without the practical skills to implement their visions. Elsewhere we saw frustrated activists, repeating their traditional marches, petition drives, and vigils until they became frustrated and moved on. We saw movements for social change stagnating with wins coming more by luck than planning. The Center for Artistic Activism started bringing these practices together to transform art and activism, using the best of each to leverage creativity and culture and successfully bring about social change…From our very beginning we identified the fields of culture, art and creativity as key to social justice work because these elements create opportunities for people marginalized from other spheres of influence such as law, politics and business to use their own unique perspectives to gain power, representation and real political change. But we knew creativity wasn’t enough. Training and organization is key. Our decade of experience and research has evolved into theory, curricula, and programs for activists and artists to fully understand how to effectively deploy artistic activism methodologies and win campaigns.”
The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace, John Paul Lederach
Lederach suggests that in addition to understanding the “landscape of protracted violence,” peacebuilding practitioners must “...explore the creative process itself, not as a tangential inquiry, but as the wellspring that feeds the building of peace. In other words, we must venture into the mostly uncharted territory of the artist’s way as applied to social change, the canvases and poetics of human relationships, imagination, and discovery, and ultimately the mystery of vocation for those who take up such a journey.”
Invite | Affirm | Evoke | Unleash: How artistic and cultural processes transform complex challenges , Cynthia Cohen and IMPACT, Inc.
How and why do arts and other aspects of culture contribute in constructive ways to addressing the complex challenges that confront humanity and the ecosystems of the planet? …Ethical arts and cultural processes can be crafted to evoke honesty, and nourish capacities to negotiate ambiguity and paradox, key features of complex systems. They unleash creativity and agency. They affirm the dignity of human beings and our interdependence with each other and the natural world. And they can be crafted to do all this not by manipulation or coercion, but by issuing invitations to engage, to enjoy, to co-construct meaning, and to be present – to oneself, to others, to the natural world and to the opportunities and challenges that inscribe the present moment. It is through their beauty, and through the ways they simultaneously animate our sensory, cognitive and emotional faculties, that ethical arts and cultural work invite transformation while respecting the integrity of all who are involved. The report includes examples from Spain, Cambodia, Inuit People, Northern Ireland, the Netherlands, Israeli and Palestinian diaspora communities, Colombia, Kenya and Australia.
Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us, Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
From artists David Byrnem and Renée Fleming to evolutionary biologist E.O.Wilson, this book is a journey of discovery and an authoritative guide to the new science of neuroaesthetics that weaves a vibrant tapestry of breakthrough research, insights from multidisciplinary pioneers, and compelling stories from people who are using the arts to make a positive impact on our day-to-day life. Your Brain on Art isn’t a plea to “bring back the arts.” It’s a call-to-arms for the radical integration of the arts with science and technology to design a more humane future. It’s about creating a new ethos that brings together different realms of human knowledge and experience to shape the future. It’s a fresh way of thinking and addressing the increasingly complex problems that face us. This book is perfectly poised to elevate this moment and bring it to the center of our cultural conversation.
Aeffect: The Affect and Effect of Artistic Activism, Stephen Duncombe
Does artistic activism work aesthetically? Does it work politically? And what does “working” even mean when one combines art and activism? In Æffect, author Stephen Duncombe sets out to address these questions at the heart of the field of artistic activism.
THE VISTA: June 2023
The month of June is a busy one with the celebration of Juneteenth (check out this great reading list.) Also, the kick off of Civic Season – with hundreds of activities between Juneteenth and the Fourth of July – that is a new tradition started by Made by Us, together with museums, historic sites, libraries and archives around the country to help transform the way history is learned and “to remind us of the struggles and hard-won victories in our ongoing journey to form a ‘more perfect union.’” Our friends at Veterans for Political Innovation are also using the Fourth of July as an opportunity to recruit more veterans into their movement. We agree that veterans have an important role to play in upholding our democracy.
And of course, June is Pride month, with beautiful celebrations and visibility for the LGBTQI+ community. This year, Pride has also served as a poignant call for increased solidarity with a community that is increasingly under attack, intimately tied to the attacks on democracy playing out at the state level. You can find out more in this recent TikTok video by the Human Rights Campaign who have declared a state of emergency for the LGBTQI+ community in the United States.
Unfortunately, these trends of increasingly extreme anti-LGBTQI+ laws are global, so our solidarity must also extend across borders. This month, Uganda passed one of the most extreme laws in the world that drastically restricts the rights of LGBTQI+ Ugandans to engage in public life or advocacy. As we know, autocrats around the world are learning from each other, and therefore the pro-democracy response must also be actively sharing and learning across borders.
Hot off the press, Horizons’ Chief Organizer Maria J. Stephan published this article with Just Security focused on the specific ways that far-right authoritarian leaders in the US and globally are sharing lessons and collaborating – and how pro-democracy movement(s) can strategically out-maneuver them. She flags the 22nd Century Initiative’s conference, Forging a People-Powered Democracy where we hope to see many of you from July 6th to the 9th in Minneapolis, MN. Registration is open until the 5th!
At Horizons, we are committed to sharing experiences and lessons from other countries with our US colleagues, helping to connect the dots amongst shared threats and to find inspiration in how we are rising to the shared challenges we face. There are several important innovations captured by the Journal of Democracy from the recent opposition efforts to unseat Erdoğan in Turkey that we highly recommend, even though the campaign was ultimately unsuccessful. And, as Horizons focuses on a pillars approach to combatting authoritarianism, we also want to highlight the role that different sectors have to play in pro-democracy movements. For example, there are some lessons for the private sector in how Israeli businesses joined in the recent fight for an independent judiciary is Israel. And to help make this case, Rachel Kleinfeld recently released a helpful report on the negative impact of populism on the business sector around the world.
At this time of rest and reflection during our summer vacation mode in the United States, we hope you enjoy some of the additional resources we are reading, watching, and listening to:
READING
by Life Itself
At Horizons we spend a lot of time reflecting on ecosystem-level organizing for social change. If you’re into systems thinking and systems change, you will appreciate this super project overview by Life Itself. “We sense that a new ecosystem, or ecosystem of ecosystems, is emerging. A growing number of people, organizations, and initiatives are taking alternative approaches to social change, which diverge from and go beyond the more established spaces in civil society and the social economy.” They explain the process used for identifying and visualizing the various approaches different organizations and networks are taking to affect large systems-level shifts. They also relate this work to other established and emerging movements.
by Andre M. Perry and Jonathan Rothwell, Brookings
A new study was released by Brookings that analyzes data from Gallup to show that measures of well-being offer a valuable way to chart collective progress towards a diverse thriving society, arguing it’s a more holistic indicator than the traditional measures of education and income attainment. Acknowledging that “the road to a more perfect union is paved in race relations,” the report highlights the country still has a long way to go and points out that high well-being scores correlate with greater individual and community stability, high racial and ethnic diversity, and lower rates of so-called “deaths of despair.”
