Lessons for movement building

Earlier this month I spoke at the City of Sanctuary AGM in Reading; it was great to be there with people from all over the UK part of this growing network of people keen to offer a welcome to refugees in their local area.

We’ve been thinking quite a bit recently about social movements and about how what we are doing is part of building a social movement in the UK to welcome refugees. Part of our thinking has been influenced by some of the literature coming out of the US on social movements. At our AGM I sought to set out some of the lessons that we have gleaned from this literature:

• Be ready to use a ‘scaffold of research’ to show the impact of your movement
• Recognise the need for scale and have a strategy to scale-up
• Don’t ever think that you are the movement!
• Don’t be afraid to confront power
• Don’t let urgency set your agenda

Great lessons – and ones we’ll be reflecting on in the months to come…