tCA news - march 2009

what's on top

February flew by. Since the Australian Climate Action Summit, which had been our focus since late 2008, we've been working on some longer term projects. Feedback from several enews subscribers helped shape how we plan to approach the next phase of our climate action research project. Working with Friends of the Earth Australia, we've developed a proposal to explore the processes that radicalise and mobilise emerging climate action groups. Email us for details.

We've also been busily strategising with inspiring community organisers in Victoria and Alice Springs. Pru and James had the privilege to work closely with the campaigns to restore the Racial Discrimination Act in the Northern Territory and to prevent uranium mining south of Alice Springs. People found 'cutting the issue' an especially useful tool to focus on issues that are immediate and winnable in their communities. Critical path analysis, power mapping and forcefield analysis also generated some useful insights and concrete plans.

March will see the tCA team facilitating the Climate Action Network of Australia's annual conference and a strategic review with traditional owners in South East Queensland, then getting down to the serious business when we meet on Stradbroke Island for our twice-annual collective meeting. Our discussions will focus on the Activist Education workshop series coming up in September.

What's new on www.thechangeagency.org

tCA's Strategising for Change resources have been put to the test recently, through our work with the Climate Summit and our SfC workshop in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). To illustrate how the various elements of campaign strategy fit together, we've developed a new campaign strategy chart... that identifies elements of strategy and our favourite processes for developing them.

We're also sharing a tool James developed for the maintenance of our own geographically dispersed collective - I want you to know, I need you to hear... otherwise known as the Vulcan mind-meld! Try it with your own group.

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.

climate support network

Support activities for climate activists are popping up around the country. Let us know if you have events to add, or if you would like to discuss options for getting something started in your town.

Check out these opportunities for sustenance as well as the article below - and the full collection of events and resources on the climate support network page.

Despair & Empowerment Workshop - This one-day Despair and Empowerment workshop presents a series of transformative processes that move one from apathy to compassion, from fear to creative energy, and from alienation to connectedness.

great online resources

	Open Source Solution for the Civic Sector (CiviCRM) - Open source and freely downloadable constituent relationship management solution. CiviCRM is designed to meet the needs of advocacy and non-profit groups. Integration with both Drupal and Joomla! content management systems gives you the tools to connect, communicate and activate your supporters and constituents.
	The Organizers database - Does your nonprofit need to manage contacts and contributions without making a huge investment of money or time? Organizers Database (ODB) costs nothing to download, runs on any Windows computer, and is easy to learn.
	Movement / media research action project - MRAP's mission is to strengthen progressive social movements working toward social justice and inclusive, participatory democracy. We focus on the interface of movements and media in particular, working with under-represented and misrepresented communities.
	War Resisters' International Handbook for Nonviolent Campaigns - WRI produced this Handbook, drawing on the experiences of groups in many countries and different generations of activists. The Handbook combines texts introducing certain themes, experiences, and group exercises.
	Disunite There: The Story of UNITE HERE - UNITE HERE was the merger of two powerful US labor unions - which is now splitting apart. This (long) article is an interesting case study of complementary organisations working together to create impressive outcomes for workers - yet undermined by different structures and organising models.

articles

		climate action During the last 12 months, the climate movement in Australia and internationally has grown and shifted in some inspiring ways. Next month,...
		activists vs organisers This month, one subscriber responded to the notice of Saul Alinsky's birthday in the February enews by sending us a link (below) to Al Giordana's...
		sustaining activism This year we’ll be sharing resources related to activist self-care and sustenance in each edition of the enews. This...

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