tCA news - september 2008

what's on top

The Change Agency's commitment to building and supporting the climate movement has been a key focus of our recent work.

We'll soon be launching two new tCA reports. "Building the Climate Movement Online" documents the findings from the latest stage in our ongoing Climate Movement Building action research project. In partnership with Friends of the Earth Australia, we interviewed and surveyed 200 climate change activists to hear their experiences, insights and recommended strategies to use the Internet to build a powerful people's movement. We've included a sneak peak at what emerged - see the article below.

The second report is 'Education, training and support priorities to build the climate movement'. For this part of the project we collaborated with Greenpeace Australia Pacific. Both reports will be available for downloading from our climate action page from Monday September 22.

In the last month we also convened a gathering of 30 diverse climate activists in Perth focused on building the movement. The workshop including 'cutting the issues'; campaign updates; report-back from WA participants in the Camp for Climate Action; and exploration of the Movement Action Plan roles and stages of social movements. Thanks to everyone who made this such a great day.

In coming weeks, we'll be co-convening forums with Friends of the Earth in Sydney (29/9), Brisbane (8/10) and Melbourne (16/10) to present and discuss the reports' findings. Check out our online calendar for details of the forums. We hope to see you there!

critical pedagogy conference

On November 27-28, we'll be participating in the Critical pedagogy and participatory learning for social transformation conference at Monash University in Melbourne. The conference organisers have created a blog for discussing of popular and transformative education ideas and practices. Whether or not you're able to join us in Melbourne, we'd encourage folks to be part of this online discussion.

mobilising for change

We’ve been having a blast developing and running our new workshop focused on mobilising grassroots community action. It seems like participants in the workshops are getting a lot out of it too – here’s some of what folks at our Auckland workshop appreciated most:

	Key organising principles I can apply, develop further and incorporate into my work.
	Excellent interactive facilitation.
	Exceptionally good, relevant and wise resources.
	It s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d my understanding of the craft of community organising.

Come and see for yourself! If you're based in Hobart or Melbourne, we'll be facilitating two-day Mobilising for Change workshops in your neighbourhood in October. Places are limited. Follow the links below to our online calendar for full details.

great online resources

We were pleased, this month, to add two new papers by Tracey Hollis to our articles page. Tracey's research provides a very useful grounding in radical and transformative adult education.

	The accidental activist: activism, community and social change (80K PDF) - Tracey Ollis researched how adult activists learn to become more expert at what they do through socialisation in a ‘community of practice’. This article focuses on 'emancipatory learning, radical adult education, popular education and the differences and similarities between ‘circumstantial activists’ and ‘lifelong activists’. This paper was presented to the Community Development and Ecology conference in Melbourne 26-28 March 2008.
	The ‘circumstantial’ activist: holistic practice, learning and social activism (48K PDF) - Tracey Ollis has researched the 'social learning' of social and political activists. She argues that activists’ learning is holistic and embodied. Activists learn through cognition, emotions and the physical body. This paper was presented to the SUCTREA conference in Edinburgh, July 2008.
	Agreeing to disagree - Gemma Edgar's new report 'Agreeing to Disagree: Maintaining dissent in the NGO sector' can be downloaded from the Australia Institute's website. Australia's Rudd Government has committed to developing a compact with NGOS. Gemma concludes that a compact is no substitute for a strong community base to ensure political legitimacy.
	In their own words: insider knowledge from people who have experienced homelessness - A powerful dvd and website that records the narratives (stories, opinions, experiences, views) of people who have experienced homelessness.

upcoming learning opportunities

Our online calendar has details of workshops, conferences and other learning opportunities between now and the end of the year. Please let us know about events coming up in your neck of the woods.

articles

		Activist Internships: what do you think? One of the things we like doing at tCA is cooking up innovative ways to change to world. Here’s an idea that has been bouncing around that we would...
		Building the Climate Movement Online Here’s a sneak peak at part of our soon to be released report ‘Building the Climate Movement Online’. Many thanks to all of the participants in our...
		Liberation Book Club: Becoming Allies When I kicked off the Liberation Book Club back in May I posed the question: What would it take to have activist groups and social change...
		Book review: Gandhi and beyond "In many ways the book is a bit like a fireside chat between student and teacher/activist: warm, engaging, thoughtful and highly readable,...

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