For a “yes” that frees our imagination
This tweet by Anat Shenker-Osorio is one of those post-its that we need to keep in sight. We have so much to denounce, so much to correct and criticize, that we often forget our main messages, we forget to say what we stand for, what we want.
Anat is a reference for those who work with communication and human rights. She wrote Messaging this Moment: a Handbook for Progressive Communicators, which a group of Brazilian journalists from Rede Narrativas (in which I happily include myself) translated into Portuguese.
The original publication was launched in the United States in August 2017, about six months after the election of Donald Trump, and it remains extremely updated, as political polarization, disinformation and lack of dialogue are only increasing. “We desperately need to develop a broader, more inclusive narrative that mobilizes our base and persuades many more winnable people in the middle”, writes Anat.
I highlight here some principles you can find in the handbook to build your messages:
Lead with shared values, not problems. We usually start our speeches and texts with problems, then propose a solution and conclude by calling for action. People have enough problems. “The desire to sound the alarm about the egregious, systematic and growing harms to our communities is understandable. But that doesn’t make it compelling”. Let’s focus on what unites us, not what separates us. We have something in common with any creature on this planet. Let’s look for that bridge. Researches (such as that developed by ASO and Bridges) show that the family is a priority for all Latin and North Americans, for example.
Describe what you seek, not what you oppose. And create something good, don’t merely reduce something bad. “With a non-stop stream of vile rhetoric and rules coming our way, it’s tempting to rebut, refute and rail against what our opponents are peddling. But repeating what our opposition says, even in order to counter it, simply lends them more airtime”.
The Brazilian movement #EleNão (#NotHim), for example, gathered women against Bolsonaro in the networks and on the streets and mobilized actions and protests in different capitals of Brazil. A very powerful movement. However, some analyzes question whether the movement did not speak only to those who already were against the current president, as his general approval continued to increase. After all, in a society that devalues women and naturalizes gender violence, bothering women is a sign of victory. When we say #NotHim, the image we put into the mind of those who listen to us is the (ugly) face of Bolsonaro.
“A “no” without a “yes” leads listeners to think we’re just playing politics as usual”, says Anat. “Martin Luther King had a dream, not a complaint”.
+ Check also the publication Cause Communications: reflections and provocations for new narratives [in Portuguese], developed by Fundação Tide Setubal, Instituto Alana, and Rede Narrativas
+ See also “Tearing down walls & building bridges: how to talk to those who think very differently from us?”[in Portuguese], a platform by the Avon Institute and Papo de Homem.
+ And Despolarize [Depolarise] is a project to expand the repertoire to deal with conflicts, offering interesting content and materials to promote better dialogues.
Exercise your imagination
Ok, but if we must say what we want, what do we want? Are we able to describe the world we want to live in? The person we want to be?
This week I read James Baldwin quoting Doris Lessing, who wrote that racism “is not our original fault, but only one aspect of the atrophy of the imagination that prevents us from seeing ourselves in every creature that breathes under the sun”.
We need to unravel our ability to imagine, to create beautiful images, full of hope. Hope is a powerful force for progress, it is an intelligent strategy for social change. Grounded on that premise, Hope-based Communications launched, among other initiatives, “Reimagining Human Rights”, the largest collection of free, evergreen, hopeful visual content around human rights, for activists and nonprofits around the world to use in their campaigns.
Imagination is a terrain of political struggle.
The map to a new world is in the imagination, in what we see in our third eyes rather than in the desolation that surrounds us. — Robin D.G. Kelley at Intelligent Mischief.
+ That’s why art and culture are so fundamental! They guide us to exercise the ability to imagine and guarantee a large part of our health, as the pandemic showed us. Artists and cultural producers were one of the groups most affected by the crisis, and at the same time, they play such a fundamental role ahead of solutions. Art is healing.
Speaking about respect for people’s rights is to speak about fullness, abundance, connection. It is also talking about pleasure, as the inspiring adrienne maree brown says. Why isn’t that what people hear when many of us, human rights defenders, are talking?
I want to talk about love and to visualize images of a full and loving world, of affectionate dialogues and fair exchanges. I want to release my imagination and see myself in every creature that breathes under the sun. Feel free to join me!
