Posts Tagged: social-movements - (55 found)

Rethinking social change in the face of coronavirus [SSIR]

How should the social sector respond to the evolving crisis? How will nonprofits, foundations, philanthropic organizations, and social justice advocates emerge from the pandemic? What unique insight and capabilities can civil society bring to bear on the problems the world now faces? How will organizations manage potentially calamitous challenges to funding their operations? In this series, Standford Social Innovation Review will present insight from social change leaders around the globe to help organizations face the systemic, operational, and strategic challenges that will test the limits of their capabilities.

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Can NGOs and social movements be authentic allies? [blog]

[Michael Silberman writes] Many NGO staff rightly have an overwhelming fear of causing harm to movements by acting in ways that are (or appear to be) self-serving or co-opting. They also fear causing harm to their own organization through legal risks or supporter attrition. That said, inaction during a ‘movement moment’ also risks an organisation’s relevance and impact…

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Social defence [book – free download]

Social defence is nonviolent community resistance to aggression and repression, as an alternative to military forces. Given the enormous damage caused by military systems, social defence is an alternative worth investigating and pursuing. Since the 1980s, Jørgen Johansen and Brian Martin have been involved in promoting social defence. In this book, they provide an up-to-date treatment of the issues. They address the downsides of military systems, historical examples of nonviolent resistance to invasions and coups, key ideas about social defence, important developments since the end of the Cold War, and the role of social movements.

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Evaluating social movement power

Though social movements are not new, there is considerable confusion differentiating social movements from other types of social change and a lack of literacy about how movements build power to transform the status quo. Existing evaluation approaches provide critical guidance for understanding the health and capacity of social movements but don’t go far enough in helping us understand whether movements are making progress toward their goals and translating capacity and strategy into long-term power for the movement. These resources introduce a social movement theory of change, four types of movement power, and indicators for assessing movement power building.

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No justice without love: why activism must be more generous

Frances Lee writes: “I want to be a member of a thriving and diverse social movement, not a cult or a religion… I believe that social justice activists must be committed to rooting out supremacy, dogmatism, and unhealthy behaviors inside themselves while fighting for justice in society. And that means prioritizing the building of healthy relationships both with ourselves and with others, choosing alternatives to rage, and honoring ourselves as whole beings.”

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How power works in our hyperconnected world – and how to make it work for you (book)

Why do some leap ahead while others fall behind in our chaotic, connected age? In New Power, Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms confront the biggest stories of our time–the rise of mega-platforms like Facebook and Uber; the out-of-nowhere victories of Obama and Trump; the unexpected emergence of movements like #MeToo–and reveal what’s really behind them: the rise of “new power.”

For most of human history, the rules of power were clear: power was something to be seized and then jealously guarded. This “old power” was out of reach for the vast majority of people. But our ubiquitous connectivity makes possible a different kind of power. “New power” is made by many. It is open, participatory, and peer-driven. It works like a current, not a currency–and it is most forceful when it surges. The battle between old and new power is determining who governs us, how we work, and even how we think and feel.

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‘That’s just the life of a warrior’: How disability activists are playing the long game under Trump

Pacific Standard spoke to Anita Cameron. Among disability rights activists, Cameron is legendary. She’s been performing acts of civil disobedience for almost four decades, with over 130 arrests. She also pushes the disability community to confront issues of race, class, sexuality, and other aspects of intersecting justice within its own ranks.

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Four strategies for large systems change

To create systems of societal change, we need to become clearer about the archetypes of societal change strategies, their strengths and weaknesses, and their interactions. How do we transform a group of well-intended but collectively incoherent change initiatives into a powerful societal change system? The matrix serves as a device to raise valuable questions and spark insights for understanding change strategies or initiatives holistically.

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