Theme 4: Unmasking and Transforming Narratives

Narratives have an enormous impact on our politics, civil society, activism, and journalism, and social media has the power to galvanise and polarise people on an extensive scale. New and powerful narrative strategies emerge from social movements.

• The Movement for Black Lives
• Pro-democracy movements in many parts of the world including Guatemala, Thailand, Poland, Hong Kong, Belarus, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Chile, and Myanmar.
• Women’s movements challenging impunity for sexual assault and pressing for full reproductive rights.
• Indigenous land defenders, the Buen Vivir movement, and others calling for life in harmony with the earth.

People approach narratives in different ways. They draw on, for example:

• The evocative emotional power in what we stand for (power for) to inform smarter campaign messaging.
• Longer term cultural work to shift worldviews.
• Humorous and creative expressions of resistance in dangerous contexts.
• Actions that communicate meaning in embodied and symbolic ways – often without words.

In this Guide, we approach narratives through a power and intersectional analysis that centres context and culture and looks at the connection between messages, narratives, and the mobilisation of the invisible power of beliefs, values, and ideas.⁹

Laura and Bertita washing in the river © 2016, Daysi Flores

Guardians of the River: The power of narratives
Competing narratives are at the centre of the power struggle and conflict around the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque River in Lenca territory that led to the murder of Berta Cáceres. The quotes, headlines, and examples in the case study illustrate these competing narratives and the distinct worldviews, values, and interests they embody.

Dominant narratives
These examples (among many) highlight the framing, messaging, and underlying narratives that were mobilised to discredit, dehumanise, and criminalise COPINH and Berta Cáceres.

In April 2010, soon after a right-wing coup, the Honduran government held an international investment convention, “Honduras Is Open for Business”. The government relaxed the country’s mining regulations, repealed a moratorium on new mines, and granted 41 concessions for hydroelectric dams across the country.

On July 15, 2013, COPINH staged a peaceful protest at the dam company’s office that turned deadly. When soldiers opened fire on a peaceful COPINH protest against a new dam in 2015, killing community leader Tomás García and wounding his son, the Honduran national TV station blamed García’s death on COPINH: “Protesters from COPINH also have blood on their hands … Members of COPINH should not have entered onto private property that was guarded by the army. The army provided security to the private company working on the hydroelectric dam.”

Aline Flores, from a Honduran business coalition, said publicly, “[COPINH] are invading us and making us look bad, hurting our international reputation.” The coalition denounced Berta for “impeding renewable energy projects … with the support of Amnesty International and the Human Rights Commission,” implying that these were not home-grown struggles but rather externally driven.

“DESA’s (Desarollo Energetico Sociedad Autonomo) press statements claimed the community members violently entered the company compound, leading to Tomás García’s killing, and that the crowd then entered Cristian Madrid’s home and killed him. Milton Amaya Coello, commander of the First Battalion of Engineers, whose troops were stationed inside the DESA compound, echoed the company’s explanation of events. He claimed that, after entering the compound, three people then proceeded to attack the heavily armed soldiers with machetes, so Sergeant Jasser Sarabia fired in self-defense.”¹¹

Between 2013 and 2015, DESA used its influence to push the government to refocus policing and surveillance on COPINH and, particularly, on Berta. WhatsApp messages¹² obtained by lawyers investigating the murder¹³ (GAIPE) revealed coordination between company executives, staff, security, police, and local officials to track and harass COPINH leaders. For example:

“I’m going to hire a sniper.”
“Pile a bunch of ‘indios’ in a car. Berta, Aureliano, and Tomás, 3 ring leaders… I’ve spent a lot of money and political capital to get these three arrest warrants.”

In September 2013, a magistrate ordered that Berta be held in pre-trial detention for “endangering the internal security of Honduras.”

FMO, the Dutch investment company that co-financed the construction of the Agua Zarca dam, posted a video about it on their website (removed after Berta’s murder), depicting the dam as a small-scale, people-centred, sustainable development project to benefit the community. They failed to mention the fact that the community had rejected the project, as is their right under ILO resolution 169.

After her murder, and against the evidence, the police initially blamed the murder on a COPINH leader. Mainstream Honduran media cast the incident as a “crime of passion” in the news and in the investigations.

Strategies to unmask the dominant narrative
These examples highlight some of COPINH’s strategies.

A 2013 protest in Río Blanco, Honduras, exposed the corruption behind the project and called on allies to join the protest.

