I Am An Activist – Tribute to Anita Roddick

I am a big fan and sometimes apologist for Anita Roddick. I am also an activist.

I have grown up with Anita’s strong voice and heart, strong actions, in my life. She is like an inspiring, very sympatico Aunty, always there, always putting the fire in my belly.

The day she died was a day I remember well. It was a shock that hit me in the guts. I had no idea Anita was even sick. I happened to be joining with Sarah James, a fellow activist, to begin a new initiative. We dedicated our meeting to her memory.

I dedicate large chunks of what I know and am to Anita.

I only met her once. She came to talk at a Business School I was teaching at in Australia. I hate allocated seating and, like my young daughter, usually sit right at the front if I can. I know it’s rude, I know it’s not fair. But as a kid, the older I got, the more I knew what I wanted to know. The more passionate I was about finding out about it. If (and I mean if) I went to class, I sat at the front. I worked hard. I listened.

So when Anita came to talk, I sat right next to her… where no-one else dared sit.

I wanted to see her hands. That’s what really mattered at the time. I thought I could see inside her soul and find out if she was true, and real and worthy of my sometimes teenage adoration, if I could only see her hands. At the risk of sounding like a tosser, I have to say – they were beautiful. They were the hands of a worker, but still somewhat refined. They had balance. I’m not saying she was perfect, or a saint by any means. She made tough decisions, was perceived to be in control of stuff that was way outside her control, but she did her best. She got under people’s skin, one way or another. The way she fanned her own fire sparked countless 1000s more to ignite. She made things happen. Good things.

When she died, I realised I would not be working with her – as I had planned . We moved to Brighton in 2005, birthplace of Body Shop store No. 1 and close to Anita.’s new base and mother. A place for activists. When friends asked “why are you moving back to the UK, to Brighton. What will you do?” I said casually, “Oh, I think I’m going to be working with Anita Roddick. Now she’s out of The Body Shop, I think she’ld be great fun to work with. She’s got doing loads of good stuff and someone’s bound to introduce us to each other. It’s destiny.” I was only partly tongue in cheek. Stranger things have happened, and she did live just down the road – and we do have friends in common.

Alas, it was not to be. In one sense. In another, we are all working together – towards similar goals, wherever we are. Social justice, sustainability of life on earth, human and animal rights. The work needs doing, so we unite to do it. With or without Anita, her spiritual forebears or descendants. We are one point in the continuum, all linked going through time and space. We are not alone. There is bamboo.

Here are some tributes given during the I Am An Activist event on 23 October 2007, when “thousands of thinkers, artists, activists, and other heroic saboteurs of the status quo gathered to celebrate the remarkable life and legacy of Dame Anita Roddick.”

“[Anita was] the human equivalent of a flag, a claxon, a torch, a flare, an alarm clock. … Uncompromising, inspiring and visionary, an active world citizen, but still funny, sexy, and overflowing.”

Alan Rickman, actor and activist

“Beethoven said, ‘If it comes from the heart, it goes to the heart.’ That quote speaks volumes about my mum. I believe it is the reason my mum touched so many people. Whether you agreed with her or not, or whether you liked her or not, the one thing that is really non-negotiable, the one thing that is not up for discussion, is that all she did as a parent or as an activist, it really all did come from the heart.”

Justine Roddick

My mother treated life like each day was her last, and this gave her the permission for incredible bravery. … Tonight I am personally pledging that I Am An Activist, and within that, I also will have a lot of fun, and I also will be silly. I will not be polite and I will never, ever, ask for permission.

Sam Roddick

“Many have the resources Anita had, but few have the moral fortitude to use those resources to achieve the only truly important goal of social and environmental sustainability.”

Herman Wallace, member of the Angola 3 Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola

“She was, in my opinion, one of the world’s greatest communicators.”

Adrian Bellamy, Chairman of The Body Shop

“Watch and listen to figures from Amnesty International, Greenpeace, Reprieve, The Body Shop, as well as family and close friends, as they laugh and cry and ultimately take to the streets to launch a new movement in activism inspired by the one and only Anita Roddick.”

DVD of the I Am An Activist event available here at, what was, Anita’s blog.

Reposted from the community blog at Authentic Blogging’s online network. All activists welcome to join.

I think, you think, we create (better) together

“We’re here to make a positive difference through blogging – and other social media – for ourselves, for our organisations, for others.”

More great resources for non profits

Check out the Non-profit Blog Exchange.

See previous resources detailed here.

You Think, I Think, We Think (Better) Together

Been reading reviews about Charles Leadbetter’s book We Think all over the place. Got to get my hands on a copy sooon (come on Rosie, hand it over).

If anyone is trying to get their heads around Web 2.0, social media, new paradigm thinking and all that claptrap – get a look at this. Lovely simple animation. I’m going to use it at the beginning of all my courses. Free event coming up soon to give people a taste of it all. Watch this space.

Guardian review here (including Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky) which also looks reeal good.

Shame The Big Issue review isn’t available online. A different and very valid take on things.

No wonder most journalist’s I meet are annoyed with blogging and What’s Going On with we-think.

No wonder I am compelled to work in and support this space.

So glad Rosie Sherry is in it with me (thanks for the video).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiP79vYsfbo&hl=en]

Brighton Posse Serving Healthy Greens – But Will It Be In Time?

What a great group of people there were at the Striding Out Ethical Pitch event last night, out at the end of the bitterly cold Brighton Pier.

After a brief catch up with Thea Allison from B&H Business Community Partnerships, I was co-opted onto the panel at the last minute to help four passionate organisations sharpen their focus. Without wanting to sound too much like a beauty queen, I honestly felt I had as much to learn from everyone there as they did from me. Humbling to say the least.

Some highlights….

Ethical Weddings – impressed with the potential of their niche politically and culturally. The environmental impact of the average wedding can be huge. The opportunity to have a couple and their friends ritualise their commitment to core human/eco values and each other is a catalyst for great things to happen. I’m a great believer in weddings, and was thoroughly chuffed by how well they are weaving their magic and owning their niche. Ranking extremely well with Google (the blog and dot com would be helping). Great to hear they will be doing more to bring their community together and help them help each other. Let’s see if Ning works for them.

Farm Fresh Express – again, great knowledge about the ethical complexity of their sector. No green wash here. Looking forward to seeing if they can develop a franchise model and start embracing the power of blogging to attract funders, customers and stimulate vibrant conversations about food miles, purity, sovereignty, community resilience, slow food and all the issues that matter. Whichever climate scenario you subscribe to, how we eat and what we eat is a core issue to be dealing with.

Magpie / Shabitat - for their anarchic, shambolic, no-compromise, co-operative cool. Let’s see if they can hang on to it, and take their octopus to the next level.

EcoEvents – Dear Sam. What a woman. Like weddings and eating together, events are another time we come together and share conversations, hopefully positive ones. Plus the consumption of energy to get people their, feed, water and entertain them is massive. Want to see EcoEvents do really well. They have everything it takes. Come the rebranding and refocus onto great events first (which they no doubt can do – can’t wait to refer people to them), green BS8901 standard stuff second – they will be flying. Another dot com ranking well for key search. Well done on that front too.

Main thing is, we can’t shop our way out of global warming. Wish I had kept my big mouth shut and let brainy young futurist Hugh Knowles from Forum for the Future talk more from the panel. Wish he had spelt out in no uncertain terms that their ain’t no time for weighing up the benefits of frilly organic knickers – bleached or unbleached right now.

During a sideways conversation his call to arms hit home and I’m off to start reading Climate Code Red. Hugh reckons the IPCC (Nobel Laureatte Al Gore and Co) are being conservative.

Sadly, I think I agree with him.

Climate Emergency

- Raise the Alarm

Maybe the most important thing for ethical enterprises to be doing right now – other than being fully future aware in how they operate and contribute – is to raise the alarm among their sensitized stakeholders by blogging up the Code Red conversation. We wouldn’t want them to be shunned by those wanting to hide in the bunker. They need to read the signs and focus on the positives, helping us see ourselves as capable of taking on the enormous challenges we are all facing right now in coming back from the brink of destruction.

It needs to be handled sensitively. But without a livable climate, there might not be weddings or enough food to go around. We might not even be here.

Don’t shoot the messenger, bury your head in the sand or blame someone else. Got informed, and start raising the alarm.

“There is an urgent need to reconceive the issue we face as a sustainability emergency, that takes us beyond the politics of failure-inducing compromise. The feasibility of rapid transitions is well established historically.

“We now need to “think the unthinkable”, because the sustainability emergency is now not so much a radical idea as simply an indispensable course of action if we are to return to a safe-climate planet.”

More at… Climate Code Red.

More at Al Gore’s site here.

And here.

Where’s Winston when we need him.

Blogging for Change Agents

Are you driven to make a positive difference in the world?

