Philippe Duhamel's blog

New Tactics' New Kid on the Blog

Philippe Duhamel — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 15:29:29 -0500

New People Meet New Tactics

Now open, the interTactica blog!

You want in on the rejuvenating, empowering spirits at NewTactics?

There's a lot of juicy resources at www.newtactics.org: some 45 “tactical notebooks“, a database of 160 case studies, and many, many training tools. The New Tactics Project has such amazing information, it's overwhelming!

* What if you could plug into a strategy condenser that would bring you this knowledge in concentrated form?
* How about getting your fix of New Tactics goodness in two small, easy to swallow gulps a week?

Sounds good?

My name is Philippe Duhamel and I will be working to bring you, our activists and readers, information, advice and tips most likely to be of practical use to you.

It's called interTactica. It's a reader's dream come true. Come meet New Tactics' New Kid on the Blog.

New Tactics knowledge distilled for you. Warning: No alcohol content, but addictive. Get clever. Stay sober.

Subscribe now to interTactica and you won't be missing a drop.

New Tactics Community Members

7 Uses for Freedom Fighters in Document Land

Philippe Duhamel — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 22:29:51 -0500

I must admit my prejudice. Those in the profession are the epitome of neutral, technical, and boring. Or so I thought.

Boy was I wrong. Blame early childhood experiences.

Forget the cold lady with the glasses who goes Shhh! behind mouldy bookcases. Get a read beyond stereotypes. Find out about a radical new breed of freedom fighters who can bolster knowledge democracy and boost your overall effectiveness.

My preconceived biases about librarians were first shaken in a New Tactics notebook entitled Making Sense of the Information Wilderness: Library and Information Services for the Improvement of Human Rights Work, by Saša Madacki, head librarian at the Human Rights Centre in Sarajevo. I discovered documentalists, information specialists, and archivists — however you want to call them — can actually be of use to us in the movement. Some even describe themselves as activists! I was blown away.

Beyond help to organize reference materials, I found in the tactical notebook many other ways librarians can assist our work, our organizations, and indeed the world. Let me share seven.

1. From wasteful ignorance to faster, better decisions. Sometimes, key decisions are postponed or never made because critical information is missing. Worse, you make a decision based on incorrect information, or facts that weren't checked properly. As a knowledge worker, a librarian can hunt decision-making facts faster, and better. Your document specialist can also identify research carried out elsewhere, to avoid unnecessary duplication. Don't waste time in ignorance. Find out early. Ask a librarian.

2. One copy makes the rounds. Your librarian can make sure there are no duplicates of costly subscriptions or materials around the office, managing resources so they are shared efficiently. This saves time and money. Hugely.

3. Go for the find, not the search. Most of us whose work depends partly on research usually spend over half of our time looking for stuff, online or otherwise. A librarian can cherry-pick for you the best reference material on a given subject. You're in a crunch to write a major project proposal? Your librarian can gather the statistical highlights, the documented evidence, the testimonies, freeing you up to do the other productive things. Like writing the actual proposal, and getting it out the door.

4. From blunders to homers. Some of your colleagues may make errors of fact or judgement that end up costing money or credibility. Or, because they don't know enough about your organization's culture, history and accomplishments, volunteers can make erroneous assertions or embarrassing statements. Your librarian can take charge of verifying facts for all internal reports, public statements and external publications. That can save the day.

5. From organizational amnesia to historical ownership. Say this big anniversary is coming up... You scramble to put together bits and pieces of your past achievements. Wow, sure looks like someone purposefully tucked away your historical photos in every imaginable places! A librarian can package your organizational memory for wider use. When a journalist or a researcher comes calling, you can be ready with your neat little folder. Your legacy is important. Make sure your contemporaries, and future generations, can access it.

6. From information overload to easy up-to-dateness. Your specialist can monitor your individual interests and keep tabs on the field for you. When a new book or interesting paper appears, you get an alert based on current files under your responsibility and your profile of interests.

7. From dusty archives to knowledge democracy. You may be spending too much time looking for information, instead of using it, and disseminating it. “Disseminating materials is the librarian’s foremost responsibility”, says Saša Madacki. Your librarian also doubles as a computer specialist. They can evaluate and manage the best possible software solutions for you. They can create databases to improve access to your internal records and key contacts, like membership, donors, and the media. They can train staff on how to use organizational databases and manage their own documents.

— Okay. Librarians are cool. Question: Now how do I get one?

In my next post, I'll talk about how to find a librarian. Just for you.

Want more? Have questions, comments?

Join us over here, in the tactical discussion. We're all there!

Notebook author, Saša Madacki, is joined by three outstanding world experts in knowledge activism: Toni Samek, Bert Verstappen and Youk Chhang (see their short bios).

Of course, a whole bunch of us New Tacticians will also have a crack at how to manage documents, from an activist and human rights perspective.

Join us. It'll be more fun.

Bring your queries, your input, your ideas. We're open all week.

Philippe Duhamel

New Tactics Community Members

Librarians are way cool: 4 ways to get your hands on one

Philippe Duhamel — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:20:24 -0500

In his tactical notebook entitled Making Sense of the Information Wilderness, Saša Madacki says “even the smallest nongovernmental and governmental human rights organizations could be lost without a proper documentation system and an individual guiding it.”

