On August 5, 6, and 7, 27 allied organizations of the SURGE Alliance gathered for three days in La Paz, Baja California Sur, for an event called Resisting on the Asphalt. The image that gave the gathering its name — a plant breaking through a crack in the concrete — was the starting point for thinking together about how life and democracy are sustained in territories marked by inequality, violence, and power struggles.
About SURGE
SURGE is a philanthropic lab driven by Avina that seeks to strengthen the action and strategy of grassroots organizations, collectives, and emerging social movements in Mexico to revitalize civic space and democracy. Beyond funding, we aim to build a political collaboration within philanthropy. In addition to flexible financial resources, we provide key tools for identifying political opportunities, building innovative action strategies, and positioning narratives that challenge hostile contexts.
Resisting on the Asphalt
Designed by the collective Aguacero, the gathering was organized as a cultivation cycle: preparing the soil (recognizing one another across territories and ritualizing the opening with a collective altar), germinating the word (discussing democracy from the grassroots, walking the territory, and tracing affinities between struggles), and fertilizing richer ground (sharing an inventory of organizing tools, gathered beforehand with allies and printed in booklets for discussion).
One of the central moments was exploring the territory through a guided walk with Mangles del Manglito — young people who reforest and defend the region’s mangroves — where allies learned about community practices for caring for water and mangroves, and shared food with those who protect this ecosystem.
Over the three days, the organizations reviewed and expanded a definition of democracy built by themselves: a practice of participation and direct action to recognize one another and build, in a plural and shared way, the collective good.
Philanthropic Model
The gathering was attended by ecosystem co-investors, including the Hewlett Foundation and Open Society Foundations, who accompanied the process. For SURGE, spaces like this are the model in action: a trust-based philanthropy that centers grassroots organizations and recognizes peer gatherings as a concrete way to strengthen democracy from the ground up in Mexico.
