Become a student of our 6week School of Gentle Protest

15 Mar Become a student of our 6week School of Gentle Protest

Posted at 21:51h in Uncategorized by Craftivist Collective 2 Comments
1 Like

“Our greatest strength lies in the gentleness and

tenderness of our heart.”  – Rumi

 

I’m excited to launch our School of Gentle Protest 20th March. A 6 week online curriculum, it’s to help individuals and groups around the world tackle prejudice, injustice, corruption and inequality wherever they see it – without resorting to aggression and hostility. In collaboration with www.1215.today, a project inspired by the Magna Carta which encourages discovery and debate around human rights. Ann Jones, Project Director of www.1215.today said: ”Sarah’s kind of activism is thoughtful, non-threatening and totally beguiling. Just what we need Today!”

 

In these challenging and uncertain times, more people than ever are looking to take a stand for what they believe in. But many feel overwhelmed and unsure of where to start, while others often have good intentions but are taking action without a careful strategy.

 

GentleSchoolOfProtest-3

 
Many of you will know that I call the Craftivist Collective approach to craftivism ‘gentle protest’. We protest against injustice and work to change structures, systems and stereotypes that harm people and our planet but always through gentleness. 
 
Over the 9 years I’ve been doing craftivism I’ve learnt so much and what I notice more and more is that gentleness is at the core of our craftivism work and that’s what makes it so powerful for makers, viewers, receivers and others who engage with our craftivism work. I believe more than ever that gentleness needs to be the core of all activism not just our craftivism and that’s why I’m excited to launch The School of Gentle Protest this month. 

 

Gentleness is not a weakness, it’s about working carefully, with self-control and treating everyone how you would like to be treated, whether they are a victim, perpetrator or bystander, encouraging them to be their best self and improve our world for all. Gentle protest has been used effectively throughout history for long term change by people like Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela – they never demonised anyone and not only helped change laws but also hearts and minds. I hope this new edition to the the activism toolkit support you to be an effective gentle protester in 2017, learning and enjoying being part of the positive change you want to see in the world. 

The School of Gentle Protest will cover lots of issues such as how to challenge a friend or stranger who has said something harmful, how to campaign by encouraging people in positions of power and becoming their critical friend rather than an aggressive enemy, how to attract and intrigue people to join your protest rather than force your message onto them, and much more. 

 

Participants in the School of Gentle Protest will get access to weekly vlogs featuring our Visiting Professors Orsola de Castro (Fashion Designer and Co-Founder of Fashion Revolution), JP Flintoff (coach and author of ‘How to Change the World‘ book ), Catherine Howarth (CEO of Share Action) and Tom van Deijnen  (Founder of The Visible Mending Programme). There will also be ‘homework’ that will be enjoyable and question your thinking; things like films to watch and activities to do and offline events to attend. There will be an event in Lincoln, home of Magna Carta, at the start of Fashion Revolution Week on Monday 24 April and I will share some mini lessons on social media (and on @1215today platforms) too.

 

Sign up as a student for our short weekly newsletter here:

Screen-Shot-2017-03-15-at-17.44.37-1024x710

 

powered by TinyLetter

 

The School of Gentle Protest was developed in collaboration with online project www.1215.Today led by the University of Lincoln and funded by Arts Council England

 

2 Comments
  • Loretta Morandin
    Posted at 04:32h, 31 March Reply

    Hi I’ve tried subscribing via the above TinyLetter box twice and still don’t receive anything other than the confirmation email. Is there a manual way of being added?

Post A Comment