How to Build Movements with Cyclical Patterns in Mind
by Dave Algoso, Florencia Guerzovich, and Soledad Gattoni, Nonprofit Quarterly
“The world changes too much for anyone who is invested in social change work to imagine that this work is linear and predictable. Opportunities come and go, whether caused by a pandemic or political shifts. This much most social movement leaders and activists intuitively understand. But what can be done with this realization? How might movement groups better prepare for moments of opportunity?” In this super article, the authors reflect on how we can create the changes we want to see by responding to the changes that are outside our control.
WATCHING
Building Collective Leadership at Grassroots and Globally Can Fuel Positive Change
hosted by the Social Change Initiative
“Collective leadership, strategic thinking, and self-care are key tactics to leading change in difficult circumstances and divided societies.” Don’t miss the recording of this inspiring online discussion hosted by the Social Change Initiative featuring Ambika Satkunanathan a human rights lawyer from Sri Lanka; Eric Ward, Executive Vice President with Race Forward in the US; Bernadette McAliskey, a human rights and social justice campaigner from Ireland; and Phumeza Mlungwana, an activist from South Africa. Addressing the big challenges facing those who seek to lead change, Bernadette gave some sage advice: “All I can say is, does the road wind uphill all the way? Yes. Will you meet the best human beings in the world on your way? Yes, you will. And if we stand together for the values of human dignity and equality, if we stand for the principles of democracy and equality, will we get there? Yes, we will.”
Talking about Science in an Age of Misinformation
by Nat Kendall-Taylor, Nobel Prize Summit
At the recent 2023 Nobel Prize Summit, FrameWorks Institute CEO Nat Kendall-Taylor gave a short talk on two cultural mindsets that undermine trust in science and two that can be activated to build trust in science. The public’s trust in science has been on the decline, and Nat explains that to understand this lack of trust and what we can do about it, we need to look not only at what people think, but how people think about science. Also, in case you missed it FrameWorks’ recently released an updated report on their findings on Culture Change in the US incorporating shifts from the reversal of Roe v. Wade and the contentious 2020 midterm elections on Americans’ perspective on the world.
with Manu Meel and Jeremi Suri
Manu Meel, CEO of BridgeUSA has started a new video podcast, The Hopeful Majority, and in this third episode to celebrate Juneteenth, Manu interviewed distinguished historian Jeremi Suri to reflect on the complexity of American history while seeking to advance a new narrative of patriotism. Manu says, “to me, loving America means admiring and critiquing- both are necessary for America to be the greatest democracy possible.”
LISTENING TO
Patriotism: Pride, Race and Reckoning
Let’s Find Common Ground podcast
In this Memorial Day episode, retired US naval officer and Washington Post columnist Theodore Johnson explores the paradox of patriotism and ponders, “how can we take pride in a nation with a history of injustice and inequality?” He shares a powerful personal story of standing at attention in the stands while his son took a knee during the national anthem at his high school football game. And, he shares his thoughts on how he believes America can have more productive discussions about race.
Justice Ain’t Cheap: A Queer Philanthropy podcast
In this premier episode of the new Justice Ain’t Cheap podcast, host Saida Agostini-Bostic talks with Funders for LGBTQ Issues’ board members Ana Conner (Third Wave Fund) and Paulina Helm-Hernández (Foundation for a Just Society) about the heightened attacks on transgender and gender nonconforming communities and the role philanthropy plays in resourcing social justice movement. Paulina says, “I feel like there’s a conversation that has been created by philanthropy in relationship to movements that’s like, ‘Is this a $50,000 problem? Is this a $100,000 problem?’ And I’m like, ‘This is a billion-dollar problem. This is a huge problem.’”
The Edges in the Middle III: Báyò Akómoláfé and Indy Johar
For The Wild podcast
This is a thought-provoking conversation on A New Theory of Self that delves into how lifeforms are entangled together on the earth, exploring the modern crisis of a singular self that creates space for violence and waste. Báyò is the inaugural Global Senior Fellow at the Othering & Belonging Institute and Indy is the Founding Director of Dark Matter Labs, and their conversation is both inspiring and challenging as they call attention to the aliveness of the world and how we may collectively “move beyond constraining ideas of order, power and control to be able to recognize and take part in relational ecological emergence.”
INTERESTING TWEETS
FOR FUN
The American Music Landmarks Project (AMLP) connects music fans, music landmark operators and other advocates through unique opportunities to discover, experience and support the places that shaped US popular music history. During this year’s Civic Season, they are focusing on supporting Gen Z to add their voices as present and future stewards of our music history’s architectural legacy through connecting them with virtual and on-site tours, special events and volunteer experiences to meaningfully participate in the ongoing preservation, maintenance and interpretation of music landmarks. “AMLP understands that the presence of youth in transforming our music landmarks from built history to built heritage is essential to further democratizing and diversifying public awareness, appreciation and support for the places that shaped our collective musical past.”
THE VISTA: March 2023
During this last week of March, the U.S. is hosting the Summit for Democracy and Women’s History Month comes to a close. As proclaimed by one of the Summit’s side events: The Status of Women IS the Status of Democracy it is clear that gendered attacks on human rights continue to be directly tied to the trends of democratic decline globally, a tactic studied by many scholars of authoritarianism. The current dehumanization of transgender people in the US is just one of many examples of the dangerous “othering” used to keep citizens divided and fearful. If you have questions about states’ current legislation against gender-affirming health care, please consult these resources at the Human Rights Campaign.
As john a. powell and Sara Grossman of the Othering & Belonging Institute recently wrote about Countering Authoritarianism, “this moment calls for renewed concern about the threat of fragmentation and the ways division is being exploited by anti-democratic actors.” Horizons agrees! And we recently released the first research product from our Narrative Engagement Across Difference (NEAD) Project, a multi-disciplinary literature review of narrative practices that support collaboration across difference in the deeply divided contexts of declining democracies. This short blog in both English and Spanish offers a summary of the findings, stressing the importance of complexifying narratives in both our discourse and our coalitional work. Recognizing the impact of trauma on our movement-building practices was an important aspect of the NEAD inquiry. For example, this article by Prentis Hemphill taken from New Narratives for Health describes a personal journey with trauma and the words we use to describe how the body holds trauma and experiences healing.
The United States is a complex country that requires narrative practices full of nuance and that legitimizes the diversity of lived experience. As New America’s Us@250 is preparing to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday, check out their focus on narrative change – how we think about our national narrative, American identity, and the future of the country. There are several discussions unfolding about changing societal norms and concepts of free speech and how to approach systems change and complexity, with a commitment to “operating with awareness, responding to resonance and engaging creatively.” These are all essential elements of reparative narrative practice.
