David Cole is a professor of constitutional law at Georgetown University, a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books, a former national legal director of the ACLU and author of the popular book on social change in the US, Engines of Liberty. This book, a must-read for anyone interested in social movements, is the focus of our discussion today.

We spoke about the importance of local organising for political momentum, why incremental progress has seemed to work for other issues, the role of in-person community in social movements, and other lessons from the US marriage equality and gun rights movements.

Chapters:

The book in a nutshell (00:03:45)
Why incrementalism was crucial for marriage equality (00:09:36)
What can we learn from the NRA and gun rights? (00:17:19)
Why socialising & identity formation are key for movements (00:23:32)
Symbolic vs high-impact campaigns (00:32:11)
Messaging strategies in the NRA vs marriage equality (00:36:58)
Dave & James debrief and key takeaways (00:40:30)

Resources:

Engines of Liberty – David Cole
The Engagement – Sasha Issenberg

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

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David Cole on what we can learn from the marriage equality and gun rights movements