Movement building to strengthen democracy
Plus how social media and the emergence of AI will continue to shape our politics
1. What does it mean to build democracy from the ground up?
Democracy for Dinner had the great pleasure of joining our friends Sharon Fraser (clarioncall.com.au) and Polly Cameron (New Democracy Foundation and changepolitics.com.au) in a recent discussion exploring what it means to strengthen democracy in our lives and across systems.
In the latest Natter and Gnaw podcast we discuss what is working and what isn’t in advancing democracy, what the calls to action are, and where the opportunities lie for sustainable change.
In a fun and wide ranging conversation we touch on democratic process and systems as well the deeper human and community dimensions that are foundational to successful democracy.
As part of Clarion Calls podcast series on building grass roots movements for change, we also explore how we can build our efforts from small to collective action.
To jump straight to the episode follow these links:
To listen on Pocket Casts
To listen on Apple Podcasts
To listen at the Clarion Call website
2. Tik Tok democracy? How social media continues to shape our politics and how AI will make it worse
In our next occasional newsletter we will delve into the the unbreakable bind that is media, politics and democracy.
Borrowing from mid-century media theorists Neil Postman and Marshall McLuhan (via Sean Illing and Ezra Klein) the idea that the dominant form of media not only carries the message in a democratic system but also changes it - and changes us - is central to understanding our current democratic moment.
We unpack some ways that social media era has changed our politics over the last 10 years. And discuss that we may have already entered into yet another new era with the emergence of generative AI - likely to the biggest player in world media in the next 5 years.
Look out for it soon in your email, on Twitter or the Substack app.