Narrative as Infrastructure

Before technology, before strategy, before campaigns lies narrative: the story communities tell about reality, their place within it, and what change looks like. Laozi teaches that naming and language shape perception—the Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao. Applied to activism, this principle suggests that dominant narratives limit imagination about what's possible. Corporate tech companies define progress as growth, efficiency, and innovation. These narratives shape what technologies get built and toward what ends. Activist communities that develop alternative narratives—progress as resilience, technology as care, innovation as autonomy—generate different technologies. Before deploying tools, activists must clarify shared stories: what world are we building? How do we understand power, change, and human flourishing? These narratives become infrastructure. Technology then serves predetermined purposes rather than dictating them. Dominant culture's narratives—the startup mythology, the algorithm-as-neutral-arbiter, the individual-as-economic-unit—shape technology subtly and completely. Activist communities practicing narrative work intentionally develop counter-narratives that guide technological choices, campaign strategies, and cultural vision.