theories of change

In my Communications class last weekend, we were asked to free-write on the following question:

What is your theory of change?

So far, this is what I have come up with:

(1) we must simultaneously dismantle current systems that do not work while creating better and healthier systems; dismantle from the inside while creating new systems on the outside and

It is not enough to say that we need to take down racism, sexism, capitalism, prison systems. Those systems exist for a reason and whether we like it or not, they play an important role in the social and economic fabric of society. So how are we acknowledging that (unfortunate) reality and shifting the energy towards something new? Prison abolition and transformative justice go hand in hand because they address the injustices and false solutions of the Prison Industrial System while simultaneously shifting community energy towards creating real safety in our communities. Prison abolition dismantles the current system while transformative justice creates new, healthier systems. We need both to happen, simultaneously. Because we need to be able to tangible envision the world we want in order to not be scared to break down and move away from the world we are a part of.

(2) we cannot solve industrial-sized problems with industrial-sized solutions; we must create small-scale, resilient and adaptive solutions that are tailored to communities’ needs.

I don’t think problems caused by industrialization and free-market economies are going to be solved with industrialized free-market solutions. It just doesn’t make sense to me. It might solve some surface issues, but the underlying root causes will still be the same as before if the system itself has not fundamentally/radically changed. The creative possibility of industrialized solutions is too narrow. It does not take into account the particular strengths and weaknesses of varying communities or ecologies. In grad school, we talk a lot about sustainability context: the need to acknowledge limits and thresholds when discussing sustainability metrics. (For example, even if a company decreases its water usage by 10%, it may still not be operating within the ecological carrying capacity of that watershed and be using more water than is sustainable. Or, another example, a company based in Vermont is going be able to use more water because of its ecological location than a similar company based in Arizona.) Sustainability context, in some sense, is essentially saying that we need to take into account local strengths, weaknesses, differences, carrying capacities when coming up with solutions. Communities and environments are extremely resilient. to support that resiliency, we must tailor solutions towards each community’s strengths and weaknesses.

(3) we must prioritize the effects of change on the most vulnerable communities and listen to what they need and want; we need to be invested in the health and survival of everyone

Do you know that quote: “Until all of us are free, none of us are free?” I’ve been thinking about this last piece a lot and how it ties in with the first principal: we can’t just topple capitalism like a game of Jenga. Because you know who’s going to suffer the most? Probably not folks with enough privilege to have the time and resources to read and write blogs like this. I can talk all I want about changing capitalism, tearing it down and damning the man. But that’s because I have the resources and opportunities to put food in my belly, heat in my house and a roof over my head. I have a lot of privilege going into a conversation about changing capitalism. So if shit hits the fan, I’ve got a farm where I can run off to and plant some seeds and probably make it work. But I don’t want a world filled with folks that are just like me. I want a world that is invested in the survival of everyone. My theory of brings the margins into the center, it listens to the most vulnerable communities and empowers them at the same time. It shifts power from a few to many.

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It has been an incredibly empowering and focusing activity to really sit down and think about this question. I encourage you to sit down and free write for even just a few minutes about this question.  I have not been the best about sharing comments on this blog because, in all honesty, I haven’t figured out how to do it. But I promise I will if you give me some of your own thoughts on Theories of Change!

And, because this is supposed to be about grad school and I am constantly surprised at what flies out of my own mouth, I will leave you with the actual words spoken by me in a graduate level class on Communication:

“We don’t have to fix systems that aren’t fucked up.”

Yeah, I said that. And I stand by it.