Tag Archives | activist
Is Clicktivism Ruining Left Activism

Is “Clicktivism” ruining left activism?

Micah White (no relation) in The Guardian has a provocative article that makes the case that online activism (“clicktivism” or “slacktivism”) is ruining left-wing activism because of an obsession with “opens, clicks, actions, sign-ups, unsubscribes, bounces and referrals”. Gone is faith in the power of ideas, or the poetry of deeds, to enact social change. [...]

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The Murray Darling Basin Plan

The debate around the Murray Darling Basin Plan is deeply disappointing, not least the political debate, which is characterised by opportunism and meekness respectively. It doesn’t help that the Basin has been a political football for decades, most recently in 2007 when Howard tried to use the Basin to buttress his non-existent environmental credentials through [...]

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Engaging the progressive grass-roots in the UK

The UK Labour Party have been widely decried as being on their last legs, out of ideas, dead ducks, etc. However, behind the scenes, a growing movement of vibrant progressives is building and organising. Much of it is being supported and encouraged by the Labour Party. This rise of progressive online political action also coincides [...]

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Five effective political lobbying tools for unions

Unions and union members are the largest voluntary associations in Australia, representing millions of workers in tens of thousands of work places. Legislation can have a profound impact on the rights and entitlements of working people, such as changes to occupational health and safety, tax, industrial relations, and trade and industry policy. It is therefore [...]

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The problem of crowd-sourcing campaigns

I’ve written previously about a very successful grassroots campaign – Save VCA – and how it brought together a diverse group of people. A key element to the success of this campaign has been its coordination at an early stage. There is a very interesting discussion about the No Clean Feed movement by Mark over [...]

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Explaining cap and trade

Explaining cap and trade

An interesting little video from the creators of the Story of Stuff, this has an explanation of how “cap and trade” (emissions trading) works, and the major pitfalls with the system. Unfortunately, the video is one of those preachy, moralising videos that is full of criticisms but no solutions. The closest it comes is proposing [...]

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LabourStart Photo Competition

LabourStart Photo Competition

For all you inspired unionists out there, I strongly encourage you to enter the LabourStart Photo Competition. It’s a great initiative, and there are already some really good photos that have been submitted. This year I entered the photo you see here. It’s a picture I took in December 2008 of a protest out the [...]

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Online social activism and Twitter

A large part of my job is online communications: blogs, social networking, and new fads like Twitter. A big challenge is how to use these tools in a meaningful way to support the campaigning and organising activities of the union. How can we engage our members and supporters using the social networking tools they are [...]

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