We hope you enjoy some of the other materials we’ve been reading, watching, and listening to:
READING
6 Reasons Why Movements Sing to the Choir
by Rivera Sun, Waging Nonviolence
We often critique the old adage of movements only “singing to the choir” rather than reaching out beyond the already converted. In this article, Sun uses this beautiful musical metaphor to remind us of when it’s actually needed to sing to our own choir. For example, when some may need to rest their voices or when we need to find new inspiration to sing together again. “Be thoughtful about this aspect of organizing for change. Not only will it make your movement stronger, it can also be a source of inner resilience, inspiration, solidarity and connection. There’s a reason why singing together is more than a metaphor in movements for change. It’s powerful. Tap into it with love.”
The Belonging Barometer: The State of Belonging in America
Over Zero and the Center for Inclusion and Belonging at the American Immigration Council
“Belonging is a fundamental human need, and one that is linked to many of the most complex challenges of our time.” This newly released report makes the case for including belonging as a key aspect of programs and policies in the United States, linking it to indicators of health, democracy, and intergroup dynamics. The report includes recommendations for changemakers of potential interventions and measurement tools; helps to define concepts of belonging; and describes initial findings from survey data on the state of belonging across five life settings – family, friends, workplace, local community, and the nation.
Liberal Professors Can Rescue the G.O.P.
by Jon A. Shields, New York Times Opinion
The pro-democracy agenda must be cross-ideological. This professor from Claremont McKenna College extols the need to provide mentors and serious intellectual foundations for conservative undergraduates so they have positive influences and role models for engaging in political life. Even “liberal professors have the power to help…. They can show their conservative students how to become thoughtful and knowledgeable partisans — by exposing them to rich conservative intellectual traditions…setting up reading groups, helping to vet speakers and creating courses on conservative intellectual thought.”
WATCHING
Is it Still Possible to Change Minds in Politics?
Anand Giridharadas with Maurice Mitchell and Dorian Warren, The Ink
We highly recommend watching this video recording of an important conversation about the possibility and difficulty of persuasion in a time of polarization, disinformation, conspiracy theories, and political violence. The panel reflects on various topics, including the current state of the neo-fascist right and how to build a pro-democracy movement that can seize the moment. They highlight the importance of finding a way to move towards a “powerful posture of joy and victory” to prevent hate-fueled authoritarianism in the country.
Healing Race, YouTube Channel
Shout out to the Listen First Coalition for sharing this great video series in their recent updates. As the country continues to grapple with our history and systems of racial injustice, discussing race can be difficult but essential. Healing Race is a new video series started by two college friends, Andre, who is black and Todd, who is white, as they delve deep into the topic of race and race relations in the US. The goal of the series is to demonstrate the power of real and unfiltered conversations about race as a step towards working together for change.
The Rise of a Pro-Democracy Coalition
Simon Rosenberg’s YouTube Channel
Check out this recent webinar recording hosted by Markers for Democracy (and many others) featuring Robert Hubbell, Bill Kristol and Simon Rosenberg discussing how people across the political spectrum must come together (and are!) to form a pro-democracy coalition.
LISTENING TO
The Revolution Will Be Hilarious
Getting to Yes, And Podcast
In this episode, American University professor Caty Borum discusses the intersection of social justice and comedy which she explores in her new book, “The Revolution will be Hilarious.” Borum explains how comedy can be used as an important tool in the fight for social justice because comedy brings levity and a sense of humanity to many people and situations, helping to capture the nuance and true nature of so many different lived experiences.
The Bulwark Podcast
The Horizons team feels that it is important to reckon with the latest controversies that have arisen about the Fox News’ 2020 election coverage and Tucker Carlson’s most recent attempts to rewrite the narrative of January 6th. This podcast episode with two conservatives, host Charlie Sykes and Will Saletan, discuss these issues and more, also covering the inflammatory rhetoric at the recent CPAC meeting and reflections on the state of the Republican party.
Prospect: Generations Podcast
We love to highlight inter-generational collaboration! The American Prospect has started a new podcast series: Generations which is bringing together younger and older staff to discuss various topics surrounding politics and culture. In this pilot episode, Lee Harris and Paul Starr are featured who both graduated from college during turning points in US history. Lee graduated in 2020 during the pandemic and the George Floyd protests and Paul graduated in 1970 during the Vietnam War and the counterculture era.
INTERESTING TWEETS
FOR FUN
CQ Roundup with Hayden Joseph, Ana Egge, Pelvis Wrestley and more
by: Christopher Treacy, Country Queer
Music has the power to unite us and to remind us of our common humanity – in all our complexity. Country Queer is a website that focuses on LGBTQ+ voices in country and roots music. These musical roundups include interviews and reviews of new music releases from queer and allied artists, and other news and events such as virtual concerts and fundraisers. For example, this recent benefit concert in Nashville where local singers banded together in support of LGBTQ+ rights.
THE VISTA: November 2022
At the time of writing our November newsletter, the results of all the US mid-term elections are still unknown. One clear win for democracy was that most of the local Secretary of State and Gubernatorial candidates who were “2020 election deniers” were unsuccessful in their bids for office. As we celebrate the wins of the many pro-democracy candidates and the tireless community organizers around the country, Horizons has been reflecting on Daniel Stid’s recent blog “…the conflation of democracy with politics is one of the biggest challenges to sustaining it. Democracy is so much larger than politics… we have to do a better job demarcating when we’re talking about what, otherwise we can create an idea or expectation that democracy is only working when we get the political wins we want, or that everything we don’t agree with is inherently anti-democratic”.
We still have a lot of work to do on the democracy agenda in the US and globally, and there are many resources and thought leaders offering a path forward. The Brennan Center for Justice provided a thoughtful analysis of How Voter Suppression Legislation is Tied to Race.
Erica Chenoweth and Zoe Marks from the Harvard Kennedy School recently released a seminal report (commissioned by Social and Economic Justice Leaders Project) Pro-Democracy Organizing against Autocracy in the United States: A Strategic Assessment & Recommendations, that proposes nonviolent resistance strategies, support systems to protect communities at-risk, and infrastructure needed for effective pro-democracy organizing. Others are asking In a Fast-Changing Political Landscape, How is The Democracy Alliance Evolving? And, also offering observations that Philanthropy Needs New Strategies to Save American Democracy.
Jill Vialet from the Center for Social Sector Leadership describes a new form of Democracy Entrepreneurship and highlights the importance of bringing an entrepreneurial mindset to the work of democratic reform. Part of this new mindset is how we talk about democracy, and in his recent opinion piece, How to Strangle Democracy While Pretending to Engage in It, Carlos Lozada reflects on how the rhetoric we use can “move public discourse beyond extreme, intransigent postures of either kind, with the hope that in the process our debates will become more ‘democracy friendly’”.
