ENVIRONMENTAL & SOCIAL JUSTICE Creative Interventions: Social Change as Holistic Transformation BY CAROL BURBANK
If you’re like me, watching the news shakes up your equilibrium a bit. Even the best publications, with the most detailed and accurate reporting, demonstrate that the world is struggling, at tipping points in so many arenas. To quote Albus Dumbledore, from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , this feels like a time “when we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.” And there are so many places where our activist energy can begin to set things back into balance, if we face that choice with purpose. Our own purpose, that is, specifically trans - lated into informed action with focused intent. Informed action and focused intent are pretty obviously needed for effective activism, right? But the alchemical ingredient that makes social activism transformative is something that aligns itself with our inner purpose and the complexities of a tipping system: holistic un- derstanding. Holistic understanding sees the world as an interconnected system, in which every action pulls at a web of social relationships and beliefs. Many of us understand this connection as multi-leveled and non-lin - ear, requiring both spiritual and cultural sensitivity to navigate. Ho- listic change combines organic shifts and intentional transformation. Systems thinking infuses leadership in change initiatives with a powerful blend of intuition, presence, and layered impact. This com- bination is particularly important for activism designed to increase equity and support innovative, sustainable solutions to meet tipping points in all their complexity. It’s a fact: social change happens gradually. Legislation, coalitions, and personal change are all necessary parts of those gradual move- ments towards balance. But a holistic approach allows us to be present to the now, even as we assess the past and hold a vision for the future.
Photo 117282328 | Activism © David Edelman | Dreamstime.com
Think about women’s suffrage, the 100-year movement for women to legally vote. In 1920, after some limited voting rights were granted in a few states, all women in the US were enfranchised. The move - ment accomplished many milestones along the way: building coali- tions across class and gender; increasing employment opportunities for women; promoting safety in milk and food production; building coalitions for the support of the abolition of slavery; increasing educa- tional institutions and resources for girls; and supporting more equal marriages between men and women. Then, when WWI brought fe - male workers into wartime factories, full citizenship became so widely accepted the vote was granted, a change that felt, finally, inevitable. All of these milestones were part of the ultimate intention, result- ing from the holistic transformation of gender assumptions over years continued on page 68
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PATHWAYS—Fall 23—67
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