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Making Messages Matter: Media Training Masterclass

 — Organisation: The Commons Social Change Library — 

Introduction

Alex Kelly and Jinghua Qian from the Economic Media centre share insights into the media landscape in Australia and the unique challenges this poses to movements working for economic and social justice, as well as practical tips and planning tools for engaging media.

This workshop was presented at FWD+Organise 2024, a conference hosted by Australian Progress in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.

The State of Media in Australia: Challenges, Strategies, and Opportunities

Australia’s media landscape is undergoing significant changes, marked by a shrinking workforce and growing concentration of power.

Over the past 15 years, journalism jobs have halved, leaving fewer, less-specialised journalists covering more beats with less time. This, coupled with a lack of departmental fact-checking and editors, makes effective communication from spokespeople and organisations more crucial than ever.

Views from the Street in DC

 — Publication: Assigned Media — 
 

Assigned Media’s street photographer shares some of her best photos from outside of the Supreme Court before and during oral arguments at U. S. vs Skrmetti on December 4, 2024.

by Piper Bly

 Valorie Van-Dieman and Evan Urquhart of the Assigned Media team arrive at the Capitol.

Valorie Van-Dieman and Evan Urquhart of the Assigned Media team arrive at the Capitol.

Enduring the Trauma of Genocide (w/ Gabor Maté) | The Chris Hedges Report

 — Author: Chris Hedges — 

This interview is also available on podcast platforms and Rumble.

While the trauma that Palestinians continue to face in Gaza is sustained, brutal and seemingly never-ending, the universal susceptibility to trauma unites humanity as much as it divides the self. Dr. Gabor Maté, renowned physician and expert in trauma and childhood development, illustrates this point articulately on the latest episode of The Chris Hedges Report through attempting to make sense of the psychology, trauma and reason behind the actions of Palestinians, IDF soldiers, WWII survivors, Nazis and even himself.

Changing Our Places (and Ourselves) One Step at a Time

 — Organisation: Strong Towns — 

TWIBS: Congress Still Flipping Trans Troops Two Birds

 — Publication: Assigned Media — 
 

Have you ever wondered, “Why doesn’t congress do anything to help me?” Well keep wondering, baby, they’re about to ruin thousands of lives!

Localisation of Pharma Manufacturing in South Africa: a Strategy for the Common Good?

 — Organisation: UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) — 
Source: World Health Organization (WHO)

By Lorenza Monaco

In the past few decades, the global pharmaceutical industry has seen a strong concentration of R&D and innovation centres in the Global North, and a progressive shift of generic drugs manufacturing towards low-cost developing regions. At the same time, there’s been the emergence of a few ‘excellence centres’, like Puerto Rico and Singapore, and the consolidation of giant hubs like India. Within this global scenario, South Africa was chosen to lead the WHO-sponsored mRNA Vaccine Technology Transfer Programme, a promising and innovative collaboration that may work as a pilot to boost pharma manufacturing in the Global South and facilitate access to vaccines. An example to follow, and to possibly extend?

American Statesman

 — Organisation: The Claremont Institute — 

In light of the commanding victory by Donald Trump and J.D. Vance in November’s election, conservatives are optimistic about the prospects for restoring American greatness. While I share this hope, it’s important to understand the true state of the regime and the character required to heal our nation’s wounds and unite the country around a shared political vision.

The American regime is ill, and everyone feels it. Yet few can agree on the diagnosis and fewer still on the cure. On the Right, some blame the alien germ of European progressivism that captured the imaginations of John Dewey and Woodrow Wilson, others Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, or the Supreme Court’s Engle v. Vitale decision banning school prayer—the list could go on. There’s some truth to all these narratives, but they elide more fundamental realities.

Exploring Capabilities in Finnish City Governance: Lessons for the Public Sector Capabilities Index

 — Organisation: UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) — 
Source: Alexandr Bormotin on Unsplash

By Ruth Puttick and Fernando Monge

Cities’ capabilities don’t exist in isolation. To truly understand what enables cities to tackle complex challenges, we must consider the broader context in which they operate. Our recent research in Finland highlights the importance of these factors, revealing how cities leverage not just their internal strengths but also the support of national institutions, private foundations, and global initiatives.

Studying the Finish Country Context

Over the past six months, we conducted 28 in-depth interviews with officials from Finnish city, regional, and national governments, as well as urban experts from philanthropy, academia, and the private sector. While our full findings will be detailed in an upcoming report, here we share some key takeaways.

