‧͙༓*⁺˚✧⚙️ Power ⛓🧿✧‧͙⁺˚･༓*
“Battle of Macahambus Hill” — a battle won in the Philippine-American War on June 4, 1900. Displayed in the City Museum of Cagayan de Oro and Heritage Studies Center.
A force we are constantly interrogating and engaging with.
While reading through blogposts on the School of International Futures site, I found this hopeful paragraph under the article entitled “Brokering power to SPROUT a movement (Part 1)”, communally written by members of the organization.
To help to shift power, our role was first to listen. Through the lived experiences, reflections, and leadership of the Fellows, we uncovered three dominant myths surrounding power. More importantly, we learned how an emerging generation of leaders is challenging them every day. Three deeper truths emerged, offered by the Fellows and shaped by them, which are a testament to the power reclaimed when community leads.
The notion that “Power is ‘out there’” was transformed by a growing confidence that believes “Power is within”. In embracing a whole-of-person approach to systems leadership, Sprout serves collective ambitions to realise a more just future for childhood wellbeing.
The perception that “Power is scarce” was reframed as a resounding truth that “Power grows when shared”. We recognise the limitations of traditional power structures, and instead aim to strengthen intergenerational collaborations and networks to build a social justice movement for change.
In experiencing how systems can evolve through care, connection and shared purpose, we flipped the notion that “Power equals control” into an approach that looks to create conditions for change, possibilities for growth and collective reimagination – “Transformation requires using power to nurture”.
SPROUT understands that isolated leadership cannot transform systems, but we can reclaim power through nurture and becoming guides within our communities.
As we continue growing Balay Kasamtangan, it is warming to know that there are organizations out there who are also consistently pushing forward against imbalance and systemic injustice. The SPROUT program itself deals with a very heavy mission: nurturing the next generation of leaders for children’s well-being and safety against sexual violence.
It seems that people whose philosophies we are aligned with tend to use similar language: describing our movements using objects from nature, recording experiences from a first-person perspective, and communicating difficult realities succinctly. (I really am very annoyed that AI has co-opted the rule of three cadence in writing, but such is the current circumstance)
In my (many) moments of frustration that teeter into hopelessness, glimmers from these spaces remind me that we still have agency if we come together as a community. Amidst the rightfully pervasive pessimism surrounding this era, that fact remains constant. The reason why the system is built to fragment and individuate people is so that they become much easier to control, as illustrated by this short.
Coming from those individualistic empowerment spaces myself (as a response to exploitative Filipino family dynamics), I understand its merits. But as illustrated by the wise, balance is key. Lean into either extreme, and its poison begins to show.
~ Nikki