In 2015, Berta said: “I never doubted I would continue the struggle despite the threats; they even gave me more resolve. Today, we are receiving death threats not only against me but against other compañeros.”¹⁴

In an interview with The Guardian in the same year, Berta asserted: “The political, economic, and social situation in Honduras is getting worse, and there is an imposition of a project of domination, of violent oppression, of militarization, of violation of human rights, of trans nationalisation, of the turning over of the riches and sovereignty of the land to corporate capital, for it to privatise energy, the rivers, the land; for mining exploitation; for the creation of development zones.”¹⁵

“It is not easy being a woman leading processes of indigenous resistance. In an incredibly patriarchal society, women are very exposed, we have to face high-risk circumstances, and sexist and misogynistic campaigns. This is one of the things that can most influence a decision to abandon the fight.” (Berta Cáceres, Open Global Rights).

COPINH radio stations broadcast regular updates to expose and counteract inflammatory and sexualized attacks on Berta by the company and the government, accusing her of being “a devil’s whore” and portraying COPINH as a terrorist organisation. Sectors of the Catholic Church joined in the attacks – a cardinal prohibited Catholics from joining COPINH or listening to its radio broadcasts – but these were countered by a prominent priest with public support, Padre Melo, on a popular radio station, Radio Progreso.¹⁶

Transformational narratives
“In our worldview, we are beings who come from the earth, the water, and the corn. The Lenca people are ancestral guardians of the rivers… [taught] that giving our lives in various ways to protect the rivers is to give our lives for the well-being of humanity and of this planet.” — Berta’s speech for the Goldman Environmental Prize in early 2015.¹⁷

After she was murdered, COPINH and Berta’s daughters communicated hope and continuity. “Berta no se murió, Se multiplicó!” / “Berta did not die. She multiplied!”

“Without our cosmovision, we wouldn’t exist as Lenca people. It gives our resistance energy and force.” — COPINH Instagram)

“We must undertake the struggle in all parts of the world, wherever we may be, because we have no other spare or replacement planet. We have only this one, and we have to take action.” — Berta Cáceres

Download handout: Guardians of the River: The power of narratives.

Berta Cáceres receiving the Goldman Environmental Prize © 2015, Goldman Environmental Prize

Activity 4: Narratives in action

Powerful interest groups use dominant narratives to manipulate public opinion and shape the terms of debate. They mine and mobilise existing prejudice, beliefs, ideologies, and fears. We can unmask dominant public narratives by unpacking their messages and exposing the forms of invisible power they draw upon.

Materials: Handout: Guardians of the River: The power of narratives

Step 1: Compare the narratives
Small groups: You may want to re-read the case study: COPINH: Guardians of the River in Honduras, as well as the handout Guardians of the River: The power of narratives. Compare the dominant narrative with COPINH’s transformational narrative.

Dominant narrative

• What were the main stories and messages in the dominant narrative?
• How were these messages framed and communicated?
• What values and norms did they represent?
• Whose interests were served by the dominant narrative?
• What was the impact of these narratives on the activists and their struggle?

COPINH’s transformational narrative

• What messages and stories were communicated by COPINH and Berta?
• How were they framed and communicated?
• What values and norms did they represent?
• What was the primary interest and strategy of this narrative?
• How did COPINH’s narrative advance its agenda?

Step 2: Unmask the dominant narrative
Plenary: Draw out the groups’ observations, starting with the dominant narrative. Ask for new responses to the questions rather than full reports from each group. Points for deepening discussion:

• Stories and messages
• Framing and communication
• Values and norms
• Interests served
• Impacts

Step 3: Explore COPINH’s transformational narrative
Plenary: Draw out groups’ observations about COPINH’s narrative. Stimulate discussion with examples from the handout Guardians of the River: The power of narratives.

• In what ways did COPINH and the movement against the dam expose and resist the dominant public narratives that were mobilised in favour of the dam and against the movement?
• What contrasting or transformative narrative was advanced by the movement and its supporters? What values, beliefs, or worldviews did this narrative build upon?
• How did COPINH go about sharing their narrative? What stories and messages were shared, and how were they communicated?
• What effects did COPINH’s contrasting narrative have on public opinion and support? What were the strengths and weaknesses of their narrative?
• What other contrasting or transformative narratives, if any, do you think would have helped the movement and contributed to its safety and protection from violence?

Plenary: Beyond exposing and criticising a dominant narrative, a key strategy is to articulate a transformational narrative that contrasts with the dominant one.

Download this activity.

Reflections
COPINH’s struggle illustrates the importance of organising and action in creating and communicating narratives for social movements and communities who may not have access to courts, mainstream media, and public opinion. The peaceful protests involving families and Lenca symbolism, and the many rituals that affirm the common story and worldview of the Lenca people, are a narrative strategy in themselves.

