ChangeMakers

The midterm elections in the US have delivered the House of Representatives to the Democrats. And, across State races, there has been a decided shift left. The results aren’t perfect – the Senate remains in Republican hands. But it’s a landslide 9% nationwide swing against Trump and what he stands for. Why did this happen? You won’t hear the truth from conventional sources. The Democrat party representatives will give you the line that it was because Trump is so unpopular. The…

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Who knew that TV could teach you how to change the world! But then again it’s not every day that a police comedy takes on police racism. Embedded in Brooklyn Nine Nine’s approach to sitcom writing are a few lessons about how we can successfully communicate important, difficult issues to a wider audience. Get the team right First step in any communication strategy is – who is doing the talking! For Brooklyn Nine Nine, it was all about who was…

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The refugee debate has dramatically shifted in Australia – it is possible that the camps might be cleared on Nauru and Manus Island. We might actually see the concentration camps that Australia runs – closed. What has made this happen? 1. The refugee movement never gave up This is no quick, fast battle. The movement exploded in 2001 in response to the so called “Tampa Crisis.” There were big rallies, over the following ten years there was some movement inside…

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With Scott Morrison careering from one disaster to the next, it’s hard to remember when the games that pass for politics in Canberra were last done well, or at least competently. When I co-founded GetUp! back in 2005, the big issues were: refugees, instability in the Middle East and climate change. For all of GetUp’s success at annoying the far right of the Liberal Party, not a lot has changed on the big issues. Australia feels a bit stuck. So,…

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Episode 1: Brooklyn 99 What can we learn when a Hollywood TV show gets into ChangeMaking? Comedy show Brooklyn 99 took on police racism. How did they do it in a way that people didn’t turn off? Listen to the episode on Podcast One, Stitcher or Apple iTunes (or click the episode link to stream here). Episode 2: Umbrella Movement In 2014 Hong Kong hundreds of thousands of citizens staged a mass street occupation demanding the vote. Why did it happen?…

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