Defeating Narratives of Division

Summary

A manifesto and open-source set of training materials to support “a long-term strategic approach at a community level, that talks about building power in disempowered communities,” recognising that “the far-right are on the march, but there are more people of goodwill than there are of them.” This power “can only be built by working across artificial divides, and by finding solutions – rather than scapegoats – to the problems our communities face,” and “if we get ourselves organised, drawing inspiration from our history,” we can build that power in our communities “in a process that not only isolates the narratives of division, but also begins to address the feelings of fear, resentment and despair that they are parasitic upon.” The School offers a wide range of other training resources.

Rationale

Neighbours solving a shared problem across divides is the kind of context we hope to grow. We’d add the unlearning it treats lightly: loosening the habits those divides rest on.