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“The more unpopular the authoritarian agenda becomes, the more leverage we have at every level of government. The key to making the most of this leverage is not just resisting, but advancing a positive, durable vision of democracy. The goal must be to institutionalise democracy through protecting marginalised groups, expanding rights, and rebuilding public trust through visible gains.” To support this, Nakagawa offers: Core Strategic Principles; A Tactical Pivot (“from Protest to Policy”); Core Demand Frameworks with suggestions for Levels of Action (Local, State, National); and Messaging Priorities. “The current moment demands audacity. Democracy advocates must pivot from reacting to building – faster, sharper, and at every level. Specific demands tied to institutional change are the key to turning temporary backlash against authoritarianism into permanent democratic renewal.”

Three insights about the “common beliefs and assumptions” people in the US hold about “democracy, authoritarianism, and the rule of law”, and how to make them “feel real and relevant to people’s everyday lives” to resist attacks on democratic institutions. We learn that people equate ‘government’ with (swappable) individuals, rather than durable institutions; that people think ‘democracy’ is “simply whatever the US does;” and that concepts like ‘democracy’ and ‘authoritarianism’ are too abstract for most people to relate to. We’re encouraged to “make explicit the connections between the rule of law and the experiences of arbitrariness and uncertainty… affirming and acknowledging people’s feelings and then tracing one of their root causes”, and put a name to it: “executive overreach, the erosion of the rule of law”, grounding the abstraction “in the very real, very felt experience of uncertainty that people are living through.”

A reflection on how mainstream news media has become so negative and unhelpful, and a suggestion for what to do now. Bornstein’s main recommendation, as a way to "make goodness as riveting as evil" is to engage people with curiosity. Because "we're wired to pay attention to threats, but we're also wired to love puzzles." So he suggests that we tell positive "How dunnit?" stories that present some positive event – a success in government or institutions, in the way that business is typically covered in the media, rather than just the failures – framed in a way that encourages people to be curious about how the success was achieved. For example: "how did this school actually increase the high school graduation rate when all the other schools with similar resources haven't been able to figure that one out?" They also explore a ‘Hippocratic Oath for Journalism’, which seeks to make media “radically helpful”.

Analysis of what “the shrieking migraine of Trumpism” reveals about our socioeconomic system: capitalism and authoritarianism “gel very well” – not capitalism and democracy; and the loudly-touted opposition between class and identity politics is encouraged, to distract from the reality that people’s needs and freedoms are so often a hindrance to the system’s central goal of making money “for those at the top”. What we need instead is “a lovely new economic system, one that is centred around the things that actually matter: our health, knowing that we are cared for, being close to the ones we love, knowing that we are safe, and that we have the freedom to express ourselves in all our glittering abundance,” which “requires taking love from the realm of the personal into the political.” The first step: “refuse to buy into the politics of hate and fear that the Trumps of the world are selling”, then “open our eyes to the politics of love and care already being practiced all around us, and join in where we can.”

A “deliberately provocative” assessment of the “much deeper malaise” beneath Reform’s rise: “a loss of faith in the future”, enabled by civil society’s failure to respond with a suitably uplifting vision. Evans lists four reasons for this failure: the “professionalisation of so much of civil society”; the Charity Commission’s insistence on funders being ‘apolitical’; funders themselves being risk-averse and short-term; and those civil society professionals’ disconnection from the majority. “We so often end up deepening divisions in a way that helps the populist right, instead of bridging divides and building the broader coalitions that we so urgently need.” This piece tees up a second part that will explore the “incredible points of light out there that we can learn from and build from,” which can help us all see “a positive, people-powered insurgency: one that brings us together instead of dividing us, that fires us up with a sense of possibility and purpose, and that enables us to build a brighter future together.”

A detailed practical exploration of “The Impact of Braiding Narratives of Reparations and Land Back on Black and Indigenous Audiences.” The findings have broad implications, demonstrating that “movements for repair are stronger when they explicitly recognize and elevate their shared histories and common causes…pointing to the untapped potential of sustained cross-movement organising and storytelling,” and how skepticism about implementation feasibility reveals that “transforming solidarity into tangible political change requires not just building support but cultivating hope and belief in the possibility of radical transformation.” But when done well, “by braiding their narratives, sharing resources, and building joint infrastructure for organizing and storytelling, these movements can help construct a new ‘American’ narrative.” Includes specific recommendations for Movement organisations, Storytellers and Creators, Researchers, and Funders.

