Dispatch 8/11/24: There Is No Neat Ending.

• Human rights and civil society were not invented in good times, but in the darkest times. This can give us a renewed purpose.Hope-Based Communications shares their lessons of resilience on how to respond to defeat. Hope is a source of resilience, but it is also a strategic focus on what we need to get done. Thomas Coombes gives us his five more recent takeaways:

      1. Draw on your intrinsic motivation – remember why we do our     work.

      2. Don’t let authoritarians and negativity change our brains and our     communication – when they rule, we have to work extra hard to     nurture and preserve basic human decency: kindness,     compassion, care, love.

      3. Tell your own story, instead of being part of the populist story –     they live in our country, we don’t live in theirs, even if they hold     power, they don’t own us.

      4. Maintain our belief in the possibility of progress – they only win if     we give up. This is a setback but we can keep bending the arc of     history towards justice. [Hope Based Communications]. 

• Radical activists create the demand for change, moderate actors then implement it. New research from the Social Change Lab, published in Nature Sustainability, shows that roadblocks by Just Stop Oil led to increased – not decreased – identification with and support for Friends of the Earth among members of the public. Known as the ‘radical flank effect’, radical activists expand the Overton Window, the range of politically acceptable thought. It is then up to other, more moderate voices, to move into the space that has been created and implement the changes demanded. [Social Change Lab] 

• Amnesty International is accusing big tech platforms of playing an active role in fuelling racist violence. The accusation comes after riots erupted in the UK this summer following the publication of false information on social media, but it also applies to many other issues and conflicts around the world. [France24] 

• Internal dynamics of progressive organizations are becoming more relevant in this age of overlapping crises: Maurice Mitchell and Cyndi Suarez from The Forge and Nonprofit Quarterly discuss building resilient organizations. “A “bad supervisor,” a “toxic workplace,” a “messy movement space,” or a “problematic person with privilege” are just some of the refrains echoed from all corners of our movements. Individuals are pointing fingers at other individuals; battle lines are being drawn. Identity and position are misused to create a doom loop that can lead to unnecessary ruptures of our political vehicles and the shuttering of vital movement spaces.” [The Forge] 

• Equality Fund posits that forming an opposition to the anti-gender movement is essential to democracy and one of the most urgent causes of our time. According to CNN, the anti-gender movement is not only present in almost all countries around the world, the number of people supporting it is growing. What’s more, a United Nations report found that the three main forces behind these movements—governments, religious groups, and civil society groups—are increasingly well-coordinated, forming “national and transnational alliances with shared strategies and objectives.” [CNN, Equality Fund] 

• UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has called the situation in Gaza the “collective shame of the century,” condemning the blatant disregard for international law. Her powerful statement underscores the ongoing violations of human rights and the failure of the global community to uphold justice for Palestinians. Albanese reminds us that the principles of international law are meant to protect all people, yet in Gaza, they are being ignored with devastating consequences. Her words are a call to action for all of us to speak out, demand accountability, and work towards a just resolution that respects the dignity and rights of all Palestinians. [INA]

MobLab Collective Member News: 

As a relatively new Collective, having transitioned during the pandemic to our current flat and horizontal structure, we would like to give a more personal touch to the Collective and share more of what different MobLab Collective Members are working on, passionate about, and championing. 

• “Charity So White partnered with Uncharitable Festival, where I got to facilitate a panel discussion on Palestine that lit a fire under me to do more to push for a more pro-Palestine line from the nonprofit sector. Talking to Falastine Dwikat about how the nonprofit sector is complicit in the oppression of Palestinians I felt the release of somebody finally saying a frustrating truth. Hearing Kema Daley speak about how a culture of fear has led orgs to fail their staff activists filled me with anger, but also hope for the vital grassroots direct action that is affecting the Israeli occupation and war machine. Discussing the weaponisation of antisemitism with Rosa Bransky I felt humbled and grateful to have such clarity brought on a topic so often fraught with emotion. I am so proud of the way that we dissected the ways our sector has failed the people of Palestine, as well as called for agitators all over the sector to organise on Palestine! If you missed the event and want to watch it, get in touch with Uncharitable Festival to purchase a ticket to access the recording – email info@jmb-consulting.co.uk.” – Jon Cornejo 

