The propaganda machines of the Right have demonstrated incredible success at managing public participation in civil society, co-opting and controlling diverse cultural forms, and defining the political landscape.

The Bush regime, the corporations it serves, and Neoconservative pundits have managed—using (in part) a dual strategy of endless reiteration and media saturation—to steamroll the possibility for democracy, taking the country to war with unsubstantiated claims of Weapons of Mass Destruction and rolling back decades of progressive wins on the home front.

At the same time, advocates for social, political, economic, and environmental justice have had an increasingly difficult time getting their messages heard. Due to a range of factors from shrinking budgets to issue fatigue, grassroots organizations, progressive campaigns, and movement building organizations have not been reaching the widest possible audiences with the most effective messages.

Low-income communities of color and other marginalized communities are often disportionately affected by this scenario. They not only lack access to fair and balanced media messages, but also to trainings/services/venues that allow them to break through the corporate media barriers and speak to larger public about injustices suffered within their communities and those of their peers.

There are a growing number of individuals and organizations specializing in design, communications, public relations, and media strategies to support social change. These ‘movement-servicing’ organizations play a vital and strategic role in advancing campaigns. This role would be more responsive to the needs of the organizations we seek to serve, effective in reaching target audiences, and influential in driving social change if there were increased communication, skill sharing and cooperation within the design, media, and communications community.

This panel and discussion will provide an overview of the history of graphic communications in propelling the messages of progressive movements into affecting social change, as well as demonstrate the current use of an effective graphic communications strategy into winning campaigns. We seek to connect with other designers and communication specialists in order to strategize our expanding role in the movement for social change and build a network of specialists to better provide services to the movement. As organizations with a priority on leadership by people of color, we will also address how do we speak to communities of color, how do we include people of color in the message, and how do we mentor youth of color into becoming designers and communicators with a social justice focus.

This workshop will be conducted in English, but can be translated into Spanish.

We will have a panel, then facilitate discussion amongst the participants. We will not have handouts.