Listen: How to Save Democracy podcast - and the art of finding the others
How to Save Democracy frames democracy not as something we have, but as something we do. Which is why we think this podcast is an essential companion to everything ACTionism and finding the others.
How to Save Democracy is a new podcast that aims to heal society's broken relationship with democracy. Hosted by Omezzine Khelifa and Jon Alexander, they frame democracy not as something we have, but as something we do. Which is why we think this podcast is an essential companion to everything ACTionism and finding the others.
Each episode features some of the most interesting thinkers and practitioners working in and around democracy today — giving listeners the inspiration and energy to find the others and start moving.
A few episodes to get you started include:
Citizen as a Verb — Baratunde Thurston and Elizabeth Stewart explore their radical, hopeful idea that being a citizen is something we do, not something we are. A call to action and a reminder that democracy is not a product but a practice.
Nation of Strangers — a live recording with Turkish writer and political commentator Ece Temelkuran, discussing what it means to belong in a world that is unmaking our sense of safety and community. Her most powerful insight: that the unhomed among us are already carrying the know-how we need to build a new home together.
Neighbourhood Power — radical architect Indy Johar and community leader Immy Kaur of Civic Square on the vital importance of neighbourhood-scale work in the face of the realities of our time.
These are the conversations that remind us why finding the others is not simply a nice idea. It might just be the key to unlocking a fairer, more equitable, and regenerative world.
About the hosts
Jon Alexander — author of Citizens and co-founder of the New Citizen Project — has been instrumental to the idea of ACTionism, and inspired much of the work Gav, Heather, and Ellie have built through the Re-Action Collective. That connection exists because Jon's framing of the shift away from a consumer mindset and into our agency as active citizens is exactly the story ACTionism is trying to help people step into.
Omezzine Khelifa's commitment to democracy is not theoretical — it is lived. French-Tunisian by background, she left a career in investment banking in Paris to return to Tunisia following the Arab uprising in 2011, throwing herself into the transition from dictatorship to democracy. She ran for parliament twice and served as senior adviser to ministers during Tunisia's most sensitive period of transition — championing open governance, gender equality, and youth participation. When the democratic gains she helped build began to unravel, she founded Mobdiun — Creative Youth, working with young people in marginalised communities to give them the tools, skills, and networks to become peaceful builders of their society rather than recruits away from it.
As she has said: "What dictatorships fear most is noise, connection, and solidarity — resistance together."
It is hard to think of a more compelling voice for the idea that finding the others and acting in community is not optional. It is everything.
Listen to all episodes wherever you get your podcasts, or here.