• “At 350.org, the Canada team has launched “Cap the Crap” in response to the Alberta Government’s multimillion-dollar “Scrap the Cap” campaign — a blatant piece of fossil fuel propaganda designed to protect billionaires while they continue to exploit our planet for profit. “Scrap the Cap” is just one example of the climate denial tactics spreading across Canada, where politicians from all parties are caving to fossil fuel industry pressure and misinformation. We’re not only seeing denial of climate science but a well-funded effort to dismantle policies that would secure our future. This week, I penned an op-ed on how to fight back against these deceptive campaigns. We need to offer a bold, people-centered vision for climate action — one that prevents these denial tactics from gaining traction in the first place.”  – Amara Possian

• Recently, MobLab Collective member Fotis Filippou led a workshop on campaigning for systems change in Berlin for Humane Society International’s Europe team. This is what Campaigns Director, Pankaj KC told us about the training: “We were seeking a more targeted, strategic and system thinking approach to develop and implement our campaigns to improve the lives of animals in Europe and globally. The session that Fotis/MobLab designed and delivered collaboratively with us was excellent. The preparation was thorough and delivery hit just the right notes with participants. The tools and techniques he introduced on the day were incredibly valuable and will be used in coming days to shape future campaigns of the organisation.”

• “It was very motivating to lead a series of facilitated conversations with AWID about the potential values and paths forward for Feminist Campaigning – this is a network that I have so much admiration for in how they do movement-building work and use their privilege to leverage resources, power, and visibility for Global South-led grassroots feminist movements. For anyone who is going to attend the AWID forum in Bangkok, Thailand 2-5 December 2024, I am going to facilitate a workshop on Feminist People-Powered Campaigning on behalf of MobLab Collective on 2 December 16:15-17:30. There is no advance registration, only first come first serve. See you at the AWID Forum!”  – Ani Hao

• “It’s been such a pleasure to work with such a talented group of organisers and campaigners the last few months at Fight Inequality Alliance in my role at MobLab Collective. And they are looking for a senior leader to join their team to help drive their global organising and mobilising strategy. I can highly recommend joining this team (I’ve been tempted at times myself!). Fight Inequality Alliance has big ambitions for the next 10 years – to create the most powerful global movement of people against the power of the top 1% in the world yet. FIA aims to break the cycle of extreme concentration of power and wealth and tackle the causes of inequality by organising power among those on the frontlines of inequality – young people, women’s rights organisations and social movements – and mobilising people for large scale action across borders. You can find out more about the Global Mobilisation Lead role and apply here.” – Tracy Frauzel

• “We wrapped up the on-site training for the Swedish Institute Leader Lab 2024 🎉 90 leaders from 15 countries doing fabulous and critical work in a global context that is increasingly challenging for civil society organisations to continue to operate and thrive. As a co-facilitator of this programme I feel humbled and grateful to be in this space and co-design it for leaders to exercise their creativity, build friendships that will last for years to come and collectively feel hope. 🌼 So grateful for the group of people I work with on this programme.” – Neha Saigal

Opportunities: 

• The Global Grassroots Support Network is hosting an event called: Collaborative Synergy: Harnessing the power of social movements with NGOs on December 5th at 8am EST/ 1pm GMT / 4pm EAT / 6:30pm IST. Partnerships between social movements and NGOs hold immense potential for social change but are fraught with challenges, especially for the grassroots groups participating. Drawing from field research and case studies from around the world and discussion to follow, we’ll highlight strategies to maximize the benefit of such partnerships for all involved and identify concrete steps for enabling such collaborations. [Global Grassroots Support Network]
• The second session of the LCN learning series on Organizing for Liberation will explore the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and Indigenous movements in Turtle Island (Canada), and explore how they connect to the current struggle for liberation in Palestine on Tuesday, November 12th 9-10:45am EST, 4-5:45pm Gaza Time (find your timezone here). [United in Resistance] 
• We are much more receptive to being ‘persuaded’ by stories than we are by ‘facts‘. That’s first person, narrative pieces like this that we fixed up are really important campaign tools. New Economy Organisers Network (NEON) is hosting a free workshop with James Besanvalle from the Metro desk for first person, narrative pieces on 13 November 20:00pm CST. Learn how to pitch an opinion idea and shape it to support progressive campaigns and narratives. [NEON]

Mobilisation Lab Collective Inc., 201 Allen St., Unit 10030, New York, NY 10002, USA

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