From campaigns to community power: turning election energy into lasting empowerment. featuring Hahrie Han and Amanda Tattersall A Community Independents Network Event Not just about elections but explores the difference between mobilising people for a moment and organising them for lasting power. The latter is CAPaD’s objective. Mark Spain has … Read More
Hubertus Buchstein and Dirk Jörke, 2007 Redescribing Democracy Peter Tait In Redescribing Democracy, the authors explore the evolution of the idea of democracy through history. They argue that participation, initially an essential element of a political system that is democratic, has been excluded for most of history and is only … Read More
This link (below) takes you to the script of the presentation made by CAPaD to the New Economy Network Australia Conference, Broadbeach Qld, 10-12/10/25. It shared CAPaD’s MP accountability activities, most recently the Candidate Forums. Video coming soon. https://canberra-alliance.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Not-losing-against-Capitalism-Presentation-script.pdf
Take a deep dive into the causes and consequences of human societal growth and collapse. Our human nature is the cause of our predicament and also our saviour. We are programmed to dominate and to resist domination. “Democracy is humanity’s default political system” p38. Lots of examples across time and geography. … Read More
Since democracy is the people rule, then the most perfect form of democracy is direct democracy. In a direct democracy, the decisions are taken by the people who have to live with the consequences of those decisions. Those decisions pertain but are not limited to societal objectives, the constitution, policy, … Read More
This federal election we are keen for people to continue to think about who they preference when casting their vote. This time around, we add in the idea that MPs should have a job description to make it open and transparent to voters what the job we want them to … Read More
Peter Tait,Convener 5.5 minute read. Among my holiday reading were three books looking at different aspects of ‘democracy’, that slippery idea which I define as a system of governance where the people who have to live with the consequences of decisions, collectively make the decisions. Ideally this occurs through some … Read More
Anne Applebaum, 2024, Allen Lane. Book review, Peter Tait, December 2024 “Nobody’s democracy is safe” (p174) Applebaum sets out the situation, where over the past decades, a disorganised but cooperative cabal of opportunistic autocratic leaders have set out to undermine, discredit and destroy democratic values such as transparency and accountability, … Read More
Peter Tait Recently I participated (personally) in the Canberra Wave of the Rising Tide Against New Coal and Gas event. I volunteered to help out with the Affinity Group training and to support running the Spokes Councils in Canberra. The link to democracy work is that these, Affinity Groups and … Read More
Democratic Governance Toolkit The Democracy Toolkit has many draws and a few items in each draw. This is a brief overview of the main draws that permit large groups to facilitate participation and make decisions. More detailed explanations of the components of the toolkit will be added later. Find a … Read More