If real life experience hasn't convinced you yet, it will eventually.

So you know at least seven ways a librarian could be useful to you. No more convincing. You want a librarian. Now how do you get one?

1. Create the position and hire. Saša Madacki's tactical notebook provides key advice on the qualities and skills you would want to look for, who to hire, even a sample job offer for a documentalist/librarian. Check it out.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself: “Right. A librarian would be fantastic. All very nice and dandy. But we could NEVER afford a librarian!”

Not so fast. Make sure you do the math first. Compute the actual savings. You may be in for a pleasant surprise.

Still, you think your case is desperate? You really can't see how you could afford to hire?

Now now, take heart, dear friend. Hear what Saša has to say:

“Of course, not every organization can afford to establish a big, modern library or information center. Nevertheless establishing the role of 'librarian' within even a small organization can improve its efficiency dramatically.”

So, apart from hiring an out-and-out full-time librarian, there are other solutions.

2. Turn somebody into a part-time librarian. Can't afford a full-time librarian? Here's a radical idea. Transform somebody into one. Make it part of their job. Or find a volunteer who can do the job, if only for a day or two at once.

3. Awaken your inner documentalist. Even for somebody working alone, with no budget at all, there still is a solution. You too can enter the librarian phone booth and come out a powerful information age Superhero! The notebook provides useful links for the solo librarian to use. Become your own librarian for a few, dedicated hours a week.

4. Go out and reach one. Run to the local public library. Head for the desk. True 21th century librarians will not Shhh! you out. You can probably find a librarian in your area. And they just may be willing to help you out.

Check out the Making Sense of the Information Wilderness tactical notebook. The notebook also offers neat practical details on how to set up a small human rights library, complete with realistic, low-budget floor plans that even include a conference room. A section also reviews key software (some are free!) to maintain records, build bibliographies, and conduct research.

Want more? Got questions, comments?
Join us over here, in the tactical discussion. We're all there!
Notebook author, Saša Madacki, is joined by three outstanding world experts in knowledge activism: Toni Samek, Bert Verstappen and Youk Chhang (see their short bios).
Of course, a whole bunch of us New Tacticians will also have a crack at how to manage documents, from an activist and human rights perspective.
Join us. It'll be more fun.

Bring your queries, your input, your ideas. We're open all week.

Philippe Duhamel

New Tactics Community Members

Reduce repression with self-accreditation

Philippe Duhamel — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:05:10 -0500

photo: cc Anosmia

Columbus Igboanusi did not come to Slovakia from his native Nigeria to set up an antiracist human rights organization. “I didn't understand racism then. I hadn't experienced it in my country,” he says. That changed the day he was assaulted and badly beaten by racist skinheads.

After hearing his experience was not unique among other African students, he formed an organization of African students against racism. That's when another reality hit him.

On a conflict resolution mission around the country, he discovered the appalling prejudice, discrimination and attacks endured by the Roma population. “As a student of international law, I saw the situation as a gross violation of the rights of minorities demanding a more adequate response than 'conflict resolution'”, he says. Columbus Igboanusi then moved to create the League of Human Rights Advocates (LHRA) and an extensive network of human rights monitors in the Slovak Republic.

As if that were not enough of a challenge for the struggling human rights activist, he then encountered the reality of repression, and a whole bag of dirty tricks: public harassment, false allegations, intense surveillance, attacks in the media, data theft, economic strangulation, threats of being banned, false criminal charges, arrests and detention, blackmail, physical threats. That experience led him to develop a systematic approach to decreasing the likelihood of repression.

There are many reasons to recommend “Making the Global Local: Applying Global Agreements to Local Enforcement of Human Rights Law” by Columbus Igboanusi. I am choosing to highlight from the notebook some practical advice to help safeguard the safety of human rights monitors. These techniques can help preempt repressive action from the authorities.

5 steps to self-accreditation

Because human rights monitors face so many direct threats to their safety, the LHRA has integrated a series of creative methods that work together to create a self-driven accreditation process. This proactive approach reduces ignorance and fear among potentially repressive authorities, while creating public disincentives to repression. Here are its five key components.

1. Issue your own identity card. The basis of the whole approach is to play the transparency card. It starts with the LHRA issuing its own ID. The card includes the monitor's photo, relevant contact info, date of birth, official duties and service mandate (one year). It harbours the official logo of the LHRA along with the signature of the LHRA's executive director.

2. Provide a letter of introduction. An introduction letter facilitates the self-accreditation process. The letter is presented to relevant regional and local police, government, and municipal authorities. After outlining the duties of the monitor, the letter asks for co-operation and assistance, and invites the authorities to contact the LHRA headquarters if they have any question.

3. Meet formally with the authorities. The letter is followed up with a request to meet. Meeting key officials has the potential to build personal rapport. The authorities' willingness to repress may be curtailed by direct knowledge of the person involved. It also opens a line of communication.

4. Invite the media, when needed. Certain officials may not be too keen on meeting. Some will claim monitors are not needed or that the individual is not appropriate. Telling the press about your accreditation process and inviting journalists to cover the meetings may entice some officials to become more responsive.

