Working with the impacts of racism and rupture in predominantly white organising spaces
Our activism and organising work sits within a global and historical system of interlinking forms of oppression. We are socialised into these systems – through our intimate networks, communities, institutions, historical forces and so on. Racism (interlinked with and reinforced by patriarchy, capitalism and other aspects of systemic oppression) shapes the ways we think, relate to each other, organise, and imagine the world. To be able to effectively challenge the status quo and build a world that inspires us, we need to develop skills in relation to racism: skills that will help us recognise racism showing up in ourselves and others, act to deconstruct those socialised patterns and refuse the separation racism forces us into. Unlearning and learning new ways of being and relating is necessary if we want our actions in the world to be genuinely transformative and aligned with our values.
While acknowledging that the different aspects of oppression within neoliberal hegemony are interlinked and mutually strengthening, this course will focus on the specifics of racism. Our analysis of the current state of social movements in Europe is that awareness of the impacts of racism, and how prone we are to reproduce its harmful patterns in our groups, is becoming stronger and more prevalent. While this is the case, we still seem to lack ways of effectively being, relating and organising that can help us address these impacts and exemplify the transformative change we want to see in the world. There remain real challenges around our abilities to be in deep solidarity with each other when these tensions surface as, all too often, we find ourselves in cycles of reactivity and conflict, paralysed by fears, self protections, avoidances, shame, blame and hopelessness, unable to creatively work with the effects on us and our groups.
The aim of the course is to collectively develop context-relevant practices that can help our groups and movements practice solidarity, togetherness and support healing in the moments of rupture and impacts of racism.
This course is aimed at white and white passing experienced activists, organisers and facilitators. We will together look at the rupture and impacts that racism is causing in our movements, organisations and groups and explore ways to tend to this rupture in ways that align with our values and exemplify solidarity. We will specifically look at challenges and skills needed for anti-racists organising in spaces that are dominated by white-bodied folk.
We will create a community of inquiry aimed at activists already in the process of developing solidarity skills in relation to racism.
The course will be based on Ulex’s Active Solidarity approach. We will create a space for taking a step back, reflecting on and analysing our experiences of the impacts that racism is causing in our organising spaces. The training is designed as an opportunity for sharing and learning from each other. We will work with some concepts and theory – you will be invited to familiarise yourself with some of these before the training – to see how these can be applied to the different organising contexts we come from. The focus will be on practice and critical inquiry of these models, through exploration of case studies.
We will not offer ready-made solutions and answers, but rather create conditions for a deeper understanding of the dynamics and harm caused by racism, so that we can find relevant practices and actions from there. We want to collectively explore how we can move away from paralysing shame and blame dynamics, punitive approaches and separation, towards practicing solidarity that is fueled by and rooted in deep values of interdependence and recognises how bound together our struggles are. The exploration and inquiry will be rooted in deep desire and aspiration for systemic transformation and not merely addressing interpersonal discrimination dynamics.
Solidarity practice is for us rooted in a rigorous practice of and striving for togetherness. We understand togetherness as an antidote to the separation and alienation created and maintained by interlocking systems of oppression. Togetherness is rooted in recognition of our systemic conditions and the development of solidarity skillsets that help us radically challenge and transform these conditions on different levels – personal, group, social movements and socio-political. We see solidarity and togetherness as a practice – skills and capacities we develop over time and together. This inevitably means making mistakes along the way, requiring an approach of constant adaptation, humility and forgiveness – of ourselves and each other.
Aims of the course:
Overview of main themes
Who is it aimed at?
Anyone with substantial experience in socially engaged action addressing ecological, political and social justice issues. We embrace a broad definition of activism that includes any form of contribution to change and social and ecological justice. That might include: Resistance – action preventing further damage to ecosystems and social justice; Renewal – action focused on developing and creating alternatives for healthier societies and communities; and Building Resilience – action supporting increased resilience in communities to weather the uncertain times ahead.
The main spoken language on the course will be English.
Note that an understanding and experience of active solidarity (anti-oppression) approaches, tools and practice will be required, alongside substantial experience of organising with and being part of social movements. This course is not an introduction to the topic. If you are looking for a more introductory course, see our Active Solidarity training.