At Horizons, we are committed to helping build a renewed global democracy movement, and the recent article by Rachel Kleinfeld, A Helsinki Moment for a New Democracy Strategy discusses lessons from the democracy community’s last paradigm shift to provide a lens for seeing what we need next; and, how countries need to work together on shared challenges. Finally, we hope you’ll tune in to the recent podcast interview with Horizons’ Co-Lead and Chief Organizer, Maria Stephan on the Difficult Conversations Podcast where she discusses the US’s long history of authoritarian tendencies, exactly how those tendencies are manifesting today, and how the tools and strategies of nonviolent action can be used to effectively counter them.
As we prepare for the Thanksgiving holidays in the US, we are grateful for all the inspiring work and important ideas reflected in what we’ve been reading, watching, and listening to:
READING
The Pillars of Support Project
By The Horizons Project
Horizons recently launched a new initiative to compile research and make recommendations for engaging different pillars within society that are positioned to incentivize pro-democracy behavior or continue to prop up an authoritarian system. There are many excellent organizations working within these pillars, such as faith communities, the private sector, organized labor, and veterans’ groups to name just a few.
The Role of In-Group Moderates in Faith Communities
by The One America Movement (OAM)
When OAM describes the role of in-group moderates, they “aren’t talking about being politically or socially moderate, compromising your values, or changing who you are. Being an in-group moderate means that you are willing to speak out when members of your community (your friends, your family, your coworkers, your congregation, your political party) behave in a way that contradicts your values. This act of speaking up can look like pulling someone you love aside to explain to them how concerned you are about their words or actions”.
The Importance of Corporate Political Responsibility
by Andrew Winston, Elizabeth Doty, and Thomas Lyon, MIT Sloan Management Review
Corporate Political Responsibility (CPR) is a broader take on old-school corporate social responsibility, or CSR. CPR focuses on how business influences four key systems: the rules of the game (markets, laws, and regulations), civic institutions and representation (for instance, protecting democracy), civil society and public discourse, and natural systems and societal shared resources. The article includes a helpful table on “Putting Corporate Political Responsibility Into Action”.
Could Veterans Put Us on a Path Toward Bringing Respect and Civility Back to Politics?
by Dan Vallone, Stars and Stripes
As we celebrated Veterans Day November 11th, this special edition of Stars and Stripes highlighted the research of More In Common that found that 86% of Americans say they trust veterans to do what is right for America and 76% say veterans are role models for good citizenship. “This trust and respect holds true for Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike, and speaks to the distinct potential veterans have to bring Americans together across our political divide”.
WATCHING
Perspectives from Neuroscience: Visualizing the Wonders of the Brain
by Dr. Richard J. Davidson; The Wellbeing Summit for Social Change
The Wellbeing Project held a Summit for Social Change in June 2022 that brought together global social, governmental, arts, and business leaders to advance individual and collective wellbeing for those working on the front lines of social change. You can watch all the videos of the presentations and check out the practical tools and arts installations presented at the Summit here. This session on the neuroscience of wellbeing was one of our favorites.
by Reframe
Check out this great Tik Tok explanatory video on how wellness and fitness influencers create pathways to misinformation and QAnon conspiracy theories. (And while you’re there, check out their other super videos on misinformation and other narrative change topics)!
Building and Sustaining Resilience Amid Rising Political Violence
by Western States Center (WSC)
WSC hosted a series of conversations, Looking Forward by Looking Back, to learn from those who have waged a long-term struggle against authoritarianism to reflect on the choices we will make to protect inclusive democracy in the US. If you missed this inspiring webinar sharing important lessons from the experience in South Africa, we highly recommend taking time to watch the recording; you can download the presentation slides here.
LISTENING TO
These Political Scientists Surveyed 500,000 Voters. Here Are Their Unnerving Conclusions
The Ezra Klein Show podcast
John Sides and Lynn Vavreck — political scientists at Vanderbilt and U.C.L.A., respectively — discuss the findings of their new book, The Bitter End: The 2020 Presidential Campaign and the Challenge to American Democracy. In this podcast, they make an interesting argument that our politics aren’t just polarized, but calcified, describing the process and implications of this calcification.
The Deep Dive podcast with Philip McKenzie
Systems-level change is hard. In this podcast, Jennifer Garvey Berger discusses her new book Unlock Your Complexity Genius which explores how we think about and process complexity and how we leverage that thinking to understand ourselves and the world we inhabit.
StoryCorps podcast
In 2012, StoryCorps broadcast a conversation with a young woman involved in the murder of Mulugeta Seraw, a Black man in Portland, Oregon. A decade later, they revisited it to look at the ripples of racist violence, and a few people who fought to stop it.
How to Depolarize Deeply Divided Societies
The Conversation Weekly podcast
Jennifer McCoy, a political scientist at Georgia State University, is studying cases of depolarization from around the world over the past century. Her research is identifying a couple of fundamental conditions of countries which have successfully depolarized (and sustained it.) Robert Talisse, a political philosopher at Vanderbilt University, describes a different phenomenon that he calls belief polarization. Talisse doesn’t believe polarization can ever be eliminated – only managed. And he has a couple of suggestions for how.
INTERESTING TWEETS
FOR FUN
Fine Acts teamed up with the Democracy & Belonging Forum, an initiative of the Othering and Belonging Institute at the University of California, Berkeley – to produce a collection of powerful visual artworks on the topic of Bridging & Belonging. They “commissioned 40 amazing artists to work on the topic, through the prism of solutions and hope. All works are now published under an open license on thegreats.co, their platform for free social impact art, so that anyone – including educators, activists and nonprofits globally – can use them in their work”.
THE VISTA: September 2022
The Horizons Project is growing! We are pleased to formally welcome both Nilanka Seneviratne as the Director for Systems and Operations, and Jonathan Pinckney as the Director for Applied Research. September is always a busy month.
We have new resources available on our website, including a compilation of “mapping” initiatives within the ecosystem of social change working on democracy, social justice, and bridgebuilding in the US. Please share others that we might have missed! Horizons also just released the first in a series of resources on the intersection of bridge-building and power-building.
We continue to be so inspired by all the amazing work and thought leadership happening throughout the country. Here’s a sampling of what we’re reading, watching, and listening to these days:
READING
The Bridge Project: Reframing the Prevailing American Narrative for 2052
by Connie Razza and Angela Peoples
You don’t want to miss the Reframing the Prevailing American Narrative for 2052 Report, a narrative “destination” project that “takes a different approach from much of the narrative work that aims to win an election, to pass a policy, to make progress in the near term. The Bridge Project attempts to craft a story that aligns with who we are working to be in 30 years, and to strategize for transformation by building backward from that future narrative to inform the stories that shape our work today and in the coming years.”
