Have you ever returned from a canvass demoralised that you only ended up preaching to those already converted? Wish there was some way to build bridges to cross the chasms that are growing wider with every day in an increasingly fractured and polarised political landscape?

The technique of deep canvassing was created to respond directly to these concerns. With its origins in the fight for marriage equality in California, practitioners of deep canvassing have employed radical empathy and listening in order to reach people and change minds on issues ranging from trans rights and health care to immigration and encampments.

It may not be a silver bullet but, given the success it's had in the states, it's no surprise that Canadian organisers are beginning to pay attention.

This week on the show, Rocky will get the straight dope on deep canvassing as they talk to Nicholas Schmidt, a deep canvasser with Down Home North Carolina: a group that has made the technique a corner stone of reaching out and building bridges with voters in the deeply conservative south.

Nahum Mann will also return to the show to discuss the work of the Encampment Support Network which has helped pioneer the technique in Canada to change the conversation around the encampment in Dufferin Grove Park.

[LINKS]

Atlas of Resistance – TWITTER

Atlas of Resistance - FACEBOOK

Down Home North Carolina - WEBSITE

Down Home North Carolina - TWITTER

Down Home North Carolina - FACEBOOK

Encampment Support Network - WEBSITE

Encampment Support Network - TWITTER

[DEEP CANVASSING RESOURCES]

As Nicholas and Nahum made clear, effective Deep Canvassing is predecated on a lot of preparation. Those who wish to incorporate the technique into their own organising and coalition building would be wise to read up from the experiences of others who have gone first. Below is a selection of some resources to help you and your group get started.

Miami Report on Deep Canvassing on Trans Rights

Changing the Conversation - About Deep Canvassing (Great Starting Place)

Deep Canvassing to Change Hearts and Minds

NPR - A New Way to Talk about Abortion...

From the coastal waters of Mi'kma'ki to the yintah, Indigenous folks have been leading some of the most and successful resistance movements across Turtle Island, despite often violent reprisals from the police and in the case of Mi'kmaq fisherfolk even some settlers. Despite this, these activists persist because the work they do is necessary to protect Indigenous lands and livelihoods.


One does not have to go far from Toronto to find a successful example of front-line indigenous activism either. For over a year, 1492 Land Back Lane (led by Haudenosaunee activists) have resisted multiple violent police incursions

In this episode, Rocky talks to Skylar Williams (Mohawk-Wolf Clan), the spokesperson for 1492 Land Back Lane and a veteran of countless front-line struggles about his work, the struggle and why it is vital that settlers begin show up to stand alongside himself and others to protect our Indigenous brothers and sisters and the lands they call home.

[LINKS]

1492 Land Back Lane -- TWITTER

Learn More About 1492 Land Back Lane

Atlas of Resistance – TWITTER

Atlas of Resistance -- FACEBOOK

[SOME MORE GOOD PEOPLE TO FOLLOW]

Eve Saint - TWITTER

Gidimten Checkpoint - TWITTER

Likhts’amisyu (Fireweed Clan) - TWITTER

Git'luuhl'um'hetxwit Media - TWITTER

[MONEY TALKS]

1492 Land Back Lane Legal Fund

Donate to Single Father Organasing at 1492 LBL

Donate to Gitxsan Land Defenders' Legal Fund

Donate to Vanessa Gray's Legal Defence Fund

 Sick of having the most modest proposals to address the climate emergency be celebrated as revolutionary? You are not alone...

In a COP Conference Special, three interviews with climate activists whose perspectives have been either marginalised or missing from the negotiating floor in Glasgow.

Featuring:

• Jacob Crane (Tsuut’ina-Dene), Just Transition Lead with Indigenous Climate Action on his experience in Glasgow and how effective climate action requires the Indigenous leadership.
• Ferrial Adam, Climate Justice and Energy Coordinator – Africa on her experience taking part in the Counter COP summit and the solutions activists from across the continent champion.
• Nógha Fabian (K'atl'odeeche-Dene), Former Coordinator of K'atl'odeechee Indigenous Guardians Programme on the the impacts of the climate crisis on the lands and waterways around the Great Slave Lake, NWT
  
  
  

[LINKS]

Africa Counter COP Statement

Nógha's Interview with Panoramic Outdoors Podcast - A Great Listen

Indigenous Guardians Toolkit

Friends of the Earth - Africa - TWITTER

Friends of the Earth - Africa - WEBSITE

Friends of the Earth - Africa - FACEBOOK

Indigenous Climate Action - TWITTER

Indigenous Climate Action - WEBSITE

Indigenous Climate Action - FACEBOOK

Atlas of Resistance – TWITTER

Atlas of Resistance -- FACEBOOK