Through a day of workshops, panel discussions and reflection, we’ll explore what this means at the personal, organisational and movement levels of activism and change making.
To make meaningful change, we will to need to be in it for the long haul. To face the inevitable failures and losses along the way, we will need deep resilience. To stay motivated and energised, in the face of the immense challenges, we will need deep wellsprings of inspiration. Regenerative practices can help.
With a regenerative approach to activism, our efforts to respond to social and ecological crises become the basis for remaking ourselves and deepening self-awareness. It involves creating collective initiatives that reveal the power of embodying our values together. It revitalises the radical imaginal of what we and our society can become. It is a container for nurturing the relationships of solidarity and care that we need at the heart of powerful and transformative social movements.
During the day we’ll explore regenerative activism in three interconnected spheres: the personal, the organisational, and the movement level. And we’ll conclude by focusing on the interplay between these levels and asking what a holistic approach to activism and movement building might look like.
The exploration will be in four phases:
1. Deeper Resources for Action: Individual and Inner Practices We’ll ask: How can we balance inner sustenance with outer action? What kind of practices can offer the deeper resources we need to sustain our actions? Are spiritual approaches compatible with hard-nosed political realities? And what can we learn from radical psychiatry and neurodiversity?
2. Walking the Talk: Organisational and Group Dimensions We’ll ask: How can we create institutions that truly embody our values? How do we balance idealism and pragmatism? What does a culture of care or a regenerative approach look like in our organisations? Are we getting any better that working with power and privilege? How can we balance the demands for urgency with the patience required to build effective organisations and movements?
3. The Ecology of Social Movements: The Creative Tensions of Collective Agency We’ll ask: What does a healthy movement ecology look like? How can we work creatively with differences of strategy, identity, values, and movement roles? What part do movement cycles and seasons play? How can we balance autonomy and cooperation? What is resilience at a movement level? Are we getting any better at working with the tensions between the grassroots and the institutions? What can strategy look like amidst the high levels of complexity and non-linearity of a social movement?
4. Integral Activism and Holistic Movement Building How can we integrate our learning from the previous discussions to create a vision for an integral activism and holistic understanding of movement building?
This will be a full day of presentations, panel discussions, practice and workshops bringing together leading activists and change makers from across the UK, including: Gee (Ulex Project & The Ecodharma Centre) • Mama D (Community Centred Knowledge) • Matt Carmichael (Spiritual Activism) • Kara Moses (Rewild Everything) • Anna O’Brien • Fatima Ibrahim • Asad Rehman (War on Want) • Ruby Reed & Christabel Reed (Advaya Initiative) • Sam Weatherald (Sunday Assembly) • Kat Wall • Byron Lee (Bristol Happy City) • Gita Parihar (Environmental Advocate) and more.
SCHEDULE
10.45 – Doors open
11.00 – Overview & Presentation – Ulex Project
11.35 – Panel 1: Deeper Resources for Action: Individual and Inner Practices
12.50 – Breakout 1
13.50 – Lunch
14.50 – Panel 2: Walking the Talk: Organisational and Group Dimensions
16.05 – Breakout 2
17.10 – Break
17.30 – Panel 3: The Ecology of Social Movements: The Creative Tensions of Collective Agency
19.00 – Supper 20.00 – Integral Activism and Holistic Movement Building: fishbowl/panel and discussion
20.45/21.00 – Hangout/Practice session
21.30/22.00 – End
Regenerative Activism: Holistic Movement Building deepens and furthers an initial exploration on the theme on Sat 7 April 2018.
