By Democracy Resource Hub, Global Grassroots Support Network GGSN, Horizons Project
Introduction
Managing internal conflicts is crucial for the success of broad-based organizing efforts, as unresolved tensions can lead to fragmentation, decreased effectiveness, and even the dissolution of movements. By proactively addressing these challenges, movements can build resilience, foster collaboration, and maintain the unity necessary to achieve their goals.
…all social movements are going to have conflicts, and we should be prepared that building these broad coalitions that are necessary for successful social movements require us to tend to the relationships and the tensions that will always be there with different groups that are coming together… – Lisa Schirch
The following content was generated at and inspired by “Mediation for Movements: Managing Intra-Movement Conflict,” a webinar held on April 16, 2024. Co-Hosted by The Horizons Project and the Global Grassroots Support Network, see About Us.
The event featured movement organizers, scholars and conflict professionals from South Africa, India, the U.S., and Canada, who discussed how to manage these conflicts within movements aiming to build pro-democracy coalitions. Presenters and participants shared about common internal tensions and sources of conflict, shared strategies, experiences and lessons on navigating these challenges successfully.
This event was part of the Intermestic Learning Exchange Series, and is a Democracy Resource Hub Collaboration see About Us.
The global and interdisciplinary panel of speakers included:
- Zelda Holtzman, formerly of Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education, South Africa
- Ruhie Kumar, Heatwave Action Coalition, India
- Wendy Wood, The Karuna Center, US
- Lisa Schirch, Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame, US
Lessons Learned: Common Sources of Intra-movement Conflict and Strategies and Insights about How to Address Them
This section is organized by key tension categories or theme. Each includes information about the conflict source, followed by relevant solutions, strategies, and resources.
By exploring these insights and tools, we hope you can gain a deeper understanding of how to navigate and resolve internal conflicts within their own movements and coalitions.
Identity-based Differences
Challenges
- As individuals from diverse racial, cultural, and generational backgrounds bring their unique experiences and perspectives to the table, identity-based differences can create significant tensions within movements
- “Building Trust and Resilience in Movements” – Ruhie discusses the critical role of trust and resilience in preventing conflicts within movements.
Solutions
- Solutions and Strategies:
- Create safe spaces for different identity groups to express themselves separately before coming together
- Encourage self-reflection by individuals on their roles, biases, and approaches to engaging with others
- Lessons Learned:
- Recognize that internalized and external oppression often underlies internal conflicts, requiring practices to unwind oppressive narratives and support continuous learning/unlearning
- Creating parallel engagements that are less polarized to build relationships and comfort with navigating disagreements
- Examples:
- Resources:
- Build Diversity and Capacity
These resources provide avenues for listening to marginalised perspectives, recognising when we have relative privilege within different contexts, and advice for how to leverage these privileges effectively. - Take Action to Support Marginalized Populations
- Do Better and Win Bigger by Taking on Marginalisation By Kaytee Ray-Riek, Mobilisation Lab
Whether is culture, race, gender and/or other differences, here are tips for building stronger, equitable teams by directly addressing the marginalisation of team members. - Supporting Young People’s Activism in the Climate Emergency
- Do Better and Win Bigger by Taking on Marginalisation By Kaytee Ray-Riek, Mobilisation Lab
- Build Diversity and Capacity
There are specific challenges that young people are facing today. – Ruhie Kumar
Ideological and Strategic Differences
Challenges
- Ideological and strategic differences arise when movement members hold divergent views on the goals, priorities, and tactics they should pursue.
- A learning circle participant noted, “There are different goals within movements. We might assume we’re all working towards the same thing, but sometimes we’re not.” These disagreements can also extend to decisions about including or excluding certain groups or ideologies.
