How to Contact Australian Members of Parliament
Need to know how to contact Australian Senators and Members of Parliament? Here are contact lists and even some handy mailing labels.
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Looking for articles, books, case studies, tips about social change and activism? You’ve found the right place – The Commons Social Change Library.
Becoming Allies: Reaching across the Divide
Allies work is key to building strong and diverse groups and social movements. An ally is someone outside an oppressed group or identity, who commits to standing alongside those people.
Decolonizing Solidarity: Dilemmas and Directions for Supporters of Indigenous Struggles – Bookclub
Decolonizing Solidarity is a book by Clare Land which offers directions (and knotty dilemmas) to people seeking to support Indigenous Struggles. This article includes suggested guidelines for book clubs discussing Decolonizing Solidarity which are also beneficial for other groups doing anti-oppression and ally work.
Police Brutality and Activist Trauma Support
A guide to help activists understand and improve trauma support and recovery after police brutality.
When Planning a Coalition, think of a RAINBOW
The RAINBOW framework draws on Amanda Tattersall’s extensive research and experience around building coalitions. Successful coalitions are built on strong relationships and clarity of purpose.
Community Organising Aims to Win Back Civil Society’s Rightful Place
Community organising is a way of working that trains and builds citizen leaders inside community-based organisations. We need to build strong and vibrant civil society organisations that act for the common good.
Union and Community Coalitions: Stronger Together
This article outlines some of the key elements of successful coalitions. Coalitions can vary, from ad hoc relationships to deeper, long-term, formal coalitions. Coalitions differ according to their common concern, structure, organisational commitment, capacity and culture.
‘Tactics for Mobilisers’ A Review of Rules for Revolutionaries
Amanda Tattersall cautions campaigners, organisers and activists to not take Bond & Exley’s rules” as gospel. While the book puts forward valuable insights into the Bernie Sanders campaign the focus is tactics and mobilisation rather than deep organising.
So, what is community organising?
Community organising is a way of building people power that focuses on building the capacity, skills and leadership of the people involved in making change. This article explains community organising and its history.
Defending Democracy and Human Rights
Gillian Triggs, the now Former President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, launched the Defending Democracy report at Progress 2017. She argued that advocacy is fundamental to our society but under threat with it increasingly difficult for people to speak up when they disagree.
Three open source tech tools for your campaigning
The right tech tools can make a huge difference to the effectiveness of a campaign or organising project. Check out Tijuana (campaign CRM), Neighbourly (doorknocking walk-list tool) and Spoke (p2p text tool).
Always look on the bright side of life: The AIDEX ’91 story
In 1991 over 1000 protesters blockaded the National Exhibition Centre in Canberra with the goal of shutting down the Australia International Defence Exhibition. This book includes a detailed account of the blockade, the context of the growth of the Australian arms industry, and the words of the protesters themselves.
Critical Path Analysis Process Guide
A process guide to be used in training workshops and planning sessions to develop campaign strategy. Critical path analysis can shift focus to outcomes rather than tactics and provide experience and skill in defining clear objectives. The process also deepens understanding about how change happens and clarifies key threads running through a campaign.
Strategic Questioning Manual: A Powerful Tool for Personal and Social Change
Strategic questioning is a powerful tool for social change which helps people discover their own strategies and ideas for change.
Being Purpose Driven
Nothing precedes purpose. The starting point for every organisation or movement should be the question ‘Why do we exist’? A number of tips for focusing an organisation on vision and purpose. An excerpt from Purpose Driven Campaigning, based on Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Church.
Levels of Commitment from Community to Core
Rick Warren focuses on five ‘circles of commitment’ – community, crowd, congregation, committed and core, and argue that it’s important to recognise where your supporters fall in these categories, and develop processes to move them from the outside in. An excerpt from Purpose Driven Campaigning.
Time to Move the Rock: Activating Social Values to Bring About Change
Learn about Daniel Hunter’s metaphor of moving the rock to bring about social change through activating people’s social values.
Training as Organising: Events that Build Campaign Engagement
Tips for training or other events which connect people to a campaign and help individuals overcome their barriers to action. As organisers we can use the momentum of the group to leverage people to action – like a turbo-charged persuasive conversation.
Green Bans
In the 1970s Sydney builders labourers refused to work on projects that were environmentally or socially undesirable. This green bans movement, as it became known, was the first of its type in the world.
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy was established in 1972 when the Coalition Government failed to recognise the land rights of Indigenous people. From its inception, the Embassy has been interwoven into Canberra’s physical and political landscape, blending black politics, symbolism and theatre that opponents have found difficult to counter.