An entrepreneur, social / environmental ethical enterprise, charity or other third sector organisation?

Do you see the internet as (perhaps) a powerful vehicle for making positive things happen in the world?

Do you want to make your mark in the world?

Have you ever wondered if blogging might help?

Then let’s talk.

We all hear about blogs a lot, but can they really make a difference? We say yes. As dedicated activists and change agents, we’ve looked very carefully at the world of blogging and social media before deciding to specialise in it.

“If I was running the biggest company in the world I would simply use a blog…let’s change the world one conversation at a time.” (Full thread here.)

Will McInnes, Founder – Nixon McInnes

Blogging offers an amazingly cost effective and growthful way to engage with your stakeholders and create online interest in what you do.

Plus search engines like Google rank blogs highly. One of our clients went from no web presence to a top online ranking in their sector within two weeks of starting.

Doing it authentically creates loyalty, connection and genuine relationships. It also helps you and your organisation learn, grow and pool together valuable creativity and intellectual property.

To find out more, read our free e-book on the Essence of Authentic Blogging.

We have a long association with “social / eco enterprise / ethical business” and founded the Sustainable Business Network in 1999. We have worked as activists and entrepreneurs, campaigning for issues from climate change to human rights and media literacy.

After generous feedback on our blogging courses and consultancy last year, we decided to make a commitment to your sector in 2008.

In the next month we want to hear what your sector wants from a blogging training package that is tailored to meet your needs, not just another off the shelf, one-size-fits-all scenario.

We will be talking with a range of people to refine our course outline.

We know people can make a difference. We know the internet has massive potential to connect. With our words, ideas and passion, in engaged dialogue with our key stakeholders – good things can happen.

Blogging is certainly in demand, and we think, rightly so. Web 2.0 is a very exciting space to be in… ripe with potential, especially for smaller organisations that want leverage.

So let’s hear from you!

The draft package outline (including outcomes, benefits, costs and structure) is here.

Sponsored Places

There will be a sliding scale from 20-100% course reduction to make it affordable for smaller enterprises, so get in touch if you would like to nominate for a sponsored place.

More resources for social/eco enterprises…. 

Can you unplug for 52 nights?

I’m going to move the main discussion about unplugging over to the wonderful (ironic) new community at 52 Nights Unplugged care of Ariel and Ning. She is one happening unplugger.

Come and join in.

You know you need to when…

• Your eyes/arms/body is aching from too much tapping / idiot boxing / talking
• You check your email as soon as you wake up and just before you go to bed
• There’s never enough time
• Your mental environment is smogged out with gumpf
• Computers/TV/Radio/Mobiles/Ipods/Games keep taking you away from the here and now

Many thanks to Leif Hansen from Spark NW for the 7 Step Programme to Unplugging. I’ll be referring all my clients/students/friends to it and the Unplug Challenge. Seems only right and proper when we are banging on about the wonders of the Internet on the one hand. Seems people might need a health warning to go with every new social network or application. Seems like we all need to take a break occasionally, or a lot.

No matter how good it all is, it ain’t sustainable.

Actually, we’ve just put together a 7 step e-workbook that takes people through the same process. The steps and exercises covered in the e-workbook are basically to:
(perhaps first identify what you like about your tech life)
1. Identifying your challenges with tech
2. Identify the needs trying to get met
3. Develop your vision/goals
4. Finding your focus
5. Finding solutions
6. Turning ideas into actions
7. Sticking with your plan (can be hardest)

See the full richness of Leif’s comment on the previous post here. Sounds like it could be hard work, but if you want some more reasons and to make it fun… go join 52 Nights. These guys just HAVE to present at LIFT09.

My what a helpful community we are. Sucking you in to more and more information on the one hand – then telling you to switch off with the other.

Reminds me of when we tried to buy airtime for “subvertisements” advertising TV Turn Off Week on major TV networks, only this time we (kind of) control the channel.

I’m off to bed. Now… do I take the laptop with me and catch up on the BBC programmes in iplayer, or not…. might be jut in time to read Bea (7) the last story before lights out.

We teach what we most need to learn…

Free tech resources for social/eco enterprise – and others

Social enterprises and non-profits need all the help they can get. These times require us to think smart and work together like never before.

This year we plan to give this sector even more leverage. Thank goodness hyperlinks subvert heirarchy and web 2.0 allows smaller or less resourced organisations to take on the Goliath of global warming and social justice.