5. Train, train, train. Apart from knowing the key legal and international law instruments, monitors need to practice a number of specific skills. These include how to interact with officials while remaining patient and persistent, how to stay composed and articulate in heated debate, how to use persuasion and negotiation techniques, and media skills.

The self-accreditation process may inspire you to adapt it to other places where contacts with officials are needed, or where the risk of repression is an issue.

— Philippe Duhamel

Tell us how you, yourself, have found ways to reduce the risks of repression.
How could similar ideas or modified versions of this approach be used in other contexts?

Other ideas? Post comment below and share!

New Tactics Community Members

When stuck, shift tactics

Philippe Duhamel — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 09:10:14 -0500

As I watch the display of gutsy, soulful dissidence in the streets of Rangoon, I hold my breath. I pray this new wave of protest can loosen the deathly embrace of the military regime that has been smothering the people of Burma/Myanmar for so, so long.

I am hopeful as I see monks in crimson robes take the lead in the streets, civilians form human chains to protect them, key footage escape the country through cell phone cameras, religious services withdrawn from the military.

The power of creative actions! Tactical innovation lies at the heart of the new momentum. Audacity gives new impetus, helps a movement come unstuck.

From deadlock to renewal

Burma had not seen protests on this scale since 1988, when a promising movement was crushed in a deadly crackdown. For nearly two decades, the Birman junta and the pro-democracy movement have appeared in a deadlock.

On one side, the paranoid generals. Imagine that: they went as far as to design a new national capital architected to preempt any popular disturbances, and built hours away from any potentially volatile urban centres, like demoted first city Rangoon.

On the other side, a weakened but resilient opposition movement, exemplified by the continuing detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has remained imprisoned for the better part of the last 17 years. For at least that long, calls for sanctions, boycotts and isolation against the Myanmar regime have been the mantra of prominent Burmese opposition leaders and support organizations.

Shifting tactics

The Free Burma Coalition waged a multi-year campaign to force Pepsi Co. and other multinationals to leave Burma. According to Zar Ni, one of the founders of the Free Burma Coalition: “We officially ended the boycott in 2003 because we realized that we needed to use a new set of tactics to start to reframe the issue and bring our campaign to another level. We realized that unless we changed the way people tell the Burma story, we would not win.”

“Boycotts have a lot of potential to do good", said Zar Ni. "They can be like the heavy artillery in a military campaign: They wear down the enemy, but the real job is done by the people on the ground, in the country itself.”

And that may be where inspiring tactics first needed to be reborn — on the blood-soaked but fertile soil of oppressed Burma/Myanmar — in order to spur a new wave of international activity. Knowing when it’s time to switch tactics can be just as important as knowing how to choose which tactic to use in the first place.

Tactical innovation brings hope

Founder of the Center for Torture Victims and initiator of the New Tactics Project, Doug Johnson has summarized the dangers of relying on a few pet tactics and the benefits of tactical savviness:

An over-reliance on any single tactic leads to its application in the wrong circumstances, and to missed opportunities to expand strategic targets; flexible tactical thinking creates the opportunity for refined strategic targeting.
An overused tactic encourages the adversary to systematize a response and makes it easier for adversaries to defend their position; tactical flexibility creates surprise and learning.

While we may fail to change our tactics, the other side will surely change theirs. In the real world of oppression under murderous regimes, when the opponent changes and adapts their tactics faster than us, the price to be paid can be deadly.

And thus it is that waging struggle involves a race for tactical innovation. The good news is, by virtue of our diversity, sheer resilience and, dare we say, love of life, our democracy and social justice movements stand a good chance of being more resourceful and imaginative than rigid bureaucracies and stiff military hierarchies.

And that, my friend, is my hope.

The right tactics at the right moment will inspire hundreds to take breathtaking risks. This in turn will encourage thousands to take action. And then millions will be drawn to express support. And in the end indeed, the whole world will stand watching and working, bringing us all closer together.

From stalemate to victory, riding the wave of history, that's the power of new tactics.

When stuck, consider ditching old tactics. What have you got to lose? Dare the new. Try a shift in tactics.

— Philippe Duhamel

Tell us about some of the tactical shifts you have had to make over the years. What were the some of the challenges? What were some of the benefits?
Post your comment below.

From Motivation to Solution: A Strategy Tool

Philippe Duhamel — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 09:20:28 -0500

How do you eradicate an age-old abusive practice so entrenched it has become woven into a people's identity?

What if the practice serves to assuage powerful, visceral fears? What if the practice also meets some real needs, such as for food, housework and sex?

Pretending for a minute you could even end the practice, how would you then prevent it from raising its ugly head again?

One of the leading promoters of human rights in Africa, Emile Francis Short must also be a master of strategy. In his tactical notebook entitled Powerful Persuasion: Combating traditional practices that violate human rights, you can study the 10-year campaign he led in Ghana to free thousands of women and girls from religious enslavement.

It is a riveting story. I am especially grateful to Mr. Short for letting us in on the sophisticated design of his highly successful campaign. Somewhere in there, I got a glimpse of a powerful strategizing tool that could be more widely used. I'll call it the Motivation to Solution Strategy Tool.