- Examples Of the Tension:
Solutions
- Solutions and strategies:
- Focus on shared interests, values, and goals to re-establish common ground
- Use new technologies like digital democracy platforms (like Polis) to enable broader participation in decision-making
- Lessons Learned:
- Creating spaces for broad participation in decision-making is critical for establishing legitimacy
- Implementing circle processes where leaders answer prompts to move away from cross-talk
- Recontextualizing conflicts to help people see the larger strategy and movement of movements
- Resources:
-
- The Cost of Change: Three Social Movements’ Methodologies in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories
A great example of different movements uniting around the same cause. - Digital Democracy for Decision-Making
- Policy Brief: Defending Democracy with Deliberative Technology
- Polis- Featured Case Studies
- “Involve people in a movement in the decision making about the movement’s goals and tactics” – Lisa explores how deliberative technologies like Polis can enhance decision-making in social movements.
- The Cost of Change: Three Social Movements’ Methodologies in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories
Interpersonal and Relational Conflicts
Challenges
- Interpersonal and relational conflicts can emerge from personal clashes, power imbalances, and eroding trust among movement members.
These conflicts are often exacerbated by a lack of representation in decision-making processes and a breakdown in the sense of community over time. This is particularly a challenge for movement leaders.
Solutions
- Solutions and strategies:
- Bring in outside mediators to facilitate dialogue between conflicting groups
- Implement circle processes where leaders answer prompts to move away from cross-talk
- Encourage self-reflection by individuals on their roles, biases, and approaches to engaging with others
- Lessons Learned:
- Outside mediators can play a key role, but the solutions ultimately need to come from within movements
- One-on-one conversations with change-makers to help them show up constructively
- Resources:
- Principles of Co-operative Conflict Resolution
- Personal Development
- Leaderful Organizing Tool: Giving and Receiving Feedback
- Nonviolent Community Safety and Peacebuilding Handbook – Nonviolent Communication Skills (p 24-36)
- Interpersonal Harm
Develop skills related to what to do when differences arise. – Wendy Wood
Structural and Systemic Issues
Challenges
- Structural and systemic issues, rooted in historical legacies and internalized oppression, can create deep-seated tensions within movements. External pressures and manipulation by the state or other powerful actors can further compound these challenges, making it difficult for movements to maintain unity and focus.
- Zelda, “I grew up classified as ‘colored’, which meant I didn’t have an identity at the time in South Africa. The dislocation of historical identity is what power does to uphold itself.”
Solutions
- Solutions and strategies:
- Working together to find a common vision separate from individual organization visions to prevent being torn apart by the state
- Recognizing that internalized and external oppression often underlies internal conflicts, requiring practices to unwind oppressive narratives and support continuous learning/unlearning
- Lessons Learned:
- Movements must attend to building a culture of trust, emotional well-being, and strong relationships
- Resources:
- Collective Decision Making
- Horizontal Decision making
Answers to questions for activists interested in making group decisions in a more non-hierarchical way. - On Conflict and Consensus
Learn about the foundations of consensus and the impediments to success.
- Horizontal Decision making
- Collective Decision Making
Unity Doesn’t Come Automatically; It’s a Continuous Engagement. – Zelda Holtzman
Organizational Culture and Capacity
Challenges
- Organizational culture and capacity tensions arise from the challenges movements face in building and sustaining a healthy, resilient culture amid the demands of their work. Ruhi Kumar noted, “The value system and the trust system has been broken down at all levels, whether it’s an organization, but and now also in the movement space.”
Addressing burnout, developing internal conflict resolution processes, and fostering trust and accountability are critical to overcoming these tensions and ensuring the long-term effectiveness of movements.
Solutions
- Solutions and strategies:
- Establish conflict resolution processes and support within movements from the beginning
- Train people within movements to serve as mediators and facilitate challenging conversations
- Lessons Learned:
- Movements need to develop their own internal capacity and tools for managing inevitable conflicts
- Providing formal trainings on mediation and conflict management to build internal capacity and legitimize conflict as a normal part of movement-building
- Resources:
- On Conflict and Consensus
- Principles of Co-operative Conflict Resolution
These five tips from peacebuilding have the potential to depolarise and de-escalate tense and challenging situations. - Conflict Literacy Framework
- Conflict and Movements for Social Change: The Politics of Mediation and the Mediation of Politics by Kenneth Cloke [article]
Presents 12 reasons why mediation, together with dialogue and other collaborative processes, should be a long-term goal of progressive movements. - Knowledge Roundup: Conflict Is Inevitable
A compilation of knowledge intended for grassroots activists/advocates, and anyone else involved in a collective or organizational structure with an interest in moving away from traditional carceral and punishment cultures of handling conflict.