Berta’s leadership centred her community, COPINH, and her family, and this helped to humanise her struggle in the face of slander and criminalisation. It was only after her murder that COPINH’s social media – in the hands of a new generation of leaders and activists in pursuit of the powerful interests behind the murder – was able to frame and sustain a narrative about justice.

Without the added pressure from social media strategies continuously inviting allies to step in, it is unlikely the case would have progressed. COPINH’s strategy was both to unmask the dominant narrative and articulate their own values and visions through their transformational narrative.

COPINH exposed and named the real interests and collusion of the investors, elites, and officials behind the dam project. They unmasked the logic and costs of the exploitative, corrupt, violent colonial system that the dam project represented and perpetuated.

Activity 5: Unmasking and transforming narratives

Adapt these steps and questions to other case studies or issues of concern.

Step 1: Unmask the dominant narrative
Plenary: Introduce the case study or issue and distribute useful resources (such as a handout or audio or video clip).

Review the resource materials and discuss:

• What do you see or hear? (messages, symbols, images)
• What is the narrative designed to make you think, believe, feel, or do? What is the narrative here?
• What are the key stories and messages in the narrative?
• What does it say about those in opposition or resistance?
• Who and what does it value or devalue? What does it say about who or what is ‘normal’?
• What social norms, values, or beliefs underpin the narrative?
• Who is promoting the narrative, and what is their primary interest?

Step 2: Share insights and observations

• Did anything surprise you? What, and why?
• What are the more obvious messages and stories in the narrative?
• Which messages are more hidden and manipulative (based on biases and prejudices, for example, those that may be racist, sexist, neo-colonial)?
• Which messages may be designed to create division or fear, or draw on biases and innuendo to shape perceptions?
• What values, norms, or beliefs underpin the narrative?
• Whose interests does the narrative promote?
• In what ways do these narratives exclude or negate certain people or create fear or increase the risk of violence for specific groups (such as women, LGBTQI, indigenous, opposition activists)?

Step 3: Mobilise transformational narratives
A transformational narrative is most effective if it:

• Is based on positive values and beliefs that already resonate with many people.
• Offers the positive choice of a different story from the one that is being told.
• Is not framed as a ‘counter-narrative’ or ‘alternative’ to the dominant one.
• Provides a source of hope and strength, linked to values of care and connection, and a concrete vision and pathway to a desired future.
• Includes humour, popular expressions, and common cultural references – particularly for provocative or controversial perspectives.

Plenary: What do you reveal by unpacking or analysing a narrative in this way? What connections can you make between narratives and power? Did you experience any ‘aha’ moments?

Download this activity.

Summary

• If we look at narratives through a lens of power, not just communications or messaging, we see that they are part of a larger dynamic in which powerful interests use certain values and beliefs to construct and promote narratives that exclude other perspectives and advance their own narrow interests.
• Narratives are used to “manufacture consent”¹⁸: to shape public opinion and not only legitimise but also normalise underpinning ideas and values: That’s the way things are and should be, and they should determine policy.
• Unpacking narratives is vital to open a space for critical reflection to expose and challenge those interests.
• Dominant narratives can be resisted most effectively by not only unmasking them but also identifying and elevating transformational narratives that are grounded in other values and beliefs.

___________________________________________

^{9 For resources on strategies for narrative change, see: Grassroots Policy Project: https://grassrootspolicy.org/featured-essays-on-narrative/ and the Narrative Initiative – https://narrativeinitiative.org/.
10 As reported by Daysi Flores from JASS who was present and interviewed people at the scene.
11 https://www.banktrack.org/download/the_agua_zarca_dam_and_lenca_communities_in_honduras/130920_earth_rights_rpt_130920_rioblanco_final.pdf – an insightful, comprehensive and historical 2013 analysis of the conflict over the Gualcarque River, revealing who was behind the dam, the ways that laws and courts were manipulated to serve local elites and investors, the role of the World Bank and IMF as well as the US Embassy.
12 https://theintercept.com/2019/12/21/berta-caceres-murder-plot-honduras/
13 The Grupo Asesor Internacional de Personas Expertas (GAIPE) includes specialists in international human rights law, international criminal law, and comparative criminal law, was created in November 2016 at the request of the family of Berta Cáceres and COPINH after the government and international human rights bodies failed to launch an in-depth investigation.
14 For Indigenous Peoples, Megadams Are ‘Worse than Colonization’, Terra Justa, 2015
15 Honduran indigenous rights campaigner wins Goldman prize | Honduras | The Guardian
16 Guardians of the River Case Study, Just Power: A Guide for Activists and Changemakers, JASS 2023
17 Berta Cáceres’s Goldman prize acceptance speech in 2015 (video)
18 Noam Chomsky, Edward Herman. “ Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media”}