Introduction
Here are resources from the Reset Reading Group which was a bookclub set up by the Commons Library during the time of COVID lockdowns. This reading group was an opportunity to develop shared ideas and visions for a just future together. It ran from April – July 2020.
Everything is being Reset… How things unfold from here is up to us.
Each fortnight leading progressive thinkers shared materials for reflection, discussion, and potential action on key themes central to a just future. The program consisted of readings, films and podcasts draw from philosophers, political theorists, educators, agitators and artists as well as the collective wisdom of participants. The discussions focused on how we can build a better world, and what that better world would look like.
The readings from different curators are still available for you to read.
Reset Readings
Reset 1: First Nations Resistance & Climate Justice
Reset Reading Group resources for discussion curated and introduced by Karrina Nolan from Original Power. Includes Indigenous Principles for Just Transition, interviews, videos, podcasts, campaign links and prompts for discussions.
Reset 2: Disaster Capitalism & A People’s Response
Reset Reading Group resources for discussion curated and introduced by Alex Kelly. Includes Coronavirus Capitalism and the Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein as well as manifestos for climate justice and disaster recovery.
Reset 3: Revitalising Democracy
Reset Reading Group resources for the Revitalising Democracy theme introduced and curated by Tim Hollo. Includes Libertarian Municipalism and Murray Bookchin’s Legacy.
Reset Reading Group No. 4: A New Economy
Reset Reading Group resources for A New Economy theme introduced and curated by Godfrey Moase. Includes The Take, a documentary about worker controlled workplaces in Argentina.
Reset 5: Building Relationships & Power for Transformation
Reset Reading Group resources for the Building Relationships & Power for Transformation theme introduced and curated by Amanda Tattersall.
Reset 6: Centring Justice & Care
Reset Reading Group resources for the Centring Justice & Care theme introduced and curated by Roj Amedi.
About the Reset Team
The Reset Reading Group was initiated by Alex Kelly (artist and social impact producer) and developed in collaboration with Holly Hammond (Director of the Commons Social Change Library).
Explore Further
- The Purpose Of Power: How To Build Movements For The 21st Century, Alicia Garza, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter hashtag/movement. Here’s a short extract.
- Sins Invalid Podcast: This season explores the connections between climate justice and disability justice, including how disabled people are surviving and thriving during this time of climate chaos.
- There’s No Time Left Not To Do Everything, Tim Hollo. ‘In order to both turn around ecological collapse and generate the collective resilience that our societies need to survive and thrive in the decades ahead, we need to cultivate new democratic norms and institutions, based on the principles of ecology itself.’
- Humankind A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman. Here’s a 4 minute audio excerpt.
- The Things We Did Next – travel through time to a more just future with the recordings of Assemblies for the Future and Dispatches from the Future.
- Fathoms: the world in the whale, by Rebecca Giggs blends natural history, philosophy, and science to explore how the lives of whales might shed light on the condition of our seas.
Attribution CC BY