At Mozilla, I’m working with the talented Brandi Geurkink to explore how our advocacy and movement-building towards climate justice could better complement each other. We were struggling with immediate actions versus building up positions.
Fighting gives you urgency and consequence. Building gives you hope and endurance. You need both.
Fighting is an active frame full of individual agency, possibility, and passion. There is a villain to provide the urgency and the ‘other’ to help define the moment and the identity of the group of people pushing back. Fight narratives are like adrenaline shots. They do a massive amount of work in a very short time, but wear out really quickly.
The build narrative provides the aspiration. What you’re trying to achieve, rather than prevent. The hope and sense of shared creation. The build narrative tells you what’s possible, where you’re going, and why it matters. It’s also lasting: it’s what will keep someone engaged over years, rather than hours or weeks.
At Mozilla, I’m working with the talented Brandi Geurkink to explore how our advocacy and movement-building towards climate justice could better complement each other. We were struggling with immediate actions versus building up positions.
The “Fight + Build = Power” model by Geoffrey MacDougall really helped unlock how to think about addressing both the urgent and the long-term goals.
Here’s an excerpt from Geoffrey’s great post: