Tips for Radicals
To help you searching the blog, I use the following tags to categorise posts:
- theory - ways of structuring the world
- strategy - plans to achieve the theories
- tools - specific ways to (help) achieve the strategy
- tips - advice that could help you in your life and action
- examples and analysis of existing campaigns
For more info, see the about this blog page.
Please send in your own blog posts, links, comments, or article ideas either as a submission or an ask - always welcome.
"if you don't have a strategy, you're part of someone else's strategy."
– a. toffler
"What can we do today, so that tomorrow we can do what we are unable to do today?"
– Paulo Freire
I also run a more scatter-shot blog full of incoherent rants and tumblr arguments. Sorry about that.
Planning
Communication (including social media and data visualisation)
Security and protest safety
Organising
Being a better person: personal development and dealing with privilege
Education and learning
Why brainstorming’s ineffective
Focusing in the age of distraction
Organise your own consent workshops
theory of change: my posts along with this LSE paper (focused on international development)
*** Beautiful Trouble — an online toolbox of tactics, principles and case studies drawn from decades of creative protest. EPIC RESOURCE! A tool made by Marian Dörk helps visualise the interconnectedness of the articles too - lovely!
Destructables — a cool resource for “projects of protest and creative dissent”, featuring advice ranging from crashing a conference to drilling open a lock.
The Edge Fund’s has collated some awesome resources from their members, covering topics from strategy to organising to action.
How to talk to a climate change denier
Social media
Theory: How content is really shared: close friends, not ‘influencers’
Theory: Five problems you face making your video “go viral”
Practice: Social Media Strategies for Advocacy and Targeted Communications — some how-tos, dos and don’ts for using social media as a campaigning tool (for NGOs largely but still useful!)
Data visualisation
The value of data visualisation
Drawing by numbers - wonderful site curating tools about data visualisation from the Tactical Tech Collective. Linking specifically to their tools page.
Fight the man and get away safely - useful tips for demos e.g. dearresting, breaking kettle
Tear Gas and Pepper Spray 101 — a zine from Occupy Oakland Medic Collective about dealing with these street blights.
How to muddy your tracks on the internet
Security in a box: tools and tactics for your digital security - from the lovely folk at the Tactical Tech Collective
School of Privacy — tumblr of online privacy tips and tools.
*** super useful *** SpeakSafe: Media Workers’ Toolkit for Safer Online and Mobile Practices — useful if you’re a journo/blogger that works with people whose security you want to protect. Covers emailing, online chat, WiFi safety, social networks and more.
Toward a Student Unionism: Explaining and Imagining Student Unions — a case for syndicalist student unions to “replace out-of-touch Student Governments and actually run the university in cooperation with other organized groups on campus”, along with strategy and tips for how to build them (written with an US focus but still relevant elsewhere)
How To Occupy — an Occupy-affiliated resources website, notably including A Toolkit to Occupy Everywhere.
Being a better person: personal development and dealing with privilege
sexism
- How to not be creepy
- Pervocracy: Consent culture
- The Pervocracy: How not to be creepy
- Doctor Nerdlove: Don’t be a creeper
- Girls Chase: How Not to be Creepy
- Schrödinger’s Rapist: or a guy’s guide to approaching strange women without being maced
- Dealing with creepiness
- Social skills non-autistic people need to learn
- Being an ally to a non-verbal/mute partner (a great tumblr in general about “alternative sex and relationships”)
Free text books and courses online
How to find textbooks online for free
critiquing Coursera and giving other free alternatives e.g. Khan Academy
Economics
Online University of the Left: Study Guides - on subjects like political theory and economics. The rest of the site has more resources.
Advocacy guides - on subjects like the World Bank or microfinance.
Short adventures into classical economics - 60 second videos voiced by David Mitchell on subjects like the invisible hand and rational choice theory. The rest of the OpenCulture site describes itself as “the best free cultural & educational media on the web”.
Econowhat? — loads of resources to support an online reading group, with the aim of getting to grips with the economics of the financial crisis.
Radical history and news
AnarchaLibrary - collection of anarchafeminist zines, articles and essays.
ZineLibrary.info - vast collection of radical (printable) zines.
The People’s Record - a brilliant “ongoing chronicle of communities of resistance around the world”.
