Reasons to Fall in Love with Grassroots Movements
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As the polycrisis expands there are a lot of new constituencies trying to understand social change from panicked decision-makers to a new generation of emerging philanthropists to impacted communities turning to activism. For many of us––who participate in contemporary social movements or are familiar with the history of social movements’ transformative impact––their value is self-evident, perhaps even axiomatic. But in a mainstream U.S. context the role of mass movements in driving social progress is often downplayed, even whitewashed out of our collective history.
The idea of a movement is hidden in plain sight. The word is well known, even if only through generic accounts of the “Civil Rights Movement” yet most people don’t have much actual understanding of the real history, the mechanics or ongoing impacts of grassroots movements.
So below is a list of talking points about some of the things that grassroots movements actually do. These are a resource to support anyone promoting movement-building as a key change strategy and/or making the case for investing in movements. As a messaging resource it is primarily intended to offer lots of rhetorical entry points that supplement, but not replace, the many more substantive arguments, frameworks and research on the role, structure and mechanics of social movements.
Amazing things that Grassroots movements do:
BUILD/SHIFT POWER Movements build the power of traditionally marginalized constituencies and challenge powerful interests that block action on collective problems. Building the power of an organized constituency is one of the most versatile strategies for change.
STRENGTHEN DEMOCRACY Movements organize, mobilize and engage people in multiple ways that strengthen our democracy.
INSIDE/OUTSIDE Movements operate both inside and outside official processes and therefore provide a check on institutional power and accelerate the process of change.
ROOT CAUSES/STRUCTURAL CHANGE Movements address root causes and therefore are effective vehicles for challenging oppression and accelerating structural change.
CREATE NETWORKS movements connect diverse actors into networked ecosystems and therefore are able to address problems at all levels of society.
RESILIENCE Movements are an investment in resilience. They build the multipurpose infrastructure and capacity to mitigate, adapt and transform. This is particularly urgent in the age of rapid climate breakdown.
MULTISOLVE PROBLEMS Movements not only help identify social problems they also solve them. In fact they often “multisolve” them which is a useful concept from systems theory to describe “when one investment of time or money solves many problems at once.”* The term provides some intellectual specificity to the multifaceted ways movements operate.
SHIFT THE DEBATE Movements highlight issues in ways that prevent them being ignored. Look at the way #MeToo or Black Lives Matter has managed to bring attention to long-standing injustices in a way that has driven changes across society.
EXPAND THE POSSIBLE/MOMENTUM Movements generate momentum which makes lots of different types of change more possible. Investing in movements is the solution that strengthens all other solutions (“acting like a rising tide that lifts all boat”).
INNOVATION/EMERGENCE Movements are OUR best bet for unexpected innovation that can shift the trajectory of our society. Where do paradigm shifts come from? Bottom-up often scales much faster and easier than top-down.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT Grassroots movements are dramatically under-invested in compared to other parts of the social change ecosystem. Given how much frontline communities fighting for racial/economic/environmental/climate justice have already accomplished, imagine what they could do with a little more investment from philanthropy?
HELP US MAKE BETTER DECISIONS & POLICIES Movements aggregate and amplify the perspectives of those most impacted by problems. This helps society as a whole make better decisions. Policymakers should look to stronger movements to help solve this key knowledge problem because when we solve problems for the most impacted it creates better outcomes for everyone.
MOVEMENTS INVITE PEOPLE IN Movements are inclusive, operating in locally and decentralized ways that offer many pathways to engagement. By inviting us all to take action, movements are foundational to creating and maintaining a democratic society
HISTORIC TRACK RECORD Organized social movements have played a central role in almost every positive change in modern society from ending injustices, expanding rights to shifting culture and creating whole new legal frameworks. (Pick your favorite example). Movements have undeniably strong metrics and a proven historic record. And now they are being super-charged by communications technology so that may well make their future track record even stronger.
MOVEMENTS GIVE US HOPE, or at least they should… At a time when mounting global problems can seem on the brink of overwhelming many of our institutions. Movements invite us to imagine whole different scales and types of social engagement in recreating our world. They offer us collective agency in the face of growing despair about society’s future. This is where hope lies.
* This definition of “multisolving” was created by Dr. Elizabeth Sawin, a student of Donella Meadows, who runs an organization dedicated to the concept call the Multisolving Institute
Movement Meta-Verbs: How Movements Solve Problems
A foundational idea that informs much of contemporary advocacy and organizing is the understanding that collective action can scale into “grassroots movements” and these types of emergent movements can help solve many of our problems. Many of us, particularly those who work in philanthropy or adjacent sectors, have lots of different research, reports and glossy materials to make this case.
Effective communication is action oriented and so it can be helpful to have what we call meta-verbs, that is an overarching verb that communicates the logic of your action or intervention.* So here’s a simple list of potential meta-verbs that help synthesize the story of how grassroots movements help make positive change. These meta-verbs can be used in conjunction with the more substantive talking points above to promote social movement oriented theories of change
NAVIGATE: Having powerful, democratic movements operating can help society NAVIGATE the complexity of the coming transition with the most co-benefits and the least amount of destructive trade-offs.
TRANSLATE: Movements shine a light on issues, explaining obtuse power structures and technical jargon to TRANSLATE the issues to those who will be impacted so they understand what is happening.
POPULARIZE: Movements spreading new concepts and helping people apply them to their local struggles. Just look at the way transformative concepts like just transition, abolition, intersectionality, agroecology, regenerative economics [etc. add your favorite] have been POPULARIZED through trans-local networks.
MOBILIZE: Movements sound the alarm, and MOBILIZE people to get them involved in the democratic process to stop bad things and collectively build better things.
PRESSURE: Movements channel public outrage in order to apply strategic PRESSURE at the places that will break through institutional inertia and force change.
ADAPT: Movements help communities ADAPT to meet new circumstances and build resilience.
SCALE: Movements SCALE impact by connecting dispersed initiatives under a common umbrella that aggregates and amplifies. The alchemy of social movements means the whole actually becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
* For more info on the concept of “meta-verbs” see page 86 of my book Re:Imagining Change: How to Use Story-based Strategy to Win Campaigns, Build Movements and Change the World