Movement Building
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Theory & Event - Semantic, Pragmatic, and Affective Enactment at OWS
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: The Occupy movement shows us how the semantic, pragmatic, and affective - meaning, action, and feeling - are intertwined in all collective practices. The intertwining of the semantic and the pragmatic - what we say and what we accomplish in that saying - has been a topic of interest in the humanities and the critical social sciences for almost 50 years, since its thematization by Austin and its codification in Speech Act Theory; widespread interest in affect has been more recent, but the interplay of its twin roots in Tompkins and Deleuze - producing a sort of evo-neuro-Spinozism - has been usefully explored in The Affect Theory Reader ( Gregg and Seigworth, 2010 ). It's now time to bring speech act theory and affect theory together in understanding the role of political affect ( Protevi 2009 ) in the Occupy movement.
The main reason for communities to break apart is conflict; conflict mostly caused through a lack of communication. When people get together and discover their freedom, they feel like there is new meaning in their collective but also individual lives. They mostly experience some kind of deep harmony.
Participation and communication pt. two: the stages of community building |
This text has been prepared by the Commission for Group Dynamics in Assemblies of the Puerta del Sol Protest Camp (Madrid). It is based on different texts and summaries which reached consensus in the internal Assemblies of this Commission (and which will be made available on the official webs of the 15th May Movement) and from the experiences gained in the General Assemblies held in this Protest Camp up until 31st May 2011. pdf-it , pdf-fr, pdf-es , pdf-en The purpose of this Quick Guide is to facilitate and encourage the development of the different Popular Assemblies which have been created since the beginning of the 15th May Movement. This Quick Guide will be periodically revised and updated. On no account is it to be considered a closed model which cannot be adapted through consensus by any given Assembly.
Quick guide on group dynamics in people’s assemblies
Nonviolent Communication
Occupy Research
InterOccupy
Distracting Influences
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Are Americans a Broken People? Why We've Stopped Fighting Back Against the Forces of Oppression | News & Politics
(Image: Head gears via Shutterstock) What a fascinating thing! Total control of a living organism! — psychologist B.F. Skinner The corporatization of society requires a population that accepts control by authorities, and so when psychologists and psychiatrists began providing techniques that could control people, the corporatocracy embraced mental health professionals.
Why Are Americans So Easy to Manipulate?
Understanding what leads to apathy can provide pointers to a more effective programme. But the reasons for voter apathy are not always educational. Understanding Voter Apathy When elections are scheduled, there is much talk of low voter turnout due to apathy.
Engaging Apathetic and Disempowered Groups — ACE Electoral Knowledge Network
Cultures that endure carve out a protected space for those who question and challenge national myths. Artists, writers, poets, activists, journalists, philosophers, dancers, musicians, actors, directors and renegades must be tolerated if a culture is to be pulled back from disaster. Members of this intellectual and artistic class, who are usually not welcome in the stultifying halls of academia where mediocrity is triumphant, serve as prophets.
How to Think
Eight hundred years ago, Catherine, a woman living in Sienna Italy who was later to become a saint, stated: "Speak the truth in a million voices. It is silence that kills." Her words haunt me today, as I notice how much silence there is, and how it is growing around the world.
Margaret J. Wheatley: Disturb Me, Please
I recently spoke to noted community organizer scott crow about how average people—people with dreams, vision, grit and motivation—can effect change in a very real and quantifiable way after the vote. This isn't a playbook for smashing some McDonald's or Starbucks windows, but for taking the fight to communities. A tired cycle exists in American electoral culture. Every two years we vote for federal representatives and senators, and every four years we vote in the presidential election. Each election cycle builds to a critical mass of ideological recriminations, crescendoing on election day. Americans then rather sadly wash their hands of the mess, and resolve to do very little or nothing to actively make democracy work.
Community Organizer scott crow Talks Shifting Culture Without Government — American Dreamers
I am fundraising for an organization and looking to reach new donors—how can Resource Generation help me? Resource Generation is not a funding organization. Due to our limited staff capacity, we are unable to meet one-on-one with organizations or individuals looking for fundraising advice. Resource Generation has compiled a list of some of the resources we know about that may be helpful to organizations researching funding sources. Affinity groups are networks of funders that have a common interest.
Funding Resources
Why Fast, Cheap, and Easy Design Is Killing Your Nonprofit’s Brand
Technology is fueling a democratization of design, giving ordinary people the power to create with speed and ease. Among nonprofits, many feel that technology is leveling the playing field when it comes to expressing themselves and their brands. Historically, marketing has been an expensive endeavor, and while sharing stories, promoting impact, and raising funds are all critical activities, nonprofits have been challenged to find adequate budgets to do these things effectively. Even when there was money to invest, there was also a third party waiting to scrutinize the spending. As a result, scores of causes had to hold out hope that pro-bono support from agencies, board members, or volunteers would save the day. That was before the ubiquitous availability of creative technologies changed the game.Harmonized groupings - Occupy.Net wiki
There's a need within the occupation movement to connect people doing similar work in different locations together so they can share best practices, coordinate activities and collaborate. One challenge is that different groups use different terms to describe their work so it's hard to equate one group with another. For example: the "Kitchen Working Group" at Occupy Wall Street performs the same tasks as the "Food Committee" of Occupy Philly. To remedy this situation, we advocate creating a set of harmonized groupings that can be used to standardize the names people use to describe their work. [ edit ] Occupy.net News Categories The following categories are being used to label items from feeds being syndicated through news.occupy.net.What is a Resilience Circle?
— An overview You are here: Home » What is a Resilience Circle? A Resilience Circle is a small group of 10 – 20 people that comes together to increase personal security during these challenging times. Circles have three purposes: learning, mutual aid, and social action. The economy is going through a deep transition, and economic security is eroding for millions of people.Phases of social diffusion of ideas and behaviours, and the roles of change agents in the transformation process. Source: WGBU Good news from Germany: A ‘global transformation of values has already begun’. It’s proving tough to leverage changing attitudes into sustainable behaviour — but a transition to a more sustainable society ‘would be welcomed by a significant part of world society’. In a 400-page report called World in Transition: A Social Contract for Sustainability , the German Advisory Council on Climate Change (WGBU), the heavyweight scientific body that advises the German Federal Government on ‘Earth System Megatrends’, reviewed a wide-range of values surveys. A significant majority of the German population, it found, views growth and capitalism with scepticism and ‘does not believe in the resilience of market-driven economic systems’.