My final column: 2024 and the Dangers Ahead
by Margaret Sullivan
Editorialist, Sullivan, extolled fellow journalists to tread carefully in covering the upcoming elections. “One thing is certain. News outlets can’t continue to do speech, rally and debate coverage — the heart of campaign reporting — in the same old way. They will need to lean less on knee-jerk live coverage and more on reporting that relentlessly provides meaningful context.”
by Adrian Rutt
This is a meaty overview of several different takes on polarization, but one insight that was particularly powerful: “…we are all bundles of contradictions, whatever else we like to think about our expressed beliefs and their consistency and cogency…It is not the case that we possess rigorously formulated ‘belief systems’, which stamp out our thoughts and reactions in a fully determinable way. People alter their reactions and expressions to cope with the particularities of the situation they find themselves in.”
Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation: A Struggle for Democracy and Racial Justice
by Kitana Ananda
This Non-Profit Quarterly article provides an excellent summary of a rich webinar discussion, that left the audience with three key takeaways: (1) build networks that plug people into ongoing efforts to combat disinformation through narrative analysis and solution building; (2) hold Big Tech accountable through advocacy and legislation to advance a racially equitable digital society; and, (3) diversify media, tech, and academic institutions that are working on these issues to center the analyses and needs of impacted communities.
WATCHING
Joe Bubman, Executive Director of Urban Rural Action
Watch this great short video describing the work of Urban Rural Action, highlighting the experience of folks in Maryland coming together from different ideological perspectives to tackle issues of immigration, economic development, and inclusion with practical local solutions for their state.
Study Looks to Strengthen How We Feel About Democracy
Stanford University’s Robb Willer is interviewed on MSNBC to discuss their new study on reducing toxic polarization and reducing Americans’ anti-democratic attitudes. An overview of the study was also summarized by Fast Company or you can read the full report: Strengthening Democracy Challenge.
Vice President for Programs at One America Movement, Chandra DeNap Whetstine gave an inspiring talk at Stand Together’s Catalyst Summit describing their approach to combatting toxic polarization, working with faith communities across the US.
LISTENING TO
Power Building with Alicia Garza
Finding Our Way Podcast
In this episode, author, political strategist, and organizer Alicia Garza, breaks down what power is, how we build it, and why we need it in order to build a more equitable society.
The Power of Crisis, Ian Bremmer
Future Hindsight Podcast
This interview discusses The Power of Crisis: How Three Threats – and Our Response – Will Change The World, a new book by Ian Bremmer which posits that the climate crisis, disruptive technologies, and pandemics are existential threats to humanity, but also offer an opportunity for real cooperation across the world.
Journeying on the Road to Reconciliation
Think Peace Podcast
“Going down the road of reconciliation is a daunting path that not many people can take. This road may test you in ways you couldn’t imagine but when the end result leads to tangible and sustainable change, you realize that the journey is worth it.” Director of the Mary Hoch Center for Reconciliation, Antti Pentikainen discusses his journey into reconciliation, his experiences working in different contexts, and what have been the most effective methods in working towards reconciliation.
INTERESTING TWEETS
FOR FUN
At The Horizons Project we love all genres of music, but we have a special place in our hearts for all those who can rock the mic. We were recently introduced to Harry Mack who brought us so much joy. Please enjoy his most recent freestyle and try really hard stop at one (or don’t because they are all great)!
THE VISTA: August 2022
In the Northern hemisphere, August is a quiet month when we try to stay cool, hopefully take time off, and then prepare for the academic year to kick off again. The slower pace has been a perfect time for the Horizons team to dig into so many new narrative resources, like this meaty compilation from the Narrative Initiative. Narrative competency is a key area of exploration for Horizons; and we remain committed to weaving bridgebuilding and powerbuilding concepts into our Narrative Engagement Across Difference initiative.
This IFIT report on Narrative, Power and Polarisation highlights that instead of one unifying narrative to counter polarization, we need to illuminate narrative biases, change narratives from within, and amplify smaller stories that help build social engagement at scale. This aligns with More In Common’s new report on American identity, which finds that personal stories of family history are a powerful way to break through the “us vs. them” narrative.
Many narrative practitioners are coming to the conclusion that we must be more conscious of fostering a sense of agency and community, rather than perpetuating a competitive, scarcity mindset that often comes with stories of crises. Framing choices have the power to inspire all of us to work through shared problems and to embrace a civic identity that respects differences, as also highlighted in this wonderful video series from Doing Things With Stories.
Here are some other resources we have found inspiring this month:
READING
Callings from “Fierce Civility”
By: Curtis Ogden
“Civility has (almost) become a dirty word, seen as naive and impossible by some (at least when considering certain cultural and political divides), and as harmful by others, if ‘being civil’ means not speaking or hearing truths or working for social justice.” Fierce civility is not about ‘chronic niceness’ or conflict avoidance, but rather advocates for stances of assertiveness (as opposed to aggression) and receptivity (as opposed to passivity.)”
By: Amna Khalid and Jeffrey Aaron Snyder
“In the United States today, the left and right alike have aggressively embraced cancelation campaigns. Each side has its own distinctive objectives, strategies, initiatives and networks—as well as its own particular strongholds.”
By: Ian Leslie
“We live in age of social influence, and while there is no shortage of advice on [how] to influence others, how to build a following, how to change minds – there is a dearth of thinking on how to be influenced…Each human being is bounded but permeable, a creature capable of making its own thoughts and actions but prone to copying and adapting those of others. When everyone around us is doing the same thing, we feel a pressure to join in that is almost physical in its force.”
By: Maree Conway
“If we accept that we don’t know why someone is doing something we don’t accept, we can begin to accept that it may not be a case of us right, them wrong. We’ve observed something that arouses something in us, but we can reject being judgemental as a response. We can accept that not knowing is okay. Of course, there are situations where this stance won’t apply and events that cause harm to others in particular are just wrong.”
A Funder’s Guide to Building Social Cohesion
By: The Democracy Funders Network, in collaboration with Civic Health Project, New Pluralists, and Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement
This guide is intended to orient funders to the different ways civil society actors are thinking about and addressing the problems of affective polarization and eroding social trust.
WATCHING
Larger US put out this great video to accompany their new report on the need for collective psychology to counter tribalism and polarization. You can also find excellent explanatory Twitter threads here.
Are Americans Thinking More Systemically?
Check out this roundtable discussion hosted by the FrameWorks Institute featuring community leaders and organizers discussing the implications of shifting mindsets from individualistic to systemic level thinking and the impacts on health equity, the economy, race, and politics.