In Ghana, formerly used as a hub in the slave trade, another form of slavery was still prevalent until recently. The practice is called trokosi, a form of religious servitude. As atonement for a breach of social rules or a crime committed by someone else in their family, young women and girls were sent to a life of misery, rape and exploitation at the hands of local priests.

"In approaching an abusive customary practice", Emile Short says, "you must understand why the culture has developed it. Customary practices do not exist without reason. What needs does the practice serve? What problem is it attempting to remedy? Some customary practices were created for historic reasons that no longer exist, while others fulfill current needs or respond to real fears or concerns. These motivations must be understood, because if a practice is to be changed, there must be an alternative method of responding to the causes that lie beneath it. Otherwise it is likely to resurface even after a successful campaign."

In truth, I have no idea how formal was the process that went into the design of the fascinating table found in Powerful Persuasion (see p. 12). All I know is this tool allows for a crucial examination of the driving forces behind a problem, and a search for avenues to address them. To the left, one finds a list of causes headed "Motivation upholding the practice"; on the other, "Solution or argument" heads a list of potential strategic responses.

How the tool works

1. Identify Motivation: the Needs, Fears and Beliefs that support the problem

Take a sheet of paper (large newsprint or blackboard if working with a group) and write on top which situation or practice you want to affect.

Draw a line in the middle. Write the header for each column: MOTIVATIONS on one side, SOLUTIONS on the other.

Explain that the situation or practice you want to change exists for a reason: it serves a purpose, however twistedly. It feeds on a number of needs, fears, ideas and habits. Your goal is to unearth these.

First, you may want to conduct a brainstorm about what needs the practice may be serving. Don't be too concerned at this point about validating or organizing your thoughts. Later, you may look at your list again, and see if you need to go deeper. Fears, especially, may be hiding other unrecognized needs.

After the brainstorm, you can organize your list if you want, trim it down, group items together, etc.

2. Find alternatives, arguments and tactics

Now go over the list on the left. Look for alternatives, arguments and tactics you could use to address each motivation. Write these down under SOLUTIONS.

For each major NEED, look for alternatives, for other ways these could be met through better, more positive means. Offering replacement practices will make for easier and more durable solutions than trying to suppress the need. Sometimes, as in the case of sexual crimes, means of coercion or repression may have to be an option.

When dealing with FEAR, acknowledge needs such as for safety and protection. Assuage those fears with new reassurance mechanisms. Bring in real-life experiences if you can (testimonies are great for that).

When dealing with CUSTOMS, suggest change is possible. The recognition that customs do change over time may be the hardest part. This creates the opening you need to even suggest a specific change.

When dealing with other supporting BELIEFS or IDEAS, come up with powerful arguments that could be used to bring respectful challenge. Your goal with these arguments is not to defeat and humiliate. Your goal is to change the outlook and make everybody win.

This simple tool allows you to tackle a problem in radical new ways. This exercise allows you to unearth the roots of a problem... And going for the cause rather than the symptoms, compañeras y compañeros, means more effective, durable action.

The best part is: this tool can be used by anybody!

— Philippe Duhamel, www.interTactica.org

Take a sheet of paper and try the tool for 10 minutes with a problem practice you are struggling with.
Let us know how it worked for you.
Post a comment below.
Any other idea this tool brings up for you?

New Tactics Community Members

Eight Powerful Persuasion Tactics

Philippe Duhamel — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 09:49:13 -0500

photo cc Dave Bezaire & Susi Havens-Bezaire

In his tactical notebook, Powerful Persuasion: Combating traditional practices that violate human rights, Emile Short describes a campaign that allowed many thousands of women and girls escape religious bondage. This being NewTactics, and a blog aimed at finding methods behind effective change, I latched on a few techniques used in this campaign to engage allies and opponents alike in the successful challenge of an unjust practice.

Here are 8 potent persuasion tactics. I believe their use to be of almost universal value. See if you can apply these to your current work.

