The Centre for Story Based Strategy (formerly SmartMeme) is a non-profit training collective that works to empower and strength social movements through meme theory. They work with social justice movements to enhance story telling narratives and seep into dominant culture to change social attitudes and assumptions. SmartMeme works closely with youth and host a number of awesome resources for social movements on their website.
What's a meme?
This sample workshop agenda created by Fitzroy Legal Services and the Victoria Law Foundation is created to teach Australian activists. However, the workshop focuses more on finding legal aid specific to what activists need, rather than laws themselves. For a brief introduction to Canadian law for activists, check out how to interact with police. This workshop goes over:
Role playing of being arrested
Now that you've taken the rabble guide to consensus decision making to heart, you're ready to lead a workshop on it!
The Network for Climate Change has an excellent outline for a workshop for ten to twenty people. It covers:
A proposed agenda
How to create a group agreement
The basics of consensus
If you want to live in a just and sustainable world (and who doesn't?) then egalitarian collective process is unavoidable. Come Hell or High Water, is a much needed critical analysis of this process. The authors are careful to explain, "the purpose of this book is to clarify some of the problems that can come up in groups that strive for equality and openness." It's not an instructional manual, it's a critique. And hey, if it's worth critiquing, it's worth practicing.
For someone who is immersed in collective organizing and is interested in the nuts and bolts of how it works, it's refreshing to read an honest deconstruction of egalitarian collective process. The crux of collective process is handily summed up in the introduction:
I need help. I want to start and help others to start collective farms and manufacturing/retail ventures. I need to explore the history of co-operatives and or collectives and to understand when they worked and why.
People who learn how to create collaborative enterprises are more likely to get through the coming turmoil then those who remain rooted in the ideals of 19th century individualism whether or not we self-identify as liberal or conservative or.......
I am inviting people to join me in a collaborative venture that has both practical and theoretical benefits.