Radical Belonging and Bridging: A Path Forward for Societies in Crisis?
“…for too long, civic leaders concerned centrally with democracy and those concerned with the rights of marginalized and minority communities have worked in silos, despite the many shared goals and values that both groups share.” Watch this important conversation, the first in a series, that launched the Democracy & Belonging Forum of the Othering & Belonging Institute.
LISTENING
Hungarian Autocracy and The American Right
By: Fresh Air
“New Yorker journalist Andrew Marantz says Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s administration has rewritten Hungary’s constitution to consolidate his power. U.S. conservatives are taking note.”
Radical Grievance with Malkia Devich-Cyril
By: The Emergent Strategy Podcast
“Grief is power…and a way to strength and intimacy.” This is a great conversation about our collective embrace of grief that can also aid in our journey to build belonging.
Eboo Patel and the Vision for an Interfaith America
By: Ashoka
Eboo Patel discusses his most recent book, We Need to Build: Field Notes For Diverse Democracy, to inspire and equip changemakers to move beyond critique and begin to build the next pluralist chapter of American life.
INTERESTING TWEETS
FOR FUN
Reach for the stars! The images released by NASA’s Webb telescope captured everyone’s imaginations this month. Check out this great breakdown from The Washington Post, which provides more background into exactly what each photo portrays.
So much of the news is consumed with what’s going wrong in the world that it can be hard to point to the bright spots and beauty that also exists. Check out the Peace Dots Project, which seeks to do just that in Buffalo, NY.
THE VISTA: April 2022
WHAT WE’RE READING, WATCHING, AND LISTENING TO AT HORIZONS
In April, we joined many friends and colleagues in mourning the sudden loss of Peter Ackerman, a visionary and treasured leader in the field of civil resistance. One concrete way to honor Peter’s memory is to read and help spread his most recent publication the Checklist To End Tyranny, an important resource for anyone who cares about organizing to expand freedom over oppression. Mixed in with this sense of loss is also the great joy we experienced this month, as the Horizons team convened our first in-person gathering of an amazing group of women network leaders. During this time, we shared deeply our individual practices of “sensemaking,” a topic near and dear to us as one of our three lines of work at Horizons. You can read more about these practices in our most recent blog. We are also excited to welcome a new teammate, Nilanka Seneviratne, who joined us April 1 as Director of Operations and Systems!
Horizons continues to curate resources each month that bring together different ideas and perspectives linking issues of democracy, peacebuilding, and social justice. We hope you enjoy the many thought-provoking materials in this month’s VISTA:
READING
Dissent and Dialogue: The Role of Mediation in Nonviolent Uprisings
By Isak Svensson and Daan van de Rizen, U.S. Institute of Peace
While both mediation and nonviolent resistance have been the subject of significant scholarly work, the connection of the two fields has received less attention. Using newly collected data on nonviolent uprisings over several years in Africa, this report explores four distinct challenges: how to determine when the situation is ripe for resolution, how to identify valid spokespersons when movements consist of diverse coalitions, how to identify well-positioned insider mediators, and how to avoid the risk of mediation leading to pacification without transformative social change.
Red/Blue Workshops Try to Bridge The Political Divide. Do They Really Work?
John Burnett, NPR
Using an example of a Braver Angels dialogue in La Grange Texas, this article explores the work of bridgebuilders in the US including some limitations and criticisms of these approaches.
The Racial Politics of Solidarity With Ukraine,
Kitana Ananda, Nonprofit Quarterly
This article delves into the nuances of the racialized response to the war in Ukraine both within the United States and abroad, highlighting existing tensions and different perspectives about the need for an anti-war movement to be aligned with racial justice.
How Companies Can Address Their Historical Transgressions
Sarah Federman, Harvard Business Review
Some multigenerational companies or their predecessors have committed acts in the past that would be anathema today—they invested in or owned slaves, for example, or they were complicit in crimes against humanity. How should today’s executives respond to such historical transgressions? Drawing on her recent book about the effort by the French National Railways to make amends for its role in the Holocaust, the author argues that rather than become defensive, executives should accept that appropriately responding to crimes in the past is their fiduciary and moral duty. They can begin by commissioning independent historians, publicly apologizing in a meaningful manner, and offering compensation on the advice of victims’-rights groups. The alternative is often expensive lawsuits and bruising negotiations with victims or their descendants.
How to Avoid (Unintentional) Online Racism and Shut Down Overt Racism When You See It
Mark Holden, Website Planet
Special thanks to Ritta Blens for sharing this piece for us and our readers! While lengthy, this great article provides a comprehensive breakdown of how racism is showing up online in the US and abroad, as well as statistics for how Americans and others are choosing to respond. The article ends with some helpful recommendations for how organizations, journalists, and individuals can avoid unintentionally racist language, as well as address racism when you see it in your online communities.
WATCHING
A Community-Led Approach to Revitalizing American Democracy
The Horizons Project
During the 2022 National Week of Conversation, The Horizons Project, Beyond Conflict, and Urban Rural Action led a conversation on how communities can lead the way to revitalizing democracy in the US and beyond. You can check out the first part of the event in the link above.
America Needs To Admit How Racist It is
The Problem with Jon Stewart (Video) Podcast
This is a heart-felt discussion on race relations with Bryan Stevenson, civil rights lawyer and founder of Equal Justice Initiative about how racism has poisoned America from the very start. The interview also offers ideas on how the country can reckon with our past and repair the damage it continues to do.
The Neutrality Trap: Disrupting and Connecting for Social Change
Great Reads Book Club (Video) Podcast by Mediate.com
Bernie Mayer and Jacqueline Font-Guzman discuss their wonderful new book, with important reflections from the perspective of conflict resolution professionals about how the social issues that face us today need conflict, engagement, and disruption. Avoiding conflict would be a mistake for us to make progress as a country.
Frontiers of Democratic Reform
The American Academy of Political and Social Science, Democracy in the Balance Series
This recording is the third in a series of discussions on democratic vulnerability and resilience in the United States. The final webinar focused on the practical steps that can be taken to guard against democratic backsliding in the United States and how to bolster the integrity of our democratic institutions. Panelists included Judd Choate (Colorado Division of Elections), Lee Drutman (New America), Hahrie Han (Johns Hopkins University), and Larry Jacobs (University of Minnesota). You can download all the journal articles that served as a basis for this series here.
LISTENING
Podcast: The Whole Person Revolution
David French is a columnist for the Atlantic and the author of Divided We Fall, and Jonathan Rauch is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and the author of The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth. In this podcast they discuss why the current culture wars have been intensifying and potential ways forward.
