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Two monumental events have shaken the U.S. foreign policy establishment since the inauguration of President Donald Trump. They took place at roughly the same time, but few have recognized their connection.

The first was the widespread exposure of USAID as the “world’s hipster vanguard of globalist, cultural Marxist revolution,” in the words of J. Michael Waller. When it wasn’t outright funding jihadist terrorism, USAID redirected billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money to left-wing organizers promoting LGBTQ radicalism, anti-racism, climate change, and every other imaginable progressive policy around the globe.

While “charity” CEOs living in taxpayer-funded luxury wailed about how cuts would cost lives, the debate among the online Right was about burning USAID to the ground and salting the earth, or perhaps repurposing some form of foreign aid to support an America First foreign policy agenda.

I’ve been asked why demagoguery rises and falls, more than once by people who like the “disruption” theory—that demagoguery is the consequence of major social disruption. The short version is that events create a set and severity of crises that “normal” politics and “normal” political discourse seem completely incapable of ameliorating, let alone solving. People feel themselves to be in a “state of exception” when things they would normally condemn seem attractive—anti-democratic practices, purifying of a community through ethnic/political cleansing, authoritarianism, open violation of constitutional protections.

Introduction

Understand how progressive organisations navigate the complexities of community organising in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

This overview of an academic paper published in 2025 in The Organizing Journal summarises the first known exploration of the community organising landscape across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

The academic paper was developed from a project by the Commons Social Change Library, Australian Conservation Foundation, and Australian Progress which aimed to fill a gap in understanding how advocacy groups organise in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

The researchers invited 97 groups across the two countries that engage in community organising, and 24 of those group responses.

These were groups that mainly worked on

• climate change (44%),
• political issues like democratic rights and unions (29%),
• environmental concerns (21%), and
• social issues (4%).

By examining these survey responses, the research team uncovered patterns in how different groups structure their organising work and the common hurdles they face along the way.

Findings

One of the main findings is that these groups use a bespoke mix of community organising approaches. Most of them use mixed approaches that blend local, relationship-based organising with centralised professional support.

The Australian Government’s latest report into the state of live music – “Am I Ever Gonna See You Live Again?” – makes some great recommendations, including for:

• tax offsets to be given to venues that host live music;
• training and education programs to help foster a love of music among young people;
• a rebate or voucher scheme to incentivise younger audiences to attend live music (which, as Australia Institute research has shown, is an approach that has been successful in Europe).

But, for these recommendations to have any weight, they’ll need to be backed up with adequate funding; the March budget is an opportunity for just that.

“[T]he love of fame,” wrote Alexander Hamilton, is “the ruling passion of the noblest minds” (Federalist 72). But—also in the noblest minds—passion bows politely to reason, and the love of fame is tempered by love of the true and the good. Fame is the height of honor on the grandest scale, and the noblest minds will want to be honored only for what is most worthy of honor. They don’t seek the applause of fickle opinion here and now, but the respect of the wise and good of all times and places; ultimately, they want to be measured by what is worthy in the eyes of God.

What is most worthy of honor deserves to be remembered. “Old men forget,” as Shakespeare’s King Henry V proclaims at Agincourt, “yet all shall be forgot,” before oblivion shrouds in darkness the most worthy deeds. These will be remembered “from this day to the ending of the world.”

No human deed, in the whole “course of human events,” surpasses the American Revolution—bringing forth “a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Rightly will the names of those happy few, that band of brothers—Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton, Madison, Adams—be remembered to the ending of the world.

Introduction

It’s the question progressives are all asking: how can we grab the opportunity presented by the 2025 Australian Federal election to steer the public narrative – in the media, on the streets and online – in the direction of care and connectedness for people and nature? 

No matter what policies or campaigns we’re working on, our messages can influence the election outcome for good at this crucial time.

But there’s no doubt we’re up against it.

