rabble.ca has launched a new podcast for people who want to engage in their communities. The podcast, Constructing Change: Tools from the activist toolkit, features tools from rabble's Activist Toolkit wiki, interviews with local activists, mini-docs on social change and more.

Marshall Ganz is one great social movement elder.  

He organized with Caser Chavez to build the United Farm Workers of America Union in the 1960s. He helped set the grassroots strategy that underpinned Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Ganz has also spent the last decade or so teaching and writing about social movements at Harvard University. Ganz has a lot of useful information to share! His two websites (he's got the Practicing Democracy Network one and then his Harvard University one) are chock-full of ideas, tools and resources for organizers.

This article was written by Occupy organizer, Cheyenna Weber. It's a nice read. Thank you for writing this essay Cheyenna. For those in Toronto, Tools for Change is hosting a workshop on avoiding activist burnout on Thursday, January 26, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

The Democracy Center has just published a free downloadable 55-page guide called "Beating Goliath: a resource for corporate campaigners."

I think this "Beating Goliath" guide does a very good job at selling the strategy of corporate campaigning and also explaining the basic components that make up a corporate campaign.

I also appreciated the authors' decision to tease out best practices by showcasing case studies of successful corporate campaigns.

This Tools for Change Handout on Facilitation was compiled by myself (Jessica Bell). The content was developed by Leah Henderson and I while we were preparing for the two workshops on facilitation we hosted earlier this year. There are a lot of facilitation guides out there but very few are directed to facilitating in the advocacy and social movement world.

The handout covers a range of useful topics, including:

1. What a facilitator does and does not do

First, a bit of context. I don't think social media tools are the magic bullet! If you're in doubt, read Malcolm Gladwell's article "The Revolution will not be Tweeted". Gladwell argues that Facebook, Twitter and other online tools build weak ties between a lot of people. But what we need for revolution, Gladwell argues, are people who are willing to sacrifice a lot, and sacrifice depends upon deep ties with people. Chances are you won't risk your life for a Facebook friend.

One of the many obstacles facing the Occupy movement is the challenge of facilitating massive public meetings and decision-making processes.

These hurculean meetings take place in a setting where: