By now, commenting on 2020 has become a cliché. This year was also supposed to be pivotal for climate action, with COP26, initially scheduled to take place in November, set as a deadline for countries to submit their enhanced plans for fighting the climate crisis. The reality of 2020 has disrupted this and many other opportunities for collective action on climate, poverty, inequality and other issues faced by people globally. As the new year looms around, there is hope for reintensifying efforts for social and climate justice, and I would like to suggest Transformative Action as a framework for thinking about next steps.

TA is a model of social change developed by community organizer and lecturer Scott Sherman during his doctoral research at UC Berkeley. While trying to understand the common characteristics of movements that succeed at changing the world, he concluded that many of them, ranging from the Indian Independence Movement to opposition to a nuclear waste disposal site in Rocky Flats in the U.S., go through a similar three-step trajectory. Firstly, these movements speak truth to power — they expose injustice and break the silence. Then, they aim to eliminate antagonisms and transform enemies into allies by focusing on problems rather than people. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, they offer a better, alternative vision for the future, turning momentum into action.

Like any framework for thinking about social issues and “success,” especially one that can be encapsulated in three points, TA is reductionist in nature, and following it is a political choice. Nonetheless, it appeals to me because it offers a way of thinking about a change of, rather than within, the system. The model recognises the importance of collective action, a point of view that is pushed back against in the times of excessive commercialization and praise of individualism.

The first step of TA is to expose injustices. In 2020, the world has plunged into what may become one of the worst recessions in modern history, and it seems inevitable that the crisis will push hundreds of millions of people into poverty. It is appealing to put the blame for this setback in development squarely on the pandemic, but taking a closer look at how the richest are immune to market shocks, it is becoming clear that the neoliberal economic system is not built to serve everyone equitably. This inequity and consumerism are some of the trends and structures that drive the destruction of social cohesion and natural environment. Social movements, like Fridays for Future and Black Lives Matter, recognize the importance of systemic change, and this perspective needs to be brought to the mainstream.

The second element of TA is transforming enemies into allies. Currently, we are observing increasing alienation between people with different worldviews due to the existence of media bubbles and echo chambers. In a society where everyone has their own facts and those in power actively undermine the self-organizing nature of bottom-up movements, cooperation across the political spectrum might be the most difficult step toward change.

The last step of TA is offering a vision for the future — responding to the looming climate crisis and ever-widening inequalities requires a blueprint for action. For climate matters, thanks to the hard work of academics and activists, the world’s decision makers seem to converge on the idea that we need to reach net-zero carbon emissions as soon as possible, by 2050 at the latest. Race to Zero is an example of campaigning and an alliance which galvanizes different stakeholders to achieve this vision, providing guidelines to all interested parties on how to do so. For example, in universities, there are associations and organizations that facilitate the exchange of good practices in operations and academics.

Lockdowns and quarantines in 2020 stopped people from going to the streets, but they did not diminish the necessity for change of our wicked economic system. The hope is that in 2021, there will be a rebound in activism, advocacy and action to “build back better”, and Transformative Action can be used effectively to do so.