An argument that “while understanding complexity is important, the uncritical centring of systems thinking risks becoming a dangerous distraction.” Kabba outlines five conditions of the way systems work – e.g. "Systems are not neutral,” “Complexity masks power,” “Knowledge without action is paralysis” – and how they reveal deficiencies in current leadership, before proposing five principles for a new mode of leadership that “goes further”. They suggest this leadership will be an “every-day practice – rooted in ethics, reflexivity, responsibility, and the courage to lead when the system maps are incomplete and the stakes are high.” The ask, which might feel galling for those of us who still find comfort in retreating into theory, abstraction and the padded embrace of a desk chair, is to recognise the risk of “circling conversations that feel comforting and sophisticated but ultimately defer the real work leadership demands today.”

A brief summary of four essays by the Tipping Point podcast host, delivered by a post-growth economist, which suggest that mainstream economics is neither socially nor economically sustainable. Wilkins suggest seven actions to get beyond this, some of which are particularly relevant for narrative change work: “4. Take back the narrative: economics is about wellbeing, resilience and regeneration; 6. Insist, as citizens, on political and business accountability and media focus on progress on wider indicators, including the genuine progress indicator, the human development index, wellbeing economy frameworks and planetary boundaries.” They suggest that “if you work in sustainability, these essays are essential reading. They’ll help you understand the system that’s been holding back your work – perhaps your life's work – and give you language to push back.”

“Our big systems are on their death beds…Our medical systems make us sick. Our food systems create malnutrition. Our educational systems are failing our kids. Our criminal justice system makes our communities less safe. Our democratic systems are run by a select few. Our economic systems continue to create poverty. And, of course, our ecological systems are collapsing all around us. I don’t believe we’re approaching the ‘end of the world.’ But I do believe we’re approaching the end of something, and it’s something big.” In the context of this collapse, Haga proposes a need to normalise death, and recognise the “incredible liberation in the work of accepting our own mortality.” Which means “accepting the grief that naturally comes with it,” because “if we bury grief, we don’t normalise death; we suppress it.” Haga ends by catching our inclination to find this overly negative: “becoming a death doula to dying empires means we’re giving birth to a new one. The work of accepting death isn’t about giving up on life. It’s about honouring the fullness of it.”

A clear-eyed systemic analysis of "rightwing leaders and their rich allies" who have "bought into various apartheid fantasies of bunkered safety" and are "choosing to let the Earth burn" with a “darkly festive fatalism”. Two recommendations for moving forward: 1. "Understand this simple fact: we are up against an ideology that has given up not only on the premise and promise of liberal democracy but on the liveability of our shared world – on its beauty, on its people, on our children, on other species.” And 2. "Counter their apocalyptic narratives with a far better story about how to survive the hard times ahead without leaving anyone behind. A story capable of draining end times fascism of its gothic power and galvanising a movement ready to put it all on the line for our collective survival. A story not of end times, but of better times; not of separation and supremacy, but of interdependence and belonging; not of escaping, but staying put and staying faithful to the troubled earthly reality in which we are enmeshed and bound."

“Interconnection is a narrative antidote to authoritarianism,” but we must “embody interconnection in how we see ourselves and organise.” Because “narrative work isn’t just about crafting stories to make sense of reality; it’s also about shaping the lived experiences and the sense of possibility we collectively nurture.” So we must “expand the boundaries of our identity beyond organisational logos, single-issue campaigns, and geographical silos that have long structured our social change efforts.” Roa also guards against the trap of ‘us and them’ framing: “every time we frame those who sow fear as a distinct ‘them,’ we inadvertently reproduce the same logic we’re trying to dismantle.” Instead, ‘change the game’ by “inviting people on a collective journey where the goal isn’t to defeat ‘the other,’ but to build a shared future rooted in dignity, interconnectedness, and the common good.”

Getting together to build alternatives is quite overwhelming. “If it feels impossible – on top of paying the bills / feeding the kids / surviving – to build a wind turbine like the folks in Lawrence Weston, or buy your own farm like the community in Fordhall, can you really join in?” Golding offers a way through with three simple, accessible ingredients: “1. A handful of people; 2. A shared frustration; 3. A cup of tea / a pint of beer / some food.” He reminds us that “change inevitably starts small, and personal,” and that “caring beats control: when people come together to take on an issue they care about, they’re more likely to commit with creativity, determination and irrepressible energy than they are when change is forced on them from outside… If energy can be unlocked, and skills pooled, the resulting change can be huge – as the projects we’re sharing show.”