📣 Troublemaking in ‘23 ❤️🔥One Beautiful Action at a Time🌳
Amidst the turmoil of 2023, we steadfastly hold onto the discipline of hope while knowing that joy is found within the core of resistance. From the streets of Southeast Asia to university halls in the United States, we offer a glimpse into our shared odyssey alongside valiant activists, artists, and organizers across the globe.
Trainings + Workshops
💡 We just completed a five-day intensive in-person strategic action campaign training in Chiang Mai, Thailand, with Myanmar activists working for democracy in their country.
💡 Our groundbreaking semester-long course, "Beautiful Trouble: The History and Practice of Creative Activism," shook things up at New School University, NYC.
Activists in our LEAD for Farmed Animals training and our workshop in Thailand *daisies keep our comrades safe
💡 We trained 40 animal rights movement leaders from the US, Mexico, India, and Pakistan at LEAD for Farmed Animals, bolstering know-how on building people-powered movements across borders. (read more)
💡 We partnered with Amnesty International for a year-long "Movement Mindset" initiative, amplifying grassroots human rights efforts globally. (And published an article in Yes! about our learnings called "Social Movements and NGOs: Can They Get Along?")
💡We brought together 80 participants across Austria, Slovakia, Finland, and Lithuania for a Creative Activism workshop focusing on Climate Action Network-European members.
💡 Beautiful Trouble offered a workshop and supported arts and culture at the 22nd Century Initiative Conference in July with a session titled “What do bananas, clowns + cornstarch teach us about fighting fascists?”
New Resources and Publications
🎥 Watch these four short-form videos of our first monthly Jam Sessions (that engaged about 400 global activists/organizers!) for tips + tools on harnessing Beautiful Trouble resources in your work, including the Interactive Online Toolbox, BATMo! Trainers’ Resources, Strategy Deck, and Movement Compass.
🧰 Read the new additions to our online Toolbox published this year:
Build People Power, then Negotiate
Develop an inside-outside strategy
🧐 Check out our new Facilitator/Trainer Module: Building Resilience: Self-care & community care for the long haul with accessible practices to build effective, sustained movements for social change.
Phil Wilmot, our Global Platforms colleague, interviewed Dan Glass, who is a Beautiful Trouble compatriot, on his new book Queer Foot Prints. This interview is the second in a series of interviews with anti-colonial activists throughout the Commonwealth.
To support the surge of activism worldwide calling for a permanent ceasefire and a just peace in Gaza, see "3 key insights for building a powerful and loving movement against oppression in Palestine-Israel" and our focused Palestine Solidarity toolbox set.
International Access & Impact
More Access, more translations: Our toolbox is now in Russian, Burmese, Italian, and counting, supporting activists worldwide.
Our Get Up, Rise Up (GURU) direct action fund granted over $24,000 to 26 inspiring projects across Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ecuador, Myanmar, and beyond, championing inclusivity and justice.
Say what?
A right-wing chucklehead discovered us and took to the airwaves to sing our praises! The Vivek Show, the podcast of a Republican presidential candidate, discussed Beautiful Trouble. He’s got some pretty wacky ideas, but he does think we’re operational and effective and that we offer an updated revolution manual to Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. Well, he got that right! 😉 And YES–we (proudly) project our reality to the world. Someone’s gotta tell him to read the wonderful theory called Prefigurative Politics!
Thank You.
Most importantly, we couldn't have achieved all this without your support. Your generosity fuels our global team of thinkers, doers, and disruptors, enabling us to equip movements for a more just world.
Together, we create ripples of change, one beautifully troublesome moment at a time. Your gifts can be one-time or recurring, whatever amount works for your personal economy.
Thank you for being part of the Beautiful Trouble universe of activists, organizers, artists, and all-around fabulous fellow travelers and supporters of all kinds!
