The Team from SmartMeme.org

When the concept of “framing” an issue comes up, people more often than not think of George Lakoff as the “Go To” guy. If it were me, I’d go to Patrick Reinsborough, one of the founders of SmartMeme.org

I’d met Patrick at a social activists train the trainer workshop led by George Lakey (not Lakoff). The young people I met at that workshop, including Patrick, gave me a huge sense of hope for our world. Today, I got an email from SmartMeme.org with a video about their hopes to have an influence on the climate change gathering in Copenhagen. I know many of the people in this video. They’re brilliant and we need to help get them there!

Thousands of people are going to be gathering in Copenhagen December 7th through 18th to discuss climate change and what we’re going to do about it. The framing of messages is going to be critical heading into Copenhagen, during the gathering, and moving forward from there. When I saw this video, and recognized so many of my friends from various movements, it was inspiring. Take a look at the video.

If you want to help SmartMeme.org get to Copenhagen, click here.

I’m thrilled to see Patrick heading up this effort. A few years back, when I was attending that training, I first learned of the word “meme” when Patrick introduced himself in our gathering circle. He explained that a meme was a way of framing something, hopefully through effective story-telling, and how important it was to take charge of how things were framed if we were ever going to make real progress towards a more peaceful and just planet. Here’s another video that describes what his organization is all about.

One of the things that was amazing to me during the train-the-trainer workshops I attended was seeing a new generation of activists, ready to take on the toughest challenges, using tried-and-true techniques from people like Augusto Boal (Theater of the Oppressed), Paulo Freire (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) and George Lakey and Training for Change.

There are times when I find myself in gatherings/meetings of folks working to heal the world and look around and feel like the movements are really aging (I’m 50 and often the youngest person in the room). Then, I go somewhere else and find myself surrounded by folks who are all at least 20 years younger than me (OK, mostly 25 to 30 years younger). Somehow we’ve got to get these two groups together more often. These young folks have got the training, the passion, the experience, and the right ideas for building the kind of world we’ve all been dreaming of. What they lack is money. As the book entitled “The Revolution Will Not Be Funded” makes clear, the traditional foundations and typical big-money donors (especially corporations) are not going to fund the kind of nonviolent revolution people like Patrick are trying to make real. They need our help and we need theirs.

Could Copenhagen be the start of something big? Let’s hope so.

Quick Note: When I blog here, what I write represents my feelings, opinions, stories, memes, and may not necessarily reflect those of Tikkun/NSP.