MCN June: Turnout – Mobilising your base
The stakes are high, power-holders are poised to make a key decision, and your campaign has been working hard to engage people – now you need a big demonstration of people power. So how do you get people to turn up? This session will look at the ins and outs of...
Review: The Activists’ Handbook
Aidan Ricketts was in town last week to launch his new book The Activists' Handbook. The launch was hosted by the Wilderness Society at Kindness House and included a presentation by Aidan on the fast growing and impressive movement to stop coal-seam gas. For those of...
Frameworks for Winning Change
Lately I’ve been thinking about frameworks for social change, and I've been intending to write about them here for some time. As always, it pays to start with research – and I see the good folks from Training for Change have already put together information on three...
Art and Campaigning
The Art and Campaigning forum went off! The forum was presented by the Melbourne Campaigners’ Network, in collaboration with Arena Project Space, on the evening of Thursday 15 March. The topic sparked interest near and far, so hopefully there will be similar forums...
MCN May: Theories of Change
Whether or not you know it, you have the beginnings of a theory of change. All actions which attempt to change society reflect a theory of change of some kind, that is they reflect assumptions about how society works, what change is needed and how change happens. As...
Art and Campaigning – in NZ
Last week I travelled to Aotearoa at the invitation of the Kotare Trust, to facilitate a two day welfare justice workshop. While I was there I heard about the recent ‘Political Poster Art in Aotearoa’ exhibition – a great fit with the upcoming Art and Campaigning...
Framing and the ALP Leadership
It turns out the positioning, tantrums and hot air of leadership struggles in electoral politics are useful for something – they give us an opportunity to look at frames and story-based strategy. Back in 2007 I wrote an article for the Change Agency’s enews about...
Theatre for a Safe Climate
The next Melbourne Campaigners’ Network looks at Art and Campaigning, and it feels like wherever I look there are interesting examples of the intersection between these two things. The Art and Campaigning forum will largely focus on the visual arts, such as...
Campaign Updates
The Melbourne Campaigners’ Network gathering in February included updates from nine campaigns. It was a good opportunity to get a sense of what is coming up in the year ahead, and the different approaches campaigners are taking. Small group discussions included...
Review: Rules for Radicals
Simon Copland reviews Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky, the classic text on community organising. This is another review in our series on recommended reading for campaigners, community organisers, and other activists. What books have you learnt from, been challenged...