The Builders' Movement: Breaking Through Political Polarization
By Emiliano Rodríguez Nuesch and María Morena Vicente
The world needs more builders — and less “us vs. them.” Today we’re sharing the story of the Builders Movement a project co-founded by Lonnie Ali, wife of Muhammad Ali.
Daniel Lubetzky and Lonnie Ali. BM Co-Funders.
This initiative aims to bring together “builders” from around the world to replace extremism with practical problem-solving. Builders recognize that while most people aren’t actively causing problems, their passive stance allows extremist voices to dominate. By fostering a culture of active participation and problem-solving, they tap into Collective Efficacy and shift the narrative away from divisive rhetoric toward constructive dialogue and cooperation.
In this video, you can listen to Ali explain how she visualizes the Builders Movement as a catalyst for change, stepping out of this passive response that leaves room for polarization to occur, and as an opportunity to lead society to a better place:
“The majority of us are tired of the polarization. Every day we have to get up with the intention of uniting and building bridges with others that don’t think like we do,” state Ali.
The Builders Movement seeks to channel the energy currently devoted to social extremism toward uniting and building. The movement invites individuals to make a tangible impact on issues like climate change and social inequality, rather than feeling overwhelmed, powerless, and numb. Furthermore, their website, offers insightful resources, programs, and content to help everycindividual take action and connect with others to network or netbuild.
The Builder’s Movement, also known as Starts with Us, partners with different organizations and influential people.
Ali explains her own motivation to be part of this movement in the following way: “My husband, Muhammad Ali, lived his life connecting with people across cultures and countries with curiosity, kindness and compassion. As Muhammad demonstrated throughout his life, creating a kinder world does start with us.”
Ali also shared her admiration for Daniel Lubetzky’s work , against polarization. Lubetsky is one of her main partners in this movement. She said she hopes Builders can energize people seeking solutions and looking to form alliances.
Listen to Lubetzy’s talk about cooperation and bridging disparities to build a better future: “Why the world needs more builders — and less ‘us vs. them’”.
To read more about Narrative Empathy and its role in cooperation and unity, see the following:
“Bright words:” finding common ground in environmental negotiations / February 1, 2019.