3.4 How do you understand power when making change happen?

Download this video clip.Video player: mch_unit3_3.4.mp4
Show transcript|Hide transcript

Transcript

ELENA MEJIA:
For me, it’s also like conflict, where you cannot make it invisible. You cannot do as if it doesn’t exist. The power imbalances can exist inside of your own group, of your own collective. But we can feel it, of course, in a more external, more global kind of way of perceiving power.
HADEEL QAZZAZ:
There are some authoritarian, some oppressive types of power that dictate the way you do work. And it could emerge from probably from some harmful social norms, from some practises malpractices in the community. However, I also came to know that there are some invisible powers that can be positive, that can help you to build the power within. Sometimes, the smile in an audience when you are speaking is this type of invisible power, that gives you strength and gives you support.
CHIOMA AGWUEGBO:
When you work in communities, and we try to make change happen, power is an essential ingredient. It’s precious for us. Speaking about the state of emergency movement, at some point we realised that the state houses of assembly weren’t latching on to our advocacy campaign quick enough. And so we decided to send handwritten letters to each of the members of the state house of assembly. And so what we did was, we created a network of civil society organisations in all of these states, and we gave them a little bit of money to be able to hand deliver the letters to the legislators in the states.
What this did for us was, it put the power into the hands of the local organisations in these states, as opposed to stretching ourselves, as the organisation in Abuja trying to achieve change. And so for us ensuring that we keep power situated locally as much as possible and decentralising it is really critical.
KELLY MUNDY:
I’ll think about what relation or power do I have to build public support and to bring people along with me. The relational power that I might have with people who can actually participate in the campaign, as an ally or bring something useful to the campaign, as well.
ART REYES III:
In our work, we have to think about power pretty multidimensionally. As our organisers are building a campaign, we think pretty explicitly in one dimension. Are we building power with or are we building power over? Power with maybe something that our communities have the existing resources to make the change that we need to make.
KELLY MUNDY:
When I think about the power around me and the people with power to make change happen, whilst I don’t have control over those, certain individuals, I do have the power to influence them. So then I’m thinking about, OK, well, what interests them? What is important to them? And how can I tap into that?
ART REYES III:
Power over, where we often are, is when there is an external decision maker that we need to be exerting influence over, to push them to make a decision. We have to be really, really clear that our communities are the source of our power. Then, we have to be very actively working to build and increase the leadership and power of our communities over time.
ERIC NJUGUNA:
For change to happen, we need to think about ways we can build power that can delegitimise and dismantle the systems of oppression that has led us into the climate crisis today. I always ask myself, who has the power? And in the context of the fossil fuel industry, for instance, fossil fuel companies have built power over knowledge we access on climate by sponsoring multiple, mainstream, climate newsletters, news series, and they have also bankrolled think tanks. As we move towards just transition, it is important to reckon with the power systems that have brought us into the climate crisis in the first place.
HADEEL QAZZAZ:
There is, indeed, some kind of power within, which is how I see myself and how I see my agency. It didn’t start like this, initially. It had to grow through education, learning, exposure to different, difficult situations, having difficult experiences in my life.
OUDAI TOZAN:
I don’t look at power as something I get from one source only. Being in a position of power gives me power. But also, having the knowledge, and expertise, and connections, and networks, and all of these, gives me another type of power.
HADEEL QAZZAZ:
My feminist friends and colleagues, my sisters in Chile, my mother, and other people who supported me all the way, and my father and husband, who were the only men who stood beside me at the beginning of my life.
CHIOMA AGWUEGBO:
Sometimes, inner strength for the work that I do can be found in a really good cry. When I feel frustrated, when I feel like things are not working, when I feel like we are not making progress as quickly as we should make it. But I think that, as an advocate, it’s important to have some sort of higher power that you draw from, regardless of who or what you worship. Just some place where you can be still, where you can meditate, where you can be spiritual, to derive some strength for the tasks and journeys ahead.
HADEEL QAZZAZ:
I was always driven by the willingness to change, and to stand up to certain difficult situations, and change them, within my small town, but also in my country.
End transcript
Download
 
Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

In this video we hear from Elena, Hadeel, Chioma, Kelly, Art and Eric about how they think about power when working on change.

Hadeel, Oudai and Chioma also share their perspectives on how they strengthen their own power within.

Changemaker Profiles:

Chioma Agwuegbo is Executive Director at TechHerNG and is convener of the #StateofEmergencyGBV Movement [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] , a coalition of organisations igniting citizens to advocate for an urgent, comprehensive, and sustainable response to sexual and gender-based violence in Nigeria.

Sabah Khan is co-founder of Parcham, an organisation in India dedicated to breaking stereotypes based on religion, class, caste, gender and other markers of difference to create a society respectful of diversity.

Elena Mejia is a feminist rapper, organiser and facilitator working in Lima, Peru to address issues of gender justice, economic justice and narrative work for social movements in the Actua.pe labs.

Kelly Mundy is a Senior Campaign Manager for Oxfam Great Britain campaigning to tackle inequalities such as economic and gender, which undermine the fight against poverty. 

Eric Njuguna is an organiser with Fridays for Future MAPA (Most Affected People and Areas) in Kenya, supporting protests aimed at putting pressure on world leaders to take action to advance climate justice and to amplify the voices of those most impacted by the climate crisis.

Hadeel Qazzaz is a Regional Gender Justice Coordinator for Oxfam International based in Ramallah, West Bank, and advocates for women’s rights throughout the Middle East and North Africa region.

Art Reyes III leads an organisation called We The People: Michigan, that works to build multi-racial working class organising capacity in the state of Michigan, USA, fighting for a better state and community that all people deserve.

Neha Singh is an organiser who started a women’s rights campaign called ‘Why Loiter?’ in Mumbai, India, that aims at reclaiming public spaces for women by loitering.

Oudai Tozan is a researcher and founding member of the Syrian academics and researchers network in the UK, working with the Syrian diaspora and those who experienced forced migration to mobilise, connect and support each other, but also to support Syria when the situation allows.

3.3 So how do you ‘dance with the system’?

3.5 ‘Power’ defined