Have a plan. Yes, you can go all-out on a huge one-month Persuasion Offensive that will burn up in flames as it crashes against a wall of resistance. Or, you can build a methodical plan to gradually convince layers of your reluctant opposition over the course of a few years. Guess which approach is most likely to win. Making a dent in religious enslavement in Ghana took a decade.
Prepare your arguments. Know your opponent's views and counter-arguments. Draw up point-by-point responses. Yes, it's the old tried and true Q&A (Questions and Answers). Tailor your points to the root drivers of the opposing views, provide valid alternatives to meet real needs (for how to do this, see the Motivation to Solution Strategy Tool), and justice shall prevail.
Bridge degrees of separation. Sometimes you can't have access to the one you need to convince. Don't let that stop you. Take the extra step. Get someone who has the ear of the one you need to convince. Go for the one they'll listen to. If there are degrees of separation between you and those you need to persuade, build a bridge of relations. Think of other people who may help your arguments cross the water.
Talk local. This one's obvious, but how often neglected. People are highly sensitive to where you talk from, especially when status dynamics are at play: urban vs. countryside, university trained vs. real-life educated, clerical vs. blue-collar, etc. Find somebody local. The job of convincing will become much easier, or simply possible.
Speak from within. Those most affected by an issue will be its most powerful voice. If you're talking about a problem that has negative repercussions, show, don't tell. Rather than present an analyst's view of the adverse impacts, have someone with you who can speak directly to the experience. Real-life stories and moving testimonies will always win over abstract speculations and theoretical lectures. Bring in the victims and the survivors. If you don't, the other side may "talk for them" in their absence and use paternalistic arguments to undermine your credibility.
Provide opportunities to shine. When dealing with local notables and VIP's, one tactic is to reward them with an opportunity to look really, really good coming out on your side of the argument. Use this sparingly, but wisely, to your advantage. It may help convince broader constituencies.
Set up inescapable forums. I was really impressed with the number of meetings that seemed to have gone behind each small victory in the campaign to end the trokosi practice. One powerful technique was the use of village assemblies to advance the debate and enlist public support from initially reluctant allies. There were also "Liberation Ceremonies", emancipation rituals which allowed (or forced) the local priest to come out and bless publicly the release of his former female slaves. Talk about creative use of public accountability!
Assemble a team. What have we got here: someone with direct contact with those you need convincing, a community spokesperson, testimony from a survivor, perhaps even respected allies from the elite. That's a team! Time to assign roles. Emile Short talks about the carrot-and-stick approach to coaxing for change. As human rights commissioner, he sometimes played the role of the stick. He brought to bear the issue of criminal prosecution for human rights violators, with a list of potential charges (good cop, bad cop anyone?). There were benefits to change, and major drawbacks to not change. It worked.

"Freedom and justice are never handed out on a silver platter, but come about by persistence and perseverance", says Emile Short. Armed with these powerful persuasion techniques, you can now add more effectual influence to your determination.

— Philippe Duhamel, www.interTactica.org

What are other persuasion techniques have you discovered and used?
Let us know in the comments.

New Tactics Community Members

Seven Tips for Respectful Persuasion

Philippe Duhamel — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:28:27 -0500

"The essence of the communication strategy is to recognize that people are very sensitive not only to what your message is, but to how it is communicated, and, perhaps most importantly, to who is transmitting it."

— Emile Short

Today, we return to the tools of persuasion. This is the last instalment in this blog's trilogy on the super yummy tactical notebook, Powerful Persuasion: Combating traditional practices that violate human rights, by Emile Short.

Persuasion is an inexhaustible theme in human rights and social change work, because it is such a needed skill. After exploring more in depth the "What" and the "Who" of persuasive communication, we now turn to the "How" in the delivery of your message, especially in face-to-face encounters.

In his notebook, Emile Short shows at length how much effort went into setting up respectful encounters that would allow change to really work its way in. As Short says: "It was essential to avoid taking a moral high ground. We could not be too critical, because in the end we knew any change of mind had to be voluntary."

In this spirit, I offer you the following tips for one-on-one persuasion.

How to be respectful AND persuasive

1. Tune in and connect. Use the weather, the environment, any element of communality to create the initial contact. Start with small talk (or rituals, such as those in Ghana). It helps create that tiny bond on which to tie your message.

2. Pace the energy. It's hard to say this without sounding esoteric, but there's an energetic quality to the art of convincing. Adjust yourself to the other person. One trick is to subtly mimic their body position. It creates an unconscious feeling of association.

3. Take in the cues. If the person is smiling and leaning forward, he's showing some interest and you are making progress. Likewise, if she is pulling back or looking away, slow down your spiel. Take the time to pull them back in. Check up on how you are doing. Sprinkle in some questions such as "Does that make sense to you?", "Do you see this also?".

4. Be transparent. Be yourself. You are not peddling junk or selling used cars. You can let the other person know how you feel, your doubts. Let your humanity show through. If you create the opening, you stand a better chance the other will lower their guards.

5. Listen carefully. Most people assume being persuasive is the capacity to hammer your points forcefully. I'd say, not so. Being persuasive actually has a lot to do with shutting your mouth, at times. Hear what the other person is saying, verbally and non-verbally. Persuasion is an exchange.

6. Stay humble. You may be right about some things. You may be wrong about some other things. Recognize you don't have all the answers. Practice humility. Be willing to learn from the interaction.

7. Go, then let go. Give it your best shot, but respect the fact that the other person may indeed have no time (or patience) for you right now. Persuasion is rarely achieved in a single encounter. Picture that person being more open later. Your interaction may have opened a window for the future. Let go and be at peace. You did your best.

Persuasion is not easy. Make sure to practice often. If the other person doesn't come out with a flat, inflexible NO!, that means there's still hope for progress. Someone could even put an an adamant NO and change their mind later. You never know. Anything that creates an opening is a small victory. Celebrate it!

Respectful persuasion is powerful. And so are you.

— Philippe Duhamel, intertactica.org

On Creative Uses of History

Philippe Duhamel — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 19:51:06 -0500

"...Every minute of camp life is a poisoned minute..."

In today's blog post, I talk about how a coalition of activist museums came to life and I invite you to join a week-long discussion about innovative tactics centred on the use of history.

New tactics are seldom found keeping your head down, dragging your feet on the beaten path. You want to create some quick-ass tactic or new institution from scratch? Here are two macro-sized creativity techniques.

But be warned. Creativity sometime lands you in an awkward place. That's the price to pay.