“Early Conflict Management for Strong Coalitions” – Lisa emphasizes the necessity of addressing conflicts early to maintain strong coalitions in social movements.
What support would be helpful from mediation practitioners? What initiatives are out there to support intra-movement mediation?
- Providing formal trainings on mediation and conflict management to build internal capacity and legitimize conflict as a normal part of movement-building: Where to Start: Restorative Justice
- Organizing listening circles within communities and communities of practice to hold space, problem-solve, and build confidence and capacity: Principles of Co-operative Conflict Resolution
Participant Learning Circle
A group of webinar participants engaged in a deeper learning circle after the webinar event. The following ideas and insights from that event.
Identifying the Tension & Addressing It
What are the most difficult internal tensions that you’ve experienced within your movement and coalition? How have you tried/do you try to address them?
- The most difficult tension is fragmentation, and that there is no one solution. I grew up classified as ‘colored’, which meant I didn’t have an identity at the time in South Africa. The dislocation of historical identity is what power does to uphold itself. All positionalities are a currency of more vs less-than. It’s important to recognize that we all deal with some aspects of privilege. Even in the process of struggle, we acquire other skills and knowledge that others may not have. We need to challenge this as we continue engaging, that is, we need to recognize our own power and choose whether to transfer, engage, maintain, or challenge it. We must be sensitive to power differentials and dynamics. Otherwise we may abuse this power, if we’re not aware of it.
- There are different goals within movements. We might assume we’re all working towards the same thing, but sometimes we’re not. For example, the movement for democracy/equity is not equivalent to the movement for stability/peace, but we often find ourselves working side-by-side or wanting to work together. Stability often upholds the status quo, whilst transformative approaches challenge it. So, when pro-democracy organizers make judgements that things are unjust and should be challenged, pro-stability organizers might say we’re being hateful towards people upholding power structures.
- Our team is bringing together practitioners across different fields/approaches. Our tension is, at one point do we engage with local elected officials? Some feel we should focus on the community first, and others feel we should engage elected officials first. We don’t know if we want to engage in an us vs them dynamic, but also don’t want to uphold the status quo.
- I think it helps to go back to the vision, to answer whether and when you want to engage with systems of/people in power. Consider, if we had all our needs met, what would that look like? If you are proposing a solution you want them to be a part of, include them at the beginning. But if the solution doesn’t include them and we don’t want them influencing this community, then focus on building community power first.
- I feel it’s important to differentiate between people vs the system; personalize the struggle. If we’re tackling power, people keep that system alive, of course. We need to think about individuals as a possibility for transformative consciousness, and separate them from the systems that need to be dismantled. A personal example I can draw from is a black policeman in South Africa was instructed to torture me. He told me to pretend instead. He asked, ‘will you remember me when one day you are free’?
Support & Initiatives for Intra-Movement Mediation
What support would be helpful from mediation practitioners? What initiatives are out there to support intra-movement mediation?
- Culturally, people often deny there is conflict.
- Struggling to organize space to transform conflict.
- In creating a space where there is conflict, you need to take a step back and recontextualize so people see the larger strategy. We are a movement of many movements.
- 1:1s with change makers can help them show up in a constructive way.
- Create a parallel engagement that is less polarized to help build relationships and comfort with navigating disagreements.
- Need a circle process where leaders answer prompts, to move away from cross talk.
Credibility & Legitimacy
How does credibility/legitimacy play out when addressing/mediating intra-movement conflict? How do we build it?
