Dictatorship or Democracy

During the last election cycle our democratic system faced an unprecedented onslaught of attacks from the authoritarian right and as the 2024 election cycle approaches we are already seeing warning signs of what is ahead. We don’t know how things are going to play out during the coming weeks and months, but we do know that our movements need to be ready to organize, mobilize, and take bold direct action to confront attacks on our democracy and our communities. 

To help imagine some of the challenges we might face and prepare for what’s ahead, join us for Dictatorship or Democracy: A 2024 Simulation Game! 

We’ll divide into teams, each representing different players in our social movement landscape. Then we’ll be introduced to a set of hypothetical (but entirely likely) scenarios that we may face during this election cycle. Each team will work to develop action plans to respond to the scenario, anticipate how other movement actors will respond, and build capacity for collective action to build the world we want to live in.

June 20 at 7pm at the Movement Infrastructure Project

All are welcome but RSVP’s are required!

About the Game

At the beginning of the game, participants are sorted randomly into teams. Each team is assigned to play the role of a fictional organization that loosely models an organization in our social movement landscape. The fictional teams cover a wide range of organization types from large national non-profits, to labor unions, to small collectives. This diverse landscape helps participants imagine how different organizations could take action in a range of different ways based on their scale, capacity, political orientation, and location. 

The game is played in rounds. Each round starts with the game facilitators (“the Supreme Court”) reading out a brief scenario. Teams will meet for a planning period and devise a plan of action to respond to that scenario over the following days. At the end of the planning period groups will reconvene and report out on their plans. 

After all teams have reported out the Supreme Court issues its ruling, giving thoughtful strategic organizing feedback to each organization and awarding points based on a scoring rubric. At the end of each round, facilitators introduce a learning tool that participants can use to help inform their work (in real life and in the game!) going forward.