Block, Bridge, Build - A Framework to Forge a More Democratic Future

Block-Bridge-Build offers a framework—rooted in theory and practice of conflict transformation, civil resistance, and democratic renewal—that aims to resist harm (block), facilitate dialogue across divides (bridge), and construct more inclusive, resilient futures (build), particularly in response to the spread of authoritarianism.

Block

Blocking can be interpreted as standing up against the harms and injustices that are happening in the world. To be in “block mode,” you must first acknowledge and see those harms, even when they are not happening to you or your community directly.

There are many skills and approaches that can be used here. One of the most obvious and necessary in the current moment is the use of litigation to curb the White House’s illegal actions. But there are many other approaches to blocking. When church leaders or educators stand up for immigrants who are being summarily detained without due process, these solidarity actions not only raise awareness but can put enough pressure on officials to release those in custody. Transgender rights networks are working (as they have for generations) to support their community’s safety and security in the face of alarming levels of political scapegoating and dehumanizing rhetoric. Creative, strategic nonviolent actions are also powerful blocking tools for pro-democracy movements, such as clowns showing up at a neo-Nazi rally to throw flour in the air, ridiculing the concept of “White power” with “white flour.”

While activists may be identified with mostly “block approaches,” when they engage with deep canvassing and relational organizing as a part of their base-building strategies, that is also a form of bridging. And when they set up mutual-aid networks and teach-ins for their communities, that is also a form of building for the future we want.

Bridge

As Tabatha Pilgrim Thompson, director of Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives at Horizons Project reminds us: “Bridge-builders often use dialogue, mediation, negotiation, and other community cohesion-building tactics for the purpose of developing understanding, empathy, and relationships to find common ground and solutions on which communities can move forward together.”

In the past 10 years, there has been a proliferation of bridge-building initiatives in the United States, with a focus on depolarization and promoting civic friendship and pluralism. For example, programs might convene state leaders across urban and rural divides to discuss and plan around common issues such as drug addiction, political violence, or education policy.

There are many types of bridging activities working across several lines of difference to foster a “larger us” and a broader sense of belonging: interfaith dinners, community theater programs that invite the audience to step into someone else’s shoes, or dialogues around racial healing. Bridge-building helps to establish meaningful connections, centering trust, listening and finding commonality as a first step to working toward change together. Bridge-building can help bring together coalitional partners in the short-term, while also creating space for new allies to better understand the issues and join forces in the future.

Build

Building activates critical analysis and mechanisms of hope to challenge power dynamics and reimagine just and equitable futures. There are clearly bright spots to point to for inspiration and hope. As science fiction writer William Gibson once said, “The future is already here, it’s just unevenly distributed.”

Examples of build work include a wide range of activities, from very concrete discussions around potential constitutional reforms like Democracy 2076, the growing network of citizen assemblies that allow for direct citizen participation in the local decisions that affect them most, new healthier social networks, and audacious experiments for economies rooted in wellbeing or solidarity.

Builders help us break out of the frenetic pace of our current reality to imagine what could be, while also bridging to past lessons. Within a broad front, building allows us to block more effectively so we can communicate and embody not just what we are against, but also what we are all working toward.