Podcast: On Being
Ai-jen Poo and Tarana Burke join each other in conversation for this episode in a series from On Being on the future of hope. They discuss their beautiful friendship that has powered and sustained them as they are leading defining movements of this generation. It’s an intimate conversation rooted in trust and care, and an invitation to all of us to imagine and build a more graceful way to remake the world.
Deva Woodly on Reckoning: Black Lives Matter and The Democratic Necessity of Social Movements
Podcast: Conversations in Atlantic Theory
Deva Woodly from the New School for Social Research has published widely on democratic theory and practice, focusing on the function of public meaning formation and its effect on self and collective understanding of the polity. This podcast explores the role of social movements in democratic life and how we come to produce knowledge from those public conversations.
How Many Americans Actually Support Political Violence?
Podcast: People Who Read People
A talk with political scientist Thomas Zeitzoff, discussing survey results that seem to show an increase in Americans willingness to think political violence is justified, and how that relates to our fears about future violent conflicts and “civil war scenarios” in the United States. The podcast also covers the psychology of polarization, the Ukraine-Russia conflict, and the effects of social media on society in general.
INTERESTING TWEETS
A twitter thread breaking down the recent Jon Haidt article in the Atlantic, Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.
Check out this overview of new research from Ike Silver and Alex Shaw published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology on how the common tactics people use to avoid taking a stand on hot-button issues can backfire, and the costs of moral neutrality.
Luke Craven reflects on the need for “values alignment” for effective coalition-building versus creating the conditions for “values pluralism.”
Using the Climate Crisis as an example, Prof. Katherine Hayhoe highlights the limitations of fear-based messaging, emphasizing the need to not only describe the problems we are facing as a society, but to also offer actions people can take and hope that change is possible.
An interesting discussion on the implication for journalists and media outlets on the ways their reporting is skewed by the highly polarized, politically informed populace versus most Americans who are not politically engaged and tuning out.
Gabriel Rosenberg is an Associate Professor of Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies at Duke University and describes why the new label of “groomer” being thrown at political adversaries is so dangerous.
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
With all the heaviness of the world we want to leave you with something a little different. Music is such a powerful force, it has the power to inspire, celebrate, and even galvanize action. This section won’t always be a song but hopefully it’ll strike a chord with you as you go about your day.
Since Mother’s Day is quickly approaching, we wanted to include a musical tribute to all the mothers out there. And someone who’s music inspired has several of us over the years is Brandi Carlile. Her album By the Way, I Forgive You remains in heavy rotation. So, we present for your enjoyment, The Mother.
THE VISTA: January 2022
WHAT WE’RE READING, WATCHING & LISTENING TO AT HORIZONS
There are so many wonderful insights and ideas that inspire us at The Horizons Project, helping to make sense of what’s happening, what’s needed, what’s possible and ways of working within a complex system. Once a month we share just a sampling of the breadth of resources, tools, reflections, and diverse perspectives that we hope will offer you some food for thought as well.
READING
Coordinates of Speculative Solidarity
By: Barbara Adams as part of UNHCR’s Project Unsung
“Solidarity has a speculative character and is fundamentally a horizontal activity with its focus on liberation, justice, and the creative processes of world- and future-building—projects that are never complete. The horizon is always present in the landscape, reminding us that there are things beyond what is visible from a particular location. As a coordinate central to perspective and orientation, the horizon is vital to successful navigation. As we move toward the horizon it remains “over there,” showing us that there are limits to what we can know in advance. However, rather than frustrating our efforts, horizons represent possibilities.”
The Relational Work of Systems Change
By: Katherine Milligan, Juanity Zerda and John Kania at the Collective Change Lab
“People who work with collective impact efforts are all actors in the systems they are trying to change, and that change must begin from within. The process starts with examining biases, assumptions, and blind spots; reckoning with privilege and our role in perpetuating inequities; and creating the inner capacity to let go of being in control. But inner change is also a relational and iterative process: The individual shifts the collective, the collective shifts the individual, and on and on it goes. That interplay is what allows us to generate insight, create opportunities, and see the potential for transformation.”
6 Key Practices for Sensemaking
By: David McLean on LinkedIn
This post highlights the work of Harold Jarche and is chock full of tips on how to deal with volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity.
By: Nat Kendall-Taylor at Frameworks Institute
“Being smart and right is getting in the way of moving hearts and minds towards positive social change…Speaking to what people are worried about resonates, while rhetorical quips and barbs make it seem like communicators don’t get the point, or worse, that they don’t care. Instead of defending the definition of Critical Race Theory, communicators could have pivoted to discussions about the importance of having an education system that prepares children for the world they will inherit, or of the role of having children realize their potential for the future prosperity of our country.”
After the Tide: Critical Race Theory in 2021
By: Baratunde Thurston on Puck
“So, I want us to stop talking about ‘critical race theory’ and start talking about what it means to love this country. I want us to stop burying our heads when someone shares an unflattering truth and instead embrace the discomfort and recognize it as a sign of growth. I want us to stop talking about ‘freedom’ as if it means denying the truth and instead remember that living a lie is what holds us captive, and the truth is what sets us free. I’m ready to get to the part of the American story where we have processed our pain and used it to forge a stronger nation, where we can heal from our historic traumas and focus our energies on building that ever-elusive multi-racial democracy where everyone feels like they belong. But we cannot heal from injuries we do not acknowledge. We cannot grow from pain we refuse to feel. Let’s know America. Let’s love America. Let’s grow America.”
To Tackle Racial Justice, Organizing Must Change
By: Daniel Martinez HoSang, LeeAnne Hall and Libero Della Piana in The Forge
This provocative read names how internal conflicts can show up within racial justice movements and offers concrete advice on creating an “organizational culture with more calling-in than calling-out.”
Just Look Up: 10 Strategies to Defeat Authoritarianism
By: Deepak Bhargava and Harry Hanbury
“The gravity of the threat demands a reorientation of energy from organizations and individuals to prioritize the fight to preserve democracy. Unless it is addressed, there is little prospect of progress on other issues in the years to come. The fate of each progressive issue and constituency is now bound together. We might even imagine a practice of “tithing for democracy” — finding a way for all of us, whatever our role and work, to devote a significant portion of our time to address the democracy crisis, which has become the paramount issue of our time. We may each make different kinds of contributions, but there’s no way to honorably keep on with business as usual in the face of the current crisis. We’ll explore a wide variety of possible approaches with the understanding that there’s no silver bullet or quick fix for such a deep-rooted problem.”
Strengthening Local Government Against Bigoted and Anti-Democracy Movements
The Western States Center released a new resource for Local Governments on how to counter groups working to undermine democracy and counter bigoted political violence. “Local leaders have the power to confront hate and bigotry. Many have shown bravery and commitment in working to counter these dangerous forces in their communities….we hope these recommendations provide one more tool to support these critical efforts.”
