Toolbox:

An interconnected web of the key strategies and tactics that have inspired people-powered victories & upended the status quo. Start anywhere and explore…

Story

“You’ll never have a home in your f***ing life!”

“You’ll never have a home in your f***ing life!”

Housing rights activists organized this participatory publicity stunt to reframe the housing crisis as a shared problem that would require record-breaking collective action to resolve.

Theory

Artivism

Artivism

Artivism, the intersection of art and activism, harnesses the critical imagination to design events and strategies that provoke new questions and new meaning in pursuit of more respectful ways of being.

Tactic

Enforced appearance

Enforced appearance

When the state tries to suppress activism through enforced disappearance and assassination, supporters can use murals, shrines, graffiti and other public art to remember the disappeared and call for justice.

Story

Yomango

Yomango

The ethical shoplifting, culture jamming, direct-action movement Yomango turned the impulse to shoplift into a movement and an art form.

Theory

Comunalidad (communality)

Comunalidad (communality)

Comunalidad is a way of naming and describing the daily practice of coexistence in an autonomous collectivity, in the service of everyone, as practiced in the indigenous communities of Oaxaca, Mexico.

Story

Every Heartbeat Counts

Every Heartbeat Counts

Using the #LATE campaign hashtag, revolutionary artists and media activists are reinventing the aesthetic narrative of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution and situating the commune at its symbolic center.

Principle

Balance art and message

Balance art and message

Art seeks to explore deep questions. Politics demands a clear direction and message. The right balance can move both hearts and minds.

Story

Zapatista Caravan

Zapatista Caravan

In 1994, university students organized educational brigades to break the information blockade and rumours about the uprising of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation (EZLN).

Tactic

Graffiti drone

Graffiti drone

The graffiti drone (droncita) is an unmanned aircraft remotely piloted to spray paint politically subversive messages in hard-to-reach places, first developed in Mexico City.

Story

CryptoRally in Mexico City

CryptoRally in Mexico City

In response to a sweeping new telecommunications law, the CryptoRally was organized as a game played out on the streets of Mexico City, whose goal is to build skills in digital security and freedom of speech.

Tactic

Artistic vigil

Artistic vigil

A vigil that draws upon artistic and ritual elements — thoughtful symbolism, the right tone, and a distinct look and feel — to deepen the experience for both participants and observers.

Principle

This ain’t the Sistine chapel

This ain’t the Sistine chapel

If the pursuit of perfection is undermining the effectiveness of your action or campaign, then do only what is strategically warranted, and save your sanity and energy.