Creating social change workshop
Join this students-only workshop with Tamatha Paul and Thomas Nash where they will talk about their work creating social change, with a focus on practicalities.
This event is only open to students of Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.
Tamatha Paul and Thomas Nash will talk about their work creating social change, with a focus on the practicalities. As a case-study they’ll look at the creation of Aotearoa Town Hall (ATH), a live-streamed forum they set up together during the COVID-19 lockdown featuring many of the foremost progressive thinkers and activists in Aotearoa. ATH is an inclusive forum for people to exchange ideas about what we can learn from the lockdown and how we can shape the post-Covid future.
Understanding structures of power and framing debates, paying attention to human relationships and communication and being skilled at logistics and organisation are key things involved in campaigning for social change. Some of these you might learn the hard way, others you might be fortunate enough to get good advice on. Either way, not many of us get to go to campaign school - if there is such a thing. Tamatha and Thomas are keen to share the insights they’ve had the opportunity to develop in case they can be helpful for others working to reshape structures of power in positive, progressive, just and equitable ways.
This is an accessible event, a link to a live paraphrased transcription document will be provided.
Speakers
Tamatha Paul (Ngāti Awa, Waikato Tainui) is a 23 year old Wellington City Councillor for the central city (Pukehīnau Lambton Ward) with the citywide portfolios of Climate Change, City Safety and Youth. Tamatha was elected after serving as the President of the Victoria University of Wellington Students Association in 2019, and now strives towards a Tiriti-based, just, carbon neutral future for Aotearoa.
Thomas Nash is a current Wellington Greater Regional Councillor, holding the climate portfolio. He has a background in organising and campaigning, including leading the global campaign to ban cluster bombs, co-founded and directed London-based disarmament group Article 36, and served on the board of the Nobel Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. He is also co-director of New Zealand Alternative, an independent organisation promoting a progressive role for Aotearoa New Zealand in the world, and Massey University’s inaugural Social Entrepreneur in Residence.