Sometimes you have to walk away
Quitting, burnout and volunteer renewal Danae Bosler makes the case for walking away from activist commitments - and for setting up our activist projects to allow for renewal. I’m no big fan of Ben Harper and I’m always loathe to quote songs out...
100% Shared Lunches
Taegan Edwards shares simple and fun tips for shared lunches from the campaigners at 100% Renewables, an Australian campaign for renewable energy. Not only are these lunches low-cost, but the act of sharing encourages the whole team to take time-out to prepare and eat...
Emotional Resilience
Well facilitated group-work is absolutely essential to healthy communities and thriving social movements. To be good facilitators in our work as activists and campaigners rests on developing emotional resilience; facilitator and trainer Sarah Norton of the Groupwork...
Nurturing the Revolution!
Practical tips for making activism inviting for parents and children At Plan to Thrive we reckon diversity and intergenerational participation is pretty darn important to sustaining political campaigns and promoting radical social change. Following on from her...
Parenting as activism
Parenting, and particularly motherhood, has long been the subject of coercive gaze and bureaucratic discipline by masculinised political classes. Just see Australian Prime minister (and Minister for Women's Affairs) Abbott’s recent ‘women of calibre’ remarks in...
Community care for neighbourhood action
All over Australia, local communities are acting to protect their homes, livelihoods and neighbourhoods from environmentally disastrous infrastructure projects and development. From organising neighbourhood meetings to participating in non-violent direct actions like...
Activist Stories: Gerald
Gerald Gomani was interviewed by Andrea Parra as part of the Sustaining the Movement panel at Global Power Shift, Istanbul, June 2013. Gerald Gomani is a facilitator, entrepreneur and visionary leader who has been involved in social change since 1993. In the...
Hey Activists, R U OK?
Thursday 12 September is R U OK Day, a national day of action which aims to prevent suicide. The website states: 'Staying connected with others is crucial to our general health and wellbeing. Feeling isolated or hopeless can contribute to depression and other...
Election Recovery
Urrgghh, the Australian federal election is over. I woke up this morning with a splitting headache and a heavy heart. There’s no doubt that this election result is going to have a big impact on communities and the environment and the way we will campaign to...
The Hero and the Fraud
Shinen Wong explores motivations we may bring to social change work, some ways we may be acting out of habit or reactivity, and proposes spaces for deliberation, intentionality, and motivational transparency that can keep us sustained in the long haul. In my...
Activist Stories: Fenton
Fenton Lutunatabua was interviewed by Daniel Hunter as part of the Sustaining the Movement panel at Global Power Shift, Istanbul, June 2013. Fenton, can you tell us a little bit about your life and work? I am currently employed with Dialogue Fiji a small NGO in...
Relaxation is in your hands
In this post Holly Hammond describes using finger holds for relaxation, perfect for busy Australian-based campaigners as we count down to federal elections. I first heard of ‘fingerholds to manage emotions’ through a New Tactics in Human Rights online dialogue on...
How to Support Activists
I recently shared some ideas around building a support network – but a really great network requires willing and savvy people being actively supportive. How do you actually go about backing someone who’s on a social change mission? Everyone is different so...
Got the winter blues?
Mid way through winter even dynamo-activists can feel a bit sluggish at times. Getting out of bed in the morning becomes a challenge, we tend to consume carbohydrates more frequently, and our mood and general outlook can be as bleak as the weather. The urge to...
Activist Stories: Doing It Ourselves
Recently, Helen Cox spent a weekend with an energetic group of community organisers from Doing It Ourselves at Commonground, an intentional community and social enterprise located in the country of the Taungurung people (Seymour, north of Melbourne). Doing It...