Developing Conscious Activists' Capacities - Radical Imagination

The Developing Conscious Activists' Capacities series explores and highlights capacities that we can develop to foster conscious activism. Today we are going to explore Radical Imagination!

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What is it?

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The Latin origin of the word radical means “from the root,” and a radical imagination is one that sees society’s problems, and the power that impacts our lives, as deeply rooted in systemic and structural inequalities and forms of exploitation. (Alex Khasnabish & Max Haiven)

This concurrently means that Radical Reimagination is the practice of envisioning the world of our deepest longing. It begins with an understanding of the whole problem to vehicle and imagine a new cycle of understanding, one that will be liberated “from the root”.

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“collective. emergent. limitless.it is crafting the worlds we cannot live without whiledismantling the ones we cannot live withinit shifting from fighting against to fighting for - building insteadof knocking downit shifting the narrative from a decaying world to one that isemergentradical imagination exists in the individual, collective, and in thedeep force at the basis of the human subject.it is what sustains change.” - Shanti Balam

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Radical imagination does not blindly accept the status quo, it recognizes that the world can and should change.  And how the world could be is not simply better, it’s radically different.  Radical imagination is the courage to envision a future that is completely unlike the world we have today.  It is limitless. (Everyday Activism Network)

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Why does it matter?

So why is it important for us to engage in Radical Imagination? There are a few very important reasons:

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• Struggle, Injustice and Pain. In order for us individually and collectively to be liberated from injustice, struggle, and pain we have to radically imagine ways of knowing and being that foster a world of justice, liberation, and love.
• Joy and Meaning. The social fractures that we face are a result of ways of being that derive from systems of oppression and pain, however, radical imagination can be a wonderful tool to explore and enable ways of being that embody joy and meaning!
• Unlearning. “Radical imagination does not get stuck in the status quo. It requires us to unlearn what we’ve been taught by recognizing that our education is controlled by entities with power such as the government, media, school systems, and entertainment. And that these powers have indoctrinated us into believing that our current systems, structures, laws, and policies are the only available choices.” (Everyday Activist Network)
• Reclaiming. Imagination is an intrinsic ability that we have a deep capacity for, however, it is being actively suppressed under current systems. We need to reclaim this capacity to radically reimagine the systems that limit our ability to do so.
• Proactive not Reactive. “Learning to act with a sense of direction, guiding us towards the futures we want, is essential. Otherwise, we might merely be addressing immediate needs and firefighting oppressions in the moment. We cannot be caught being reactive: our movements can and must be more long-sighted.” (Tammy Gan, Gee (Guhyapati), Advaya)
• Our Future. “Engaging with the future … imagining that we are willing to author it together as opposed to having it given to us, is important.” (From What Is to What If: Unleashing the Power of Imagination to Create the Future We Want - Rob Hopkins)

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How can we foster spaces and moments of Radical Imagination?

In fostering and nurturing meaningful and generative Radical Imagining, there are a number of elements to take into consideration:

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The Power of Collective Imaginings

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“We approach the radical imagination not as a thing that individuals possess in greater or lesser quantities but as a collective process, something that groups do and do together through shared experiences, languages, stories, ideas, art, and theory. Collaborating with those around us, we create multiple, overlapping, contradictory, and coexistent imaginary landscapes, horizons of common possibility and shared understanding. These shared landscapes are shaped by and also shape the imaginations and the actions of those individuals who participate in them.” (The Radical Imagination: Social Movement Research in the Age of Austerity)

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Through collective imagining we break monocultural ways of knowing and being that derive from colonial imagination and instead move to non-hierarchal and liberated visions for the world of our collective deepest longing. Collective imagining moves us to explore and envision a world that reciprocally exists in the best interest for all, forgoing systems that exist on the basis of oppression, power imbalances, and injustice.