Organisations like Advance are prepared to spend millions to promote a very different story – one based on the neoliberal ideals of wealth accumulation, competition and social power for a selected ‘in-group’. Even a glance at the news from the USA shows we can’t dismiss their appeal to the voting public – especially when it’s all they’re hearing. 

So what the heck can we do? What must we do, if we want to gain traction for our ideas, our policy asks, and our own worldview? 

The good news is that plenty of very astute thinkers have been applying themselves to this very question.

Narrative Lessons

Here are some important narrative lessons for progressives in Australia in 2025.

Notes on the Crises pivoted on February 1st into around the clock coverage of the Trump-Musk Treasury Payments Crisis of 2025. Today is Day Forty Two.

A version of this article is simultaneously appearing in Rolling Stone.

Prosper Australia was proud to join with Per Capita and a host of other organisations across the community sector in presenting the 2025 Community Tax Summit. Held in the richly historic Trades Hall, the Community Tax Summit was a two-day conference that brought together researchers, advocates, people with lived experience, and economists to examine how […]

On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Elinor discuss new research showing just how difficult it is to save for a house deposit and the political response to Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 13 March 2025 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:

‘Gone are the days when a ‘good job’ gets you a house – and now we have the data to prove it’ by Greg Jericho, Guardian Australia (March 2025)

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.

BIPOC Cholbe | The Roundtable Ep. 258

First, they came for the green card-holding terror groupies—then they came for…us? Not exactly. But the recent detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University protest organizer who fought “for the total eradication of Western Civilization,” has prompted cries of fascism. Again. Meanwhile, California governor Gavin Newsom sheds his skin and snakes his way toward the center of the political spectrum: best not be fooled! This week, the guys discuss the antisemitic venom poisoning some young right-wingers, the ongoing disarray of Democrats; and more! Plus: a batch of media recommendations.

Recommended reading:

In 2015 former Treasurer Joe Hockey suggested to buy a house you just needed a “good job that pays good money”

Ten years on new research shows that had a person on the average full-time male earnings in each state been saving 15% of their after-tax income, they would still be unable to afford a deposit on a median-priced house.

Worse than that, in Sydney they would have gone backwards. At the end of 2014 they would have needed a deposit of $154,600, but by the end of 2024 after saving $126,00 for 10 years they would still need an extra $155,404 in order to afford a 20% deposit on the median-priced house in Sydney.

As people have saved, the price of houses – and the size of the deposit needed – has kept going up, even faster.

In politics, as in life, winning is better than losing. But some losses are worse than others. An especially damaging defeat creates a situation that is both hard to endure and hard to change.

This is the Democratic Party’s dilemma after the 2024 election: It suffered a bad defeat. An important cause of that defeat was that the party had embraced and become identified with a social justice ideology that offends more voters than it attracts. To become more politically competitive by becoming less politically correct is, under the circumstances, clearly advisable but also highly improbable.

A Win Is a Win

First, the election. Republicans retained a majority in the House of Representatives, with a 220- to 215-seat advantage, after a net loss of two seats. By gaining four seats, the GOP also captured control of the Senate with a workable but not dominating 53-47 majority. Finally, the party won the presidency with a 49.8% to 48.3% popular vote plurality and won 58% of the Electoral College: 312 electoral votes to the Democrats’ 226.

The Interstate Bridge Project’s traffic projections pretend that the massive shift to “work-from-home” never happened

The IBR traffic projections rely almost entirely on pre-Covid-pandemic data, and ignore the dramatic change in travel patterns.

