A flask of Actionium, Igor and quickly! Presenting the Activist Table of Elements

Mandy put this together for a display at Conference several years ago - I found it during my tidy-up and found it too good not to put up on the wall at work. 

A rather marvellous drone

I came across this graceful, slowly evolving drone melody on music blog Invisible Oranges by Indicothere (solo project of a metal guy called Colin Marston) You can download the album now on a pay-what-you-can-afford deal.

Looking forward to hearing more.

Because climate change WILL affect the global supply of COOKIES

Yep, I just Omnomnomified our homepage.

Campaign Organisers: here's the letter we sent out to local groups

Here's the letter we sent out to local groups about the Campaign Organisers Programme earlier this month. 

I'm reproducing it here partly for my own sense of personal chronology, partly because I'm rather happy with some of the phrasing, especially the first few paragraphs. All that thinking about nutshell explanations clearly paid off.

And you never know, someone might see it here and decide to apply. :-)

Credit to Jenny and Neil as well, who both helped to write it too.

Dear co-ordinator,

Around the country, local groups have built a Friends of the Earth movement to be proud of. You and your members win campaigns, change minds, learn together. Your group makes a difference.

And that means we want to help your group grow stronger. Achieve more of what you want to do. Increase your active membership.

How? One way is by inviting you and your group to help find participants for our new Campaign Organiser Programme.

We’re looking for people with some campaigning experience - it doesn’t have to be too much. People who want to hone their own skills and help us to bring our local campaigners together to achieve more real world change. These people might be current local group members, they might be from outside the group. 

Our aims are to train more people up in the skills of organising around campaigns and to help generate more collaboration and campaigning between our local groups around the country.

Over two years, we’ll provide face-to-face and distance training, 1:1 support and insights into how campaigning really works. But this will be learning by doing - we’ll be asking these organisers to put what they’ve learned back into the local group network by:

- Reaching out and helping more people to get campaigning with a Friends of the Earth local group: a £100 grant is available for this.

- Helping your group to come together with neighbouring groups and other allies to campaign and share skills together.

- Being catalysts, helping others to become better campaigners.

Our first induction and training weekend will be at Hackney City Farm, London on 30 November/1 December, with participants in this first round sought by 8 October. We can offer a contribution towards your transport and accommodation costs.

There will also be a second weekend in the North of England in early 2014 (date and location to be confirmed), with participants sought by 8 December. 

Where do I come in?

We’ll be advertising this programme inside and outside the local groups network, but we know you can’t beat local knowledge and the personal touch when you’ve an offer to make. And that’s where we need your help.

If you have time to do a couple of simple things: With this letter comes an Organiser role description (attached) and a Programme flyer (will be included in letter). Please take these to your local group meeting and discuss whether anyone in your group would like to apply. 

Please also send a link to our home-page around your mailing list inviting applications: http://www.foe.co.uk/news/campaign_organisers_41012.html 

If you or someone else in your group has time for the personal touch: If you think someone (inside your core group or out) would be really right for this Programme, we’d love you to be our talent scout in your area. Please talk to them, share the information and encourage them to apply or contact us for a chat.

Further information and applications

Please visit http://www.foe.co.uk/news/campaign_organisers_41012.html  for: - 

Details of how to apply

- An electronic flyer to help you promote the Programme locally (to be added shortly)

- A Programme Guide (to be added shortly) 

You can also contact Programme co-ordinators Tim Gee and Tim Atkinson on campaignorganisers@foe.co.uk or via the Activism Hotline 020 7490 0210. They are happy to talk with potential Organisers or discuss our ideas with you in more detail. 

Finally, you can also join in discussions with local group members helping to shape the Programme on Campaign Hubs at http://bit.ly/organisers. To shape and champion the project, this is where to go. Thank you for your support. 

We look forward to welcoming participants from your area onto the Campaign Organiser Programme and helping you to keep making a difference.

Yours sincerely

Tim Atkinson and Tim Gee

Campaign Organiser Programme coordinators

Now that's how you write a letter: English translation of Emile Zola's classic J'accuse

I have but one passion, the search for light, in the name of humanity which has suffered so much and is entitled to happiness. My fiery protest is simply the cry of my very soul.

Shelley Temchin and Jean-Max Guieu of Georgetown University have kindly made available to the Internet their translation of Emile Zola's "J'accuse' - his classic open letter to the French President from 1898 on the Dreyfus Affair.

It's an example (rare, it seems these days) of a first rate writer putting their reputation and career on the line for a point of political principle without compromising his artistic talents. Zola was removed from the Legion of Honour and had to flee to England to avoid prison for criminal libel, while history is still divided on the question as to whether his death in 1902 was an accident or not.

And the issues resonate as much as ever - we haven't stopped locking people up without sufficient evidence for reasons of state in the last 100 years [cough Guantanamo cough].

It'd be great to do something with J'accuse, whether that's a straight reading or a Burroughs-style cut-up as one of my occcasional left-brain digressions. Let's see what time and inspiration brings.

Back to Campaign Organisers: promotional flyer unveilled

Now I've returned from holiday and dealt with the rush jobs, I've persuaded my addled brain to focus on our fantastic new Campaign Organisers project again. 

Big thanks to @Timcampaigns and Jonathan Madden, who pulled this flyer together to help promote the programme. You can download it in a much better resolution here: http://forum.foe.co.uk/campaignhubs/MGalleryItem.php?id=1263 

PS - We've already had a shade over 15 applications while I was away, which is an most encouraging start. :-)

It's not just Burton, mon ami, it's Burton of London

British high-street chain makes comedy bid for upmarket status in France.