DeepMMT 2 Inflation Forecast: Hot then Drop

 — Organisation: Applied MMT — 
DeepMMT 2 Inflation Forecast: Hot then Drop

CPI for October came in at 2.6% today, inline with forecasts but persistent inflation remains a key narrative as we finish out the year. Today's 2.6% print aligns closely with projections from our DeepMMT 2 model (more to come on DeepMMT 2 soon) and we anticipate elevated CPI readings through November and December, with modest reductions expected to emerge in early 2025.

DeepMMT 2 Inflation Forecast: Hot then Drop


The Fed’s recent rate cut on November 7 has been incorporated into the model. After a two-day meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee noted that “economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace.” The committee lowered the target rate range to 4.50% to 4.75%, as anticipated, with a unanimous decision.

Expectations of another 25-basis-point rate cut on December 18 have also been factored into our model. These projections, derived from the 30-Day Fed Funds futures, currently reflect a 63% probability of a target range of 4.24% to 4.50% for the upcoming decision.

Shedding Light on Uncertainty: Using Scenarios in Forecasting and Policy

 — Organisation: Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) — 
Speech by Sarah Hunter, Assistant Governor (Economic), University of Adelaide South Australian Centre for Economics Studies (SACES) Lunch.

Nuclear costings are a distraction

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — 

It comes just one day after the approval of a 50 year extension to Australia’s largest fossil gas export plant – Woodside’s North West Shelf facility.

“These are fake numbers so the major parties can have a fake fight about fake climate policies,” said Rod Campbell, Research Director at The Australia Institute.

“The modelling released includes zero discussion of nuclear waste or the costs of decommissioning nuclear generation.

“Nuclear energy is not suitable for Australia’s energy market because it is expensive to build, can’t turn up or down quickly and the obvious nuclear waste problems.

“These issues are why no energy companies want to build nuclear in Australia, and key customers like aluminium smelters don’t want nuclear to be built for them.

“This is all a distraction to prolong fossil fuel use and exports.

“Just yesterday, a 50 year extension to Woodside’s enormous gas export facility was approved but it is barely covered because political leaders would rather talk about reactors that will never be built.

“Australia needs to get on with the job of cleaning up our industries using technologies that work – renewable energy.”

The post Nuclear costings are a distraction appeared first on The Australia Institute.

Lee Lakeman and The Whoredom of the Left - Read by Eunice Wong

 — Author: Chris Hedges — 

This article is read by Eunice Wong, a Juilliard-trained actor, featured on Audible's list of Best Women Narrators. Her work is on the annual Best Audiobooks lists of the New York Times, Audible, AudioFile, & Library Journal. www.eunicewong.actor

Subscribe now

Text originally published Nov. 16, 2024

Organising Across Difference: Coalition Building to Win

 — Organisation: The Commons Social Change Library — 

Introduction

Sarah Durieux (France), Riley Rocco (Pew), Darcy Gunning (AMWU) and Lauren Farrow (Renew Australia for All) presented this panel session on building coalitions at FWD+Organise 2024.

In a world of polarisation, how do we create spaces of agreement to work together?

This panel discussion heard from four campaigners about how building strong coalitions have helped to help achieve big wins.

  • Sarah Durieux shared her experiences of building cross-sector collaborations during the recent elections in France.
  • Riley Rocco shared how a deep organising approach built relationships with unlikely allies to win a ban on fracking in Channel Country in Queensland’s Lake Eyre Basin.
  • Darcy Gunning talked about how a coalition of unions, employers and governments is helping to support a just transition in Collie, Western Australia.
  • Lauren Farrow shared tips from building a coalition for the Renew Australia for All campaign. 

In this article, we’ve captured some of the core tips on coalition building shared during the session.

Gas in the Northern Territory

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — 

The NT’s Great Give-Away

Gas exports worth $37 billion went out of Darwin over the last four years. $0 was paid to NT or Australian public, who owned most of this gas. The Commonwealth’s Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) raises $0 tax yearly from NT gas exporters, due to its widely acknowledged flaws.

All the gas exported from NT was given away for free as the Commonwealth Government did not charge royalties or PRRT on it. It’s time for the community interest to be put ahead of gas companies.

Territorians get virtually no revenue from gas. In fact, NT drivers pay 32 times more in vehicle registration than the gas industry pays in royalties.

