RESOURCES FROM VIRTUAL PROGRESS 2020
Australian Progress held Virtual Progress 2020 on June 23-24. It was a rapid response online conference to respond to the intersecting crises of the pandemic, racial injustice, rising inequality and the climate crisis. The conference included 1,600 participants, 225 speakers from 13 countries, 5,000+ live chat messages and more than 60 sessions exploring everything from First Nations self-determination to racial justice, disability justice, health, economic fairness, the climate crisis and so much more.
Thank you to all our community who attended, to the presenters who shared resources, and to our friends at The Commons Social Change Library for collating the information and resources shared. If you presented at Virtual Progress 2020 and would like to add to this collection, please get in touch.
Resources
Organising in this Moment: Marshall Ganz at Virtual Progress 2020
Marshall Ganz is a world-renowned expert in community organising and social change. He is the Senior Lecturer in Leadership, Organizing, and Civil Society at Harvard University, and is best known for developing Public Narrative and the teaching of Story of Self, Us and Now.
Marshall began organising in the civil rights movement joining the Mississippi Freedom Summer as a college student, then spent many years organising alongside Cesar Chavez as Organising Director at United Farm Workers. He has four decades experience in community and union organising and has trained thousands of grassroots organisers. He was also a key part of the Obama 2008 campaign. His most well-known book is Why David Sometimes Wins: leadership, organization and strategy in the California farm worker movement.
How to run virtual conferences and retreats
There’s lots of guides to running online meetings but what about larger, more ambitious events? Australian Progress share lessons from a four day fellowship retreat and a two day conference.
First Nations people are on the front line of both the health crisis and over-policing response to lockdown, because of systemic racism in the health and justice systems.
Donnella Mills, Chair of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, opened Virtual Progress 2020 sharing how First Nations organisations and communities have led the way in keeping people safe during the COVID-19 crisis.
Carly Stanley and Keenan Mundine, Co-Directors of Deadly Connections, an organisation working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, family and communities impacted by the criminal justice and child protection systems, spoke about the impacts of over-policing and incarceration of First Nations people.
Imagining a Future We Can Create Together
Part 1
This moment in time has once again exposed the ongoing systemic issues faced by First Nations people and communities and thrust First Nations justice into the national conversation. While the #BLM protests in the US after the murder of George Floyd sparked global attention, the campaign to Stop Black Deaths in Custody has a long history here in Australia. This plenary panel explored systemic issues in the justice system, such as over policing of First Nations communities and historical responses to deaths in custody, alongside a vision for decarceration and key demands to stop black deaths in custody.
Part 2
This moment has altered what’s possible. Our ability to create a better future relies on the strength of our ideas, and the power of our collaborations. Hear five big ideas for how we can work together to rebuild our economy, our democracy and create a safe climate for all.
When debt doesn’t matter: Spending to build an economy for the people
In May, the federal government discovered a $60 billion accounting mistake in their JobKeeper forecasting — one they quickly reframed as a fortuitous budget saving. But is national debt something to be afraid of, or just one big fiction? Per Capita’s Emma Dawson says it’s the latter, and that our fear of long term debt is unfounded. Emma will join international guest Stephanie Kelton, professor of economics and public policy at Stony Brook University and thought-leader on Modern Monetary Theory, for a discussion about the economic landscape we’ve found ourselves in, why our fear of deficit is holding us back and their own visions for a bold new economy that centres investment in people, public services and sustainable industry.Michele O’Neil, President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), shared behind-the-scenes lessons from the campaign to secure JobKeeper in response to widespread job losses as the pandemic took hold in March. Learn why sustained, cross-sector organising was pivotal in securing the win, and hear the ACTU’s ambitious plan to shift power back into the hands of workers as we emerge from lockdown.
Climate and Disaster Capitalism
While we all stay home to keep our communities safe, corporations and right wing figures are attempting to use this crisis to further their agenda. From corporate bailouts to stamping out protests, to rushing through new fossil fuel projects, hear from Tadzio Mueller, Antony Loewenstein, Larissa Baldwin and Amanda McKenzie about the risks of climate and disaster capitalism, and how we can work together to undermine their attempts at cashing in on this crisis.
All in For A Feminist Recovery
Hear from these powerhouse women on their vision for a feminist response to the crises we face.
Khara Jabola Carolus is the executive Director if the Hawai’i State Commission on the Status of Women, and will share their feminist economic recovery plan for COVID-19 ‘Building Bridges, Not Walking on Backs’, centering gender in the nation’s rising racial and economic justice movements.
Jo Schofield is the National President of the newly formed United Workers Union, Australia’s biggest blue-collar union, representing many workers on the frontline of this crisis including childhood educators, farm workers, cleaners, hospitality workers and people working in warehouses and supermarket supply.
Tuisina Ymania Brown is a survivor of institutionalised discrimination, spousal gender based violence, racial profiling, and trans violence, discrimination and persecution. She is a proud faafafine and trans woman of colour from Samoa. She is the current Co-Secretary General of ILGA World, Co-Chair of the International Trans Fund and is on the Advisory Boards for Interpride Copenhagen2021.
Dr Jackie Huggins AM is a Bidjara (central Queensland) and Birri-Gubba Juru (North Queensland) woman from Queensland who has worked in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs for over forty years and was the former co-chair of National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples.
Noelene Nabulivou is a longtime feminist grassroots organiser and educator, feminist researcher, policy analyst, activist, advocate and movement-builder in Fiji for over 35 years. Noelene is the co-founder of Diverse Voices and Action (DIVA) for Equality, a feminist Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (LBT) collective, working on issues of human rights and social justice, including sexual reproductive and health rights, ecological justice and feminist social organising.
Lessons from the Disability Justice Movement
‘Ableism does not exist on its own. It is also a function of racism, classism, queerphobia, transphobia and many other bigotries… When we think about -isms, we think about bigotry, discrimination, we have to look at just how tied together to those institutions ableism is.’ – Imani Barbarin
Imani Barbarin, Damian Griffis and Kera Sherwood-O’Regan opened the second day of Virtual Progress 2020, bringing expertise in campaigning and online organising, and shared lessons from leadership of the disability justice movement.This crowdsourced list of disability justice resources came together on the second day of Virtual Progress 2020. This list includes resources mentioned by presenters in the Lessons from the Disability Justice Movement plenary and Deconstructing Ableism in Progressive Movements workshop. Many other resources were suggested by participants in the event chat stream and in a Google Doc started by the Commons librarians. If you have additions or updates to this list please contact the Commons.
