Movements need weavers and warriors

What a week.

In the last issue of Community Threads, I spoke about how voting isn’t enough - that we need to organize movements. That remains true regardless of who wins an election or which political party is in power.

We need to come together - in a highly organized, long-term, consistent way - to make collective demands for concrete changes. We need movements.

And movements need both weavers and warriors.

Weavers that bring separate threads together to create a collective fabric - that bring organizations and individuals together for a common purpose, that build stronger connections, that persuade more people to join together, that reach across aisles, that take collective action.

Warriors that fight for the changes they want to see - that go up against power, that resist what they know is not right, that protest against injustice.

I’ve always considered myself a weaver - everything from the name of this newsletter (Community Threads) to PoP Health’s logo (which emphasizes interconnectedness) go back to the ideas of working together for collective impact. It’s why I love working with community coalitions and collaboratives.

And yet, I find myself venturing more into warrior territory these days. PoP Health has a new initiative coming down the pike (in Spring 2025) that’s focused on putting political and economic power back in the hands of communities, as opposed to corporate interests. And it has me fired up.

It makes me wonder if those of us who have both weavers and warriors in us - and those spaces where weavers and warriors can come together - could be valuable to the work of organizing movements.

Because a few things are clear.

A lot of weaving in the community health space has involved admiring the problem, as opposed to solving it. A lot of weaving has focused so much on achieving consensus with everyone (even the corporate interests that are working against public health goals) that the end results have been weak and watered down actions.

On the flip side, a lot of warriors in the community health space have failed to widen their tent and expand their coalition. A lot of warriors have failed to coordinate and coalesce around concrete demands in consistent, sustained ways.

Movements need weavers and warriors (and those who see both in themselves). Who are you? A weaver, a warrior, both? And has your answer changed over time, like mine? Drop me a line and let me know!

Ultimately, successful movements need weavers that build agreement and collective, sustained action around the concrete demands of warriors.

As I said last time, history shows us it’s possible. Let’s get to work.

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