My original idea was to write a paper analyzing what makes civic movements that employ media and originate from repressed communities possible and successful. The intended goal of the project would be to give me and others a clue about what kind of conditions help enthusiasm to bring about change within a community be actualized through collective effort. The discovered conditions could then be related to other communities to see if this particular experience or some parts of it can be applied in a different context. The ultimate goal was inspiration for action. Yet, the more I thought about this, the more I doubted that I could come up with specific enough “how to” conclusion that could be universally applied to other environments. An academic paper or case study would not be relatable to audience from different places and communities, it would not inspire them.
So I got this completely different project idea that is more likely to speak to people, result in them naturally relating the content to their own lives. No analysis. Just the narrative. Narrative about successful civic projects or movements in history and updates about the ones that are still developing. The format would have to be accessible, open to anyone who’s looking. So a web-site? It would contain various stories from around the world about how initiative of an individual or a group of people in a certain community developed and ultimately resulted in positive change. These can be small and big projects, very local or extended to multiple communities. Anything that may not make it to the headlines of mainstream international news, daily common people’s efforts to affect their surroundings and be active. An important feature of the web-site would be providing the opportunity for sharing the stories of the projects in their own communities, sharing ideas and energy. The point behind such narrative is to present this kind of activism as a norm, in a sense that it is not an exceptional heroic act that cannot be performed by a common person. On the contrary, it is something that anyone can do. They only need to be inspired 🙂