Grow your movement by working with complexity: lessons from Gasfield Free Northern Rivers

Grow your movement by working with complexity: lessons from Gasfield Free Northern Rivers

By Annie Kia, Gasfield Free Northern Rivers When it comes to winning campaigns, nothing beats getting an understanding of how social movements work…there are some great resources that people can dip into[1]. As episode 2 of ChangeMakers explains, in the Northern Rivers, a bunch of us were familiar with social movement theory, especially with Bill Moyer and his work[2], and had on-ground experience in campaigns. This was invaluable. But there’s another type of knowledge that’s useful in growing social movements…

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How decades of fast food worker organising lead to “The Fight for 15”

How decades of fast food worker organising lead to “The Fight for 15”

By Keith Kelleher, Founder and Former President of SEIU (Service Employees International Union) Healthcare Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kansas. The First Spark “…On Thursday, May 28, 1981, at or about 11:30 am, a number of off-duty employees, in the company of union organizer, Keith Kelleher,…entered Restaurant 768, …moved toward the back of the kitchen in the direction of the manager’s office. Kelleher asked employees…to join them, and a few, including discriminatee Cynthia Diane Williams …did so. Williams and… employee Luther…

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Episode One – Out Now!

Episode One – Out Now!

We are very excited to release Episode One of our new Series the ChangeMakers. You can download this episode from Podcast One in Australia or from Itunes here. The first two episodes of a new original podcast, ChangeMakers hits PodcastOne Monday 9 October. Hosted by co-founder of GetUp, Amanda Tattersall, ChangeMakers is the first podcast of its kind to mix the story-telling form of This American Life with the topic of social change. “This represents a new era of big-budget…

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Reading & Resources

Reading & Resources

There are almost limitless interesting readings and resources on ChangeMaking. Here are a few of our favourite readings and tools that you might find useful. We are keen to promote and share interesting resources – so if you have readings you would suggest we share, send us an email to [email protected] or add ideas and suggestions in the comments section below. DOING ONE TO ONE MEETINGS Roots for Radicals; The relational meaning by Ed Chambers Having effective and powerful one to…

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What does it take for everyday people to shift an election?

What does it take for everyday people to shift an election?

We traveled to Launceston Tasmania to learn how GetUp worked with locals here to shift the last Australian Federal Election in 2016. There have been many accusations about how GetUp “removed” a sitting MP Andrew Nikolic, one of the more conservative members of Government. GetUp treats such accusations as applause, as they were very upfront about their strategy to remove so-called “blockers” of progressive policy months before the election began. But what is little known in the public discussion is…

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“Tactics for Mobilisers”: Amanda Tattersall reviews the book “Rules for Revolutionaries”

“Tactics for Mobilisers”: Amanda Tattersall reviews the book “Rules for Revolutionaries”

You have probably heard of Rules for Radicals, an old but still living set of strategies designed for changing the world, written by the grandfather of community organising – Saul Alinsky. It is that book, or at least its title, that inspired Becky Bond and Zack Exley to write Rules for Revolutionaries following their whirlwind experience working on the Bernie Sanders US Primary Campaign in 2016. The book is a fast past narrative of that campaign. It is an insiders…

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Breaking bad laws is how good laws get made

Breaking bad laws is how good laws get made

By Amanda Tattersall The new head of the Australian Union Movement, Sally McManus, came under a fair bit of flak last week after she declared on her first day in the job that she didn’t have a problem breaking bad laws. The thing is – her comments are exactly the sort of leadership that Australia needs right now. And they reflect an understanding of how democracies negotiate social change. The reflex action of politicians from both sides of politics to…

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Research Internship – Changemakers

Research Internship – Changemakers

Are you passionate about social change? Do you like the idea of writing up non-fiction stories and want to be better at it? Do you like journalistic research and want a chance to broadcast it?   Then apply to join our team of research interns at the ChangeMakers   The ChangeMakers is a podcast series in development. When in production it will be the world’s first global podcast series telling stories from the field about social change. We delve into…

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What is ChangeMakers?

What is ChangeMakers?

There are 140 million people across the globe engaged in volunteer work or working for non-profits. These are the Change Makers. The Change Makers podcast is a weekly, 30 min globally focused series that tells the stories about what is working and not working in the world of social change. Each week, host Amanda Tattersall picks an issue or theme. The theme might be a wicked problem – like climate change or poverty – or a discrete social change strategy…

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