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The Power of Radicalism

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“Radical simply means ‘grasping things at the root’.”― Angela Davis

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The ‘radical’ element (of Radical Imagination) is crucial in understanding the agency with which we radically imagine. In order for this capacity to be meaningful we need to take a step back to make sense of the world and systems we exist in now and those that came before us. This provides the space to grapple with the complexities of our histories and to explore how these “worlds” relate, more so, it ensures that the worlds and systems we radically imagine are just from “the root”.

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Prefiguration

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Prefiguration is living the future you wish existed, today. It involves modeling and embodying the kinds of behaviors, relationships & structures you wish were our reality. People who decide to use prefiguration as an activist strategy recognize that the means are the ends. For instance, if you want peace (i.e. the ends) you cannot get there by using war (the means). Peace begets peace, love begets love.

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Prefiguration offers us the space to conceptualize our radical imaginings in meaningful ways and can be offered as a tool to enable, embody, and put into action the world we long for.

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“The radical imagination is not just about understanding how power works, or dreaming up blueprints for a new society, though these are important (especially if we do them together). Instead, it’s about transforming our social lives and relationships, transforming who and what we imagine are valuable, and transforming ourselves.” (Lessons From Social Movements: Six Notes on the Radical Imagination - Alex Khasnabish & Max Haiven)

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Strategies & Practice Exercises

Here you will find strategies and exercises you can practice to exercise your capacity for Radical Imagination.

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Imagination Sundial - by Rob Hopkins

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A New World

An activity to imagine what the world of our longing looks, feels like and how we might get there.

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We invite you to meditate and envision your answers to the prompts below:

• What is your image of an “ideal” world? - Ideal is relative in this context, think about a world that brings you joy, one that truly serves the people in it and the planet.
• What does it look and feel like?
• What are the visions for the world you want to live in? How do these values inform your actions and choices?
• What kind of education, advocacy, or action will produce your ideal type of world?
• Are there challenges or obstacles you feel might come up as we work towards creating a better world, and how might we overcome them?

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Prompt to reflect:

• What roles are you playing/might you play to create this “world”?

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The Impossible Train Story

The Impossible Train Story is an exercise in moral imagining (Phoebe Tickell, 2020)

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1. Watch or Read: The Impossible Train Story.
2. Reflect on the story through the prompts below:
3. What kind of questions are you asking as you get off the train? What do you see and feel and notice? What happens next?
4. What do you notice about what gives you fear? What do you notice about what gives you hope?
5. Imagine people decide to begin building new tracks so that the train can travel in a different direction - Enough people need to be part of this effort for the tracks to get built: What part do you play in this group effort? How is your superpower essential to this new direction?

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Ubuntu: “I am because we are”

An activity to understand how truly connected the human race should be to achieve a better world.

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• Imagine the world in the year 2050 (with all of the things currently going on), what does the world look/feel like?
• How might we collectively shape a future worthy for those yet to be born?
• How might the human race move away from a culture of individualism to collective identities and responsibility?
• How might we dare to imagine a world where people can coexist peacefully as interdependent and connected beings?

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Reflection Prompt:

• How might we foster connections with one another to ensure the collective liberation of the human race?

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Visualization: Imagining Ourselves

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Visualization:

• From a place of deep love and care we invite you to start visualizing in your mind’s eye, a door.
• When you open that door, you see your future (higher) self 2 years from now and ask them: What have you learned? Who have you become? What positive change did you create around you?
• Take a minute to hear or feel the answer and be curious about whatever comes up.
• Thank them and see another door that takes you to your future self 10 years from now. Sit down in front of them and feel deep love and admiration for whom you've become. Ask your future self: What have you learned? Who have you become? What positive change did you create around you?
• Take a breath and thank them. You see one last door and open it. It takes you back to this moment, to your body, the sensations at the bottom or your feet, at the tips of your fingers.
• When you feel fully back you can start opening your eyes and reflect through the journaling prompts below.

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Journaling prompts:

• What positive change would you like to contribute to?
• Reflect on what gives you joy, what you are curious about, what you admire in others…
• What came up for you during the visualization exercise? Are you seeing your life any differently?

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