Four things you need to know

1. The gas industry are ‘systemic non-payers of tax

The ATO has gone as far as describing the gas industry as “systemic nonpayers of tax“. Ordinary Australian workers including teachers, nurses and retail workers all pay more tax than the gas industry. Young Australians pay more in HECS than the oil and gas industry pays in PRRT.

WA Government greenlights Woodside gas export extension

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — 

The Western Australian government has approved a 46-year extension of Woodside’s vintage North West Shelf gas export terminal despite its disastrous impacts on the world’s climate, energy prices for WA households and businesses and the priceless Murujuga cultural heritage site.

Key impacts:

  • 4.3 billion tonnes of emissions, the equivalent of 24 coal power stations with equivalent annual emissions of WA’s largest coal power station, Muja.
  • Ongoing corrosion of the priceless petroglyphs at the World Heritage nominated Murujuga rock art site from acid gas emissions.
  • Drive up energy prices for Western Australian households and businesses.

Woodside’s North West Shelf exports more than twice the amount of gas used by Western Australians, and is increasingly turning to WA’s domestic gas reserves to feed it as its offshore fields run out, with serious consequences for WA’s gas supply and energy prices.

Recently published Australia Institute analysis shows Woodside’s exports of WA’s domestic gas reserves have already led to a tripling of wholesale gas and electricity prices, and the extension will lock in those increases for decades.

Rural Cosplay is, Unfortunately, A Thing

 — Publication: CityNerd — 

Why You Should Care About the Bus (Even if You Never Ride It)

 — Organisation: Strong Towns — 

This article was originally published, in slightly different form, on Strong Towns member Will Gardner’s Substack, StrongHaven. It is shared here with permission. Images were provided by the author.

In the UK, Trans Youth Left Out in the Cold by Labour Government

 — Publication: Assigned Media — 
 

Youth activists camped out at the office of Wes Streeting, the Labour MP who recently decided to make permanent a ban on puberty blockers outside of a state-sanctioned research study, denying any hope of evidence-based treatment to youth with gender dysphoria under the age of 16.

Impact Evaluation in Campaigns and Social Movements

 — Organisation: The Commons Social Change Library — 

Introduction

Sophie Hartley from the Commons Social Change Library presented this session on impact evaluation at FWD+Organise 2024.

​​As campaigners and organisers it can be challenging to show the direct links between the actions we take and structural changes in the world. How can we meaningfully measure our impact, and learn what’s working and what’s not so we can adjust our plans and resources accordingly?

In this session, Sophie Hartley, from the Movement Monitor research project at the Commons Library, shared tips on ensuring impact evaluation is built into your campaign and organising efforts from the design stage.

What is Impact Evaluation?

Impact evaluation lets us know how effective our campaigns, projects and organisations are. It allows us to observe and document changes in the world produced by our campaigns, projects and organisations.

Through your campaign or project you will engage in certain activities/tactics/strategies. Those activities will lead to particular outcomes and hopefully those outcomes will create some benefit to communities, environments or constituencies, and that is your impact. 

Let’s celebrate the new normal of unemployment below 4%

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — 

The best story of the economy over the past 3 years has been the resilience of the labour market – and with it the total destruction of the view that unemployment below 4.5% is unstainable.

We really need to just stop and marvel at the current situation. For most people, an unemployment rate with a 3 in front during their working life was akin to a sighting of the Yeti. In the past 600 months since December 1974, Australia’s unemployment rate has been below 4% only 24 times – and every month has been in the past 3 years.

This was not expected.

Coming out to the pandemic and the enforced lockdowns both within Australia and of migration from overseas, a common belief was that Australia’s low unemployment was due to a lack of labour supply, and thus in effect the rate was artificially low. And yet despite strong migration growth over the past 18 months, unemployment has remained low – surely delivering a massive body blow to those who espouse the lump of labour fallacy that somehow a job gained by a migrant is one taken from a local worker.

But more surprising is that despite the Reserve Bank raising interest rates 13 times since May 2022, the unemployment rate in that time has risen only from 3.6% to the current rate in November of 3.9%.

The Reserve Bank has been trying to raise unemployment to a level of around 4.5% because it believes that is the level at which unemployment needs to be to keep wage growth steady and inflation below 3%.

Gas in Western Australia

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — 

WA’s Great Gas Giveaway

Gas companies made $56 billion in 2022-23 exporting liquified natural gas out of WA. They paid $0 in Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT). And most of the companies paid $0 in royalties.

