Where is the justice in society today?

A bit of context…

This is one of (7) overarching societal impact coalition themes that Unstitution is proactively targeting.

Each coalition theme is multi-layered and multi-faceted, catalyzing and building upon — in supportive synergistic ways — many initiatives that are already doing important work.

With overlapping synergies between and among us all, we can spawn wider and deeper, connecting additional coalitions and initiatives — a pattern already underway and observed.

Unstitution’s own driving theme is a linchpin for the others. A reciprocal and symbiotic interdependence is at play. Multiple coalitions and initiatives, over time — and beyond our own work and lifetimes — will collectively contribute to rebooting society’s operating system. Activating an abundance mindset toward flourishing on a finite planet needs us all with gifts differing reconstituting the commons in a variety of ways.

The regenerative and resilient health of Unstitution, in turn, contributes to the integrity and resilience of all coalitions and initiatives within and across our nested and interconnected ecosystems.

Theme descriptions are not carved in stone. Since coalitions and initiatives spawn organically and by design, we’re always balancing strategy thinking with co-creative emergent learning. As people co-catalyze and engage, they will help to shape and adapt the trajectory in more granular and tangible context-based and place-sourced ways that bring it to life.

Overview…yeah it’s complex and complicated…but we gotta cut through…

There are many overlapping and layered issues, challenges and opportunities.

Our Justice-Led Social Wellbeing coalition theme includes initiatives that address quality of life and well-being, poverty, colonization, marginalization, social exclusion, polarization, epidemic of loneliness, sense of belonging, alternate ways of valuing differentiated contribution in society (e.g. the caring economy.)

It focuses on these kinds of issues:

🔳 Access to food; education; ideas; personal agency

🔳 Homelessness and affordable housing

🔳Marginalization, disenfranchisement and disengagement of people due to othering, domination-oppression, and stigmas.

🔳 Physical/mental disabilities; neurodiversity

🔳 Impact on mental health

🔳 Disease/illness; access to care, aging well, proactive health versus disease model

Demographic factors -

🔳Religion and/or country of origin

🔳Skin colour

🔳Age

🔳Sexual orientation/gender/identity

🔳Criminal record

🔳Wealth — prosperity in all its forms

🔳Education and Learning opportunities

Social impact is enmeshed throughout society’s systems and institutions. Underlying issues cannot be effectively addressed in the conventionally isolated, compartmentalized ways that created and exacerbated many of these dysfunctions.

Justice Led Social Well-Being is integrally linked to our other overarching themes:

Linking to our Elementally Sustaining People & Planet: Earth, Fire, Water, Air theme through -

Initiatives that fund and support food security and sovereignty, socio-economic factors that affect regenerative initiatives

Linking to our Amplifying Youth-Led Change theme through -

University, school and community projects that fund and support youth leadership, agency, learning and creative activation, support youth mental health, address eco-anxiety, build cross-generational collaboration.

Linking to our Shifting Economics for Societal Value theme through -

Developing, assessing, and experimenting with alternative models for funding and valuing initiatives that support justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) and belonging, valuing the caring economy etc.

The afterthought that’s NOT an afterthought

Having recognized that Education and Learning and Arts and Culture are fundamental multimodal building blocks that can extend the reach, inspire, develop capabilities and mobilize social change — they are woven into all coalition themes and the functions that make up our Living Operating System.

We welcome people who are especially poised to enrich coalition work and help to embed and embody learning, culture and creativity — to participate.

Yeah…we know…sounds rather ambitious as described.

Navigating between worlds is fraught with difficult challenges, with many of us dependent on existing systems — affected by the very issues we are trying to overcome. There are many pressures and tensions that reinforce dysfunctional dynamics — holding onto control and domination-oppression patterns.

It’s not easy to be in this world and live by and into different rules of engagement — to uphold and stay true to a healthy collaborative partnership way of being.

The good news…it’s underway. We gotta step it up in a variety of interconnected, tangible ways.

Working together synergistically — you and we can all be unstitutional.

There’s a vast and growing reservoir of social impact education, publications and resources with pioneers and practitioners shaping regenerative pathways. We celebrate, draw from, support, share and build collaboratively from these. On a planet of 8 billion people, we need to widen access and decolonize for multitudes of initiatives to flourish for the common good. A spirit of generosity, reciprocity and enabling value flows will lift us all. ~ Unstitution

• This article was updated January 2024, reflecting additional perspectives and ongoing action research, as we continue to observe, listen, assimilate, curate and adapt — a humbling learning journey.

Unstitution was birthed as a collective creative commons and nested ecosystem. We (co-)catalyze collaborative communities, initiatives and coalitions where people from across sectors, disciplines, cultures, generations and walks-of-life work together on mission critical issues. From readiness through to regenerative progress — moving beyond polarization — is how we roll. The links embedded throughout this article are a warm invitation to go a bit deeper, at any time. For more insights reflecting our ongoing journey, our suite of Unstitution articles are published on Medium. They portray a small sample of the ways we are adapting and contributing among ever-expanding commons-based communities and initiatives inspired and fuelled by citizens — perhaps better described as denizens — anywhere in the world — living into the principles and spirit that govern our collaborative work.

You can follow Unstitution and engage with us on LinkedIn