Decades of Islamophobia, relentless propaganda campaigns and heavily financed lobbying efforts have made it difficult to understand the political realities of the Middle East. John Mearsheimer, prominent political scientist, University of Chicago professor and self-proclaimed realist, has consistently demonstrated the courage and ability to bypass the noise, delivering honest and well-informed analysis on global affairs. He joins host Chris Hedges on this episode of The Chris Hedges Report to lay out what’s happening in the Middle East, from Israel’s genocide in Gaza to its escalating attacks on Lebanon and Iran.
On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Elinor discuss the Coalition’s new housing policy, the surveillance of workers and the latest unemployment data.
Greg Jericho is Chief Economist at the Australia Institute and the Centre for Future Work and popular columnist of Grogonomics with Guardian Australia. Each week on Dollars & Sense, Greg dives into the latest economic figures to explain what they can tell us about what’s happening in the economy, how it will impact you and where things are headed.
Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute and Centre for Future Work // @GrogsGamut
Host: Elinor Johnston-Leek, Senior Content Producer, the Australia Institute // @ElinorJ_L
This might seem strange, especially if your superfund says things like, “we believe in building a sustainable future,” or “we do what’s right with your money”.
Some funds do exclude so-called “controversial weapons”, at least from their “ethical options”. But their definition of “controversial weapon” includes for instance chemical or biological weapons, but not nuclear weapons.
In 2021, Quit Nukes and the Australia Institute analysed the investment portfolios of Australia’s largest superfunds and found that most of them invested their members’ money in companies involved in nuclear weapon production and development, such as Airbus, Honeywell or Thales.
So, how are superfunds tracking?
Well…as of December 2023, all of those funds, at the exception of HostPlus, continued to invest in nuclear weapons companies. This adds up to $3.4 billion dollars’ worth of your money invested in nuclear weapons companies.
At the top of the list, Australian Super, who claims to be “Australia’s most trusted fund” and to be “working hard for your future”, invests almost $1.5 billion of Australians’ money in nuclear weapon companies.
The editors of the Journal of Australian Political Economy like to encourage and enable students to progress to publishing articles based on their work. Particularly for any student who has been writing a dissertation or thesis, getting an article published in a reputable journal like JAPE is potentially helpful in job-seeking and career development. It is also a personally fulfilling process.
The JAPE Young Scholar Award also provides a more direct incentive because a prize of $1000 goes to the Award winner. A further $1000 is payable when the resulting article is published.
The descriptor ‘Young Scholar’ does not set an age limit: rather it indicates that applicants should be in the transitional stage from student essay-writing to publishing an article for a more senior audience. Applicants may be of any age, but should be in at least their third year of undergraduate study in political economy or a related social science subject. They may have already completed their degree.
Students who are completing an honours thesis and would like the experience of doing further research during part of the following year (or the year after) would be particularly welcome to apply.
The winner of the Award will receive guidance about how to convert their work into a publishable form for a journal like JAPE.
Applications need to be submitted to the JAPE editorial coordinator, Frank Stilwell [frank.stilwell@sydney.edu.au], by 30 November 2024.
An anti-trans organization has filed a brief in an important Supreme Court case about gender-affirming care for trans youth, suggesting that gender dysphoria can be caused by… Lyme disease?
An ancient and endangered skate (related to rays and sharks), which can only be found in a remote corner of western Tasmania, could be wiped out by salmon farming, prompting an extraordinary warning from some of the nation’s foremost marine scientists.
14 Professors and five Fellows from the Australian Academy of Science are among more than 30 experts who have written to Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek to defend the science behind the plight of the Maugean skate, which is teetering on the brink of extinction.
The salmon industry and some politicians have been seeking to undermine scientific evidence which overwhelming finds that open cage salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour is the primary cause of the skate’s demise.
The skate is recognised as one of the Gondwana-era natural values of Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area. Its potential extinction carries global significance.
Signatories to the letter also include the immediate former Chair of Australia’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee plus a string of scientists who have had leadership roles in national and international marine organisations and institutions.