Larger organisations within the sector like Greenpeace and Oxfam are already doing good stuff with blogging. (I wonder if they are aggregating and editing together blog posts coming from around their stakeholder blogosophere? Might be nice for bloggers to see their posts featured on the “mother ship” and get some cred, hits and feedback that way…)

To start the ball rolling, here is a solid list of technology-based resources to help you take action, no matter what your budget is.

Conduct research

• Survey Monkey - is our preferred tool so far. Lets you design, collate and analyse up to 10 questions for zip. Any other recommendations, just leave us a comment and we can update this post.

Fundraising

• eBay – Giving Works
• eBay – MissionFish (not entirely sure what the difference but let us know how you go)
• PayPal Donations
• Network for Good (partnered with Yahoo!) Charity Badges (widgets you can drop on your site)
• Global Giving (works for international)
• Charity.com

Build & host a blog/website

• Wordpress.com. Free blogging software alone can meet the needs of most organisations’ online presence.
• There are many other blogging platforms (blogger, typepad etc). We primarily work with and recommend Wordpress but sometimes use others and can support you in these in needs be.

With a wide range of templates to chose from and inbuild content management, you can build, host and maintain your website with a £0 budget. If you need training or support, we can offer it, specially designed for you in dialogue with your sector. Apply for a free or subsided place on our tailored training programme if you are a micro enterprise poised to make a big difference. Just drop me a line.

Even with training included, your total outlay over the first two years might be half the cost of a simple custom built website, with nearly no ongoing costs. Whenever you want to change the site, you have the power to do it. In an instant. In your own way, in your own time.

Web 2.0 tools built to fit your ideas

• Internet Artizans – Social Innovation Camp - Be quick. First event is 4-6 April and call for ideas has already opened. Let the team solve it for you.
• £5 app – ongoing project to build simple software tools.
• More to come… the world is buzzing with talent ready to support what you are doing. Don’t be shy. Engage partners wherever and whenever you can.

Understanding Social Media

E-books, blogs, events

• Authentic Blogging – search around this website to find out about blogging and other social media stuff. Our e-book on The Essence of Authentic Blogging is a good place to start. We will be doing a range of speaking engagements within social & environmental enterprise networks this year, so let me know if you want to go on the mailing list (website upgrade coming soon with subscribe for newsletter) or feel free to invite me to speak at your event.
• Nixon McInnes - e-books on social media, RSS, etc plus their blog and regular speaking engagements.
• Geek Habits for Non Geeks – will be veery useful. First one is on 13 March in Brighton, but register on upcoming to be kept in touch.
• Video Blogging – a monthly free event (in Brighton) to find out all about the wonderment of video blogging. If you want to get started right now, check out Free Vlog.
• Loads more around and regular, often free, events to support your learning and networking. Go along and see what budding talent you can find to help realise your dreams. Key word search Upcoming no matter where you live or just keep your ears and ears open. Getting an RSS feed from this blog will help you keep in touch too.

Online (dialogue) marketing

• You Tube – Broadcast Your Cause – Connect, create dialogue, network and “partner up”.

• Video blogging – If you haven’t yet got the equipment or skills to produce simple, short video clips (and even a mobile phone camera might do), then get in touch with Beth Tilson and find out all about Video Blogging while you are at it. Beth’s sessions will be monthly, so get in touch and ignore the dates on upcoming.

• Facebook Causes – love it or hate, it’s hard to deny the ongoing power of Facebook. Many causes have been fought and won with the help of Facebook. Decide for yourself.
  

• Google Adword Grants – can take them a while to get back to you (we’ve heard 6 months!) but if you are planning a campaign in advance there’s no harm in trying.

Note re: blogs vs adwords and search engine optimisation – We still think an effective blog that optimises for the key words that matter to you is better than adwords, but that can take time to build up. Although one recent Authentic Blogging “graduate” reached No. 1 for her search in a few weeks with only a few posts! All depends on what your niche is.

All ’round good guys to know

• Tactical Tech is an international NGO working at the intersection of advocacy and technology. They use their technical expertise to increase the impact of campaigns in social justice and human rights, but their resources are widely applicable. Lots on their website to explore. Work with Internet Artizans.

The list goes on and on. Many thanks to Jill for many of these. Just goes to show that posting a useful comment can really help grow a conversation.

More here at the ever wonderful Skoll Foundation… You have to subscribe to the Skoll newsletter. It is always helpful and let’s you see you are SO not alone in wanting to make a positive difference.

More resources for social/eco enterprises on Authentic Blogging…

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