The 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer
The 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer was recently released with the study results of levels of trust in business, governments, NGOs and media. Across every issue, and by huge margins, people indicated they want more business engagement and accountability in responding to societal problems, especially climate change and rising inequality.
LISTENING
Podcast Undistracted: “This Big Old Lie”
The author of The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, Heather McGhee sits down with host Brittany Packnett Cunningham to explain her research, the “hypnotic racial story” fueling American injustice, and how we can do better.
Podcast Scholars Strategy Network: Reflecting on Two Years of Trauma
Dr. Maurice Stevens, from Ohio State University, reflects on how Americans react and respond to traumatic events both as individuals as groups, and on how we can better connect amidst the current chaos.
Fear and Scapegoating in the Time of Pandemics
A podcast interview with Yale Professor Nicholas Christakis, director of the Human Nature Lab, on the connection between pandemics and our need to assign blame.
Podcast StoryCorps: One Small Step
In this episode, StoryCorps shares examples of people sitting down and talking about what shapes their beliefs and what shapes us as humans. StoryCorps founder Dave Isay describes what he envisions for this new initiative, One Small Step.
If you like poetry, you’ll enjoy this reading by Krista Tippet of Jane Hirshfield’s poem “Let Them Not Say” which is so powerful and relevant even though she wrote it a couple years ago.
Let them not say: we did not see it.
We saw.
Let them not say: we did not hear it.
We heard.
Let them not say: they did not taste it.
We ate, we trembled.
Let them not say: it was not spoken, not written.
We spoke,
we witnessed with voices and hands.
Let them not say: they did nothing.
We did not-enough.
Let them say, as they must say something:
A kerosene beauty.
It burned.
Let them say we warmed ourselves by it,
read by its light, praised,
and it burned.
WATCHING
Unraveling Biases in the Brain
By: Dr. Emily Falk and Dr. Emile Bruneau at TEDxPenn
“How can we unravel the conflicting biases in our brain to work towards a more just and peaceful world? In this talk, Dr. Emily Falk honors Dr. Emile Bruneau’s work at Penn’s Neuroscience & Conflict lab, describing the opportunity to look closer into our unconscious biases, question them, and face discomfort to make a change in our communities and beyond.”
This documentary by Ideas Institute that brings together twelve Americans from across the ideological spectrum to participate in a dialogue experiment on political polarization. It’s an hour long and “tracks each participant as they voice their political opinions, come face to face with those holding different views, and, perhaps, forge a path to mutual understanding.” You can watch the trailer here, and watch the movie from their website.
Hope-Based Communications for Human Rights Activists
By: Thomas Coombes at TEDxMagdeburg
Coombes reflects on how “social change activists are very good at talking about what they are against, but less good at selling the change they want to see to the wider public.”
INTERESTING TWEETS
Facilitating and Training in Cross-Sector Movements: Turbo-Charging Efforts for Coordination and Collaboration
On September 14, 2022, The Horizons Project hosted a webinar to bring together movement trainers, facilitators, and organizers to discuss the current state of movement-building support in the US and how training and convening spaces could be better coordinated and envisioned more creatively to build a broad-based pro-democracy movement to counter the rising authoritarian threat.
Maria Stephan’s opening remarks are below.
“Hello everyone and welcome to today’s discussion on Facilitating and Training in Cross-Sector Movements: Turbo-Charging Efforts for Coordination and Collaboration. Today we’ll be speaking with a distinguished group of panelists about the current state of movement-building support in the US, and how training and convening spaces could be envisioned more creatively to support a broad-based front or movement to counter the rising authoritarian threats and to build a democracy that works for all Americans. While our conversation today will be focused on the US, we think there is significant cross-border import and relevance.
Why are we having this conversation now? Like most or all of you in this room, Horizons is deeply concerned about the state of US democracy, which was formally classified as “backsliding” last year by the Stockholm-based International IDEA. We’re concerned about the alarming rise of political violence and extreme us vs. them politics. This is not our first experience with authoritarianism in the US, however: the system of Jim Crow following the end of the Reconstruction period was one of the most virulent and violent forms of single-party rule. While the January 6th 2021 attempted insurrection was a dramatic reminder that “it can happen here” (to cite Sinclair Lewis, who wrote about rising fascism in the US in the 1930s), the rise in political violence (mostly but not exclusively from far-right groups) and state and local efforts to undermine free & fair elections are worrisome no matter which issues we care about the most – whether that be climate, health care, workers’ rights, or many others.
At the same time, we know that the only way that we have ever gotten closer to freedom & justice for all in the US, and what plenty of research has shown to be the strongest bulwark against authoritarianism globally, has been powerful, broad-based coalitions and movements capable of mobilizing people across difference. The history of USA is in many ways the history of movements – to achieve independence from colonial rule, to abolish slavery, to make suffrage truly universal, to expand civil and political rights for all. These movements have relied on a combination of dialogue and nonviolent action to build bridges, build power, and build belonging.
Training and facilitation are essential to building movement strength and sustainability. They have played a critical role in pro-democracy movements in the US (including the Civil Rights movement), the Philippines, Serbia, South Africa, and countless other places. Members of our panel have written extensively on this topic.
At Horizons we believe that both dialogue and direct action, organization, and mobilization, blocking harm and building democratic abundance, are necessary to overcome the divide and rule tactics that endemic to the Authoritarian Playbook.
To help shed light on the roles played by movement training and facilitation in both upholding and reimagining US democracy, we will now turn to a very talented and accomplished group of speakers. Let me introduce them briefly.
- Ivan Marovic is the Director of Field Education and Applied Research at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict. Since playing a leading role in Otpor, a youth movement which helped bring down Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia, Ivan has become one of the leading educators in the field of strategic nonviolent conflict.
- Nadine Bloch is the Training Director at Beautiful Trouble, a global network of organizers, artists, trainers, and writers where Nadine’s work explores the potent intersection of art, movements, and politics.
- Jake Waxman is an advisory board member and senior trainer with the Leading Change Network. He has led over 200 workshops and trained over 1,500 coaches and 15,000 participants in the craft of Public Narrative and Leadership, Organizing, and Action.
- Carlos Saavedra has been active in the immigrant rights movement for the last 20 years building and co-founding organizations for immigrant students and workers. Since founding the Ayni Institute in 2013, he has been coaching and training organizers and leaders in movement building.
- Reverend Stephen A. Green is an activist and pastor who leads with radical love in action through his ministry at the St. Luke AME Church in Harlem, and as Chair of Faith for Black Lives, a faith-based social justice organization. He is also the creator and host of the podcast, “Sacred Desk with Rev. Stephen A. Green,” which features conversations with thought leaders and change agents focused on the latest headlines.”