It is rare to hear a United States presidential candidate clearly and eloquently spell out the realities of the country — whether it’s the genocide in Gaza, rising economic inequality or the horrors of mass incarceration. Dr. Cornel West, renowned political activist, philosopher, public intellectual, author and now independent presidential candidate, joins host Chris Hedges on this episode of The Chris Hedges Report to give an update on his campaign and to highlight the critical issues that define his fight for justice and equality.
The report, titled ‘Proactive investment: Policies to increase rates of active transportation’, shows that the Commonwealth Government’s four year, $100m National Active Transport Fund has only enough money to build 25-50 km of new, separated bike paths.
In contrast, France plans to invest EUR 2 billion (around AUD 3.2 billion) in cycling infrastructure between 2023 and 2027, and has committed to building 100,000 km of bicycle lanes by 2030.
Just 0.7% of Australians cycle to work, and rates of cycling are declining.
Stronger uptake of active transport options – like walking, cycling, and scooters – would help ease traffic congestion and improve public health.
On this episode of Follow the Money, Bill Browne, Democracy & Accountability Director at the Australia Institute, joins Ebony Bennett to discuss whistleblower protections, improving the National Anti-Corruption Commission, and why Australia may be the world’s most secretive democracy.
This discussion was recorded live on Tuesday 22 October 2024 and things may have changed since recording.
As opinion polls suggest the Miles Labor Government is closing the gap on the Liberal National Opposition ahead of this Saturday’s state election, new research from The Australia Institute reveals most Queenslanders support cost of living, environmental and reproductive rights policies.
The research follows existing Australia Institute polling research which finds most Australians support proven but politically controversial policies from the Australian Capital Territory.
In The Way In, Per Capita’s researchers look at the 47th Australian Parliament and ask whether it represents the Australian society it is meant to reflect.
Representation matters. Diversity in Parliament is important as it helps ensure those in power pursue an agenda that addresses the various and unique needs of the many different groups that make up Australian society whether they’re from different generations, socioeconomic and ethnic groups, genders, and beyond.
This report offers eight lessons about narrative—provided by luminaries in marketing and advertising, entertainment media/narrative arts, psychoanalysis, and technology—which can be applied to enrich narrative change work.
On this episode of After America, Dr Prudence Flowers, Senior Lecturer in US History at Flinders University, joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss immigration, reproductive rights, and why Harris and Trump are hitting the podcast circuit.
This discussion was recorded on Monday 21 October 2024 and things may have changed since recording.
1800RESPECT is the national domestic, family and sexual violence counselling, information and support service. Call 1800 737 732, text 0458 737 732, chat online or video call via their website.
Guest: Prudence Flowers, Senior Lecturer in US History, Flinders University // @FlowersPGF
Host: Emma Shortis, Senior Research for International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @EmmaShortis
A report from the FrameWorks Institute, Mindset Shifts: What Are They? Why Do They Matter? How Do They Happen?, explores the best practices and most effective strategies for moving mindsets.
This report is intended as a resource for all those working on and funding mindset shifts.
Mindsets—fundamental, assumed patterns of thinking that shape how we make sense of the world and act in it—are highly durable with deep historical roots. They emerge from and are tied to social practices and institutions that are woven into the very fabric of society. As such, they tend to change slowly.
The research yields clear lessons and recommendations for how advocates, activists, funders, and other practitioners can maximize the impact of their efforts to change how we think about social issues in order to change the contexts and structures that shape our experiences and realities.
Disinformation has been spreading like wildfire in Australia’s democracy. How can we combat it?
Watch this video of a forum featuring 3 case studies of disinformation. This forum was hosted by PEN Melbourne and NonFiction Lab on the 15 August 2024 in Naarm/Melbourne.
It featured the Legal Director from the Human Rights Law Centre, Alice Drury, in conversation with three experts who examined how disinformation is operating across the world. The case studies were:
To mark PPE@10 this feature continues a series of posts to celebrate ten years of Progress in Political Economy (PPE) as a blog that has addressed the worldliness of critical political economy issues since 2014.
The experimental world of speculative fiction is like a history of political economy. It explores topics like dystopias, post-scarcity, automation, and AI. But it doesn’t stop there! It also dives into radical ideas like abolishing money and property, imagining a world where cash is irrelevant and owning property is no longer the ultimate goal. On the flip side, you’ve got speculative fiction that embraces the techno-optimistic visions of Silicon Valley capitalism, full of shiny gadgets and smart tech. This fresh take on ‘how we could do things differently’ isn’t just for daydreaming; it’s a powerful way to shake up traditional economic ideas and imagine what future societies might look like.
