Homework

Please check out at least one of these resources on the Four Roles of Social Change, which I mentioned last night, either this short video explanation or this article. This theory is helpful in thinking about allies, but also in thinking about the people within your group and how to escalate your campaign over time, which we’ll be discussing next week.

Escalating pressure often means building your group’s courage muscles, which can be scary. To prepare for our discussion, here are some Reflection Questions.

Extras!

If you are part of a group considering a new campaign, or if you just want to sharpen your thinking about the issues we discussed last night, try your hand at filling out this CampaignBrainstormingSheet. It’s a great tool for helping people to think clearly about what you’re doing, even if you are already in the midst of a campaign. I’ve filled in the first column with answers from Earth Quaker Action Team’s Bank Like Appalachia Matters! campaign to give you a sense of what the questions we haven’t discussed might mean.

Many people have been writing about the perspective-shifting potential of the Covid-19 pandemic, including Naomi Klein, who argues that, “During moments of cataclysmic change, the previously unthinkable suddenly becomes reality.” Read more here. 

This piece by George Lakey connects this pandemic time with the 1963 Birmingham campaign I mentioned last night. It’s published on Waging Nonviolence, the site where I find some of my contemporary stories.

Both of these pieces make clear that this work is a marathon, not a sprit. That’s why the folks at Radical Support Collective are running a three-month program called In It for the Long Haul. Check it out.