Emotions Matter – That’s Why Oppressors Try To Ignore Them

A friend linked up this article on the oppressive subtexts at work when men dismiss women’s behavior as “crazy.”  While this abusive behavior is certainly present in many relationships, it is also a big part of how I understand our society’s attitude towards marginalized communities. I have been in multiple meetings with decision-makers or ‘sympathetic allies’ … Continue reading →

Theory of Change Exercise

While there are many things that create tension and lead to lack of trust in coalition work, I think that differing Theories of Change are at the root of a lot of the bumps in the road I’ve come across. That is to say, what do you think is the most strategic path to victory? … Continue reading →

Problem Tree Facilitation Exercise

I like this exercise at the beginning of Anti-Oppression trainings, as way to explain why we need to talk about root causes of injustice, and to give a picture of some of the ways intersectionality works. This is also nice as a part of organizing or campaign strategy trainings, to get people to think about … Continue reading →

How Will You Escalate Your Campaign?

This one hour exercise was developed by Katey Lauer and Dana Kuhnline for the February 2013 Power Up! Divestment Conference. 5 min Why we are talking about this: Two central elements of a campaign are a target and an ask The target is the person you are pressuring and the ask is the thing you … Continue reading →