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

Study activism and count it towards your degree.

On August 20, 2019 · Leave a Comment · In News & Events

Public Interest Advocacy (PIA) (LAW 10160)

My university–accredited activist training course is on again this December, 2019. It’s based on my book The Activists Handbook. It runs as a 5 day workshop at the Gold Coast campus of SCU, adjacent to Coolangatta Airport.

If you are a uni student (any uni […]

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Study Activism and count it toward your degree!

On September 5, 2017 · Leave a Comment · In News & Events

This one week intensive course in Public Interest Advocacy is run by Southern Cross University and it may count toward your degree. Click on the link for details. 

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Greens. Reboot. Future. A weekend of great speakers and big topics.

On September 9, 2014 · Leave a Comment · In News & Events, Training workshops

Reboot is for anyone asking big questions about what’s wrong with our society and what we, together, can do about it. The Greens are excited to bring together great speakers and big topics and want you to join in. Help us maintain our grassroots democratic approach to social change and develop our principles of peace, sustainability and social justice.

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Bentley Blockade: mining vs democracy

On May 7, 2014 · 6 Comments · In Campaigns, Commentary

What an inspiring beacon of local democracy the Bentley blockade has turned out to be.

Like any conflict there is the immediate issues and then there are the wider ramifications. What appears on the surface to be simply a dispute about a speculative gas explorer gaining access to a drilling site is […]

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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.”

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16 Nov 2013 – Bentley, NSW – NVDA Workshop

On November 15, 2013 · Leave a Comment · In News & Events, Training workshops

Aidan Ricketts is an experienced social and environmental activist as well as a prominent activism educator, academic and writer. Aidan has written for many academic journals and is author of “The Activists’ Handbook”. He is also a lecturer with the School of Law and Justice at Southern Cross University.

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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 […]

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Finding New Ways to Protect Our Local Ecosystems

On September 4, 2013 · Leave a Comment · In News & Events, Training workshops

This workshop offers a unique opportunity to hear from activists and lawyers, from Australia, the USA and Ecuador who are using new organising frameworks to successfully protect their natural and human communities.

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Study community activism this summer at Byron Bay – 2013

On August 29, 2013 · Leave a Comment · In News & Events, Training workshops

Southern Cross University is proud to offer this ground breaking course in Public Interest Advocacy and social change activism as part of its innovative Byron Bay Summer Law School initiative.

The unit “Public Interest Advocacy” is […]

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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.

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We say to the people who want to expaned coalmines, you are killing our kids.

The lucky country is fast becoming a crime scene

On August 14, 2013 · Leave a Comment · In Multimedia, News & Events

Lock The Gate is very proud and excited to be launching this stunning short video that is a teaser for the release of their two ground-breaking new films: Undermining Australia and Fractured Country.

The two documentaries capture in stark terms the personal heartache of Australians whose […]

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Destroying the Joint? – The Melbourne Writers Festival

On July 23, 2013 · Leave a Comment · In News & Events

Sunday 25 Aug 2013 at 04.00 pm

More than 28,000 self-proclaimed Destroyers have ‘liked’ Destroy the Joint – a Facebook page that ‘shines a light on sexism and misogyny.’ While social media may provide a platform for participative activism, social commentator Jane Caro, comedian Stella Young, and activist Aidan Ricketts join Sushi Das from The Age to ponder […]

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Digging a Hole – The Melbourne Writers Festival

On July 23, 2013 · Leave a Comment · In News & Events

Sunday 25 August 2013 at 11.30 am

Adele Ferguson, Aidan Ricketts, David McKnight

Once Australia grew rich on the sheep’s back, now rocks and minerals carry the economy. It’s no secret that mining has a major impact on the […]

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Action against Metgasco drilling at Glenugie, NSW

Stokers Siding Direct Action Workshop

On June 24, 2013 · Leave a Comment · In News & Events, Training workshops

When: Sat July 13th, 2013, 11.30am – 4pm
Where: Stokers Siding Community Hall
With: Aidan Ricketts (author of The Activists Handbook) & Simon Clough (Lismore Shire Councillor)

$10 / $5 concession – Bookings essential.
Book and pay online via bank transfer at

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Tara Surge

On May 11, 2013 · Leave a Comment · In Campaigns, News & Events

Lock the Gate and Stop CSG Tara presents…

TARA SURGE

May 20th-25th

Stop CSG Tara has been forced to take action against QGC/BG Group after continued mishandling of residents legitimate concerns regarding health and environmental authority breaches. Our actions will include gas field tours […]

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