1. Leverage instinct into tactic. One way to steer your creativity into new territory is to take a fundamental human need or instinct and look for ways to turn it into a deliberate, self-aware method of serving your goals.

Take memory. Us humans have a natural propensity to want to remember the past by preserving some old fragments. It's why you're still holding on to that clump of baby hair and that illustrious, but awfully worn-out T-Shirt. Now how could you transform the basic human need for memory into a tool for building a culture of peace and human rights?

2. Combine same-olds to make new. Another avenue towards creation is to take two completely separate strands of human endeavour. Then try to make something new from that. It's a form of breeding. Like how babies come to most species.

So how about combining... traditional museum science, and... human rights activism. These sound heterogeneous enough, right?

That's the creative challenge folks like the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, the Liberation War Museum, and the Gulag Museum at Perm 36 took on. Here's what Liz Ŝevčenko had to say in her tactical notebook The Power of Place: How historic sites can engage citizens in human rights issues. In their efforts to transform the memory instinct into method, and to entice museums to mate with activism, this conundrum tested their resolve:

"Most other museums, and funders of museums, compared their collections of Wedgwood or Vermeer to that of the Tenement Museum, which includes a few hundred buttons, a laundry ticket and a mummified rat found in our ceiling, and couldn’t see how we had much in common.", says Ŝevčenko.

"When we approached human rights and social welfare agencies, they said, “You’re a museum,” by which they meant something that was self-indulgent, precious and a big waste of time. So we felt caught between two worlds and began to fear that we would not survive unless we abandoned our mission", Ŝevčenko remembers.

I told you creativity isn't easy. Sounds like both worlds became quite stiff and puzzled about the new experiment.

Stranded as they were between two universes, what could our human-rights historians do? Well, twinkle twinkle, they could call on other stray stars around them.

So Liz Ŝevčenko and her team gathered other museums that shared an activist twist. And it sparked: they were able to connect like-minded dots in a brand new constellation called the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience, an organization that Ŝevčenko calls “a kind of a support group for misfit museums.”

So keep creativity tip number 3 up your sleeve, just in case:

3. If you can't join with the big stars, shine with the other misfits.

— Philippe Duhamel, interTactica.org

All week, from October 24 to 30, 2007, I invite you to join a discussion on The Power of Place: How Sites of Conscience Inspire Civic Engagement featuring practitioners from the International Coalition of Historical Sites of Conscience including Sarwar Ali, Trustee from Liberation War Museum in Bangladesh; and Ereshnee Naidu, Director of Programs for Africa and Asia at the International Coalition office in New York and former Project Manager for Memorialization at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in South Africa.

Later this week, I'll be sharing The Seven Wonders of Powerful Places, inspired by the tactical usefulness of Sites of Conscience Museums, on some of the ways THEN can serve NOW.

New Tactics Community Members

The Seven Wonders of Powerful Places: How Where Matters

Philippe Duhamel — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:37:41 -0500

photo cc: masoud.nyc

How can museums do more than entertain us (or bore us) about curiosities of the past? How can change feed on the past? As part of October's tactical discussion on the Power of Place, I have compiled a list of seven wonders that historical sites tap into to bring some awareness, conscience, and change to the world.

1. Conflicts create emotion. Did you ever walk into a place where real torture was inflicted, actual executions conducted? Did you ever stand over the actual site of a tragic human conflict or shattering historical event? What did you feel? Some of these places have soaked up so much blood, sweat and tears that they’re still haunted by the pain. Historical sites bring back the conflict's latent emotional energy. Their power derives from that.

2. Emotions create meaning. Emotions are one of the most universal and potent forms of energy. Emotions also form the template where human memory is recorded — this is how we humans remember events. This can be put to good use. With proper set-up, powerful places can help us "make sense" of the world. They help us create meaning.

3. Truth is in the details. Faced with attempts to suppress inconvenient realities, the first purpose of a historical site is to make facts impossible to negate. The truth is sometimes bigger in the small things than it is in the larger arguments. By preserving some meaningful bits of memory — shards, soot, and grime — historical sites make the past real again. That's what makes museums so compelling. Long silenced and isolated, victims and survivors now say loud and clear: "I was not alone".

4. Personalization allows rehumanization. Stories humanize situations. As the past is personalized, history is scaled down to its impact on an individual, where it becomes comprehensible. Complex issues become understandable across ideological barriers. Historical sites that re-enact lives lived help us relate.

5. Safety in distance. Detachment from seemingly distant events lowers defensiveness and creates safety. Looking at past conflicts allows us to see the parts — the good and the bad, the prisoner and the guard — played out from a distance. A "spectator's" eye on the situation can serve as a basis for non-judgemental sharing and discussion.

6. New places bring fresh perspective. A complete change of scenery can be somewhat destabilizing. This is good news, because destabilization can act as an equalizer. A different environment can jolt people out of their comfort zone, help them forget about their socially defined roles. And as they step outside their well-rehearsed parts for a moment, new possibilities for dialogue open up.

