I’ve got the power! (and so do you)

In the first week of class for my MA in Media, Campaigning and Social Change, one of my tutors said in passing, laughing but also serious, "you'll realise soon that everything is about power!" At that point, I had no idea what she meant, and figured I had a lot to learn. Now, half way through …

The Beauty of Concrete: Ending Loneliness

Most of us were probably unaware of Jo Cox, Labour MP for Batley & Spen, until her tragic death in June 2016, a week before the EU referendum. In the six months since then, she's become a household name, remembered for her passion, integrity and good will. One of Jo's legacies is her campaign to tackle …

All is fair in love and war. Or is it?

https://twitter.com/AlabedBana/status/808599057794998272 Bana al-Abed, a 7-year-old Syrian girl, has used her  Twitter account to bring attention to the suffering of the people of Aleppo. With the help of her mother, an English teacher, Bana has tweeted about airstrikes, hunger, injury and death in the sieged Syrian city. The account quickly came under criticism. Although queries about the …

Pope Francis and the Environment

Pope Francis has earned himself a reputation as a rather unconventional pope. His comments about women, homosexuality and contraception, to name but a few, have set him apart from his predecessors. He has also committed himself to championing the environment - unchartered territory for Roman Pontiffs until now. Laudato Si' (Praise be to you) - subtitled …

A Theory of Change for 2016

At the end of every year, people reflect "wow, some pretty huge stuff happened this year." 2015 witnessed the Charlie Hebdo shootings and the 13 November Paris attacks, the acceleration of the refugee crisis and the death of Freddie Gray, which fueled the Black Lives Matter campaign. 2014 saw the outbreak of Ebola, the mystery …

Clarity in Campaigning

A fascinating visit to Friends of the Earth as part of my MA in Media, Campaigning and Social change gave me lots to think about. We heard presentations about fracking, Brexit and media engagement, as well as learning about their campaigning approach more generally. One thing that really stuck with me, however, was something very simple. …

Violence in Campaigning: a negative or a necessity?

A couple of weeks ago, I visited the Museum of London as part of my MA in Media, Campaigning and Social Change, where we were fortunate enough to be given access to archives from the Suffragette movement. We looked at scrap books, newspaper clippings, flyers and handwritten letters written by imprisoned Suffragettes to family members. …

#DontScreenUsOut

  The Don't Screen Us Out campaign protests the UK government's proposal to introduce cfDNA screening, which would allow pregnant women to determine with more than 99% accuracy whether their unborn child will have Down's syndrome. This is projected to result in a significant increase in the number of children with Down's syndrome 'screened out' …