The challenge of activism today must include winning over those with whom we disagree, for example, those who have not yet embraced the agendas of climate and economic justice. In a country like the US where about 40% of people have been misled by the falsehoods of right-wing media, democracy is under great threat if activists for justice are not able to win over a significant number of those who support antidemocratic ideas. This episode explores the questions of why this is so difficult and what strategies we may employ to build much-needed bridges of dialogue, engagement, and possibly conversion. Can we build narratives and messages that help people break out of ideological silos? How do we win over people who occupy positions vastly different from those promoting economic, gender, and climate justice?
Our guests:
Sharan Burrow is the general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and a former president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions. Sharan is a passionate advocate and campaigner for social justice, women’s rights, the environment, and labour law reforms, and has led union negotiations on major economic reforms and labour rights campaigns in her home country of Australia and globally.
She has also served as a member of the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation and is represented on a number of international commissions concerning climate action, industrial transition, and economic reform.
Follow Sharan’s work:
Alnoor Ladha is a political strategist, writer, and activist. Alnoor’s work focuses on the intersection of political organising, storytelling, and technology. He was the co-founder and Executive Director of The Rules, a global network of activists, coders, researchers, writers, and others focused on changing the rules that create inequality, poverty, and climate change. The Rules started in 2012 as a time-bound project and an experiment in anarchist organisational design, exploring new ways of how to work, play, and make trouble together.
He is a co-founder of Tierra Valiente, an alternative community and healing centre in the jungle of northern Costa Rica. He is a board member of Culture Hack Labs and The Emergence Network.
Follow Alnoor’s work:
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Power, People and Planet is produced in association with the Green Economy Coalition, the world’s largest movement for a green and fair economy:
https://greeneconomycoalition.org
Additional support for the podcast was provided by the Robert Bosch Stiftung:
https://www.bosch-stiftung.de/en
Power, People and Planet 