7. From monuments to monumental change. So how is this all useful? By taking on past conflicts to bring the facts into full view, the personal impacts, the emotions, sites of conscience create conditions for safe, non-judgemental debate. This takes dialogue light years ahead of the usual tour guide scripts. Doing this well means a tireless search for the prolonged stems of conflict into present-day experience, and cutting-edge facilitation techniques to help us all jump from "THIS WAS THEN" to "LET’S ACT NOW".

Through constant reinvention, sites of conscience achieve one of the most difficult things one can do in the world: help people change their hearts and minds towards ending needless suffering. Moving us from the past into the present, museums of the past become laboratories for the future. At historical sites of conscience, this is how the true power of history becomes manifest: through present-day action.

— Philippe Duhamel, interTactica.org

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Uses of history for the rest of us

Philippe Duhamel — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:33:07 -0500

Suffragette leaders Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst

As a way to conclude this month’s discussion on The Power of Place: How Sites of Conscience Inspire Civic Engagement, I want to offer some suggestions for folks who, like me, may not have much to do with museums in their daily lives. I mean, there’s a limited number of us who are going to join the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience, right? So what are some of the ways the rest of us can make our activism more powerful using historical sites and history-based tactics?

Here are a few ideas that any group, any individual can use to promote human rights and a social change agenda with the help of history. Somewhere in between simply touring a museum, or starting one yourself, there’s a whole range of things you can do to make History work for you.

Move your meeting to a historical site. Although this may sound strange, some official historical sites and museums are open to welcoming small meetings and assemblies. Call them up and find out. How could this environment be used to situate your organization’s mission and activities on the long arc of history? A clear sense of your place in relation to progress over years, decades and centuries will help energize your troops.

Hold an event at a place of significance. Alternatively, you can organize a public event in a historical location to draw attention to the links between the present situation and other events of record. Remember, not all historical sites are officially recognized or set up. Working on women’s rights? How about holding your next event in a place that once formally forbid women to enter. It could be in a golf club, a university faculty once reserved for men, or even at old city hall or parliament where once no woman was to be found! You get the idea. Try to pick a site that symbolizes a victory. Even if it was achieved decades ago, it will show success is possible. Use places of triumph to pump up people’s enthusiasm.

Go on a magical history tour. Many cities around the world are now fortunate enough to have groups offering alternative, popular education tours of their city. If there are no such local tour, you can easily set one up around socially significant landmarks. On such tours, one finds out about key struggles for human and social rights, what were the living conditions of workers and the underprivileged, the major sites of conflict, and so on. This is a great way to welcome and orient international guests, or even to ground your local members back into local reality before, or during an annual assembly.

Apply the TKC (Tenement Kitchen Concept). Liz Ŝevčenko explains in her notebook how difficult discussions about labour practices in the garment industry were held, with breakthrough results, at the Tenement Museum in New York City. Trained facilitators took industry, labour and other reps together on a tour of the old apartment building to show them the individual lives of garment workers from nearly a century ago. With help, no doubt, from the 7 wonders of powerful places, they sat together in one of the tenement’s kitchen and held landmark discussions towards alleviating sweatshop conditions in the industry. Think about it for a second. What interesting site could you use to host a tricky stakeholders meeting? Or, if you are lucky enough to live near a Museum of Conscience, see if they would host your next strategy session.

Create an emergency shelter. Okay, this one is far-fetched. See, if place matters, if where you are determines what you see and do, I figured: What if some organization that usually goes to big corporate hotels to hold meetings and conferences suddenly decided otherwise, even just once? What if, rather than go to the Hilton’s or the Sheraton’s, it hosted its guests in, say, temporary refugee camps, or prison-style bunk beds, or emergency shelter-type conditions. Can you imagine recreating for attendees some of the historical conditions? Picture this: we do human rights work with refugees, so we set up temporary refugee tents in a park downtown and hold our meeting there! With proper compensation, we could even ask the local kitchen soup to feed our guests (off peak hours, of course). I’d bet the experience of harsher accommodation and living conditions would instil a new sense of realism or urgency to our deliberations. What if the pile of money thus saved went to the work, to help real refugees, etc. Eh, so what do you say? (What, are you laughing? But I’m serious!)

Bring in an exhibit. Some museums or historical societies have small, travelling exhibits. Others may be willing to showcase some of their artifacts. Bring History into your offices and meetings through photo exhibits. Display history-inspired works of art in your office lobby or conference room.

Simple ways to remember. Many easy, engaging activities can invoke the power of History, or honour those that have come before us. Use them to power-charge your meetings. Start with a minute of silence dedicated to those who gave their lives to the cause. Read a meaningful passage from your own riveting history. Dedicate your gathering to the memory of a historical hero (and bring a picture). Include historical footage, sound recordings, or vintage photographs into your next presentations, board meeting, or funding pitch.

Using the power of History is sometimes as simple as remembering... to remember.

— Philippe Duhamel, interTactica.org

I’m sure there are many other ways you have seen history being used. Would you please share? Post a comment below. Thanks!

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Learning by doing 101: Activities create the activist

Philippe Duhamel — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 19:32:50 -0600

As with so many leaders who emerge at the grass roots level trying to right a wrong, I began at the level of an activity, graduated to thinking about tactics, and struggled to understand how to shape strategy, with only limited notions of the tools that were available to me.

