Max Haiven

Tell us briefly who you are and what you do!

My name is Max, an organizer, educator, writer and game-maker. I work as the Canada Research Chair in the Radical Imagination and an associate professor in Canada. I'm a specialist in the politics of the imagination and the practices that awaken it. 

What is the importance of play and games in radical organizing?

It's not simply that games are great ways to bring people together and to educate about key topics. It's not even just that games are the most popular entertainment media ever and we're losing them to the far right. It's also because thinking about games makes us better organizers: we have to think about what can make participating in movements engaging, rewarding, fulfilling and, yes, fun.  

What would you say to someone who claims they are 'not into games'?

Everyone's into games. Beyond video and board games, humans play all the time: with words, with animals, with ideas, in the bedroom, in art... You don't need to be a huge games fan (I'm not!) to learn something important and useful about how humans interact through play and games. And even if you're not into games, 2 billion people each day play one (more than watch a film or read a book), so as organizers we can't ignore them.