Aidan Ricketts
  • Home
  • Commentary
    • 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

A Flood of Emotions – Sydney Ideas Event

On May 16, 2022 · Leave a Comment · In Media

The following podcast/video was hosted by Sydney Ideas on 21 April 2022 in collaboration with the Sydney Environment Institute. It features:

Maddy Braddon, community organiser Professor James Bennett-Levy, mental health expert Aidan Ricketts, academic and environmental activist Samuel Savage, emergency services coordinator Jeanti St Clair, journalism lecturer and storycatcher Moderator: Dr […]

Continue Reading →
SCU podcast on soundcloud

Participatory democracy in the COVID era – SCU podcast

On September 23, 2021 · Leave a Comment · In Media

??

Southern Cross University · Lockdown protests and the echo chamber of social media: a chat with Aidan Ricketts

Continue Reading →

Screen shot from The Conversation article: ‘Lock-on devices’ are a symbol of non-violent protest, but they might soon be banned in Queensland

Talking about lock-on devices – an article in The Conversation

On October 2, 2019 · Leave a Comment · In Commentary, Media

As a tool of non-violent civil-disobedience, using “lock-on” devices avoids risking group stand-offs with police, which can end up worse than rugby scrums. These devices certainly cause inconvenience, but it’s difficult to imagine how a person with one or both hands locked into a device could be anything but non-violent.

[…]

Continue Reading →

Algorithms of Change – Politics in the Pub

On May 4, 2017 · Leave a Comment · In Commentary, Media

Continue Reading →

The future of Capitalism, Democracy and Activism in Australia

On July 19, 2016 · Leave a Comment · In Commentary, Media

Politics in the Pub: 24 February 2016.

Continue Reading →

Anti protest laws could arrest nannas, seize tractors

On March 11, 2016 · Leave a Comment · In Media

By Melissa Gulbin. Reprinted from the Northern Star, 10th Mar 2016.

A RAMPED-UP anti-protest bill proposed by the Baird government this week could see the forcible removal and mass arrests of Knitting Nannas and the seizure of bike locks – even tractors – under mere suspicion they could be used […]

Continue Reading →

Bob Brown Is Taking “Shocking” Anti-Protest Laws To The High Court

On March 11, 2016 · Leave a Comment · In Media

By Thom Mitchell. Reprinted from New Matilda on 10 March, 2016.

Former Australian Greens leader Bob Brown has launched a High Court challenge to Tasmania’s anti-protest laws – labelled “shocking” by a United Nations official – arguing that they breach the right to freedom of political communication implied in the Australian […]

Continue Reading →

Activism Leader: Bentley Blockade will go down in history

On November 4, 2015 · Leave a Comment · In Media

By Hamish Broome. Reprinted from The Northern Star, 4 Nov 2015.

WITH the departure of Metgasco from the region, the Bentley blockade will assume a permanent place in the history books, according to activism academic and gasfields free organiser Aidan Ricketts.

Mr Ricketts, who is […]

Continue Reading →
Aidan NR march 1 Nov 2014

“They blinked first” – Speech at Northern Rivers Gasfield-Free march 1st Nov 2014

On November 4, 2014 · Leave a Comment · In Media

They blinked first. And that doesn’t happen very often. They usually make sure they have a symbolic victory over social movements. It is very rare for them to back down in the heat of the moment because they have been overwhelmed but we saw that happen.

Continue Reading →

Colin Barnett quick to protest against ‘activism degrees’ – The Australian, 16/10/2014

On October 16, 2014 · Leave a Comment · In Media

Aidan Ricketts, a law academic and an activist against coal-seam gas, runs the Southern Cross course. He said it wasn’t about teaching people how to mobilise, but about teaching how power ­operated in democracies, the powers available to citizens and the legal implications of different courses of action.

Continue Reading →

‘Degrees in activism’ put brake on growth – The Australian, 15/10/2014

On October 15, 2014 · Leave a Comment · In Media

Reprinted from The Australian (paywalled), 15 Oct, 2014.

 AUSTRALIA’S largest resources companies have warned green activists campaigning for an end to fossil fuels are destroying jobs and fast becoming one of the greatest challenges to growth.

Andrew Smith, the chairman of the Australian arm of Anglo-Dutch company Shell, yesterday […]

Continue Reading →

Show up at Bentley

On April 11, 2014 · Leave a Comment · In Campaigns, Media

“We live across the road on a farm. If it is turned into a gasfield we will get really sick and so will our animals. We don’t want to get sick.”

Continue Reading →
Nannas say No to CSG at Glenugie. Photo by Jimmy Malecki

Magistrate throws out vexatious police case against CSG protesters

On November 5, 2013 · Leave a Comment · In Media, News & Events

AIDAN RICKETTS: I end up asking the question, you know, someone, presumably in Sydney, was so desperate to secure a conviction in this case that they pulled out all stops, decided to use a previously unheard of charge and proceed through successive prosecution. I mean, I think the big burning political question […]

Continue Reading →
Stay Calm, fel empowered

Stay calm, feel empowered

On August 17, 2013 · Leave a Comment · In Campaigns, Media, News & Events

Aidan Ricketts – morning speech at Glenugie peaceful blockade from David Lowe.

Continue Reading →
Outrage over school PR ‘by stealth’.33 AM

Outrage over school PR ‘by stealth’- The Northern Star

On August 8, 2013 · Leave a Comment · In Media

Continue Reading →
← Previous Entries
  • Buy The Activists’ Handbook

    Buy The Activists Handbook by Aidan Ricketts

    Only $28 with free postage

  • Recent Posts

    • New year, a time to embrace the uncertainty of it all
    • We could be non-binary about a lot more than gender
    • Adaptive resilience vs safety paternalism
    • A Flood of Emotions – Sydney Ideas Event
    • Left wing, right wing? What just happened to politics?
    • Tweets by @rickettsa
  • I like these sites

    • Global Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement
  • Community Organisations

    • Code Green Tasmania
    • CSG Free Northern Rivers
    • Friends of the Earth Melbourne
    • Generation Alpha
    • Huon Valley Environment Centre
    • Lock the Gate Alliance
    • Nature Conservation Council NSW
    • North Coast Environment Council
    • North East Forest Alliance
    • Plan to Win
    • Rainforest Information Centre
    • Save our Foreshore
    • Still Wild Still Threatened
    • The Change Agency
    • The Wilderness Society
  • Browse

    • The Activists Handbook
    • Commentary
    • Training workshops
    • News & Events
    • Media
    • Acitvist resources
    • Reviews
    • Consultancy Services

Aidan Ricketts

  • About Aidan
  • The Activists’ Handbook
  • Consultancy Services
  • Contact
  • Site Map
© 1999 - 2017 Aidan Ricketts
Platform by PageLines