Psychosocial Practices for Sustaining Our Movements: Daiara Tukano, Stefania Grasso and Peter Steudtner

We were joined by Daiara Tukano, Stefania Grasso and Peter Steudtner.

Activists, human rights defenders, and political organisers can suffer attacks at the hands of both State and non-State actors seeking to hinder their work. This damages our effectiveness and the wellbeing of ourselves and those around us. We explore psychosocial approaches to strengthening personal, organisational and movement responses.

We talk with practitioners who have developed holistic frameworks that recognise the interplay between the individual, group and socio-political levels of activist practice. In Mexico, Aluna uses a model of psychosocial accompaniment based on ‘liberation psychology’ to support victims of political violence. Peter Steudtner was one of the authors of the Holistic Security Manual, that offers integrated methods of analysis and strategy to deal with psychosocial, physical and digital threats. Daiara Tukano brings her experience of facing these challenges as an artist and researcher in human rights focused on independent communication within the indigenous movement.

We ask:

How can the insights of liberation psychology help us to build psychosocial resilience?

What can learn from the practices of Holistic Security about combining strategies for facing psychosocial, physical and digital threats?

Are there lessons from indigenous movements that can help us nurture the psychosocial vitality of our groups?