THE RECIPE FOR PROGRESS

This morning, in our first team meeting since the General Election, I mentioned to my colleagues that we were invited to write a piece on the work that Hope and Courage Collective does for GCN’s December edition. I asked, “What message do we want to share about our work, with the community we fight so often side by side with?”

As an organisation that works with communities to stay grounded, caring and resilient in the face of far-right hate, it was a simple answer: Hope.

Of course, it can feel as though hope is in short supply these days. At times it can feel like all we hear are the messages shared by the far-right, as lies travel so much faster than the truth. Hateful rhetoric which is designed to divide and disempower communities can spread quickly across social media, where algorithms are designed to profit off fear, disgust and hatred.

But communities aren’t nearly as vulnerable to hateful narratives as our opponents would have us believe. In fact, research we conducted in February of this year showed that the majority of people hold progressive, compassionate values when it comes to trans rights, LGBTQ+-inclusive sex education, wealth redistribution, building public homes, and racial justice. People who are committed to this progressive worldview outnumber the committed far-right 10 to one.

This reflects what we see on the ground every day. Our small team has met and trained hundreds, if not thousands of people across the country over the last number of years. We have witnessed incredible leadership, compassion and solidarity. Every week we meet smart, strategic people who are ready to roll up their sleeves and get organised to fight for a vision of Ireland where everyone has what they need to thrive, no exceptions.

The Hope and Courage Collective community spans a broad range of people. It includes rural youth projects and working-class inner city community projects, teachers, LGBTQ+ resource centres and community gardeners, running groups, people seeking asylum, welcome groups, people who work in our libraries and city councils as well as anti-racist activists, researchers and trade union organisers. Often people who express feeling lost and intimidated are already doing powerful, transformative work in their communities.

This brings me to the second part of the message we want to share with GCN readers: Courage. Our research and experience paints an incredibly hopeful and encouraging picture of communities across Ireland but we need to start believing in our own power.

Our research shows that people with progressive values are half as likely to believe that they could change things in their communities than the far-right, even though there are so many more of us. We are also less likely to share progressive messages about race, class and gender. Despite our numbers, we don’t feel confident enough in ourselves. This explains why we hear our opponents’ messages so often, despite their small numbers. It is by design—they seek to disempower and silence us.

This makes what we do next very clear. As a movement, we need to become more connected, more visible and more empowered. Our message—that no matter who we are or where we come from, who we love or our genders, we all deserve a warm affordable home, healthcare, and a community that cares for us—is a persuasive one. We need to start believing in our power to change things, and bring people along with us. We have organised for a more progressive and inclusive Ireland so many times in the past and won.

With Hope and Courage, we can do it again.