How to build intersectional alliances between movements and activist groups
Why this ‘recipe’ is important
The world is quite literally burning. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed and intensified existing socio-economic inequalities, making it harder to imagine post-coronavirus life as a simple return to business as usual. Meanwhile, people of colour are protesting police abuse and institutionalised racism, whilst women from all over the world are courageously sharing their histories of violence and trauma: taking to the streets, and social media, to shout ‘no more’. The planet is still heating up fast, affecting some communities more acutely than others.
Battles against gender, racial, social, and ecological injustice are, of course, all crucial to determine what our societies will look like in years to come. But, as activists and change makers globally are starting to realise, seeing these struggles as separate from one another is a big conceptual and strategic mistake. These different forms of injustice are all equally unacceptable. Indeed, I personally believe the real point here is that the oppression still experienced by certain groups in society (say, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, people of colour, or those from a vulnerable economic and class background) cannot be eliminated without dismantling other oppressive dynamics.
Social movements and advocacy organisations are increasingly aware of these connections, and are working hard to incorporate intersectional perspectives. Whatever your field, there is much to learn from their experiences, and this ‘recipe’ is designed to help you address the challenges of intersectional partnerships that may emerge in your own projects.
The inspiration for this ‘recipe’
Inspiration for this ‘recipe’ come from both my academic research and my activist experiences in Italy, the UK, and other European countries. In particular, you can find here and here some examples of work I carried out in Southern Italy with activists from feminist, LGBTQ+, environmentalist and social justice organisations. There are, obviously, many other inspiring stories of intersectional, trans-movement alliances from other parts of the world. Here and here are a few recent ones at the intersection between ecological, gender and racial justice, while this website displays a famous historical case of cooperation between fighters for LGBTQ+ and workers’ rights.
What to watch out for when starting this ‘recipe’
Building and advancing inclusive and intersectional platforms is easier said than done. To begin with, causes that are inspired by gender, ecological, social, or racial justice claims all still need tireless organising, and often leave unpaid or badly remunerated and overworked organisers with little time to liaise with other groups. Creating and sustaining mobilisation in the long-term is per se a tiresome and time-consuming endeavour, and it can become even harder when heterogeneous people and fronts collaborate towards joint goals.
Moreover, it is worth bearing in mind that violations of the rights of women, workers, LGBTQ+ people and communities of colour have been met with impunity for thousands of years. Due to this historical legacy, activist groups may legitimately fear that by joining forces with others their historical gains might be taken away from them, or that the specificity of their political claims might end up being diluted.
Finally, and precisely because intricate and multifaceted chains of inequalities pervade our societies, different groups might struggle to see links between their interests. For example, some may find that a certain policy change helps advance the interests of white middle class women, but neglects (or is even detrimental to) their Black or economically disadvantaged peers. Similarly, ‘green’ interventions might seem disadvantageous for workers, especially older or less techy-savvy ones. In addition, while tensions and conflict are a normal part of framing and managing progressive alliances, seemingly irreconcilable differences can sometimes make themselves known. Tensions might simply be the fruit of different ways to communicating one’s vision. They may also be purposefully fostered, magnified, and exploited by those opposing progressive social causes. The ongoing disagreements between transgender rights activists and a segment of the feminist movement, mostly surrounding the idea of what it means to be a woman or a man, are a case in point. Anti-feminist and anti-LGBTQ+ groups worldwide have been quick to profit from these divergences, and to use them to oppose gender justice policies across the board.
So, what can be done? How can different groups and organisations learn to listen to each other, deal with conflict healthily, and cooperate to everyone’s advantage towards intersectional justice?
‘Ingredients’ and ‘preparation’
Re-imagining goals collectively. Different communities, organisations and social movements can, of course, simply pledge to support each other’s platforms and mobilisation efforts. However, more organic and sustainable forms of collaboration generally entail a collective reflection on how the various groups’ goals intersect, as well as the definition of common objectives.
In reality, some of the most successful trans-movement alliances I witnessed, studied or participated in started (or were significantly consolidated) once the various actors involved started asking themselves questions such as: ‘We all fight for justice, equality and freedom. But what to these values mean to different people and communities? How are our struggles supporting, or perhaps excluding or damaging, others’ own battles for emancipation? What are the common enemies we are all fighting against?’.
Examples & tips. I have studied collaborations between feminist and anti-mafia activists in Sicily for years. I found that what prompted and reinforced their cooperation was the realisation that female emancipation was not even conceivable in a context where women’s lives were overshadowed by mafia clans’ violent and exploitative practices. On the other hand, anti-mafia activists of all genders gradually came to see that women’s fight for sexual and reproductive freedom (and the right to make decisions over their bodies and lives) had the potential to undermine the mob’s value system at its very core. As a result, both groups revised and extended their definition of emancipation, to include a socio-economic, a cultural, and a gender dimension. Similarly, when I participated in a wide, international mobilisation against anti-LGBTQ+ group ‘The World’ Congress of Families’, I noticed that what helped our different organisations coordinate joint action was the recognition of the many ways in which anti-LGBTQ+ ideology also harmed women, people of colour, ethnic and religious minorities in our own countries.
