Active Solidarity & Intersectional Organising

We often bring perspectives of power and the privilege we bear into our groups and organisational dynamics. We also need to think about them at a movement level and in building alliances and wider forms of collaboration. This training will create a reflective space in which we can explore the challenges this involves and begin to design and develop approaches for responding to them. 

There are no ready-made recipes for practising solidarity and intersectional organising, therefore the training will be designed in a way that allows for deep reflection, identifying challenges and unhelpful organising patterns and will support participants in developing their capacity to respond to challenges and transform movement building cultures in ways that feel most empowering in the local context and with the communities involved. We want to collectively create a courageous space so that we can step out of our comfort zones and enable critical reflection on movement practices and cultures, starting on a personal level and moving to movement level. 

We will explore how organising rooted in active and intentional solidarity can make our movements stronger and more resilient (rather than fragmented) and how we can practise intersectionality from a place of value alignment and vision for justice and joy rather than a fear of making mistakes, shame and blame. 

The training assumes a basic literacy with power and privilege themes. We will cover a basic introduction to create common ground but we want to move beyond the basic level analysis and knowledge. 

Key topics will include:

• Deepening our understanding of power and privilege and how they play out in movement building
• Applying a skill sets framework to movement building, diagnosing and analysing problems
• Going beyond ‘intersectionality’ as a buzzword and exploring how we make a real basis for organising
• Designing strategic approaches that go beyond inclusion
• Problematising the notion of allyship and solidarity
• Working on case studies to help us identify and analyse root causes of fragmentation and reproduction of oppression within social movements
• Strengthening the ability to act and strategize in ways that are most aligned with values rooted in solidarity

Main methods and approaches:

• Participatory and popular education
• Working on case studies
• Immersive learning and holistic learning – using minds, hearts and bodies
• Spaces for reflection and asking deeper questions
• Peer-to-peer support and learning
• Exploring, problematising and adapting models and existing methodologies

Who is it aimed at?

Anyone with experience in socially engaged action addressing ecological, political and social justice issues. We embrace a broad definition of activism, including: 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. You will need a basic literacy with power and privilege themes to be able to participate in this course, as well as experience in movement participation. This course might not be suitable for those just starting their engagement with social movements.

The course will be delivered in accessible, international English.