How can WA be running short of gas? 90% of the gas produced in WA is either exported or used by the LNG industry itself to process gas.

The LNG export industry consumes:

  • 32x more gas than WA’s electricity generators.
  • 30x more gas than WA’s mining industry.
  • 8x more gas than the rest of the WA economy and community combined.

Four things you need to know

1. Royalties – most of the gas industry in WA pays no royalties

The LNG industry is 83% foreign owned, so most profits go overseas. Royalties from the gas industry are not significant in WA. Unlike the mining industry, most of the gas industry in WA pays no royalties at all. WA drivers pay more in vehicle registration than the gas industry pays in royalties.

This is because most gas is extracted from Commonwealth waters and the Commonwealth Government chooses not to charge royalties. Australia Institute research shows that $111 billion worth of LNG was produced from royalty-free gas and exported out of WA over the last four years. This gas was effectively given to multinational companies for free.

12/12/2024 Market Update

 — Organisation: Applied MMT — 

It’s all Greg’s fault

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — 

Why are economists are so bad at predicting what’ll happen in the economy? Why is HECS indexed? And why do we measure labour as a cost but profit as a universal good? On the final episode of Dollars & Sense for the year, Greg and Elinor answer your questions about the economy.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 12 December 2024 and things may have changed since recording.

Order What’s the Big Idea? 32 Big Ideas for a Better Australia now, via the Australia Institute website.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute and Centre for Future Work // @grogsgamut

Host: Elinor Johnston-Leek, Senior Content Producer, the Australia Institute // @elinorjohnstonleek

Show notes:

‘Politicians love talking about ‘middle Australia’. But beware of this misleading metric’ by Greg Jericho, Guardian Australia (December 2024)

Abolishing the Department of Education Is Not the Answer

 — Organisation: The Claremont Institute — 

In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s election victory, many education reformers are saying that now is the time to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the presumptive leaders of the new Department of Government Efficiency, have been strongly hinting that eradicating the DofEd outright is a real possibility.

That’s an attractive goal—the DofEd wastes a great deal of money and does a great deal of damage to American students. But eliminating it outright will be difficult. Education reformers need 60 votes in the Senate to abolish the Department of Education. Using budget reconciliation might allow that requirement to be sidestepped, but it’s doubtful that Congress will go along with that tactic. Additionally, the Trump voting coalition isn’t just made up of small-government conservatives—it includes voters who don’t mind big government so long as it isn’t woke.

Also, “abolishing the Education Department” can mean less than meets the eye. Every single office and program can be transferred over to the Department of Health and Human Services—uncut, unreformed, and unchanged. Putative reformers could declare a hollow victory while supporters of the radical education establishment would then happily perform their outrage dance, secure in the knowledge that nothing really has changed.

The Week Observed, November 9, 2024

 — Publication: City Observatory — 

What City Observatory Did This Week

IBR Traffic Forecasts Violate Portland Region’s Climate Commitments.  Portland’s adopted Regional Transportation Plan commits the Metro area to reduce total vehicle miles traveled by 12 percent over the next twenty-five years. But the traffic forecasts used to justify the $7.5 billion Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) Project call for more than a 25 percent increase in driving over that same time period.

 

The RTP is required under state law to plan for a reduction in VMT per capita; the RTP is the way that regional and local governments show they comply with these state climate requirements.  But the IBR planning is predicated on a world where we drive much more and not any less.

The Week Observed, November 1, 2024

 — Publication: City Observatory — 

What City Observatory Did This Week

There’s a critical flaw in the planning of the $7.5 billion Interstate Bridge project: Metro’s Kate travel demand model is wildly inflating I-5 traffic numbers. The model claims 164,050 vehicles crossed the I-5 bridges daily in 2019, but ODOT’s own traffic counters tell a drastically different story – only 138,780 vehicles actually used the bridge.  Yet IBR is planning starts with this exaggerated level of traffic.

The American Mind Podcast: The Roundtable Episode #247

 — Organisation: The Claremont Institute — 

The American Mind’s ‘Editorial Roundtable’ podcast is a weekly conversation with Ryan Williams, Spencer Klavan, and Mike Sabo devoted to uncovering the ideas and principles that drive American political life. Stream here or download from your favorite podcast host.

