PHA-Exchange> 29 In preparation of PHA2

[Claudio]

AVENUES FOR SOCIAL ACTION IN THE 21ST CENTURY

 

David Werner.

 

1. People have to have the opportunity to participate as equals in the decisions that determine their future. 

It is not enough just to show 'concern' about this so-far partly missed opportunity, because what people actually need is to figure out (soon!) what they can do, individually and collectively to change their deteriorating conditions for the better.

 

2. The forces that shape global events are gigantic and are deaf to any rational disagreement or    dissent.  Powerful interest groups are undermining democracy, concentrating power and exploiting both people and the environment. Few know enough details about this to become justifiably outraged.

 

3. Disinformation has become the modern means of social control. Schools tend to teach history in ways that glorify those in power. Conventional schooling is mainly a vehicle for disinformation and social control; it instills conformity and compliance.

 

4. Educated people have little knowledge of the injustices disadvantaged people are subjected to. Our textbooks, newspapers, magazines and TVs keep us strategically misinformed.

Hence the biggest problems facing humanity today  --i.e. poverty, growing inequality, and unsustainable plundering of the planet's ecosystem-- continue unresolved. 

Only when enough citizens become fully aware of these issues, will it be possible to place the common good before the interests of powerful minorities. 

But creating such public awareness is an uphill struggle; more empowering forms of education and information sharing are needed. 

 

5. To see through this disinformation and to mobilize people for a more equitable society, we need alternative methods of education and information sharing that are honest,, participatory and empowering and, most importantly, bring people together as equals to critically analyze their reality and then take united action.

 

6. It is thus urgent in today's world to look for alternative media and other means of people to people communication. 

The alternative press, alternative community radio and TV and the Internet are viable media for the times if and when socially committed people unite around a common concern to impact global policy-making and key issues facing the world's people are given center stage.

 

7.The People's Health Movement is a step forward in that struggle fighting for a healthier, more equitable approach to participatory democracy.

 

8. An empowering education is learner-centered; it enables people to take collective action for change. In education for change, the learners gain confidence in their own abilities and discuss their own concerns; it frees them from the idea that they are helpless; it transforms them. It is this that opens the doors for collective action.

 

9. Community based health care programs in various countries have brought people together to take health into their own hands through organized action in a people's collective struggle for health to correct inequalities, unfair practices, and/or unjust social structures. 

In these programs, through community diagnoses, it becomes clear to people that inequality and the power structures that perpetuate them are at the root of ill-health. 

10. "Where There is no Doctor" and " Helping Health Workers Learn" are examples of books showing a way for community based health in action.

 

11. But there also is a need for networking and communications among grassroots programs. By joining forces we become more able to consolidate a stronger base to confront injustice and inequity. Strength in numbers gives us mutual protection and a stronger hand. 

Networking allows for cross- fertilization of experiences, methods and ideas. 

 

12. A new understanding of the global forces behind poor health makes us aware of the need for a  worldwide coalition of grassroots groups. People need to know what efforts are being made elsewhere to oppose global forces.

 

13. Innovative learning and awareness-raising methods are needed to meet the new challenges in today's globalized world. 

We need new learning tools and methods and teaching aids must be developed to help ordinary people see the links between their local problems and global powers.

 

 

14. Story-telling, role plays and theater can successfully be used for awareness raising and change. They are an effective way to help people understand and consider possibilities for strategic action. Particularly useful are stories that link local problems to global policies.  

Local social upheaval  upheaval can often be traced to global policies that are deepening poverty, undermining workers rights, reducing jobs and wages, and cutting back on public services.  

We need true stories that make those links AND help people build a chain of causes from the local to the global.  

 

15. The "Yes, But Why?" game and the "Chain of Causes" exercise can be used with local stories depicting good situation analyses.

 

16. The purpose of these activities is to help participants explore issues in depth, like fitting together the pieces of the puzzle. 

Studying the causal chain, the group considers which links they may be able to break and what action to take. 

It also allows them to determine when to call on others to join in to help them achieve their goals.

 

17. Learning is also best when it is made discovery-based;  that is a step further from learning by doing. It develops in the learner an ability to observe and think for him or herself. 

It encourages participants to make their own observations, arrive at their own conclusions, and to build on their own discoveries thus preparing them to be protagonists and active agents of change. (To be is to do!).

 

18. Using a community based situation analyses/diagnoses is the best way to start off the group process of learning by identifying and prioritizing health-related problems or other shared concerns.  

One approach is to create a graphic representation of the problems of a given community using a flannel board. In it, the problems identified are put in rows and the group analyzes their relative importance. 

The group discusses which problems contributed to or led  to some of the other problems; a web of causes is thus created and root causes are identified. 

Seeking answers to these questions helps the group decide where to begin. 

It is suggested that they begin attacking easy to resolve local problems, not losing sight of the macro level though.

 

19. Another empowering innovative educational methodology is found in the "Child to Child" program in which school age children learn ways to protect the health of other children. 

Child to Child emphasizes learning through experience. Children conduct their own surveys and discover answers for themselves; they learn to work together to help each other.

 

20. Building self-esteem is one of the most difficult challenges in empowering education. 

People need to rediscover the value in their traditional belief, customs and forms of healing.

They need to discover that they have a wealth of knowledge, skills and qualities which other folks often lack. 

Using awareness-rising dialogues helps people to get a new sense of self-worth  so as to stand-up to others as equals and become committed, assertive actors.

 

21. To transform the world we must respect our differences and embrace what we have in common. 

We have to build the global solidarity needed and find ways to communicate truthfully and directly. The Internet, for those with access to it, provides an avenue we must use better. 

Story-telling, street theater, awareness-raising comics and novellas, as well as community radio and TV, and the alternative press offer complementary vital outlets that we also have to use more efficiently. 

Well planned protests, demonstrations, open fora, and strategic disobedience also have their time and place. 

 

22. Years of organized struggle will be necessary to achieve the goals of action for change. 

People need to discover what makes our social order tick to then figure out a course of action to help improve the situation.

 

23. At the People's Health Movement (PHM), we aim at bringing diverse people together for the common good. We help identify common ground and help take collective action for change.

The People's Health  Movement is a big step forward in these discussions. 

Its activities are oriented toward education and action that raise the critical awareness of people. 

We invite you to join in.

 

secretariat at phmovement.org

 

www.phmovement.org 

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