We welcome white-bodied and white passing participants. The team will consist of white-bodied, and white-passing facilitators.
Attendance in an online preparatory session and preparatory reading will be required to participate in the course.
If you are at a moment in your life where engaging with power dynamics, receiving direct feedback, or participating in intensive group enquiry feels especially difficult, this might not be the right time for attending this training.
For accessibility and venue information see here.
In the solidarity economy:
(See details of our approach to radical economics here)
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Isa (she/her) is an educator, facilitator, and author. She grew up in France before setting off on an adventure to London, where she worked as a freelance journalist, French teacher, and administrator for a community arts organisation, all while writing her PhD on the concept of community. She became Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London (UK), where she taught for 10 years before leaving academia to breathe the air of freedom and collective action. She co-founded and co-facilitates, with Jay Jordan, the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination, which has been bringing together artists and activists since 2004 to co-design and implement creative forms of direct action that are as joyful as they are politically effective. Active in social movements for over 20 years, she has facilitated assemblies of several hundred people, co-organised international mobilisations and climate camps, and trained thousands of people in reinventing forms of civil disobedience. Her passion is exploring collective dynamics and all the ways in which these can be made more fruitful, joyful, and caring, particularly through popular education and rituals. She has been involved with the zad in Notre Dame des Landes since 2016.
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An Maeyens (she/her) is a facilitator and trainer with over two decades of experience in grassroots movements. She specialises in creative, inclusive agenda design and brings deep expertise on group culture, power dynamics, and transformative learning. Starting of in the anti-globalisation movement she has trained thousands in civil disobedience, supported international coalitions, and developed multilingual training programmes and toolkits. Her work spans movements, cultures, and countries, guided by a commitment to care, accessibility, and leaderful organising.
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Ari’s activism began in 2002, at age 16, as a Bosnian refugee in Canada, where they founded and coordinated a group for LGBTIQ high school students and allies. They were a co-founder and leader at kolekTIRV in Croatia and Trans Network Balkan, involved in community organizing, advocacy, program management, team coordination, capacity building, education, media work, campaigns, events, fundraising, etc. In 2024, they joined the Supervisory Board of the Croatian Trade Union Collective of United Precarious Workers and Activists (SKUPA).
Beyond the Balkan region, Ari served as a Board member at Transgender Europe (TGEU), where they held roles as Secretary, Treasurer, and later Co-chair. They have also been a trainer with the Center for Artistic Activism and served on the Advisory Committee and since 2022 as a Community Care Facilitator at FRIDA — The Young Feminist Fund. Since 2024 they are the Operations Manager at Global Philanthropy Project.
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Sergio (all pronouns) was born in Romania and migrated to Germany in the early 2010s. In the past, he was a social worker with homeless people and a social consultant for Eastern European migrants for various organisations. Trained as a filmmaker, he spent two years making a documentary about the ‘civic reawakening’ in Romania and the waves of protest it brought with it. In connection to this, Sergio is currently co-steering the development of an online open-source participative knowledge production platform on activism in Romania. Over the past nine years, Sergiu has offered his skills to various journalists, grassroots collectives and campaigns, mostly working within the labour rights, climate justice, international solidarity and anti-authoritarian movements in Germany and Romania. Nonetheless, his biggest focus since 2020 has been his work as an organiser with the anarcho-syndicalist Free Workers Union, where he focuses mostly on organising Romanian migrant workers on construction sites, in factories and in the agricultural field.
Ulex: Latin (argelaga Catalan, gorse English) noun:
1. A thorny-evergreen flowering shrub, with a high capacity for regeneration and resilience. Its seedpods open in contact with fire and it reshoots from charred stumps. A successionary plant that grows well under challenging conditions. It improves soil fertility through nitrogen fixing, preparing the way for renewed biodiversity.
2. A traditional choice for igniting fires. Burns hot and bright.
3. A networked project adding nutrition and fertility to European social movements through training and capacity building. It kindles the realisation of social justice, ecological intelligence, and cognitive vitality.
