ACTionism in Action Newsletter 28/07/2025

ACTionism exists to inspire you by showcasing ordinary people who are challenging the system to create change.

Something to join: A conversation about JOY & ACTionism

• What if #JOY was a form of climate action?
• What if reuse, repair, and radical connection became the most powerful way to push back against consumerism?
• What if community was the strategy?
  
  These are just a few of the questions Gav will be discussing tomorrow with Clare Morris from Conscious Entrepreneurs.

Something to read: PLAY (INSPIRED BY A CALL WITH GAV) by Jamie Prow

In this piece, Jamie Prow explores the power of play and its essential role in unlocking creativity and possibilities.

"In the fabric of my youth, one resounding question echoed: 'Can I play outside?' Those were joyful days of boundless exploration, where even the most inconspicuous treasures—a backyard stick or drifting leaves—beckoned with the promise of adventure."

"Yet, as the years unfolded, the vibrant hues of play began to fade. Our adult responsibilities encroached, schooling tempered our spirits, and societal norms nudged us toward the path of conformity. The symbolic crown of childhood gradually yielded to the weight of societal expectations, its once-potent magic waning in the face of growing obligations and social pressures."

Something for feedback: How Change Happens?

ACTionism: the art of finding your people and taking collective action

The term ACTionism emerged from a film created by the Re-Action Collective. It's exciting to see the term gain more meaning and context as more people use it.

The following is how Jon Alexander announced the launch of the Actionism.space platform.

"The underlying idea is in creative tension with the idea of "activism," which tends to accept the premise that power lies in existing governments and big businesses, and demand that those actors use their power differently.

ACTionism, by contrast, is rooted in the fundamental insight that - if and only if we act together - we all have agency, and in what we can do if we insist on starting from where we are, finding the others, and building that agency together.

It is about exploring what we can do without asking permission or expecting anyone to do it for us.

It's about building the world we want to see, from where we are, using what we have - and maybe then demanding that existing power structures come in behind us."

Gav has tried to add visual context to ACTionism and how it contributes to the building of the world we want to see.

If you have any feedback on this diagram, any thoughts or ideas, please get in touch.

Something to read: Radical Transparent Accounting

ACTionism is the result of two Collectives colliding, the Re-Action Collective and the Citizen Collective.

Both of these communities have taken a transparent approach to accounting. They’re sharing everything they can about where money comes from - and where it goes. Grants, donations, earned income, in-kind support: it’s all visible. Not to tick boxes, but to nurture a culture of honesty, shared stewardship, and mutual accountability.

In this blog Re-Action walks you through their financial accounts for the year ended November 2024.

In the same spirit, the Citizen Collective has been run on the Open Collective platform, where you can find ACTionism. Here you can see all our finances and contribute to the movement.

Something to watch: The Revolution Will Not Be Incorporated

The ACTionism.space YouTube channel is live. Here's a snippet from a Spotlight featuring, Esther Foreman and Pia Mancini, of the Open Collective discussing why we need new forms of governance.

The Open Collective was formed to make it easy to raise, manage, and disburse money with full transparency. The platform is a Fiscal Host for collectives, allowing you to unlock funding for your community—free from red tape.

Something to listen to: Composting Spoiled Maps

In this Spaceship Earth Podcast episode, Dan Burgess asks the question, what if the maps we’ve been using to make sense of the world… are no longer capable of guiding us?

"Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps, the most revolutionary act right now is to create space, to gather, to connect, and to commune with our fellow humans and more than human kin. To quieten the noise and cleverness of modernity, to learn to listen deeply, to open our hearts and to contemplate these times judgement-free. And, perhaps, as the great Joanna Macy suggests, just begin with gratitude." Dan Burgess.

Perhaps, indeed.