By Amanda Tattersall. This was first published in the Conversation on 2 August 2019 The past few weeks has seen a drastic escalation in violence on the streets of Hong Kong. On Tuesday night, a police officer aimed a shotgun at protesters who had gathered outside a police station, while a car launched fireworks into the crowd. Days earlier, the police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters trying to reach the Chinese government’s office. And the week before, following a protest of 430,000…

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For 13 weeks in the steamy summer humidity of Hong Kong there have been protests.  And they’re still ongoing.  More than a million people- old and young- have marched peacefully in mass rallies. And students and young professionals have engaged in more direct action on the streets and closed down one of the world’s busiest airports.  They are fighting for democracy and against the power of Beijing who in 2047 will have total control over the city. So how did…

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By Amanda Tattersall, Friday 30 August 2019 On Thursday 29 August Jimmy Sham Choo – the head of Hong Kong’s Civil Human Rights Front was having lunch in a restaurant in Kowloon when he was attacked by two people holding a baseball bat and a knife. The next day a series of democracy activists were arrested – including Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow, and a protest permit was denied for the CHRF for a mass protest this Saturday. A crackdown…

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On Sunday 18 August 2019, the same day that 1.7 million Hong Kongers marched for democracy solidarity marches occurred around the world. One was in Sydney, and ChangeMakers host Amanda Tattersall spoke: My name is Amanda Tattersall. I work at the University of Sydney as an academic. I research social movements. Four weeks ago I was in Hong Kong – visiting the protest movement interviewing leaders and going on democracy protests. For 20 years I have studied and been part…

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Hahrie Han is one of the world’s top researchers studying ways of strengthening civic engagement.  We explore the different strategies you can use to build people power and the journey she took to become one of the world’s top researchers in this space. Listen by clicking play above, or listen via an app on Apple, PodcastOne or Stitcher – or on most other podcast apps by searching “ChangeMakers.” Or use our RSS feed.

Imagine trying to make change in an authoritarian state? Jolovan Wham works in Singapore with migrant domestic workers. Why does he do it and what does the state do to make his change making so hard? Listen above by clicking play, or listen via an app on Apple, PodcastOne or Stitcher – or on most other podcast apps by searching “ChangeMakers.” Or use our RSS feed.

By Amanda Tattersall, ChangeMakers Host In the US, Canada, UK and parts of Europe – a global movement of climate campaigners have begun turning to a so-called ‘Green New Deal’ as a way to speak about the economy wide transformation required to respond to climate change.  This idea speaks to a specific problem for economic and climate justice politics in Australia, where the disappointing 2019 Federal Election result could be partly interpreted as a gap between progressive climate and economic…

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Series 3 of ChangeMakers launches into some dark times. In my home country, Australia, we just had an election that many progressives, (including me), thought would lead to a change in government. Whose been there, hey? Instead we lost, and now a real uncertainty lingers about what to do next prevails. In the UK everyone is exhausted (and at the same time transfixed) by the never ending roller coaster called Brexit. Brazil has an extremist far-right President. In India radical…

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In late 2018 thousands of people from across Central America walked North to the border of the USA and into the political maelstrom of the midterm elections. How did they organise themselves and what did they achieve?   Click on the play button above to stream it here. Or listen to the episode on Podcast One, Stitcher or Apple iTunes via these links. Or find by searching “ChangeMakers” on your podcast app. Or use a Podcast app with our RSS…

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In Australia it’s hard for newly arrived refugees to find a new job. In 2011, Settlement Services International found a way for refugees to create businesses for themselves – by using the marketplace as a change maker. Click on the play button above to stream it here. Or listen to the episode on Podcast One, Stitcher or Apple iTunes via these links. Or find by searching “ChangeMakers” on your podcast app. Or use a Podcast app with our RSS feed….

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