Organisers are Stronger Together.

Part One

This weeknote is the start of a larger blog series reflecting on my, and the rest of the Grapevine organising team’s, experience during the Organising in Crisis Conference, Katowice, Poland February 2024. I want to say a huge thank you to The Common Thing Foundation and Community Organisers Ltd. for giving some of Grapevine’s Organisers the opportunity to engage in the programme.

“Sitting in a room of community organisers is magic. Everyone knew what you were talking about.” — Melissa, Grapevine.

As organisers, our job is to help build leaders within communities that can take action and make systemic change. We sit as mobilisers, coaches, and strategic guides. Due to the nature of the work, we have to be switched on at all times — even when we are letting others lead, we are constantly thinking of learning, reflection, and growth. It’s a great position, but a key reflection that I have from the Organising in Crisis conference is the absolute necessity of giving room for organisers to come together and share learning. A space to share challenges, find common ground, and support each other. A space to not have to be on your top form, but also to share vulnerabilities and ask questions. Organising is as much about your own growth as it is the teams’ on the ground.

Over the next few weeks, the Grapevine team and I will be compiling learning from our time at the Organising in Crisis sessions. We aim to dig deeper into the following topics:

1. Community Organising is a common theme & it works. Before attending the conference, some of the Grapevine organisers were worried that we wouldn’t have organising issues in common. Who is to say that organising challenges in Poland are the same as those in Hungary? Or that the United Kingdom shares parallels with Serbia? It’s true that not all countries were organising on the same issues (although some were and we will cover this in a blog because it’s fascinating to see the parallels!). However, it didn’t matter that our organising issues were different because the methodology and practice remained the same. Shifting power through organising and mobilisation to challenge and change systems.
2. (some) Issues are international. Green spaces, climate, women’s rights… we saw some really interesting similarities between our work and others from across Europe. Although the systems might be different, the underlying need for an organised community was clear. Organising transcends geographic boundaries. Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, Poland, and the United Kingdom were all present and sharing their knowledge, ideas, and expertise. It was fascinating!
3. Tools and resources: wellbeing, public narrative, the wheel of conflict etc. Some were the same, but some were different, and we were excited to dig deeper into organising practises and tools. Our team engaged in and took away a great deal of learning and resources from this trip. We hope to explore them further in our work as we move forward, and to also share them with our communities on the ground in Coventry and Warwickshire.
4. Structure in organising is important. Our team took a great deal of learning away around how you can structure national campaigns. What does it look like on the ground, and how do you implement the structures that can support large-scale movement building? Our friends at The Common Thing Foundation shared tangible and measurable ways to mobilise on the larger scale, and we hope to learn from and put into practise some of this amazing work.
5. We all have something to share. Organising is a beautiful thing because it forever changes and evolves as organisers, campaigners, and activists mould their own learning and growth. No organising is the same, nor would it be successful if it were. A room full of organisers with experience ranging from very recent local political activism to large-scale national organising 10 years in the making — Katowice was full to the brim of passion, energy, and expertise last week. No question was without importance, and no challenge was too small. All had equal space in our learning and growth.
6. The Grapevine Magic. As a team we are reflecting on and thinking about how we continue to organise the “Grapevine way”- with kindness, empathy, and accessibility. We were incredibly proud to share our work, our thoughts, and our energy with fantastic organisers from across Europe. We left feeling energised and inspired, and we hope to continue to build upon the fascinating learning from this experience.

Keep an eye out over the next few weeks as we dig into these topics and share our learning!

Questions to reflect:

1. Do you have spaces that you can share your learning? What do they look like?
2. What questions do you ask yourself and your team when reflecting?
3. Are you connected to other organisers/campaigners/activists locally/nationally/internationally?
4. Do you have any questions for the Grapevine Organising team or simply want to get connected? Feel free to add them below or get in touch: slewis@grapevinecoventryandwarwickshire.co.uk

To all those at the 2024 Katowice Organising In Crisis Conference 2024, thank you for sharing your time and energy with us. You were all an absolute joy!

Gemma Musgreaves Melissa Smith Mel Smith Leonie Schmid