Aidan Ricketts
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    • New year, a time to embrace the uncertainty of it all
    • We could be non-binary
    • Adaptive resilience vs safety paternalism
    • Left wing, right wing? What just happened to politics?
    • Covid, class and the addiction to certainty
    • Neoliberalism, the Life World and the Psychopathic Corporation
    • Democracy is about our bodies, not just our minds
    • What’s your motivation: is it yourself or the change you’re making?
    • Mind over matter: The world of abstraction is driving us to destruction
    • The real threats to our liberty and survival
    • Avoiding the abyss of conspiracy theories
    • The difference between a legal system and a fantasy novel
    • What’s a conspiracy and what’s just common garden variety corruption?
    • Unpredictability, humility and an emerging anthropandemic
    • The trilemma – climate change, economic collapse, and rising fascism
    • Happy New Normal for the decade ahead
    • Fires, liars and climate deniers
    • The race to the bottom in australian politics
    • Talking about lock-on devices – an article in ‘The Conversation’
    • The Ponzi scheme is teetering
    • Regenerative culture a key part of the blockade experience
    • Staying sane in the late Anthropocene
    • Extinction Rebellion
    • Major parties have failed on climate, it’s time to rebel.
    • Elections In The Late Anthropocene
    • It is the Greens that are defeating the Nats and it’s all about your preferences
    • Australia’s powerhouse of democracy and innovation is in the Northern Rivers
    • Is identity politics a problem for the left?
    • The climate emergency and the awful state of Australian politics
    • Liberty, freedom and civil rights? Do any of us understand these things anymore.
    • Democracy and rights under threat in corporate police state
    • The forest wars are back, time to mobilise
    • …more commentary
  • Workshops
    • Newkind Festival: Australia’s masterclass for social change
    • Earth laws & regional community environmentalism
    • Greens. Reboot. Future. A weekend of great speakers and big topics
    • Stop CSG Sydney – talk by Aidan Ricketts 25/07/14
    • …more workshops
  • News & Events
    • The lucky country is fast becoming a crime scene
    • Gas body fired up over methane leaks
    • Contaminated sites – CSG/LNG
    • Extreme coal in the UK
    • Activists efforts rewarded in Vanuatu
    • …more news & events
  • Media
    • A Flood of Emotions – Sydney Ideas Event
    • Participatory democracy in the COVID era – SCU podcast
    • Activism educator Aidan Ricketts explains how and why protests can be peaceful
    • Bob Brown Is Taking “Shocking” Anti-Protest Laws To The High Court
    • Anti protest laws could arrest nannas, seize tractors
    • “They blinked first”
    • Colin Barnett quick to protest against ‘activism degrees’ – The Australian, 16/10/2014
    • ‘Degrees in activism’ put brake on growth – The Australian, 15/10/2014
    • Magistrate throws out vexatious police case against CSG protesters
    • Outrage over school PR ‘by stealth’- The Northern Star
    • CSG clash a certainty
    • Communities use new tactics
    • Gas group attacks lecturer
    • …more media
  • Activist Resources
    • The Activists’ Handbook
    • The ‘How To Guide’ for declaring your community gasfield free
    • Direct Action and the CSG-Free Community Strategy: an activist training resource
    • Planning and Mapping your Campaign – a guide for local action groups
    • …more resources
  • Reviews
    • The Ecologist review
    • Resurgence review
    • Chain Reaction review
    • Plan to Win review

Report from the National Toxics Network – April, 2013

On July 29, 2013 · Leave a Comment · In Acitvist resources

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The death of a thousand cuts: using multiple tactics to overwhelm your opponents

On January 17, 2013 · Leave a Comment · In Acitvist resources

Tactics are like the fireworks of your campaign, they can be fun, attract a lot of attention and if you are lucky they may make a sizeable bang. The idea that you may have to defeat your opponent by a death of a thousand cuts is a recurring theme in activism. So you may find it useful to deploy multiple tactics simultaneously. I call this ‘lighting spot fires under your opponent”. I call these tactics spot fires because on their own they may not be all that useful in achieving your main goal, but as a strategic tool for exhausting your opponent they can be very effective. I am not suggesting any dishonesty either, these tactics such as activating complaint procedures are usually genuine tactics for seeking greater accountability, and should be based on bona fide concerns, it’s just that you may otherwise have discarded them as unlikely to yield positive results, but when you realise that they have a substantive value as well as a distraction value, they take on a whole new value. The message here, is to be very resourceful in taking stock of what tactics are available to you, and do not be too quick to discard possible options.

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The ‘How To Guide’ for declaring your community gasfield free

On June 5, 2012 · Leave a Comment · In Acitvist resources

This practical guide from CSG Free Northern Rivers walks you through the steps needed to become a gasfield free community.

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Organising for community resistance to CSG

On May 23, 2012 · 1 Comment · In Acitvist resources

Download the pdf (1.8mb) for use by your local action group. Please credit Aidan Ricketts for his original content and advise the audience to purchase The Activists’ Handbook at https://aidanricketts.com

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Direct Action and the CSG-Free Community Strategy: an activist training resource

On May 14, 2012 · Leave a Comment · In Acitvist resources

A new and powerful tactic for CSG is the idea of creating gasfield-free areas enforced by community action.

Download the pdf (1.1mb) for use by your local action group. Please credit Aidan Ricketts for his original content and […]

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Planning and Mapping your Campaign – a guide for local action groups

On March 6, 2012 · Leave a Comment · In Acitvist resources

This presentation is intended to help local action groups that are part of the wider CSG campaign plan their campaigns and campaign strategies.

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Empowerment and Personal Sustainability – avoiding burnout and keeping your group afloat.

On February 29, 2012 · Leave a Comment · In Acitvist resources

Have you ever dreamed of moving house, having a child, studying for a degree or getting a new job, and later found yourself there? Envisioning social change works the same way, it starts with a dream, is informed by practicality and given life by living it. Envisioning is far more sustaining and positive than focussing upon what you oppose.

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The life cycle of activists

On February 28, 2012 · Leave a Comment · In Acitvist resources

Recently I was providing a community activism consultancy for a group of residents threatened by sea level rise on Australia’s east coast. Whilst I was helping them with their campaign mapping processes one of the residents also took time to ask me, “What is your interest in coming here and helping us, why are you doing this?” almost as if he was suspicious that I must have another motive.

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Social Movements and the Role of Activists

On February 26, 2012 · Leave a Comment · In Acitvist resources

Created for the Huon Valley Environment Centre, this presentation looks at the life cycle of social movements.

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