This week we saw once again efforts to improve housing affordability by doing anything other than actually building new houses.
The Liberal Party has announced that it will boost the housing supply by not actually building any new homes, but spending $5bn on “critical enabling infrastructure”.
The Opposition leader stated an “elected Coalition Government will commit $5 billion to get these projects moving, unlocking up to 500,000 homes to be delivered more quickly through a mixture of grants and concessional loans”.
It does not take long to realise this is just a $5bn gift to developers disguised as a housing policy.
Rather than spend $5bn building new homes over 5 years (which would almost be double what is currently spent building residential homes by the public sector across Australia), instead the Liberal Party proposes spending $5bn over 5 years to allow property developers to build infrastructure so that they can then sell land for a greater profit.
What are the best ways to fund and support narrative change, power and systems? Here is a collection of resources including indepth reports, podcasts and recent articles with insights and recommendations.
This is a living list please contact us if you have any related resources to add.
The selection committee for the Australian International Political Economy Network (AIPEN) Richard Higgott Journal Article Prize is pleased to announce the shortlist for the 2024 prize, as voted on by AIPEN members.
The prize will be awarded to the best article published in 2023 (online early or in print) in international political economy (IPE) by an Australia-based scholar.
The prize defines IPE in a pluralist sense to include the political economy of security, geography, literature, sociology, anthropology, post-coloniality, gender, finance, trade, regional studies, development and economic theory, in ways that can span concerns for in/security, poverty, inequality, sustainability, exploitation, deprivation and discrimination.
The overall prize winner will be decided from the shortlist by the selection committee, which this year consists of Ainsley Elbra (USyd), Claire Parfitt (USyd), Tim DiMuzio (UoW), Annabel Dulhunty (ANU), and Wenting He (ANU). The winner will be announced in November 2024.
The 2024 shortlist for The Australian International Political Economy Network (AIPEN) Richard Higgott Journal Article Prize is as follows:
The Australia Institute led the push for the publication of the report in 2022.
It has been a month since the 2024 report was published and yet there has been no official response from Tasmania’s Government.
According to the 2024 report, the state government needs to commit to a new vision and strategy for the environment.
If Tasmania is to have a healthy environment, which is fundamental to the state’s economy and Tasmanian way of life, government inaction is not an option.
Prosper Australia has expressed strong concerns over the Allan Labor Government’s recent announcement of 50 new activity centres across Victoria, citing the absence of any form of Land Value Capture (LVC) mechanism as a missed opportunity to ensure fairness and economic sustainability.
In a nutshell, campaigns are sustained efforts at a specific social justice goal. Campaigns are a powerful way of strategically building the capacity, developing experience, and laying the groundwork for future movements. Simultaneously, campaigns win solid victories for social justice. – Daniel Hunter
Strategy is the art and practice of developing effective plans of action to achieve objectives and win campaigns. This guide highlights a number of resources which are contained in the Commons Social Change Library.
If you are new to the topic then you may want to start by checking some of the introductory resources listed below. After that it may be helpful to choose a strategy template to guide you through the process of planning. Depending on your approach to change, the manuals listed can provide a comprehensive immersion in that approach, with a number of tools you can use and lessons you can apply.
If you’ve been involved in campaigns for a long time perhaps you might like to try some individual tools to get a fresh perspective, experiment with the guides to creative and systemic thinking, or dig deeper with the books.
Introducing Erica Chenoweth’s book Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know. This book is a “sweeping overview of civil resistance movements around the world that explains what they are, how they work, why they are often effective, and why they can fail.
Civil resistance is a method of conflict through which unarmed civilians use a variety of coordinated methods (strikes, protests, demonstrations, boycotts, and many other tactics) to prosecute a conflict without directly harming or threatening to harm an opponent. Sometimes called nonviolent resistance, unarmed struggle, or nonviolent action, this form of political action is now a mainstay across the globe. It was been a central form of resistance in the 1989 revolutions and in the Arab Spring, and it is now being practiced widely in Trump’s America. If we are going to understand the manifold protest movements emerging around the globe, we need a thorough understanding of civil resistance and its many dynamics and manifestations.
