I feel an immense dread every time I am about to read or listen to the news. I get ready to hear about more and more cases illustrating how the rights we often took for granted are being dismantled globally. The progress on democracy, decolonization, anti-racism, and gender equality, among others, feels not only stalling but disintegrating before our eyes. It is easy to feel powerless in this context. After all, what can an ordinary individual like me do to change or influence any of this? It is easier just to hide behind the sense of helplessness and fear.
Yet, as a member of an organization working in the international cooperation sector, I know that denial and inaction are not an option. I know that the stories of the most significant changes all over the world were about ‘ordinary people’ like you and me, who had nothing but the courage to stand together, who raised their voices and made it impossible not to hear them. And I know that civil society organizations and movements have played a crucial role in nurturing those changes through the power of public engagement. They have helped people understand and care about injustices all over the world. They have galvanized the power of the collective to demand efforts to address them. They have given people an avenue to contribute ideas to solve protracted problems. They have organized actions to demonstrate solidarity and a sense of unity that inspires and gives us courage even in the face of unbearable oppression. There is nothing authoritarians fear more. That is precisely why one of the first things they do is seek to divide, control or eliminate civil society organizations.
While I assume that most people in our sector know this and work every day with the best intentions, I worry that we might be making it easier for authoritarians when our calls for action (or the approaches we use) end up sowing division among us. I see it when we start pointing fingers or turn against each other for not agreeing perfectly with every single thing we stand for or against. Or when we set unrealistic standards for how people ought to think or behave. When we expect perfection and purity in our past or present actions. When we would rather be right than be strategic in our search for social justice. When we direct our anger and frustration to attack those with whom we align often or even most of the time, instead of focusing on the systems that created the injustices. When we only speak and listen to the usual choir, instead of building alliances with people and organizations beyond our traditional networks. I fear such tactics will keep making our tent smaller and smaller, reducing our capacity to impact sustainable change.
So, what can we do in our sector to foster meaningful, inclusive and transformative public engagement? The main action that comes to mind is to be open to learning and to even embrace the 10 principles of the Just Compassion (JC) framework, championed by Loretta Ross. This inspiring academic and activist for women’s rights, anti-racism and reproductive justice uses this framework as a way of achieving human rights and justice goals using love and compassion. She makes the case to recognize the power of empathy, relationship-building, inclusion, joy, fairness, forgiveness, embracing imperfection, working through disagreements, having diverse tactics and expanding the tent to bring together different groups of people to dismantle unjust systems. Loretta invites us to change our mindset so that vulnerability and compassion are seen as a strength, not a weakness. She encourages us to bring more and more people into our movements and offer them a place of belonging and inclusion, even if we do not always agree on everything.
Whenever I see the news now and feel anger or frustration with people who could be potential allies, I need to remind myself that the changes we seek require us to be and act together in our differences, and that I need to do my part in growing our movement because only then we can achieve our goals. And that is what we work for. Is it not?
Carolina is the deputy executive director of Oxfam Canada, where she leads on organizational strategy, operational planning and reporting, and risk management. Carolina also leads Oxfam Canada’s work on Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI), reconciliation and Indigenous rights, feminist principles, and the decolonization of international aid. Carolina has almost two decades of experience in various roles within the Canadian non-profit sector fighting poverty and inequality, as well as in public and private institutions in her home country, Colombia. She has led teams to design and secure funding for international development programs valued at CAD$220+ million in more than 20 countries. Carolina is passionate about advancing gender equality and the rights, empowerment and leadership of women and girls in all their diversity. She holds a masters’ certificate in project management from Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business, a master’s degree in conflict studies conferred jointly by Saint Paul University and the University of Ottawa, a postgraduate diploma in armed conflicts and peace from Universidad de los Andes and a bachelor’s degree in government and international relations from Universidad Externado de Colombia.
References:
Check out Loretta Ross’ Ted talk – Don’t call people out, call them in, and her new book ‘Calling in: how to start making change with those you’d rather cancel’.