Traffic on  I-5 is still 7 percent below pre-pandemic levels, according to Oregon DOT data

Commuting between Portland and Vancouver has fallen by half since 2019  according to Metro

Traffic on the I-5 bridge is lower today that the purported 2005 baseline for the Columbia River Crossing project (135,000 vehicles per day)

Post-covid travel analyses have shown a permanent shift toward lower growth in vehicle miles traveled

State DOTs claim that mythical “industry standards” require them to ignore everything that’s happened since 2019, including the effect of work-from-home

The Interstate Bridge Replacement project’s traffic and revenue forecasts appear to be built on increasingly shaky ground. New data from an array of sources shows that post-pandemic travel patterns have dramatically diverged from pre-pandemic trends, calling into question the fundamental assumptions underlying the multi-billion dollar project.  Commuting patterns are different, traffic is now lower, and growing more slowly than prior to the pandemic, contrary to the assumptions built into IBR traffic projections.

This interview is also available on podcast platforms and Rumble.

Any account of the decades-long occupation of Palestine from a Palestinian is immediately expected to be refined within a specific lens to appeal to the pathos of Western society. Well meaning activists, journalists and politicians may intend to share the stories of Palestinians, but too often end up curating them into a digestible format, one adjacent to the truth rather than one that embodies the whole of it. In other words, society forces Palestinians to justify and format their identities, experiences and traumas in order to be seen. Yet through this process, crucial pieces of their stories are sacrificed.

Professor Mariana Mazzucato, Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP), and her team travelled to Brasilia to launch the report “State Transformation in Brazil: Designing mission-oriented public procurement, state-owned enterprises and digital public infrastructure to advance sustainable and inclusive growth” This visit marked a pivotal moment in a two-year partnership between UCL IIPP and Brazil’s Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services (MGI).

This article was originally published, in slightly different form, by Strong Towns member Eli Smith on The Faith-Based Housing Initiative Substack. It is shared here with permission. Header image provided by the writer.

The post Material deprivation in Australia: launch presentation appeared first on Poverty and Inequality.

Introduction

This article, Narrative Power in Crisis: How to Narrate Towards Action by the Narrative Initiative, presents five guides to use when narrating through a crisis. This article was written in the context of Trump becoming president of America in Jan 2025, but is applicable to be used in any crisis situation.

How to Narrate Towards Action

A key element of the Trump administration’s strategy is to convince the public that the MAGA movement is unstoppable. They will broadcast the message that “No one can beat us” with each advance, whether the arena is legal, journalistic, educational or civic. They will be doing this on multiple issues simultaneously, hoping to send community, labor and cultural groups into panic mode. When everyday people, without whom mass movement is impossible, absorb the idea that something is unstoppable, they lose the political will to organize and act. We can narrate in a way that inspires action, rather than contributes to its depression.

Introduction

Tools for activist training and strategy development, including campaign strategy, power, conflict, narrative and storytelling. Follow the links to find materials to put together your own training workshops and planning sessions.

Learning, reflecting on action and preparing for the future are key elements in any social change project.

These guides share tools and activities which have been developed by many different trainers and strategists. Thank you to everyone who has made their work available for others to learn from. If you use materials please acknowledge the source and respect any licenses that apply.

Remember to modify activities and session plans to fit your context, including:

• the time you have available
• the space you are meeting in, including whether it is in person or online
• the purpose of your training or planning
• the access needs and skill levels of your participants
• stories and case studies that are relatable to your audience or your own experience
• your style and comfort level as a trainer or facilitator

The Commons will continue to gather training materials to support social change trainers and facilitators. If you have resources to add please contact us.

The promise of AI innovation has captured the attention of the technology industry and its associated policy makers. While we wait for the development of a National AI Capability Plan in Australia, companies are left with a set of voluntary guardrails to navigate the technologies’ associated risks. 

In a world in which the tech industry has shown blatant disinterest in following laws and policies, against a backdrop of rampant authoritarianism and a global political trend of sunsetting “responsible AI” initiatives, we need an enforceable legislative framework that prioritises privacy and protects us from harm. 

What do we mean when we talk about Artificial Intelligence?

“AI” can be a slippery concept that has different meanings and purposes depending on who is using it and why. In its broadest sense, “AI is the ability of a computer system to perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, and making decisions.”