Webinar: 8pm AEDT, Wednesday 9 February 2022

Almost two years ago, in a snap webinar days after Australia went into our first lockdown, the Green Institute hosted the first public conversation in Australia to discuss how we stay together while keeping apart.

Two years on, what have we learned? What have we done, and what has been done to us? What has changed, and what hasn’t changed enough?

Watch or listen back to the webinar recording.

In March 2020, we asked:

“How do we keep working for justice and for community cohesion when we’re being told, for good reason, to isolate? What do we do when connection is vital for solving so many of the issues we face but is also spreading disease? From organised mutual aid to balcony singing, phone trees to online comedy shows and musical gigs, there are so many ways to stay together while keeping apart, but they all require us to take the lead and do them in our own communities.”

In the last two years, we’ve seen a huge burst of mutual aid around Australia and the world, but we’ve also seen governments using this moment to clamp down on civil liberties and to channel billions of dollars to their corporate mates and donors through JobKeeper and the “gas-fired recovery”.

We’ve seen a tremendous majority of Australians rushing to get vaccinated to protect themselves and as an act of solidarity with those more vulnerable to the virus, but we’ve also seen already divisive political debates get ever more divisive, splintering the community when we need to come together in common interest.

We’ve had a remarkable real-world experiment with unconditional basic income, saving lives and lifting people out of poverty and depression. And then we’ve seen people’s lives being recklessly endangered in the name of opening up the economy, with the most vulnerable and excluded put at the greatest risk as ever.

The Green Institute is delighted to welcome back four of our panellists from March 2020 to discuss what has happened, what we can learn, and where we go from here. Please join in as we discuss “Together? Apart? Where ARE we?”​ with:

• Disability rights activist El Gibbs
• Campaign trainer and commons librarian Holly Hammond
• National Coordinator of Australia reMADE Millie Rooney
• Nonviolent direct action trainer and advocate Nicola Paris
• Arrernte woman, unionist, writer and Greens candidate Celeste Liddle
• Green Institute Executive Director Tim Hollo

Register now below.

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If you are registered for tonight’s webinar and you haven’t received your Zoom link, please text Elissa 0418 786 986 and she will send it to you. However, please check your spam/junk folder first. Thanks!