What both these examples tell us is that collective thinking about how advancing one community’s objectives may help building a fairer future for all are pivotal to foster long-term, cross-movement alliances. I have personally found that prioritising these types of conversations is especially important when devising training projects and activities targeting young activists.
Being prepared for healthy political conflict, and creating spaces for processing it. Politics would not exist without conflict, and successful intersectional alliances cannot survive without the willingness to process it healthily. Self-awareness and patience are paramount, and so is making allowances for differences in political and organisational culture. People from different communities and organisations may do things differently (i.e. have different ways of running meetings, communicating, organising events, mobilising contacts) and while this might not be the main source of friction among groups, lack of open-mindedness can exacerbate difficulties. Once again, be patient and open.
On the other hand, acknowledging problematic power dynamics within movements and activist spaces is also of critical importance. For example, women often have to ‘call out’ male peers (i.e. draw attention on persisting sexism) in social or LGBTQ+ movements, and feminist of colours often push their white homologues to pay more attention to race-based marginalisation in women’s spaces. However, for successful collaborations to last, in my experience it is crucial to:
- never lose sight of common goals,
- avoid blaming individuals for forms of oppression that are structural instead (for example, while benefitting from patriarchal role divisions, individual men can be themselves damaged by gender norms and stereotypes, and should not necessarily be held accountable for their existence),
- being ready to listen, apologise, and voice one’s or one’s community needs firmly but respectfully and constructively.
Examples & tips. Something I learned in my activist experiences is that, precisely because a certain degree of conflict is endemic to alliance-making, very often disagreements and criticisms are voiced in a ‘performative’ way. In many a meeting or a political assembly with heterogenous activists, for example, I have seen representatives of a group intervening in a discussion to describe their organisation (or their platform, or their strategy) as incomparable and unique, or as more radical, or more effective than any other. These types of contributions may be needed at time (say, when the needs of women or people of colour are ignored in a gender-mixed or multi-ethnic environment, or when a strategy ignores the potential repercussions on a specific group). But you will find that a genuine will to listen and to find shared solutions are necessary for alliances to survive and thrive.
When working with young activists (or when different partnering organisations are willing to devote a day to training), I found a simple icebreaker very useful. In this exercise, a facilitator creates a scenario in which an appealing opportunity is offered to people in the room (for example, a person in the room is invited to speak on TV about their organisation’s work). The facilitator then identifies someone in the room whom they think would be offered that opportunity before them, and explains why (say, the facilitator is a foreign woman and a non-native English speaker, and the person she has identified is a man and native speaker). That person continues the exercise by pointing to someone else (say, a well-spoken person with a degree from a prestigious university). They can even revert to the facilitator (for instance, by saying that women are now more likely than men to be offered speaking engagement because of the growing attention to gender equality issues). Every now and then, the facilitator will also ask people (both those who have been indicated as likely to be offered that golden opportunity and those who haven’t) how they feel about what’s happening. If carefully facilitated, the icebreaker helps everyone in the room understand the convoluted ways in which privilege and inequality work, and talk about it in a honest and mutually respectful way.
Translating and bridging ‘political languages’. As anyone interested in social justice causes knows very well, language matters. Moreover, it does matter in the context of inter-movement and inter-organisational alliances. On the one hand, groups and organisations may have compatible or complementary values and ways to see the world, but the different language they use around this could still prevent them from understanding each other. On the other hand, the words we use to think and speak about our political culture shape our thoughts and actions. Within feminist, LGBTQ+ anti-racist movements, in particular, language assumes specific political connotations. The idea behind this being, the use of gender-neutral or gender-inclusive language (i.e. saying ‘people’ instead of ‘guys’, or calling a woman who presides a meeting ‘chairperson’ or ‘chairwoman’ instead of ‘chairman’) is seen as essential not to erase the presence and contributions of women in that conversation. Similarly, a nuanced use of gender pronouns helps give visibility and strength to transgender, gender fluid and queer people’s rights claims. Words such as ‘Black’, ‘Brown’, ‘person of colour’, or ‘BAME community’ are also used and perceived differently within social movements in different geographical areas.
In some cases (say, launching a joint social media campaign in partnership with other organisations), agreeing on a common language is necessary. In others, it may not be particularly important or even prove detrimental, since terminological nuances often hide important political points. And while many activists are quick at picking up on each other’s language and find these exchanges thought-provoking and enriching, others react negatively (sometimes even at a subconscious level) to each other’s linguistic frames, generating controversies and internal disagreements. At the same time, another risk worth bearing in mind is that while activists might devote much time and energy to sort out their own conflicts on the internal use of language, they may lose sight of what is happening outside their organisations, movements and social milieus. In fact, most activist groups aim to both be transformative spaces for the people who inhabit them and for the societies they are tied to. However, when people other than the ‘initiated’ ones fail to understand what this is all about because activist language comes across as too obscure, organisers’ lives generally become more difficult. There is, in other words, lots to be aware of..!
Examples & tips. I have co-run for a while a cycle of training on partnership building for young activists from different Southern Italian activist organisations. Through this work, I found that good strategies to enhance fruitful dialogue in the awareness and respect of different political cultures and vocabulary might include:
- Creating regular spaces (meetings, assemblies, training, social moments) for participants from different organisations to express themselves in each other’s presence. Ideally, all should be encouraged to listen carefully and, if necessary, respectfully ask for clarifications on the use of language.
- Including people from different organisations and movements in all roles/committees/ sub-teams which make decisions and carry out work of a communicative nature (drafting of press releases, campaign materials, social media work);
- In meetings and assemblies, a helpful way to bridge differences can be to reframe another person’s or organisation’s words and in one’s own ‘political language’. Here is an example of this dynamic: person A says XYZ, and person B, when it’s their turn to speak, comments: ‘I was very taken by what A said on ZYX (using words they are comfortable with). If I understood them correctly, they mean XXX. I think that’s an important point, and one on which we could build in this and that way’.
Negotiating complex internal relations at all levels. Already within an individual organisation or group, power dynamics, internal inequalities and micro-aggressions can manifest themselves in unexpected ways (have a look at other recipes in this cookbook for tips on how to address them in your work!). When various organisations working on multiple social causes interact and collaborate, this risk becomes even more real, as ‘dominant’ groups may emerge from across different groups and others may feel excluded or downgraded.
There are, however, several ways to mitigate this risk. If possible, flexible ‘mixed’ groups where people from different communities and organisations can work together are prefereable. It can also be useful to encourage bilateral exchanges and collaborations between two individual organisations, groups or sub-groups, beyond the broader projects in which a larger number of people and groups may be involved. Very often, small groups help people get to know each other, identify ways mutual support strategies, and ‘call out’ unhealthy interactions, which might be harder to address in a larger setting. More generally, social moments allowing heterogeneous activists to bond are also extremely important – which is why organisers who mostly collaborate online must sometimes get creative to enable socialisation to happen (in those cases too, one-to-one and small group conversations can help massively).
Finally, people who work at the intersection between different forms of injustice (say, women or people of colour in climate action groups) often have a particular sensitivity to these complex internal dynamics, and can act as effective bridges between various groups. Make sure you do everything you can to empower them to play such a role and offer due recognition to their work.
Examples & tips. In a recent research project of mine on activism and digital practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, I found that many historically marginalised individuals (for example, many women), for very legitimate reasons, find it hard to express themselves in collective settings, especially when no one else in the room looks like them. When activist work moves online, their struggles might be either alleviated or intensified. For instance, some find it even more daunting to speak up during a chaotic or very long online call. On the other hand, there are many examples of people who found in social media and other digital channels tools to express themselves safely.
More broadly, and online as well as offline, even for seasoned activists it can be exhausting to constantly act in representation of a minority or traditionally subaltern group (say, a woman or indigenous person might be tired to find herself asking her environmentalist group to pay attention to gender or race, feeling that otherwise no one else will). In all of those cases, careful attention to personal relations and attentive facilitation in group settings can make a huge difference.
Sustaining communication and collaboration through time (while being realistic about it). Supporting mobilisation though time, and beyond occasional peaks is one of the greatest challenges of any social movement or activist group. Making alliances last when everyone is already so busy and worn out is often even more difficult. While being realistic about the nature of collaborations is key, there are many cases in which organisations and communities managed to successfully support each other in the long term. Their stories differ widely, but they tend to have a few things in common. First, long-partnering organisations and groups make sure to generously involve one another in relevant initiatives. Second, they make time to communicate about each other’s work and stay in touch reasonably regularly (that engagement can be low key, but a minimal degree of continuity is important). Third, such organisations tend to have reflected on how they can complement each other’s strength and weaknesses by exchanging resources and skills when needed. This can be as simple and effective as making use of each other’s premises, communication tools, or networks of contacts.
Examples & tips. Whatever the nature of the groups you are part of or seeking to collaborate with, you may want to consider the following strategies I have seen used with success throughout my activist work:
- bimonthly meetings held after the completion of a project, to enable activists and volunteers now engaged in new activities to exchange news and catch up (the regularity of these meeting will vary widely depending on your needs and your field),
- internal newsletters through which groups that collaborated in the past inform each other of current projects and ask for help if needed (private social media groups can also work),
- ’summer’ or ‘winter’ schools for young activists, where different partner organisations come together to train younger generations.
A final note for those interested in this ‘cooking style’