I’m preparing to do a workshop about the role of capacity building in our fight for democracy and against fascism. You might be wondering, how can capacity building help us fight fascism? You might also be thinking as you read this…Lisa’s stretching it a bit. I promise you, I’m not!
If you haven’t read Project2050 – Toward the Development of a Shared Strategic Framework on the U.S. Left, I lovingly suggest you get on it. Capacity building, movement strengthening, and infrastructure building are just some of the many important recommendations made in this report. The report also states that right-wing movements have been engaging in capacity building, movement strengthening, and infrastructure building for 50+ years. We are directly experiencing the horrific impacts of their investment in movement and infrastructure building right here and right now.
Capacity building that is not neutral—and that is deeply rooted in a political and economic analysis of the conditions we are facing—is an important tool in our movement toolbox for aligning and building political power in a cohesive and large-scale way. Values-driven capacity builders are often equipped with a deep bench of skills, frameworks, tools, and movement-strengthening insights gained from working shoulder-to-shoulder with countless movement organizations.
What we need to fight fascism is large-scale alignment—deep and principled collaboration across organizations, networks, and movements, and the ability to be strategic at every level of our work together. I often say that capacity-building intermediaries are not technical assistance factories set up to just offer transactional services to movement organizations. Values-driven capacity building can, in fact, help movements to build long-term strategy and movement infrastructure that allows us to build the feminist, multi-racial democracy we want, need, and deserve.
If you are not following along with some of these brilliant movement strategists and capacity builders I suggest that you take time to check out these resources:
- The Fascism Barometer | Podcast and Learning Hub by Ejeris Dixon. Do not miss this podcast!
- The Anti-Authoritarian Playbook on Substack by Scot Nakagawa. His blog is a daily “must-read.”
Let’s continue to weather these intense storms together. We need one another now more than ever. The US Social Forum taught us that “another world is possible.” Let’s keep building towards that possibility together.
Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz, Executive Director