Workshops

Power is a vital resource for both an individual and a movement’s ability to take action, make change, and win favourable results. Yet many of us in justice movements have experienced the sharp end of power as an oppressive force, making it difficult to relate to to one another when power feels imbalanced, or in the presence of complex power dynamics within and between our organisations.

Our movements have always had to reckon with the challenge that power dynamics create across our teams, organisations, communities, and social identity groups. But on the other side of that challenge, is power’s potential for change.

Come to this session if:

• You struggle to relate to others in the presence of power imbalance

• You grapple with questions about the power you, your organisation or others hold

• You want to explore and share your own experiences of power and the meaning it holds for you in the movement for migrant justice

What we stand for may be migrant justice. But what do we believe? What approaches do we invest in? Call them our beliefs, our ideologies, our worldviews, even our political analysis - we come to the work of migrant justice with a set of understandings and principles that shape the way we do what we do.

Experiencing difference at the level of ideology and approach can be destabilising, like there’s no solid ground to stand on. If we are not standing on solid ground, is there any foundation for us to build a movement on? How do we remain side by side in struggle when the real struggle can feel like the difference between our ideas about what is right and what is wrong?

Come to this session if:

• You struggle with working alongside folks whose political, social and ideological beliefs and approaches differ to your own

• You’re grappling with ideological tensions that feel fundamental - like reform vs abolition, or the significance of racial justice to migrant justice

• You want to explore and share your own experiences of relating to people with different ideologies and approaches to migrant justice

Front-line service providers, community organisers, campaign organisations, analysts and public affairs specialists, philanthropic funders, consultants… our movements are a complex web of different groups trying to work together for common cause.

But navigating this vibrant movement ecology can be easier said than done. How do we make peace with the different roles we play when we experience the friction of when those roles clash, contradict, or come into conflict with each other? How do we navigate the tensions of diverging strategies and tactics, and the consequences they create for the movement at large? Can we agree to disagree when the stakes of our movement being successful are so high that it feels like none of us can afford to get it wrong?

Come to this session if:

• You experience the tension of working alongside other organisations within the movement for migrant justice

• You grapple with questions about who has a legitimate part to play in movement, and who doesn’t

• You want to explore and share your own experiences of relating to others whose role in the movement is very different to your own

The movement for migrant justice benefits from a range of experiences. For some, this comes from having been or still being personally impacted by the immigration system. Others may have seen their family and friends navigate the process of migration, while some may not feel affected by migration at all.

We all bring different lives to bear in our work for the movement. Being alongside such difference of experience can bring up trigger and tension between us, conjure up painful memories, stir up unwanted guilt, and lead us towards hierarchies of whose experience matters.

As the organisations within our movement continue to pose questions about lived experience - what it is, who has it, and where it matters - what does that mean for how we relate to one another? How do we remain sensitive to the dignity of people’s lives while also remaining robust in the reality of how oppression affects us differently?

Come to this session if:

• You experience tension in conversations about lived experience in the context of migrant justice

• You grapple with questions about your own experiences and where they sit within the movement

• You want to explore and share your own experiences of the tensions and dynamics that come with different lived experiences in the movement

Any movement for justice requires money and the abundant allocation and distribution of resource in order to do its work. Without it, scarcity, inequity and stretch undermine our capacity not just to bring about change, but to lead by example.

In the competitive landscape of funding, relating to organisations who have different access to the resources we need can be full of tension - especially when trying to access the same dwindling sources of income.

With limited resourcing options available, it can become harder to navigate the complexities between accessing the money we need to do the work while also remaining true to our vision and values. On a personal level, this may also create conflict around doing what feels ‘right’ when this may risk our own livelihoods.

How can we work alongside those with vastly different access to knowledge and networks? In what ways do money and resources change our relationship with the movement? What does collective action look like when we can’t invest in it in equal ways? How do we navigate the inevitable tensions that come up in relationships where unequal access to money and resources is present?

Come to this session if:

• You struggle with balancing a collaborative relationship with other organisations in the competitive funding environment

• You experience tension working with other organisations when you have very different levels of resource and income

• You want to explore and share your experiences of trying to deal with the differences that come up around money and resources

While we can make sense of the differences that show up between us through our cognitive thoughts and beliefs, we can also miss so much of the information and wisdom that our bodies hold when it comes to how we encounter difference and the impact it has or the imprint it leaves on us as physical and spiritual beings.

When we slow down and turn inwards, what somatic clues might we discover that help us get under the skin of how we experience difference or are affected by it? How can we get more of a sense of our habitual responses to difference, such as fight, flight, or freeze, to bring more self-awareness to our inner experience?

Come to this session if:

• You want to experience a different entry point to the subject of difference that moves beyond the mind and into your body

• You struggle to understand how you feel in your body and would like to practice listening more to what your body is telling you

• You want to slow down and have space to be gently held and guided in ways that allow you to explore your inner world