- It’s worth recognizing that mediators are often not called in until a conflict is big, which makes it harder to resolve. Building internal capacity is important to helps avoid non-generative escalation.
- When mediators do come in, they need to do so gently, and approach like a skill share/training to build confidence that those in conflict can address it, make changes and feel competent that they can handle similar conflicts in the future. Go back to the basics and let people realize they don’t need to be afraid, and are able to self-reflect.
- Formal trainings on mediation and conflict management can help movements build their internal capacity, and legitimize conflict as something that shouldn’t be avoided.
- Listening circles within communities, and communities of practice, can also help provide opportunities to hold space, problem solve and build confidence and capacity.
Lessons & Insights from Experience
What lessons or insights can you share from your own experience mediating within or across movements?
- We recognize that many activist groups have strong personality-led dynamics. We reflected on how it is often internalized and external oppression that is behind internal conflicts. For this reason, we need practices to help unwind oppressive narratives. We need to support a continuous process of learning/unlearning narratives taught by systems of oppression.
- The state is able to manipulate movements. Working together to find common vision, separate from individual organization visions, provides spaciousness for intentionality about how groups would be in spaces together, and what the collective has in common. This helps to prevent from being torn apart by the state.
Webinar Videos
This section features video clips and summaries from the webinar speakers, offering valuable insights and real-world examples to complement the lessons learned. By engaging with these highlights, readers can gain a more nuanced understanding of the challenges and strategies discussed throughout the resource page.
Conversation Highlights
“Early Conflict Management for Strong Coalitions” – Lisa emphasizes the necessity of addressing conflicts early to maintain strong coalitions in social movements.
“Building Trust and Resilience in Movements” – Ruhie discusses the critical role of trust and resilience in preventing conflicts within movements.
“Involve people in a movement in the decision making about the movement’s goals and tactics” – Lisa explores how deliberative technologies like Polis can enhance decision-making in social movements.
“Develop skills related to what to do when differences arise.”– Wendy Wood
“Unity Doesn’t Come Automatically; It’s a Continuous Engagement” – Zelda Holtzman
Opening – Stories of Mediation Success (& Failure)
The speakers were asked to share their experience with mediation in a movement-building context? What is one example of when it has worked well OR one example of when it has not worked well?
Lisa – Effective Conflict Management for Sustaining Broad Coalitions
Lisa discusses the crucial role of addressing internal conflicts within social movements early on, emphasizing proactive conflict management strategies to sustain broad coalitions. She shares insights from both successful and failed mediations.
Zelda – Embracing Conflict in Activism for Stronger Unity
Zelda reflects on her activism experiences, highlighting the importance of embracing conflict within movements to effectively confront and overcome powerful adversaries.
Wendy – Enhancing Movement Resilience Through Conflict Skills Training
Wendy shares her approach to building conflict resilience within organizations by fostering dialogue and mediation skills, essential for conflict prevention and early intervention.
Ruhie – Building Trust in Diverse Climate Movements: Challenges and Strategies
Ruhie discusses the challenges of managing conflicts within youth climate movements in India, stressing the importance of trust and understanding diverse perspectives to enhance movement dynamics.
Q&A
In this section the speakers answered questions specific to their work:
Zelda: What challenges and opportunities are emerging for movements building broad-based coalitions in South Africa and elsewhere?
Zelda discusses the challenges to find unity in movements during post-apartheid South Africa. She emphasizes the importance of collective engagement and strategic mediation to achieve sustainable outcomes.
Wendy Wood – What does mindful engagement involve, and how can it strengthen movements? Could you suggest key skills for handling conflicts within and between movements?
When dialogue breaks down, Wood recommends grounding in core qualities like authenticity, compassion, and openness to rebuild relationships and find new ways to engage with each other.
Ruhie – Could you describe the tensions you’ve faced in organizing movements and how they were addressed? What should people understand about how organizers manage conflicts, and how can non-activists support these efforts?
Ruhie talks about how creating a safe space for groups to express themselves separately before coming together helped acknowledge concerns, while focusing on actionable next steps paved a way forward without forcing immediate resolution.
