ChangeMakers

Democracy is in trouble right now. In the US, Trump’s authoritarian impulses are closing over the checks and balances that used to make space for people to participate. In the UK the success of Reform in May’s local government elections reveal that people are increasingly seeing politics as elite sport - choosing to attack the system as a whole. In Australia, the success of One Nation in recent bi-elections suggests that it is also not immune from this anti-democratic movement.

In this chat with democracy academic Hahrie Han we explore this challenge, and some seeds of hope that are emerging at the local scale. Recorded ahead of the UCL Policy Lab’s Ecosystem Project gathering in May 2026 (where Hahie and Amanda are both speaking), they talk about source of hope that lie in the practices of a politics that can build spaces that can invite and explore people who are different, and have different opinions to work together.

Things might be grim, but we are never without power. This conversation seeks to make practical where collaboration across our differences can make a difference.

======

We talked with Hahrie back in 2019 - take a listen to it here: https://changemakerspodcast.org/hahrie-han-changemaker-chat/

For more on the UCL Ecosystem project, visit: https://ecosystem-project.ucl.ac.uk/

For more about Hahrie Han’s work (including her latest book Undivided and her many books on organising, people power and making change), visit: https://www.hahriehan.com/

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:
Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)
We have a brand new podcast called ChangeMakers Digest - co-hosted by Samuel Chu and Amanda Tattersall, take a listen: https://changemakerspodcast.org/category/episodes/digest/

You can keep up to date via:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcast
Blue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.social

For more on the books and Amanda’s writing, have a look at:
Amanda’s website - https://amandatattersall.com/
Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference - here and via Hardie Grant
People Power in Cities - here and via Oxford Uni Press
On Substack - https://substack.com/@amandatattersall
On Medium - https://amandatatts.medium.com/
And - her much earlier book about coalition building - Power in Coalition and via Cornell Uni Press

Amanda is on Socials here:
On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersall
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.social
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amanda.tattersall
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is this?

Today we are releasing a new podcast format on the ChangeMakers Channel - the ChangeMakers Digest where we take an issue in the news or that has grabbed our attention and try to make sense of it - "digesting" it - to draw out lessons and meaning for how we make change.

It is hosted by Amanda Tattersall with Samuel Chu, a long time US based community organiser.

Our aim is to release these episodes fortnightly. There is more about the digest on our website: https://changemakerspodcast.org/changemakers-digest/.

We are very keen to build a community where we extend the digesting to others making change. If you have ideas you would like us to discuss, or indeed would like to discuss with us send us an email at [email protected]. We are also keen to set up interactive digital spaces where we can keen this conversation going - if you have ideas for where that might work well, let us know.

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:
Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcast
Blue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.social

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:
Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcast
Blue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.social

For more about Samuel:
Personal site: https://www.samuelmchu.com
The Campaign for Hong Kong: https://www.thecampaignforhongkong.org
Democracy in Flight: https://www.democracyinflight.org
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuelmchu
Twitter/X: https://x.com/samuelmchu
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samuelmchu
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samuelmchu

For more about Amanda:
Personal site: https://amandatattersall.com/
On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersall
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.social
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, US politics has polarised sharply - with the rise of Trump and right-wing populism, but also a renewed class-based left around figures like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes and Zohran Mamdani.

Part of what has given rise to these candidates is a Democratic Socialist political movement - and a key part of that movement is the publication Jacobin, which has sought to teach and lead debate about radical class politics, reviving Marxist critiques of capitalism and socialist ideology.

In this chat, the founding editor of Jacobin, Bhaskar Sunkara, charts the history of the US democratic socialists and the role of Jacobin in particular. He unpacks the recent New York Mayoral Election campaign with Zohran Mamdani, exploring how the big but simple demands about free buses and rent freezes created a different imagination for what is possible from the state. He also shares a little about his upcoming book The Blueprint (with Mike Beggs and Ben Burgis), and some of the topics he will be talking about when he visits Australia in May and June 2026.

For more information and to buy tickets for Bhaskar's Australian speaking tour: https://www.search.org.au/bhaskar_sunkara_live_in_sydney_get_your_tickets_today

The Jacobin magazine is here.

Bhaskar's earlier book, The Socialist Manifesto, can be bought here.

Story Notes
For more on ChangeMakers check us out:
Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcast
Blue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.social

For more on the books and Amanda’s writing, have a look at:
Amanda’s website - https://amandatattersall.com/
Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference - here and via Hardie Grant
People Power in Cities - here and via Oxford Uni Press
On Substack - https://substack.com/@amandatattersall
On Medium - https://amandatatts.medium.com/
And - her much earlier book about coalition building - Power in Coalition and via Cornell Uni Press

Amanda is on Socials here:
On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersall
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.social
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Antoinette Lattouf not only fought and won a battle against the ABC - who unfairly dismissed her for sharing posts about the genocide in Gaza - but while she was doing that, she wrote a book about women who have fought and won across Australian history. Its called Women Who Win, and it was launched last week.

In this chat we unpack what she found about what it takes to win - reflecting on her journey and that of other women. We explore the kinds of qualities and insight the help us make change.

One of the great joys of this chat, and of Antoinette's book, is the vulnerability and honesty that she brings to thinking about change making. She calls on us to be bold, but never pretends that its easy. Instead, she shares some of the ways she held herself steady as she fought for the right to speak, and for a media landscape that respects difference and different ideas.

To find out more and get a copy of Antonette's magnificent book "Women Who Win" - visit the Penguin Random House website (or all good bookshops) - https://www.penguin.com.au/books/women-who-win-9781761355370.

You can also listen to Antoinette's podcast with Jan Fran "We used to be Journos" on ACAST here: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/we-used-to-be-journos.

You can find out more about Antonette via her website: https://antoinettelattouf.com/

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:
Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcast
Blue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.social

For more on the books and Amanda’s writing, have a look at:
Amanda’s website - https://amandatattersall.com/
Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference - here and via Hardie Grant
People Power in Cities - here and via Oxford Uni Press
On Substack - https://substack.com/@amandatattersall
On Medium - https://amandatatts.medium.com/
And - her much earlier book about coalition building - Power in Coalition and via Cornell Uni Press

Amanda is on Socials here:
On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersall
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.social
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amanda.tattersall

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rules and assumptions like economics are far from natural or neutral. They are written by a certain group of people and serve a particular set of interests. So what does it look like when a growing group of African women begin to disrupt these assumption by building approaches to economics, food, health and politics that starts with their lives?

Crystal Simeoni has spent six years spearheading a pan-African feminist movement that is doing exactly this. We talk about her journey to this work that has been built out of her experiences working in community based economics in Kenya, and based on a long held critique of top-down policy systems. Crystal has strengthened community-led research methods to design change differently. She no longer wants a seat a table that has already been set by someone else. She is working with African women through NAWI to build a new table that is designed with African women in mind.

You can find out more about NAWI Collective here: https://nawi.africa/
The African Feminist Journal Crystal mentioned is here: https://feministafrica.net/
The repository of African women's thought leadership on political economy questions is here: https://kofa.nawi.africa/

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:
Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcast
Blue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.social

For more on the books and Amanda’s writing, have a look at:
Amanda’s website - https://amandatattersall.com/
Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference - here and via Hardie Grant
People Power in Cities - here and via Oxford Uni Press
On Substack - https://substack.com/@amandatattersall
On Medium - https://amandatatts.medium.com/
And - her much earlier book about coalition building - Power in Coalition and via Cornell Uni Press

Amanda is on Socials here:
On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersall
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.social
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amanda.tattersall
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.