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Sun 21 Jun 2020 10:23AM

How can we 'tell the story' of a different, more participatory democracy?

M Maria Public Seen by 45

Hello all, hope you're having a great weekend.

On Friday you should all have received an email from the A/UK team inviting you to two Zoom gatherings this week - tomorrow's watch-party of Out Of The Ruins and Thursday's co-creator call. If you for some reason haven't received the email, here's the url: https://mailchi.mp/df796261200c/join-next-weeks-co-creator-zoom-call (subscribe in the left corner of the page).

I thought I'd give some extra encouragement to join tomorrow's call / watch-party as I think the documentary will give some excellent context to something we've often discussed here - how can we 'tell the story' of a different, more participatory democracy?

Out Of The Ruins is part of a series, titled All Hands On, of short documentary films. Here's the series trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT_nNaI4rzM and the website https://www.allhandsondoc.com/ gives more content. The purpose of the series is to show radical democracy in action and that we citizens deliver excellent outcomes on even the most complex political issues.

An important narrative to get across and out in the mainstream. Will it inspire more people to wake up to and to exercise their political power? Is telling the story enough, and if not what must go along with or follow it?

Here's the link to register: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/out-of-the-ruins-documentary-zoom-watch-party-tickets-109535050284. It is tomorrow, 5.00-6.30pm.

Look forward to seeing you on Zoom and hopefully continue the conversation here afterwards.

AC

Alex Cooper Mon 22 Jun 2020 8:05AM

Sorry can't make that time.

I've seen the film and others from All Hands On - it's on my "tincan.tv" youtube playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoHqbWBWvJyN25QiZ2Ipr31KFLP5X-pjn (general democratic reform theme, various sources) (Like the Preferential Voting "ad" from the Australien Government)

This TED talk may also be of interest - https://youtu.be/C-bcjsXkG1Q

M

Maria Thu 25 Jun 2020 10:37AM

Hi Alex,

Thank you. This reminds me to share the tincan.tv playlist on the A/UK (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWQbcQdBUmBvsP7i2NqC_RA) and The Elephant (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0gQQemO4-7sMSydUC6aBEg) youtube channels. Perhaps there are videos of ours that you'd like to share on the tincan.tv list. Maybe you'll also have ideas how we would expand / improve our youtube content? Yet time to do that is challenging at the moment...

AC

Alex Cooper Fri 26 Jun 2020 7:04AM

Thanks Maria, I appreciate that time is always at a premium, but this is just a thought for future content maybe ... ?

I love the in depth conversations with committed people who are dedicated to bringing about change, however these are mainly for people who are already inside "the tent". There is also a place for 30 second, 1 minute and 2 minute videos that draw people into the tent - teasers or infomercials. (I also appreciate that these can take longer to plan, produce and edit - if only there was more time and money!)

M

Maria Thu 2 Jul 2020 12:51PM

Yes, I'd been wanting to make videos like this since the beginning. Not sure if we didn't because there was not time or resources or because the exact message to convey was not clear. Both probably. Now might be a better time. I'd love for the A/UK youtube channel to be integrated with our sub action groups. An introduction video for each group may be feasible. Thanks for your feedback Alex 🙏

IA

Indra Adnan Sat 27 Jun 2020 11:31AM

Nice idea. Let' do it! Alex do you have time to even sketch our what the subjects might be? Alex Kennedy is also working on a bigger picture intro - these two would complement each other very well.

AC

Alex Cooper Mon 29 Jun 2020 7:20PM

Thanks Indra, I'll give this some thought, but I guess I'm driving at ways to get people to stop, think and engage with others to "nudge the future" in a better direction.

Here's something that could be done in 15 seconds:


Full face speaking directly to camera: "A friend once said to me 'Things are the way they are, and there isn't anything you can do to change them'. Thank goodness there are people who think differently"

Then quick flashes of images of historical and modern figures who have brought about great changes. They don't necessarily have to be all political, but just as a "for example" Emily Pankhurst, Rosa Parks, Tiananmen Tank Man, Malala Yousafzai, Greta Thunberg and last silhouette with question mark ... and "you"?

Then finishing message - "There is an Alternative future, if you play your part"


It's the bare bones of an idea and probably needs to be "workshopped" to get reactions and refine the details

I'm sure others would have ideas about specific policies or campaigns, but the first step is bringing more people into the conversation and providing hope that change is possible ...

AC

Alex Cooper Mon 29 Jun 2020 8:48PM

I wasn't looking for this deliberately, but it is a great example of what can be done in a short video -

M

Maria Thu 2 Jul 2020 12:55PM

Awesome! This must be a Nordic project (judging by this woman's accent!), will check it out.