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.
Tag
Organising
Books to Read if you are Interested in Activism, Social Change and Justice
A comprehensive and broad range of books to read if you are Interested in activism, campaigning, organising, social change and justice.
Organising: Start Here
Organising builds people power for change. Here is a list of resources to get you started including introductions, different approaches, manuals, tactics, videos and more.
How to Win by Thinking like Your Opponent: Lessons from 350 Australia’s Campaign Against the Galilee Basin
This story illustrates 350 Australia’s strategic decision-making process as they took on the largest coal export facility project in the world, showcasing their ability to think like their opponent and strategically target banks, ultimately selecting the Commonwealth as their primary focus for maximum impact.
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.
Authentic Relational Conversations: Reaching Across Difference to Build a Pro-Democracy Movement
Reaching across difference using authentic relational conversations and organising to build a pro-democracy movement in the United States.
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.
New to Activism, Organising and Campaigning? Start Here!
A collection of resources by The Commons Social Change Library to help you learn all about activism, organising and campaigning.
A Community Guide for Opposing Hate
The manual provides step by step actions for those who want to do something about hate, not only for the immediate aftermath of a hateful act, but for years to come to improve their community.
Direct Action to Voter Registration: Case Study
Timeline case study of direct action to voter registration follows the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee SNCC (US) from 1960 – 1962.
Hold the Line: A Guide to Defending Democracy
Learn what “red lines” needed to be held during the election, step-by-step information for organizing in your community, and lessons from the field of civil resistance that can be applied to make change on a range of issues.
Climate Impacts: 350 Organising Lessons from Australia, US, Pacific Islands, and UK
These lessons from 350.org share four different organising responses from different countries to climate impacts.
Food Activists and Street Kitchens: Cooking Revolutions in the Popular Pot
Virginia Tognola chronicles how practical solidarity in the form of street kitchens and the “popular pot” has not only enabled migrants and others in Argentina to survive but also raise issues and campaign against sub-standard living conditions.
Labor Power and Strategy: How to Read Womack
The 2023 book Labour Power and Strategy, edited by Peter Olney and Glenn Perušek, is centred around a lengthy interview with labour organiser and historian John Womack Jr in which he argues for the importance of ‘strategic workplace organising’
Easy Read Guides for Social Change
Easy Read Guides to learn about the commons library, social change, campaigning, organising, story and stories of campaigns and people.
Approaches to Organising: Decentralised, Directed Network and Strike Circles Models
An exploration of different organising models being utilised in Australia/NZ: Decentralised organising, Directed network and Strike Circles.
Approaches to Organising: The Ganz Model
Challenges and considerations faced by organisations in implementing the Ganz model of social change – Marshall Ganz organising model.
How Democratic States Can Effectively Support Pro-Democracy Movements
A curated and comprehensive list of tools for democracies and their representatives to conduct an effective assistance program to nonviolent pro-democracy movements.
Why a Coaching Approach is Better than Command and Control
Sophia Zaia, a consultant for Powerlabs, shares her key takeaways about using a coaching approach when working with volunteers for the Sunrise Movement’s distributed voter contact program.
Leaderful Organizing
The Leaderful Organizing Toolkit is a comprehensive resource that offers practical guidance, tools, and examples for fostering leadership and collective action within organizations and movements.