Compassion in Politics campaign, which gathers together environmentalists, academics, artists, politicians and social activists and seeks to challenge “the oppressive narrative that says that all humans are just greedy and selfi sh and our political system and society must be built in that image” (Dubs, 2018)? T ese are just some of my current
inspirations, refl ections and questions. You’ll have your own. So might we, together, create a systemic praxis for social change? Perhaps supported by some form of intentional community for those of us who consider active resistance to social injustices and oppression at all levels to be a crucial component of our work? What processes, structures, ideas and actions might help us further develop our systemic purview to promote social justice practice and use the privilege of our positions to do things diff erently in ways that might make a diff erence? Exploring possibilities and celebrating
social justice practices seem ‘do-able’ next steps in a journey without end. Like meaning, social justice will always be on the way, unfolding, but we can support each other now in developing a more radical responsivity, exploring the tensions of competing ethics and felt imperatives, and remaining alert to the dangers of theoretical abstraction and constant refl ection without action as a cover for doing nothing at all.
References Afuape, T. (2011) Power, Resistance and Liberation in Therapy with Survivors of Trauma: To Have Our Hearts Broken. Hove; New York: Routledge. Afuape, T. (2016) A ‘Fifth Wave’ systemic practice punctuating Liberation – Refl ective practice and collective social action. In: G. Simon, & I. McCarthy (eds.) Systemic Therapy as Transformative Practice. London: Everything is Connected Press. Alston, P. (2018) Statement on Visit to the United Kingdom, by Professor Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/ Pages/
DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23881&LangID=E [Accessed 10/06/19]. Atwood, M. (2018) Seven life lessons.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/ articles/5DQdfKq953Pq6DSkMkM1P5l/seven-life- lessons-from-margaret-atwood [Accessed 10/06/19]. Bateson, G. (1972) Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Box 1 Activity from Jim Wilson and Jan Parker’s workshop: The passion and politics of practice. AFT conference 2018
In small groups, please share experiences of 1: A transformative relational process you have taken part in or witnessed, that challenged oppression/oppressive assumptions or injustice? • You might choose something from your work with clients, with colleagues, in your organisation or agency or a time in your personal life
• If you are able, please identify what it was about that experience that was transformative and had such meaning for you
2: Links you have noticed between (choose one or more) • your emotional distress and your work circumstances • colleagues’ emotional distress and their work circumstances • clients’ emotional distress and their social circumstances/circumstances in which they fi nd themselves when coming to see you?
3: Refl ecting on your talks together, what relational processes of creativity, resilience, hope and resistance to injustice might you now take forward, to perform your practice politics/relational ethics and to make a positive diff erence, however small?
Aſt er Martín-Baró’s 3 Tasks (Martín-Baró, I. [1994] Writings for a Liberation Psychology. New York: Harvard University Press).
Context 164, August 2019
Cantacuzino, M. (2015) The Forgiveness Project: Stories for a Vengeful Age. London: Jessica Kingsley. Crenshaw, K. (1991) Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6): 1241-1299. Collins, P.H. (2000) Gender, black feminism, and black political economy. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 568(1): 41-53. Collins, P.H. (2015) Intersectionality’s defi nitional dilemmas. Annual Review of Sociology. 41: 1–20. Cunningham, G. (2018) Out of the Bowl I was Baked in. Plenary to AFT conference, 2018. Dubs, A. (2018) British compassion saved my life. It can save our politics, The Guardian (18.10.2018),
https://www.theguardian.com/ commentisfree/2018/oct/18/british-compassion- politics-kindertransport-cross-party-movement [Accessed 10/06/19]. Fredman, G. (2016) Using supervision to prepare our bodies. In: J. Bownas & G. Fredman (eds.) Working with Embodiment in Supervision: A Systemic Approach. London: Routledge. Foucault, M. (1972) Archeology of Knowledge. London: Tavistock Publications. Freire, P. (1972) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Harmondsworth: Penguin. hooks, b. (2014) Feminist Theory: From Margins to Centre (3rd ed.) New York: Routlege. Le Guin, U. (2017) About anger. In: No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters. Boston: Houghton Miffl in Harcourt. Hyde, M. (2018) A Waco week, as Corbynistas do politics in the paranoid style. The Guardian (03/08/2018),
https://www.theguardian.com/ commentisfree/2018/aug/03/corbynistas-politics- labour-leader [Accessed 10/06/19]. Martín-Baró, I. (1994) Writings for a Liberation Psychology. New York: Harvard University Press. McNamee, S. (2018) Relational Ethics and Systemic Practice. Sussex Association for Family Therapy conference, Brighton. Pearce, B. (2007) Making Social Worlds: A Communication Perspective. Malden: MA: Blackwell. Reynolds, V. (2011) Resisting burnout with justice- doing. The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, 4: 27-45. Schön, D. (1983) The Refl ective Practitioner. New York: Basic Books. Shotter, J. (2010) Social Construction on the Edge: ‘Withness’- Thinking and Embodiment. Ohio: Taos
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Towards systemic praxis for social change: The politics of practice and practices of hope
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