Strangio-er than Fiction | The Roundtable Ep. 247

Corporate profits increase inflation

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — 

How do profits drive inflation?

From December 2019 to June 2023, inflation in Australia rose faster than it has in 30 years. Over this time, the share of national income going to corporate profits also increased substantially.

At the same time, the share going to wages and small businesses declined.

The profits made by large corporations during this time are huge: some $100 billion over and above their pre-pandemic profit margins.

According to Australia Institute research, these rising profits made up more than half of the inflation above the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA)’s target range of 2% to 3%.

The link between profits and inflation in Australia was replicated in research by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), headed by former Liberal Finance Minister Mathias Cormann.

Truth in political advertising laws

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — 

What are the current rules on truth in political advertising?

Pharmaceutical companies cannot claim to have the cure for cancer. Food companies cannot claim that sugary foods are good for kids. Lawyers cannot say that they will win every case. But under the Electoral Act, politicians can lie about their opponents’ policies—or about their own.

For decades, politicians have argued that it is too difficult to regulate political communication—and, admittedly, some attempts have failed. But a model that has been working quietly in South Australia for almost four decades provides a way forward.

If the Government and Parliament are serious about addressing misinformation and improving debate, they could pass truth in political ad laws in time for the next election.

Truth in political advertising laws work in South Australia and the ACT

South Australia has had truth in political advertising laws for almost forty years. The ACT has had similar laws since 2020; the first election with those laws in effect will occur in late 2024.

How do these laws work?

Section 113 of SA’s Electoral Act 1985 makes it an offence to authorise or cause to be published electoral advertisements that are materially inaccurate and misleading, with similar wording in the ACT. These laws are overseen by the relevant electoral commission. The Electoral Commission of South Australia only needs about five staff to handle all election complaints. This is a tiny fraction of the thousands of people needed to run an election.

Australia is a low-tax country

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — 

Tax is good

This graph shows the 38 economies in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in order of tax revenues as a percentage of their economy (GDP). Only eight have lower tax to GDP ratios than Australia, and these include relatively low-income countries like Türkiye and Mexico, as well as tax havens like Switzerland and Ireland.

If Australia were to increase the level of revenue it collects from taxation to the OECD average—a level similar to that collected by Canada or New Zealand—the Commonwealth would have had an extra $140bn in revenue in 2023–24.

This figure is 20% of the Federal Budget. It is also equivalent to the combined cost of the Aged Pension, the NDIS, Jobseeker, and Child Care Subsidy, along with the total government spending on housing, vocational education, and both the ABC and SBS.

Less tax means less social services…

Because of its low revenue, Australia spends less on social services than most OECD countries.

Australia’s gas policy mess

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — 

Exports and prices

Gas production in Australia has tripled since 2010, but domestic consumption has barely changed. This means that around 80% of gas produced in Australia is exported.

Gas export terminals opened at Gladstone in Queensland in late 2014. This meant that for the first time, gas could be exported from Australia’s east coast, giving gas companies the option to sell Australian gas into higher-priced Asian markets. This, in turn, meant that Australians suddenly had to pay world prices for domestically-produced gas.

Suddenly, Australian wholesale prices tripled from $3 per gigajoule (GJ) to $10 per GJ, and often rose even higher.

Jobseeker payments are too low

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — 

How much is the current payment?

Payments depend on factors such as age, income, and family situation. A single person with no children is paid around $389 per week, which is less than $56 per day. Some supplementary payments are available including for renters and parents.

How is Jobseeker inadequate?

A huge number of individuals and families receiving Jobseeker experience poverty. Poverty can be measured in different ways, but all poverty metrics consistently show Jobseeker’s inadequacy. According to one analysis, three in five households relying on Jobseeker are in poverty.

How a Bridge Closure Can Spark Better Financial Decisions by Local Officials

 — Organisation: Strong Towns — 

This article was originally published, in slightly different form, on Strong Towns member Michel Durand-Wood’s blog, Dear Winnipeg. It is shared here with permission.

December 2024 Monthly Outlook

 — Organisation: Applied MMT — 

From Elephants to Sandwiches: Countering False Information

 — Organisation: The Commons Social Change Library — 

Introduction

Learn about countering false information with tips to help you avoid the most common mythbusting pitfalls such as using the Truth Sandwich.

Read Article

Anyone familiar with the Common Cause approach to messaging will know we always caution against ‘mythbusting’ – that is, repeating (and thus inadvertently reinforcing) false or misleading information in order to debunk it. 

