Social Movement Appreciation Project
In our rapidly destabilising world, it's clear that nothing will get better without large numbers of people working together. But social movements remain mysterious and under-studied creatures: the Social Movement Appreciation Project aims to shine a warm and loving light on today's many efforts at collective agency and system transformation.
Episodes
18 episodes
Build the Lifehouse! Mutual care, movements and spiritual politics
One of my favourite interviews! I sit down with Adam Greenfield, activist and author of the book Lifehouse, for a deep discussion of his work, its underpinnings and its implications.His book explores anarchist succes...
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Season 5
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Episode 1
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1:45:02
Care and critique in Kollapscamp
Kollapscamp may well turn out to be a significant moment in movement history, with the climate scene evolving into new forms to meet the new realities of ‘long emergency’. At the same time – and very much relatedly – the camp was a physical and...
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Season 4
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Episode 3
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1:22:34
Flooded People UK
The water is coming. By 2050 8 million homes in England will be at risk of flooding - that’s *one in four*! But for hundreds of UK communities this existential threat has already arrived.Flooded People UK is an innovative organising pro...
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Season 4
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Episode 2
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1:00:24
What is Kollapscamp
Collapse – what’s the pitch?!Kollapscamp was a summer gathering of 900 people in Brandenburg, Germany. It has clear roots in the climate movement, but represents a very novel tendency within – or break from – that movement. The key shift...
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Season 4
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Episode 1
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37:33
Western Sahara and how to create activists
Benjamin and Sanna spent three years cycling around the world to spread the word about the Western Sahara: the world’s largest remaining colony, the last such project in Africa, and a weirdly (but not accidentally) under-covered topic. Tune in ...
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Season 3
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Episode 6
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54:32
Les Résistantes: the trailblazer for European organising
Les Résistantes was a beacon of joyful social movement ambition. Something like 10,000 people came together representing struggles from across not only France but Europe and beyond. An activist event of this scale and substance must be seen to ...
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Season 3
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Episode 5
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49:52
The French anti-nuclear movement
You might be as surprised as me to learn the anti-nuclear fight is one of the biggest social movement scenes in France. I sat down with Pauline Boyer to learn about France’s current nuclear crossroads and its peculiar economic, cultural and geo...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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57:47
The Movement Hub, Greenpeace and NGOs
In an age of sinister international connivance, have you ever wondered where *our* shadowy networks are? Wonder no longer!Ok not really, but the Movement Hub is a rare and brilliant case of social movement internationalism: alongside muc...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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1:06:29
Soulèvements de la Terre and the Battle of Sainte-Soline
Soulèvements could lay a claim to be the hottest eco-action group not just in France but all of Europe. Their approach of bundling local environmental struggles into bigger efforts has paid off in several actions with numbers in the tens of tho...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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41:18
Anti-fascist football and the Slovak climate movement
For our first entry at Les Résistantes I talk to Mikhail about his activist career, which begins with the onset of far-right violence in early-2000s Slovakia, runs though the world of football ultras, and ultimately brings him to the climate mo...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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1:18:28
Fascism and Fossil Free London
Robin Wells, director of Fossil Free London, joins me to reflect on Green Gathering and the movement evolutions on view there: namely the increasing relevance of fascism to the climate movement, and broader frame/vibe-shift towards a *collapse*...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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52:26
Activism since the 80s and intentional communities
Clifford offers an awe-inspiring tour through four decades of change-making. Starting in Greenham Common in 1981 and running through the Miners’ Strike, the anti-roads movement, Earth First, to Extinction Rebellion and beyond.This wide s...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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1:01:42
Hospicing Modernity and Transformative Adaptation
Coming from a teepee in a mysterious village at the heart of Green Gathering, Paul Mather tells us the story behind this congregation of yurts and ideas: a combination of climate collapse and countercultural experimentation.But the ‘Tran...
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56:53
Climate Camp Ireland
Climate Camp Scotland is one of many kindred efforts. Douglas sits down with organisers Emma and Eimear to learn that Climate Camp Ireland is very similar in some respects (organising culture, general strategy) and very different in others (pol...
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1:02:12
Nuclear weapons, families and community gardens
Movements bring people together, and some people bring movements together. Lynne Jamieson is a Professor of Sociology of Families and Relationships at the University of Edinburgh, and president of the British Sociological Association. She’s als...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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56:03
Reflections: somatic workshop
In which I reflect on Henna-Elise’s workshop: The Body as Ally: Building Collective Power and Resilience in Climate Justice Work.I try to cast a bit more light on what somatic practices can look like, why they work, and how this success ...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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13:14
Somatics and Justice
What happens when you ask people to embody climate change? Can embodiment practices help us prevent burnout and channel our values? What do these practices look like in practice? And why does the world seem to resist us maintaining them?...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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46:51
Climate Camp Scotland
What is Climate Camp Scotland actually like? What’s the strategic thinking behind the whole camping thing? How is the European climate movement doing generally? Is climate still a relevant framing in the context of a polycrisis and a genocide? ...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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1:06:04
