“Jam-packed with stories of collective action, Barney Cullum deftly brings to life the lives and passions of people who have been driven to action for a better world, but you will also feel utterly inspired to take action yourself." – Abigail Thomas, Hopeful Activists Podcast Host
This is how you achieve change
Fridays for Future. Just Stop Oil. Black Lives Matter.
From Greta Thunberg’s inspiring school strike in Sweden to emerging ‘hacktivism’ in Ethiopia and Iran to the toppling of the statue of a notorious slave trader in Britain, Barney Cullum travels around the world to find out how disruptors are fighting for a better future.
Meet the dissidents campaigning for democracy in Moscow and Istanbul, activists in the Sahel, Palestine, Brazil, and Ukraine, a commune claiming underground energy in Denmark and climate emergency protesters across Europe.
Everywhere Cullum goes, he asks: how are you achieving change? Find out the secrets of successful movements for social change, including:
- What made Ireland U-turn on abortion?
- How did Taiwan’s students resist when Hong Kong’s could not?
- What persuaded Britain to reform its drug laws?
- How did peace finally break out in Colombia?
About the Author
Barney Cullum is a journalist and campaigns analyst focused on international social issues. He has reported on inventive forms of activism around the world for New Internationalist, openDemocracy and UnHerd. Raised in Bristol in southwest England, where he began his career as a features writer, his work has taken him from Brazil to Palestine to Russia.
Reviews
“Making a Movement is a call to action but also a great insight into some of the leading international campaigns over the last ten years, which gives a sense of hope and aspiration for the next generation of campaigners and activists.” – Patrick Vernon OBE, Windrush Campaigner
"Making a Movement delivers a wrecking ball to the unsustainable populism of the right." – Simon Speakman Cordall, Al Jazeera Journalist
"If you read Barney Cullum's book, you will come away with comprehensive knowledge of the severe problems impacting people every day all over the world Powerful stories reframe the brave people and organisations who are truly taking risks to bring about positive change, all achieved in an accessible, fascinating way." – Lucy Skoulding, Human Rights Campaigner and Independent Journalist
"Cullum skilfully weaves together and situates social movements, campaigns and their tactics around the world.Interviews with key and ordinary people are interlaced with stories of how he obtained access. Filled with illuminating behind-the-scenes accounts of current situations, poignant viewpoints include those of pacifist Russians and Belarusians on the war in Ukraine. Closer to home in the UK, Cullum captures the senselessness of people locked up in psychiatric hospitals for years with no end in sight." – Valerie de Schaller, Amnesty International Grassroots Activist
“Through interviews with activists and campaigners across the global spectrum, these chapters offer a crucial insight into environmental, political and human rights movements. From strike action, to street art, to direct action, this book is an argument for why a whole range of tactics are so critical to achieving real change. A captivating and meaningful read.” – Ella Abraham, Praxis, For Migrants and Refugees Campaigner
Buy the book and start reading
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Decade of disruption
PART ONE
PLANET REBELS: DIRECT ACTION AND IMAGINATION
1. Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil – divisive conquests
2. Fridays for Future – the school strikers that studied how to sue Sweden
3. Freetown Christiania – a commune claiming underground energy
PART TWO
RACE WINS: INVERTING EDUCATION
4. Lessons from Colston – a statue's new status
5. Black Lives Matter – police pushed out of schools
PART THREE
BIRTH RIGHTS: HUMAN STORIES
6. Abortion about-turn – constitution repealed
7. Zika survivors – bio-identities avoided in Brazil
PART FOUR
HEALTH AND HEALING: CREATIVE CONFRONTATION
8. Politicians persuaded – medical cannabis legalised
9. Artistic intervention – realising mental health in medium-secure hospitals
10. Palestine's 'Wall Museum' – breaking down barriers
PART FIVE
PEACE: AUTONOMY, AMBITION AND 'VENITALATION'
11. Paths to independence – ETA prisoner becomes leader's legal adviser
12. Psychosocial for the Sahel – quelling violent extremism in West Africa
13. 'No compromise' – Colombia finds its peace map
PART SIX
CONFOUNDING REPRESSION: PUNCTUATING PARANOIA
14. Albania, out of the shadows – soft-power historicising
15. Russia – training and gaming
PART SEVEN
UNCENSOR ME: IMMERSING, SUBVERTING
16. Ukraine; foreseen and fighting back – dystopian visioning from Belarus
17. Street art truths – strengthening post-media Turkey
PART EIGHT
TECH CONTROL: DIGITAL DYNAMITE
18. Hactivism hold-outs – audacious coding imbibing Iran
19. Networking for privacy – Ethiopia's internet triumphs
PART NINE
REFUGEE REVIVAL: ESCAPE AND OPPORTUNISM
20. Reimagining crisis response – refugees wanted
21. Sporting chance – winning on the home straight
SECTION TEN - AGENCY GAINED: HOLDING COURT
22. Amnesty over – Lebanon blasts back
23. Road blocks reign – anti-corruption protesters defend Israel
24. Sunflowers and umbrellas – Towering Taiwan delivers hope for Hong Kongers
Movement: reflections
Acknowledgements