Lisa – What insights or tools have proven effective for mediators within movements? How can deliberative technology improve mediation processes in social movements?
Lisa explores how deliberative technologies like Polis can enhance participation and decision-making, creating safer and more structured environments for dialogue within movements.
Resources
The following resources, primarily housed in the Commons Library, offer detailed information and guides to help you become more skilful in preventing, resolving, transforming, and transcending conflicts in social movements.
These resources touch on how to address the systemic, contextual and organizational sources of conflict as well as the interpersonal challenges that arise in any group.
Communication & Conflict Management
- Nonviolent Community Safety and Peacebuilding Handbook – Nonviolent Communication Skills (p 24-36)
- Leaderful Organizing Tool: Giving and Receiving Feedback
- On Conflict and Consensus
- Principles of Co-operative Conflict Resolution
- Conflict Literacy Framework
- Knowledge Roundup: Conflict Is Inevitable
Restorative and Transformative Approaches
- Transformative Approaches to Conflict Resolution
- Where to Start: Restorative Justice
- Pathways to Repair: Guides to Navigate Healing, Trust building and Human Messiness
- Four Parts of Accountability & How to Apologize
Intersectional and Inclusive Organizing
- Diversity & Inclusion: Start Here
- Making Your Activism Accessible
- Supporting Young People’s Activism in the Climate Emergency
- Do Better and Win Bigger by Taking on Marginalisation By Kaytee Ray-Riek, Mobilisation Lab
- Stories of Belonging
Coalition Building and Collaborative Decision-Making
- Coalition Building: Start Here
- Creative Coalitions Handbook for Change
- Mediating Mass Movements – Oslo Forum Papel (PDF)
- Five Principles for Building Powerful Coalitions
- Block, Bridge, Build Playbook
- When to Talk and When to Fight: The Strategic Choice between Dialogue and Resistance
- Why coalition building isn’t about the coalition: Listening, leading, and making change happen
- Creative Coalitions Handbook for Change
- Horizontal Decision making
- Building Networked Coalitions
Use of Technology in Conflict Resolution
- Defending Democracy with Deliberative Technology
- Polis and the Political Process
- Plurality: The Future Of Collaborative Technology And Democracy
Recommended Materials
Case Studies
- No on 9 Remembered [Citizens’ initiative concerning LGBT rights in the state of Oregon in the United States]
Podcasts
Articles
- “Conflict and Movements for Social Change: The Politics of Mediation and the Mediation of Politics” by Kenneth Cloke [article]
Presents 12 reasons why Mediation, together with dialogue and other collaborative processes, should be a long-term goal of progressive movements.
Books
- Do No Harm — Mindful Engagement for a World in Crisis by Wendy Wood and Thaïs Mazur
Offers guidance on responding to global crises with mindful engagement, showcasing examples of individuals who embody non-harmful practices across various spheres of activism and care (The Karuna Center). - Decolonizing Solidarity: Dilemmas and Directions for Supporters of Indigenous Struggles by Clare Land
Guides non-Indigenous supporters on how to effectively and respectfully assist Indigenous movements, focusing on the complexities and ethical considerations of such engagements. - When to Talk and When to Fight: The Strategic Choice between Dialogue and Resistance
Explores the strategic decisions movements must make between engaging in dialogue or resistance, offering insights into the effectiveness of each approach in various activist scenarios. - We Will Not Cancel Us – And Other Dreams of Transformative Justice by adrienne maree brown (Review)
Explores the complexities of accountability within activist movements, advocating for transformative justice as a solution to internal conflicts, rather than punitive measures like cancel culture - The Neutrality Trap : Disrupting and Connecting for Social Change by Bernie Mayer, Jacqueline N. Font-Guzmán
Addresses the dilemma of neutrality in conflict resolution, suggesting that engaging authentically and disruptively can lead to more effective social change than maintaining a stance of neutrality. - When to Talk and When to Fight: The Strategic Choice between Dialogue and Resistance by Rebecca Subar (Review & Resources)
Offers insights into the strategic decision-making process between dialogue and resistance, providing guidance for movements facing internal and external conflicts on when each approach is most effective. - Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict by William Ury
