Futures building as a (civil) societal practice
Picture a world where we are well-equipped to shape just, inclusive and caring futures. We not only have bold ideas and visions but also the tools and methods to make them a reality. Futures literacy is the ability to imagine, anticipate and plan various futures. It empowers us to critically engage with our narratives of what was, is and could be and to imagine alternative and desirable conditions that we collectively strive for and want to fight for. Futures Literacy invites us to think in unfamiliar and hopeful ways, and these are urgently needed because there is much to do: right-wing shifts, growing social injustice, wars, environmental disasters. The list of crises is long, the complexity enormous, the frustration huge. As a civil society, we are often so busy with damage limitation in the here and now that there is little room for long-sighted and bold utopias.
How can we change this? How can we, as my colleague Ouassima has described so beautifully, become literate in the futuring practice, learn to speak futures fluently? How can we move from scarcity to abundance? As a feminist practice, but also as a momentum that enables change and space for new visions and scopes of action?!
Together with Futures Probes and 15 people from 13 civil society organizations, we are setting out to test and establish futures literacy as a process and (civil) societal practice. “Futures Literacy for Civil Society” is our pilot program to strengthen the futures muscle. Together with BIWOC Rising, das NETTZ, Deutsche Aids Hilfe, D64, Hafiza Merkezi, HateAid, Institute for Strategic Dialogue, Junge Islam Konferenz, Netzforma*, Neue Deutsche Medienmacher*innen, Radikale Töchter, Romnja Feminist Library and Wikimedia, we are embarking on a learning journey: How can Futures Literacy help us to counter the challenges and crises of our time, to question dominant narratives, to develop alternative scenarios and visions? And how can we, as civil society actors translate these visions into concrete measures and action opportunities that help us to strategically work towards desirable futures?
As a learning journey, we document our engagement with the critical theories and methods from the futures thinking repertoire, which we will translate into developing a feminist methodology. We are (perhaps) megalomaniacs and believe that knowledge can and must be produced and transferred equitably. We aspire to think in terms of entanglements and dare to attempt to bring decolonial, feminist and thus critical interventions into the world. What exactly can this look like within this framework?
Based on the participants‘ expertise, we will explore in three sessions what a feminist internet for all could look like in the face of current and future challenges. With an intersectional feminist perspective, we will critically adapt different futuring methods for the civil society sector to design just, resilient and caring futures that start in the here and now.
On June 7th, we start our mutual journey, preceded by so many thoughts and conversations and the work of so many wise and wonderful futurists, activists, thinkers, practitioners and friends. We can't wait to see where it takes us – what new paths and connections open up, learning experiences, inspirations, and thoughts unfold. What happens to us as a (civil) society when we practice speaking futures, our imagination muscle grows, when we establish futures literacy as an everyday practice? Let's find out!