‘Narrative power and collective action’ is a collection of curated conversations between Isabel Crabtree-Condor, a Knowledge Broker at Oxfam, and a diverse group of people working in the narrative change and collective action space.
Part 1
Narratives are a form of power that can mobilize and connect, as well as divide and isolate. Social, public or dominant narratives help to legitimize existing power relationships, prop them up or make them seem natural.
As an anthology of perspectives this knowledge offering is one way to amplify different and diverse ways of knowing and doing narratives. Narratives are made up of many stories, tweets, online content, offline conversations. They keep deeply held ideas about society and people in place, for good and bad.
Narratives are not something that happen over there, they are part of us and we are part of them. We can challenge or reinforce narratives on daily basis. We see powerful damaging narratives at work in the COVID-19 response, and in systems of oppression that perpetuate inequality.
We can use this knowledge to guide us now and as we move into the future. Narrative knowledge and framing know-how can help us to open civic space, collaborate better and amplify others, helping us to be part of the biggest ‘us’ we can be.
Here are some tips to get the most out of conversations on stalls, at events, or door knocking. Whether you are looking to recruit people, build your contact list, or encourage people to take action here are some basic guidelines.
Initiate contact!
Through activities like stalls and handing out leaflets we are seeking to interact with as many people as possible.
If we sit back and wait for people to come to us, we will miss many opportunities. This isn’t about being a nuisance, but it is about being active and initiating contact with people. We have something important to talk to them about.
If we sit back and wait for people to come to us, we will miss many opportunities. This isn’t about being a nuisance, but it is about being active and initiating contact with people. We have something important to talk to them about.
When setting up a stall consider standing in the front or to the side of it, rather than behind. As people walk past you could step towards them, or walk with them (without being intimidating).
Have a friendly greeting which introduces you and what you are doing eg
Whether you are an organiser, a curator or a participant, this Feminist Influencing Basket of Resources is intended to guide you through proven tools and exercises.
The resource is a go-to guide on ways of working and engaging at different levels using an intersectional, feminist, participatory approach, where women, gender non-binary and marginalised or silenced groups can:
Unpack power dynamics through personal and collective reflection, learning and action to strengthen collective power.
Propose an ethic of care through practical feminist rituals for safety, wellbeing, vulnerability, and creation of safe spaces.
Enhance feminist narratives in joint actions to create “a bigger us”.
Design practical feminist influencing strategies and actions.
Use feminist, participatory monitoring, evaluation and action learning.
The resource aims to make visible the many systems of oppression, understand how they reinforce and support each other, and strengthen strategies to challenge them together and separately using the Feminist Influencing Basket.
This article was originally published, in slightly different form, on Alex Alsup’s Substack, The Chargeback.It is shared here with permission. All images were provided by the author.
This study by Erica Chenoweth and Zoe Marks, Pro-Democracy Organizing against Autocracy in the United States: A Strategic Assessment & Recommendations, explores nonviolent resistance strategies that could be relevant for protecting local communities and groups under a hypothetical authoritarian administration. The study delves into the next phase of pro-democracy struggle and recommends a four-pronged strategy that can ensure ongoing, effective pro democratic mobilization even if a nationwide authoritarian transition takes place.
Executive Summary
Many groups in the US are focused on preventing the further rise of authoritarian forces by raising alarms about authoritarian power-grabs in key states; by building financial, legal, and electoral strategies to advocate for democratic practices and outcomes in state and national politics; and by scenario-planning responses to contested election outcomes in 2022 and 2024.
This urgent and important work must continue and intensify in the coming months. This report aims to expand the conversation to also prepare for effective organizing and mobilizing in the aftermath of a nationwide authoritarian transition, should one occur after the 2024 election.
The Lived Experience Guide to Climate Campaigning provides guidance to organisations seeking to campaign with people with lived experience of climate impacts.
This guide aims to introduce concepts, practices and guidelines that can be used by organisations when they work with people with lived experience and when designing communications and campaigns. It was developed with input from climate-impacted people as well as advocates, psychologists and campaigners with experience in supporting people with lived experience to be storytellers and change agents.