Ury presents strategies for surviving and thriving amid conflict, focusing on collaborative problem-solving and negotiation to resolve intra-movement tensions and achieve shared goals. - The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace by John Paul Lederach
Delves into the concept of moral imagination as a critical skill in peacebuilding, offering creative and empathetic solutions to transform conflict within movements. - Politics, Dialogue and the Evolution of Democracy: How to Discuss Race, Abortion, Immigration, Gun Control, Climate Change, Same Sex Marriage and Other Hot Topics By Kenneth Cloke
Provides a framework for engaging in productive dialogue on contentious issues, aiming to evolve democracy and resolve intra-movement conflicts through understanding and communication. - The Way Out: How to Overcome Toxic Polarization by Peter T. Coleman
Explores methods for overcoming toxic polarization, offering solutions to internal movement conflicts through understanding systemic patterns and fostering collective resilience. - The Little Book of Conflict Transformation by John Paul Lederach
Provides a clear understanding of conflict and offers practical approaches for transforming conflict through creative and peaceful means, emphasizing the importance of relationships in mediation efforts. - Bridging Troubled Waters: Conflict Resolution from the Heart by Michelle LeBaron
Focuses on using emotional and cultural intelligence in conflict resolution, providing strategies for mediating deeply rooted conflicts. - The Third Side: Why We Fight and How We Can Stop by William Ury
Ury introduces the concept of the “Third Side” as a way of looking at conflict and mediation, offering strategies for individuals and communities to play a role in resolving disputes.
About Us
This event and resource page is co-hosted by The Horizons Project and the Global Grassroots Support Network. This event was part of the Intermestic Learning Exchange Series, and is a Democracy Resource Hub Collaboration.
About Global Grassroots Support Network (GGSN)
The Global Grassroots Support Network (GGSN) is an initiative building upon the Blueprints for Change project. The GGSN is a community of practice that brings together people and projects supporting “grassroots justice-oriented” activist groups in multiple regions and continents. Our objective is to share knowledge around common challenges that these groups face, and how each project has solved for them. Folks in this network can learn from each others’ experience and swap ideas for trainings, coaching and resource materials (i.e. guides, workshops, media) they created in their own part of the world.
To get a full lowdown on GGSN and how it works, have a look at this detailed About doc and follow up with the team here if you have further questions.
If you’ve looked into it and are convinced you want to join us: >>Enter your information on this secure (double-encrypted) form on Cryptpad
About Horizons Project
History has shown that in times of increasing political violence and democratic decline around the world, diverse movements have formed across an ecosystem of actors to protect democracy, stand for nonviolence, and demand peace.
The Horizons Project recognizes the urgency for this kind of movement to come together now in the United States. Our vision, mission and values represent our deep commitment to systems-level organizing with the existing ecosystem of social change: i.e., all those working for change with different priorities and from different vantage points across the ideological spectrum.
Intermestic Learning Series
The Intermestic (domestic-international) Learning Series is a “Democracy Resource Hub Collaboration.” These events aim to foster a dynamic exchange of knowledge and strategies, experiences and insights among organizers and movement builders from the United States and around the globe, offering participants the opportunity to share on defending and promoting democracy in their respective contexts.
Democracy Resource Hub Collaboration
The Democracy Resource Hub, democracyresourcehub.org, is a collaborative effort supported by the 22nd Century Initiative, United Vision Idaho, the SHIFT Action Lab, and the Horizons Project. It is hosted by the Commons Social Change Library. For more information and to access a wealth of learning resources to complement these webinars, visit the Democracy Resource Hub.
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- Alliances_Allies_Coalitions_Partnerships - Non traditional
- Conflict Resolution_Management
- Decision making
- Diversity
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- Intermestic Learning Series
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