Art and Campaigning: Lessons about the Effective Use of Art in Campaigns
Lessons about the effective use of art in campaigns from three activist artists: Tom Civil, Arlene TextaQueen and Van Thanh Rudd.
Collection
Plan to Win
Plan to Win assists individuals, groups and campaigns to develop the skills and clarity required to win change in the world.
Plan to Win only works for social movements, offering training, facilitation, mentoring, and customised consultancy services.
The PTW collection includes articles, book reviews, tips and reports from Melbourne Campaigners’ Network sessions.
Facilitation at Occupy Melbourne
Insights about facilitation from the very challenging General Assembly process at Occupy Melbourne. This article will be of interest to facilitators and others learning about group process, as well as people keen to find out about the Occupy movement. These reflections were written two weeks after Occupy Melbourne kicked off in October 2011.
Tips for New Activists
What it takes for people to get active, what leads to people dropping out of activism, & what we should think about when engaging new activists.
Book review of Amanda Tattersall’s Power in Coalition: Strategies for Strong Unions and Social Change
Denisse Sandoval shares insights from Amanda Tattersall’s book Power in Coalition: Strategies for Strong Unions and Social Change. We may have seen token coalitions with simple community support in the form of logos on letter heads, but how do we build real power to live out the values of the organisations involved in alliances?
The Radical History of Unemployed Activism
Insights from the history of unemployed activism. Includes an overview of the history of Australia’s welfare system and stories from the 1920s, 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s – plus creative, humorous and confrontational tactics.
Checklist for a great facilitator
Facilitators help a group to get where it needs to go, whether the focus of a gathering is information sharing, discussion, generating creative options, making decisions, team building or planning for action. Here are some tips and tricks for facilitation, to help you get the most out of your next meeting.
Tips for phonebanking or calling volunteers
Whether you are looking to recruit members or talking to voters in far-flung electorates, these are some basic guidelines for getting the most out of phone conversations.
Strategic Media Engagement
The media can be a powerful mode of communication which can have a big impact on the success or failure of our initiatives. But how do we ensure our communications are strategic and don’t just end up being more noise?
Celebration is an Activist Skill
Activists are often so focused on problems – it’s important to take in wins, whether big or small, to sustain us through the struggle. This article includes reminders of what we can celebrate, how, and why it is so important.
No Shortcuts Organising for Power in the Gilded Age: Book Review
Joel Dignam reviews Jane McAlevey’s No Shortcuts: Organising for Power in the Gilded Age. McAlevey outlines a critique of most contemporary union campaigning, using case studies and other analysis to argue for a deeper more rigorous approach to organising.
Strategy & Soul Insights
Anita Tang reflects on meeting Daniel Hunter and reading his book Strategy and Soul. She shares insights from his work which can contribute to strategic and soulful campaigning.
Better Activist Meetings
Here are some simple tips for getting the most out of meetings, relevant to collectives, committees and action groups.
Community Organising Basics
Community organising is a term that is being used more and more in Australian social movements – but what does it really mean? Here’s a brief introduction to some of the key principles.