Articles

Black and white photo of a large group of women suffragists. There is a prominent woman with a hat and a sash sitting in front of a large banner. The banner reads 'National Union And Womens Suffrage Societies. President Mrs Fawcett, Law abiding Suffragist.' Text at the bottom of the photo reads 'Millicent Fawcett, Hyde Park, July 1913.' There are trees in the background.

Essential Elements for Turning a Cause into a Movement: Lessons from the Suffrage Struggle for Today’s Activists

3 essential elements activists today can learn from the women’s suffrage movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Campaigns that Changed Tasmania

A collection of campaigns that changed Tasmania e.g. Franklin River, gay law reform, forest blockading, No Gas Across the Bass.

Campaigns that Changed South Australia

A collection of campaigns that changed South Australia. e.g. women’s suffrage; uranium testing, mining and dumping; Fight for the Bight.

Campaigns that Changed the Northern Territory

A collection of campaigns that changed the Northern Territory. e.g. Wave Hill Walk Off, Jabiluka, Pine Gap & Anti-Fracking.

Campaigns that Changed Western Australia

A collection of campaigns that changed Western Australia. e.g. James Price Point, Ningaloo, whaling, forest and other people and places.

Quote reads "It always seems impossible until it's done." Illustration of Nelson Mandela smiling. Illustration is in vibrant colours.

What is a Social Movement? Social Movement Definitions

The word ‘movement’ gets used a lot but it isn’t always clear what is meant by it. We’ve collected a number of definitions from academics and other social change theorists.

A wall in Bethlehem, Palestine with a painting of a woman wearing a black head covering. On her shoulder is a butterfly, a red flower and a heart. The text in the right hand corner reads 'A just peace for Palestine, means peace for Israel too.'

3 Key Insights for Building a Powerful and Loving Movement against Oppression in Palestine-Israel

Rae Abileah and Nadine Bloch from Beautiful Trouble shared these key insights during Israel’s bombing of Gaza in October 2023.

A large crowd of people standing in front of and on the Berlin Wall with the Brandenberg Gate in the background.

From the Berlin Wall to Today — Lessons for Harnessing the Moment of the Whirlwind

What mainstream commentators get wrong about the historic uprisings of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and what civil resistance gets right.

Cover of Knocking The Top Off: A People's History of Alcohol in Australia

Jean Young, Kath Williams and the Fight for Equal Pay

Read an excerpt from the book Knocking The Top Off: A People’s History of Alcohol in Australia about the fight for equal pay.

3 purple arrows of various shades going in a circle to the right. They represent the Delegation Cycle. Text reads '1. Agree on expections. 2. Stay engaged. 3. Create accountability and learning. 4. Adapt to fit the context.'

Managing to Change the World: The Delegation Cycle

Learn how to management & delegate better with the Delegation Cycle from Alison Green’s and Jerry Hauser’s book Managing to Change the World.

Movement Lesson: How Do We Build Movements that Welcome People?

Learn from research and Joe Solomon’s personal experience with his brother’s transformation on how to bring people into your movement.

How to Win by Thinking like Your Opponent: Lessons from 350 Australia’s Campaign Against the Galilee Basin

This story illustrates 350.org Australia’s strategic decision-making process as they took on the largest coal export facility project in the world.

How Healthy Campaigns Respond in the Face of Bad News

Examples – from 350.org and beyond – about ways people handled campaign losses in healthy, soul-giving, and strategic ways.

How Collective Action Communication Frames are used to Drive Action on Climate Justice

Insights into how Australian environmental groups use collective action frames in their communication on climate justice.

Bar graph with yellow bars. Figure 1: Most common understandings of climate justice shown as a percentage of all mentions found in Australian environmental group communication.

Climate Justice: What does it mean?

Many environmental and social change groups call for climate justice, but what does ‘climate justice’ actually mean?

Activist Digital Security Practices

This Knowledge Roundup about digital security practices for activists is from the Global Grassroots Support Network (GGSN).

global support grassroots network GGSN members on a video group call. Their faces are covered with smiley faces and smiley flowers to anonymize them for digital security reasons.

Supporting Grassroots Justice-oriented Activists Around the World: A Year’s Worth of Learnings

Grassroots activism often lacks funding & support but the Global Grassroots Support Network (GGSN) has brought together organizers to tackle common challenges and share resources.

Text over image reads Organising a civil disobedience so that new people want to do it again: Lessons from Ende Gelande. Four people are sitting on the ground in white workers suits.

Organising Civil Disobedience for Newcomers

350.org shares valuable lessons on organizing civil disobedience for newcomers, emphasizing trust-building, narrative development, preparation for repression, affinity groups, and post-action debriefing.

Creative Activism: Start Here

Suggestions from the Commons Librarians about resources to explore in the Arts & Creativity topic area – to help you bring more art and heart to your social change activities.

Organizing against the Far Right

This Knowledge Roundup about organizing against the far right is from the Global Grassroots Support Network (GGSN).

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