Commons Conversations Podcast

In this episode environmental justice activist Radhika Jhaveri is interviewed by Kenzie (Mackenzie) Harris, the principal coordinator for the Global Grassroots Support Network (GGSN). Radhika is the the GGSN coordinator for India, a member of the youth based collective "Let India Breathe", and the founder of Pantrynook- a zerowaste (plastic free) food packaging company. In the interview she discusses how the campaign to protect Aarey, a forest within the suburbs of Mumbai, brought together a coalition of urban and Indigenous communities from the mid to late 2010s. In doing so she describes how this gave rise to new ways of campaigning in India, as well as how it revealed the advantages and pitfalls involved with broad coalitions. Amongst other topics the interview also explores the importance of long term visions within social change work and ways in which current campaigns supporting Palestine are providing a lead for global solidarity more generally.

Aoife Carli-Hannan, engagement officer with the Commons Library, chats with Ned Howey, the co-founder of Tectonica, a movement building agency whose stated mission is “to create a seismic shift in the way politics are done, through innovations that empower social, economic, and environmental justice movements.” Alongside directly helping organizations, political parties, and unions with an array of strategic, creative and technological services the agency also created and facilitates the Tectonica Organising Network (TON). In this conversation Aoife and Ned focus on the democratic dilemmas, opportunities and challenges associated with new generative AI technologies. They discuss the potential of these tools to deepen existing biases and power imbalances but also the possibilities they create for fostering practices that can connect people to social change movements and transform our societies for the better.

This episode features a conversation between Emily Wood Trounce and Alice Hardinge, the acting Tasmanian campaign manager for the Wilderness Society. In it they explore the practice and value of citizen science and big tree hunting in locating and identifying threatened species. They discuss how this results in a number of valuable outcomes, including allowing conservationists to enforce existing rules regarding clearfelling while also supporting campaigns to fully end the logging of old growth forests. 

Aoife Carli-Hannan, engagement officer with the Commons Library, chats with Hannah O’Rourke, co-founder of the UK based Campaign Lab and a trainer with Social Movement Technologies. They discuss the role AI technologies can play in supporting campaigners with messaging, outreach and other opportunities. They also canvas issues in regards to ethics and regulation, and ways in which activists can shape the use of technology as well as overcome its barriers and limitations.

In this conversation community radio broadcaster Mike Tucak interviews Jess Beckerling, campaign director of the WA Forest Alliance about her decades of experience in supporting coalition work and mobilising communities. They discuss lessons drawn from the successful campaign to end the logging of Western Australian forests, many of which can be applied to other issues.

A conversation between Te Raukura O’Connell Rapira and Laniyuk. They discuss a range of topics including the power of Indigenous solidarity, love of land, resistance to rainbow capitalism, and the role of creativity and emotion in achieving story sovereignty and social justice.Te Raukura O’Connell Rapira is the Director of The Pod: Centre for Healing Justice and is from Te Ātiawa, Ngāruahine, Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Whakaue and Country Kerry in Ireland. Laniyuk is a Larrakia, Kungarakan, Gurindji, and French writer, visual artist and performer of poetry, speculative fiction and short memoir.

Hear a conversation between Sophie Hartley, climate activism researcher with the Commons Library, and Professor Winnifred Louis, director of the Social Change Lab at the University of Queensland.Winnifred is a social psychologist whose research interests focus on the influence of identity and norms on social decision-making in contexts ranging from political activism to peace psychology to health and the environment. In this conversation she discusses findings regarding the impact of movement actions and activities along different timescales and with differing audiences as well as principles that can help campaigns to be more effective and durable.

A conversation between Holly Hammond, Director of the Commons Library, and Rochelle Porteous, the Advocacy Manager at the Council for Intellectual Disability. Rochelle discusses some key wins and the insights she has drawn from a rich history of campaigning.