We recently reviewed the latest evidence from the fields of applied psychology and cognitive linguistics for any new research on mythbusting and its effects on beliefs and behaviours. 

The good news is that research on mythbusting has flourished in recent years – thanks to renewed interest in the science of correcting misinformation during the Trump years and the Covid 19 pandemic, where misinformation ran rife. 

While our literature review on mythbusting didn’t change our minds, we did discover some nuances we think are worth sharing. 

Before we get into the detail, let’s make one thing clear: 

In most cases, mythbusting or debunking misinformation works against us. There are many reasons for this, but here are our top two: 

The Purple Pingers Guide to Digital Organising

 — Organisation: The Commons Social Change Library — 

Introduction

Jordan Van Den Lamb (aka @PurplePingers) presented at FWD+Organise 2024.

Jordan introduced himself: “I hate real estate agents, make videos on TikTok and sometimes I argue with conservative people.” In fact, his housing activism has played an important part in highlighting the injustice of the housing crisis, empowering renters and agitating landlords, real estate agents and politicians.

@PurplePingers has over 200,000 followers on TikTok and you can follow him on You Tube, Instagram, and other platforms. He also maintains the ShitRentals.org website:

“This website is about giving power back to renters. As a renter, landlords and real estate agents have access to so much information about you, but you don’t get that same level of transparency from them.

Real estate agents often provide photos of properties that are years out of date, and don’t tell you what it’s like to actually live there. You don’t get to enter into a new rental knowing how difficult it might be for you to request basic repairs to be completed.

This website is here to help. It will always be free, and there will be no ability for landlords or real estate agents to pay for reviews to be removed.

Fixing Australia’s housing crisis with Alan Kohler

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — 

On this episode of Follow the Money, acclaimed financial journalist Alan Kohler joins Ebony Bennett to discuss the policies that created Australia’s housing crisis and what governments can do to fix it.

This discussion was recorded on Tuesday 10 December 2024 and things may have changed since recording.

Order What’s the Big Idea? 32 Big Ideas for a Better Australia now, via the Australia Institute website.

Guest: Alan Kohler, author and journalist // @AlanKohler

Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebonybennett

Show notes:

The Great Divide: Australia’s Housing Mess and How to Fix It by Alan Kohler (October 2024)

Theme music: Pulse and Thrum; additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

The Future of the Payments System

 — Organisation: Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) — 
Speech by Brad Jones, Assistant Governor (Financial System), AusPayNet Summit 2024.

Getting Peace in the Middle East

 — Organisation: The Claremont Institute — 

There is a striking similarity between the situation President Reagan faced in 1982 and the state of the Middle East today. There are three valuable lessons from the Reagan era that will almost certainly help inform the future course of President Trump’s approach toward peace: 1) the countries of the region want security above all, and the United States is the only one that can provide it; 2) Saudi leadership is essential for any comprehensive and durable peace; and 3) laying the foundation for relationships between Arabs and Israelis can only take place in private, far from the public view. Liberal institutions and commentators might question the new administration’s ability to make further gains on regional peace absent a comprehensive solution for the Palestinian issue, but their skepticism is more a consequence of their narrow vision for how negotiations should be run.

Dr. Olson-Kennedy Sued by Detransitioner

 — Publication: Assigned Media — 
 

A doctor known for her work with and advocacy for transgender youth has been named in a lawsuit by a detransitioner, Kaya Clementine Breen, for allegedly rushing her through a transition that she now feels was unnecessary.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

 — Organisation: Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) — 
Speech by Andrew Hauser, Deputy Governor, The Australian Business Economists’ Annual Dinner.

Measuring Narrative Change: Understanding Progress and Navigating Complexity

 — Organisation: The Commons Social Change Library — 

Introduction

Better understanding and measuring progress is an important part of strengthening narrative change strategies. This brief by ORS Impact offers insights into some of the questions facing practitioners, funders, and others interested in measuring this kind of work.

Narrative change is an approach with great potential for seeding transformative, durable social change. It is precisely because of this potential that understanding how to measure narrative change is important: it’s not enough to implement your strategy and then hope for the best.

That said, the complex, long-term nature of this kind of work makes measurement a challenge. Among those doing narrative change, there is a desire to better understand what works, how, and with who—and these are not straightforward questions.