As we experience escalating disasters and extreme weather we are yet again reminded that Australia is on the front line of climate change. Climate impacted people are experts in how climate change has impacted them/us and their/our communities and can be powerful advocates for change and action. In supporting people with lived experience of climate change, there are a range of important considerations that lead to better outcomes while minimising harm.
If you would like to contribute (including examples) please contact Serena Joyner on ceo@bushfiresurvivors.org
Holding a stall is a great way to engage with people face to face about your campaign issues. Stalls allow you to raise awareness of issues and can help you recruit supporters for your campaign and group.
To get the most out of your stall, it is worth putting some thought into planning it to ensure its effectiveness. Try these tips to get you started.
Tips
1. Decide your Aims and Message
Ask yourself:
why are you doing the stall?
What is the message you hope to get across about your campaign?
Do you want to recruit supporters for your group, or get people to take action? It may be both of these.
Identify the main reason for your stall and focus on that.
2. Design an eye catching display
Take some time to think about how you want your stall to look. Maybe use display boards, posters, fliers, props and costumes.
Take things that focus on your campaign but make sure not to clutter your stall as this can overwhelm people. Have fun and be creative!
Politics, Inequality and the Australian Welfare State After Liberalisation
Speaker: Ben Spies-Butcher
Thursday 7 November 2024, 12-1:30pm
Room 441, Social Sciences Building (A02), The University of Sydney
Neoliberalism has transformed work, welfare and democracy. However, its impacts, and its future, are more complex than we often imagine. Alongside growing inequality, social spending has been rising. This seminar draws on Ben’s recent book to ask how we understand this contradictory politics and what opportunities exist to create a more equal society. It argues an older welfare state politics, driven by the power of industrial labour, is giving way to political contests led by workers within the welfare state itself. Advancing more equal social policy, though, requires new forms of statecraft, or ways of doing policy, as well as new models of organising.
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.
The culture of the progressive sector—as with all sectors—is rooted in stories. They are stories that convey values, mental models, assumptions and identities, all of which ultimately guide our behaviors.
Unsurprisingly, the most powerful stories that define the culture of our sector are not the stories about the issues we work on, but rather the stories we tell ourselves about who we are (and aren’t) and how we should act in the world to make change (and shouldn’t).
Narrative is now a big buzzword in the field of social change. That is more a testament to people wanting to understand narrative, however, than it is a testament to people actually understanding it.
Evaluating our overall approach to narrative, as well as the specific narrative changes we have determined to achieve, comes down to a foundational question:
What is our own narrative about the role that narrative strategy plays in social change—our own narrative about what it is, what it takes to do it well and what’s at stake in our success? We tell ourselves a story about storytelling, a narrative about changing narratives. What purpose is it serving? Is it the right narrative? Is it the one we need?
I believe we have the wrong narrative about narrative.
Since the 2016 election, interest in the concept of “narrative” has spiked in the nonprofit and philanthropic worlds. There exists a growing consensus among people committed to social justice that traditional change efforts like organizing, advocacy, and litigation cannot be fully effective or lasting unless they are integrated with a narrative change strategy. Definitions of what narrative means vary greatly, and the art and craft of changing it can seem mysterious. But experience and research point to clear, replicable approaches for reshaping public narratives in support of social justice.
What is Narrative and Why does it Matter?
At The Opportunity Agenda, we define narrative as “a Big Story, rooted in shared values and common themes, that influences how audiences process information and make decisions.” Narratives are conveyed in the political and policy discourse, but also in news media, popular culture, social media, and at dinner tables across communities.
As recent experience shows, many audiences are invulnerable to facts that do not fit within a narrative that they can understand and embrace.
The Federal Reserve’s most expansive lending authority- supposedly activated only under “unusual and exigent circumstances”- continues to be an essential interest of mine. Writing about it is what I became known for, back in 2020. Why is it so important? Because it is an extremely flexible and powerful power, there has been little oversight over how it's interpreted and what its limits are and we still don’t really know its secret history. The 1967-1973 minutes I got through FOIA are revelatory and fascinating. We still have to address a large gap between 1974, and sometime in the 2000s (if not later). Nevertheless, the minutes still have so much to teach us. Perhaps the most shocking thing I have come across in the minutes is that the Federal Reserve very nearly got rid of its own emergency powers.