— Douglas A. Johnson, in The Need for New Tactics

(First in a three-part series on moving from activity, to tactics, to strategy.)

How does one become an activist? How does someone grow from being oblivious to larger issues to caring about them? And, how does one move from being a “concerned citizen” to the crucial step of devoting precious time and energy to taking determined, organized action for a cause?

These are serious questions, so let me look for an answer in my own “How to become an activist” reference.

Almost 25 years ago, I was in college, minding my own business. As I walked by, a fellow student asked me to sign a petition against nuclear weapons. I stopped and listened. I may have asked a question or two.

I was given a few reasons, like how many times the Earth could be blown over with current stockpiles, and how many thousands of warheads they were being built right at that time.

So I signed.

Next thing I knew, the student told me she had to catch a course and would I please take over the table. In a flash, she had disappeared.

So how does one become an activist? You get stuck holding a table.

— Sorry, you say, but could you please replay this in slow motion?

Glad you ask.

Let’s break down that experience into steps:

1. Hard-hitting information is allowed to sink in.

2. Some concrete small step is asked (like sign a petition).

3. Soon after the first opening, a greater, achievable challenge is proposed.

Not all beginner’s steps need to be small. My next activity was civil disobedience training, including a “hands-on” practice on how to go over an 8-foot barb-wired fence using old blankets and sleeping bags.

But let me be honest here. What really helped get me started was a warm, open and lively person — convincing, but not overbearing — who asked me to do something I could.

So how does one become an activist? There are thousands of possible answers. But it helps when you meet a real-life activist who has convincing arguments, and another class to catch.

— Philippe Duhamel, interTactica.org

Tell me your own story. What was your first “activist” thing ever? How did your own sequence of events unfold in becoming an activist?

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Learning by doing 201: Becoming a good tactician

Philippe Duhamel — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 13:19:15 -0600

“As I have had more experience in shaping the strategy of an organization, it has become clearer to me that the more we understand about tactics, the more flexibility we have to set new strategic directions. [...] Tactical development enriches strategic thought.”

— Douglas A. Johnson

“The skillful tactician may be likened to a snake that is found in the ChUng mountains. Strike at its head, and you will be attacked by its tail; strike at its tail, and you will be attacked by its head; strike at its middle, and you will be attacked by head and tail both.”

— Sun Tzu

Second in a three-part series on moving from activity, to tactics, to strategy.

So what makes a good tactician? In today’s piece, I’ll tell you some features of a good tactical mind and provide a couple analogies about areas where you, as a learning tactician, can concentrate your skills. But let me start with a little story.

A tactical success

I once organized a nonviolent direct action where groups of people were blocking all entrances to a building where corporate leaders were to discuss economic globalization, and a secret trade and investment treaty. The blockade worked. Nobody could enter the building. After an hour or so, the police started to gather at the end of one of the streets around the building. A friend of mine, who I know has a great sense for tactics, came up to me and told me what he thought the police intended to do.

He told me the police were going to block the street at both ends, and arrest everyone in the middle. This would clear one of the entrances to the building. Then, he told me, they would bring in the waiting corporate leaders. First, they would lead them through a bank, two streets over from the blocked building. They would walk them across the bank to exit on the now emptied street. The conference centre could then be accessed through the cleared doorway.

The police plan was foiled when, as he suggested, we started a secondary blockade to the bank the next street over. This helped the blockade last a few extra hours — which delayed the globalization conference. Our action felt (and was) successful thanks to a great tactician who could think ahead, anticipate police moves, and come up with a revised tactical plan.

So what skills-sets help someone be a good tactician?

The good tactician

A good tactician is like a good coach. A good tactician knows the importance of participant training and preparation. A good tactician knows how to bring out the best motivations in players, and boost morale. In a the heat of the game, a good tactician is skilled at deploying people and resources in the field. There’s a game plan, many backups, and quick, in the moment decisions. A good tactician will be able to react with quick, effective moves to the opponent’s strategy, in real-time or even better, in pre-emptive anticipation.

A good tactician is like a good cook, someone who has read and prepared such a wide range of recipes that a sense of food chemistry has developed. They know what goes together, and what doesn’t, the food prep techniques and cooking methods that bring the best taste and texture. This helps structure creativity and tasteful refinement. The good tactician, like the good cook shows great “make-do” adaptability to missing ingredients or unexpected outcomes. Like the chef, a good tactician knows how to put the little actions together in the right order to reach the most tasty results, and, thanks to a keen sense of timing, just in time for dinner!

A good tactician is like a good mechanic: someone with a large toolbox who’s good at preventive maintenance and fixing malfunction. A good tactician will make sure the vehicle can rev up sucessfully, the weather be hot and sunny, or cold and damp. A good tactician will make your operation run smoothly; each component doing its part, generating the most power for the amount of fuel (efficiency).

The low-down

So if you want to become someone who’s good at crafting clever tactics

1. Train for and attend lots of “games” (events and such)

2. Read lots of cookbooks (like the New Tactics notebooks)

3. And fill up that big, expanding toolbox

— Philippe Duhamel, interTactica.org

What else do good tacticians do? How would you go about building the coaching, cooking, mechanical skills you need? Tell us in the comments.

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