By, With, & for the People in Berlin, Europe, & the World

Foun­ded in 2017 in Colo­gne by a cir­cle of young acti­vists, edu­ca­tors, artists, and theo­rists, the SPH now acts bet­ween Ber­lin, Athens, Buda­pest, and Lis­bon. We inspi­re, train, and sup­port beg­in­ners, expe­ri­en­ced orga­ni­zers, and front­li­ne com­mu­ni­ty lea­ders who dare to uphold a future of rights, demo­cra­cy, and soli­da­ri­ty by, with, and for the peo­p­le. Many of us were born into working-class and/or migrant fami­lies – expe­ri­en­ces and rea­li­ties that shaped our com­mit­ment to digni­ty, equa­li­ty, and jus­ti­ce. As popu­lar edu­ca­tors, cri­ti­cal psy­cho­lo­gists, com­mu­ni­ty orga­ni­zers, cul­tu­ral prac­ti­tio­ners, and poli­ti­cal souls, we work hand in hand with social move­ments, civil socie­ty orga­ni­sa­ti­ons, cul­tu­ral insti­tu­ti­ons, trade uni­ons, workers’ coun­cils, youth asso­cia­ti­ons, and migrant com­mu­ni­ties, as well as youth, worker, and com­mu­ni­ty lea­ders to fight against aut­ho­ri­ta­ri­an oppres­si­on, capi­ta­list explo­ita­ti­on, and poli­ti­cal repression.

Community Storytelling, Political Emotions, & Cultural Organizing

At the SPH, we cul­ti­va­te poli­ti­cal ten­der­ness and fier­cen­ess in com­mu­ni­ties, orga­ni­sa­ti­ons, and move­ments through a pas­sio­na­te prac­ti­ce of pro­gres­si­ve com­mu­ni­ty orga­ni­zing, edu­ca­ti­on, and arts. Our com­mu­ni­ty sto­rytel­ling ses­si­ons, poli­ti­cal emo­ti­ons work­shops, and cul­tu­ral orga­ni­zing labs gui­de peo­p­le in over­co­ming the cur­rent psy­cho­po­li­ti­cal cri­sis and its social, eco­no­mic, and ideo­lo­gi­cal cau­ses, and, espe­ci­al­ly, in saving both their and our souls. Becau­se we under­stand that to orga­ni­ze poli­ti­cal­ly means not only to think but to care, to trust, and to trans­form indi­vi­du­al des­pair into coll­ec­ti­ve ima­gi­na­ti­on, lear­ning, and action. Both off­line and online, our school crea­tes bra­ve spaces whe­re peo­p­le learn how to turn their per­so­nal suf­fe­rings and sto­ries into poli­ti­cal strug­gles and sys­tems of coll­ec­ti­ve care, trust, and power.

TENDER Skills & FIERCE Strategies for Collective Care, Trust, & Power

Fight­ing back relent­less­ly is beco­ming a mat­ter of sur­vi­val as our souls are woun­ded and our dreams are silen­ced day by day. But we know all too well that the­re will be no easy way out of the cur­rent inhu­ma­ne sta­te of this world, as it is tur­ning its wea­pons against our per­so­nal and coll­ec­ti­ve resour­ces and inte­rests. Prac­ti­cing the lost art of orga­ni­zing hope, cou­ra­ge, and joy means choo­sing the long road — con­scious­ly and with com­mit­ment. Tog­e­ther, it is final­ly time to make the road and unlearn poli­ti­cal hope­l­ess­ness. The SPH is the place whe­re we build the emo­tio­nal con­fi­dence to dream, the rela­tio­nal cou­ra­ge to care, and the cul­tu­ral wis­dom to orga­ni­ze.

Let’s »make the road by wal­king«, as Anto­nio Macha­do wro­te in his famous poem!