Tag: Activism
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Who decides who gets the money?
Guerrilla Foundation is the rebellious teenager of European philanthropy. Many foundations avoid uncomfortable questions around power; Guerrilla Foundation, which backs activists and grassroots movements around Europe, is out to “radically and deliberately redistribute wealth” – and to have some fun with it along the way. Until 2022, however, its grantmaking process wasn’t all that unusual. A…
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A different centre of gravity
When things feel fragile and frightening – when even PR emails refer to “this clusterfuck of a year” – it’s hard to know where to focus your energy. One answer comes from something the comedian/musician/actor Tim Minchin said not long ago. Explaining why he had switched off from social media and breaking news updates, he…
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The addictive curb-cut effect
I recently wrote about the rise of online ‘body doubling’ – websites where you meet other people on a video call for an hour or so, then get on with your own work, silently accompanied by someone else doing the same. These spaces seem to be particularly valued by people with ADHD, who often struggle…
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Donations for disruption
Want to do your bit for the climate? Donating to activists may offer more bang for your buck than buying carbon offsets. That’s the conclusion of research group Giving Green: even their conservative estimates suggest advocacy organisations are “much more cost-effective than even best offsets”, they say.
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The gift of rest
The more you do, the more difference you can make. Or so it seems, in a world that prizes productivity. How could it not be true, when every conference, every campaign, every keynote speaker tells us we must take action, urgently? It’s counter-intuitive, then, to do less in an effort to make the world a…
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Despair as a teddy bear
Bad things seem to pile up: the slow grind of dishonest politics, the sharp horror of war, the unfathomable end of life on earth barely registering on our front pages. You want to make the world a little bit better, but amid all of this, is there any point? Much has been written already about…
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Speaking up
The first speaker’s voice barely carries above the hum of the crowd. Even with a microphone, it takes a while for the 200 or so people gathered to notice she’s addressing them. When she’s done, others climb onto the fountain steps alone or in pairs, reading aloud from notes on their phones. Not understanding the…
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