→ How do you articulate the progress and value of the work you’re doing in the short term, when its full effects aren’t likely to be seen for some time?

→ What signals can you look for to indicate you’re moving the needle in the right direction?

→ And how do you understand the reach and impact of your work when it’s happening in a dynamic system, and there’s so much that lies beyond any one organization’s control?

From Struggle to Victory: The Role of Civil Society in the Last French Election

 — Organisation: The Commons Social Change Library — 

Introduction

Sarah Durieux shares the story of the snap French election of July 2024 and the way the left collaborated to win. Sarah presented this case study at FWD+Organise 2024, a conference hosted by Australian Progress in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.

Few expected these results, but I wasn’t surprised. It’s not the first time this year that we’ve achieved a seemingly impossible victory. Who thought France would get abortion enshrined into the constitution, which happened in March this year? Once again, over the last few weeks, we succeeded because we put into practice what we’ve learned, campaign after campaign, over the last few years.

Converging Movements, Accelerated by a Sense of Urgency

By calling for snap elections, President Emmanuel Macron created the most effective fuel for mobilization: a sense of urgency.

What’s Next for First Nations Justice?

 — Organisation: The Commons Social Change Library — 

Introduction

Celeste Liddle presented the opening keynote at FWD+Organise 2024. Celeste is an Arrernte woman living in Melbourne, Australia. She is a trade unionist and a freelance opinion writer, social commentator and public speaker.

Voice Referendum: Performance not Progress

I think I speak for many mob in the room when I say that in the twelve months that have followed the referendum, I have been called upon to reflect so many times on what its loss has meant to all of us in the Indigenous community. What’s more, I have, at times, felt pressured into a position, particularly by mainstream progressives, as an identifying progressive myself. There are many out there who want us to reiterate that the loss was a win for racism, that it has set the Indigenous rights movement back decades, and that the next steps are always going to be clouded with this failure.

The Democrats’ Immigration Mess

 — Organisation: The Claremont Institute — 

Two explanations are popular among Democrats for why Donald Trump won: voters are racist and voters (wrongly) blame their economic insecurity on mass immigration.

In a post-election autopsy at The New York Times, correspondent Miriam Jordan admitted that Americans’ immigration attitudes have shifted “to the right,” but argued that this is borne not of intelligent analysis but of a spell cast by a demagogue. Jordan quoted Rodrigo Garcia, a “Mexican American” who was taken in by “Trump’s forceful rhetoric.” “I feel like there should be a certain limit of the people that come into America, instead of just letting everyone come in,” Garcia said.

Garcia’s view is not radical. It’s a sensible one, no matter what nation is being considered. Trump’s “forceful rhetoric” is not what makes people think immigration needs some limits.

There is no such thing as a safe seat

 — Organisation: The Australia Institute — 

The declining major party vote

Fewer Australians give their first preference to a major party. The 2007 federal election is the last at which both Labor and the Liberal-National Coalition won more than 40% of the national vote; the 2022 election was the first time that neither cracked 40%.

The share of Australians voting outside of the major parties has increased from single digits in the 1970s to 31% at the most recent election in 2022, almost as many as the 36% who voted for the Coalition and 33% who voted for Labor. Not since the Great Depression has the combined vote for the two largest parties been so low.

The effect of a lower primary vote for major parties is that minor parties and independents have a better chance of winning seats.

American Return

 — Organisation: The Claremont Institute — 

During the past 20 years in America, a great contest has been waged over what the nation will become in the twenty-first century. Those on the political Left—progressives, statists, academics, and secularists—insist that America was always fundamentally flawed. They say we must become something other than what we have been. For their part, conservative Americans—workers, traditionalists, religious believers, and constitutionalists—hold that America is becoming something they don’t recognize. They claim the Left has betrayed the nation’s founding principles and has rejected the habits and traditions that once defined our national identity.

In short, the political battle between the Left and Right is best understood as an existential fight over what America will be. The Left pushes for a metanoic transformation, while the Right tries to catalyze an epistrophic one.

Metanoia is a forward-looking change—a recognition that one’s past way of life was flawed in some fundamental way. Regret precipitates a self-rejection that drives the transformation, which is a deliberate turning away from one’s previous identity. In contrast, epistrophe is a backward-looking change—a realization that at some point one betrayed the true self and embraced a false mode of being. Epistrophic transformation, then, is a return to one’s essential identity—a return to a previous (and more authentic) way of life.