Anthea Lawson
Activist who is thinking about activism | author | reporter
Activist who is thinking about activism | author | reporter
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From the Perspectiva Website:
Anthea Lawson is an activist who is thinking about activism. Troubled by the ways in which campaigning sometimes replicates what it tries to change, she is working with Perspectiva to enquire into the inner life of activism and what it means for our efforts to change the outer world in which we live.
She trained and worked as a reporter at The Times, then did investigations into the arms trade and corruption in the natural resource industries for campaigning organisations such as Amnesty International and Global Witness. Following an investigation into how the finance sector fuels grand corruption, she launched an award-winning campaign for transparency in company ownership, which – with the hard work of many other activists – has resulted in new laws in 42 countries. She is still campaigning to get a pelican crossing installed at the end of her road.
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Anthea is also an author and an editor at The Dark Mountain Project.
Organizations
Perspectiva
Associate
Systems, Soul, Society
Build the intellectual foundations for a more conscious society
Associate
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We are a research platform that seeks to build the intellectual foundations for a more conscious society – a diverse and plural society awake to itself, united by an awareness of ecological constraints, systemic influences and the development of human empathy and consciousness throughout the lifespan.
We believe the world’s major challenges stem from a crisis of perception and imagination, and the failure of political culture to honour the fullness of reality. We are fascinated by the myriad ways in which our tacitly held worldviews shape our judgement, and how spiritual needs for security, meaning and purpose indirectly create political and economic outcomes.
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The Dark Mountain Project
Associate
Conversion | Manifesto | Books | Gathering | Collaborations | Bridge
A rooted and branching network of creative activity
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Description:
From their website:
In 2009, two English writers published a manifesto. Out of that manifesto grew a cultural movement: a rooted and branching network of creative activity, centred on the Dark Mountain journal, sustained by the work of a growing gang of collaborators and contributors, as well as the support of thousands of readers around the world.
Together, we are walking away from the stories that our societies like to tell themselves, the stories that prevent us seeing clearly the extent of the ecological, social and cultural unravelling that is now underway. We are making art that doesn’t take the centrality of humans for granted. We are tracing the deep cultural roots of the mess the world is in. And we are looking for other stories, ones that can help us make sense of a time of disruption and uncertainty.
‘Dark Mountain is a radical project, and a brilliant one, capable of opening your eyes in the encircling twilight.’
— Tom Jeffries, The Journal of Wild Culture
There’s never been a simple answer to the question, ‘What is Dark Mountain?’
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Web Properties
Recent Content
Last 50 posts on own channels (YouTube, Podcast, Medium or Website/Blog):
A statement to the court by a first-time lawbreaker
Published on: 2 Aug 19 in Anthea Lawson – Medium
by Anthea Lawson
The Oldest Story
Published on: 20 Apr 17 in Anthea Lawson – Medium
by Anthea Lawson
Today at City of London Magistrates Court I pleaded guilty to a criminal offence: a breach of Section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, by…Continue reading on Medium »
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How parenting and politics are linkedCan we talk about where stories come from? I think some of them emerge from the dark. The stories that drive us most powerfully were born
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RT @Quakers_RoR: 📕Book group meeting tonight 7-8pm Discussing ’The Entangled Activist’ by @anthlawson1 🙏 All welcome even if you haven’t yet read the book! £££ Bursaries available to buy the book Sign up via our website https://www.quaker-roots.org.uk/events/ @BritishQuakers @nfpb1 @DisarmQuaker
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RT @SaraNAhmed: It’s publication day! I’d love to see where you’re reading your copy of The Feminist Killjoy Handbook! #WeAreFeministKilljoys
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RT @paulpowlesland: So, I find myself 30ft in the air up a tree in Wellingborough- surrounded by police, security & tree surgeons- trying to prevent an illegal tree felling. How did I end up here? Here’s an outrageous story of nature destruction & collusion between authorities & private developer 🧵
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RT @anthlawson1: Going to be talking with @Huddlecraft next week about the relationship between learning and activism ⏰ Tues 7th March, 4.30-5.30pm 💻 Online 🎟️ http://meetup.com/learning-experience-designers/events/291616870/
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Going to be talking with @Huddlecraft next week about the relationship between learning and activism ⏰ Tues 7th March, 4.30-5.30pm 💻 Online 🎟️ http://meetup.com/learning-experience-designers/events/291616870/
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RT @TTTMediaXR: Why are activists being subjected to show trials and sent to prison for contempt if they so much as mention the climate? Because when they’re given a fair trial, judges & juries often find in their favour which legitimises direct action and properly scares the establishment. 🧵 https://twitter.com/JolyonMaugham/status/1624411122940973059
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RT @JolyonMaugham: Very cool. This case – that seeks to establish the existence of a ‘public trust doctrine’ that the natural environment has to be protected for future generations – has just been given permission by the High Court. https://goodlawproject.org/update/we-have-a-high-court-hearing-to-force-the-government-into-tougher-action-on-sewage-dumping/
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RT @themrise: IT IS OUT! White Saviorism in International Development begins a conversation on how …
RT @themrise: IT IS OUT! White Saviorism in International Development begins a conversation on how damaging #whitesaviorism in #globaldev is for #globalsouth Utmost thanks to our global south authors whose stories and knowledge the book showcases. Pls circulate widely! https://darajapress.com/publication/the-white-savior-complex-in-international-development-theory-practice-and-lived-experiences
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RT @RichardJMurphy: Journalists are asking the union-bashing question ‘Are patients safe in hospital this week?’ when what they should be asking is ‘Are patients ever safe in hospital now as a result of government under-funding?’ NHS staff are the only responsible people here. The government is not.
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Time (long overdue) to coordinate economics and climate coverage. The necessary link: justice Pursuing economic growth will kill us all in the end | Letter https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/02/pursuing-economic-growth-will-kill-us-all-in-the-end?CMP=share_btn_tw
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RT @GreenRupertRead: It takes enormous energy to try forever to keep climate-despair at arm’s length. When one finally relaxes, & let’s it in, suddenly all that energy becomes available – for action. Despair is not our enemy. Treated aright, despair is a prompt to accept the truth – & then ORGANISE.
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RT @GreenRupertRead: @Quakers_RoR @SueAuthor @anthlawson1 @BritishQuakers May be of supplementary interest: our dialogue prompted by Anthea’s book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge-8PLiNpOw
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RT @Quakers_RoR: 📣 Roots Book Group! 📚 1st meeting 📆 8 March ⏰ 7-9pm when we’ll gather to learn/share reflections on ’The Entangled Activist’ by @anthlawson1 🙏 all welcome! More info/buy the book via link Contact us for bursaries to cover costs @BritishQuakers http://anthealawson.uk/the-entangled-…
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RT @LibbyRuffle: Currently reading and can absolutely recommend @anthlawson1’s Entangled Activist (thanks in turn to @Quakers_RoR for signposting it) I’m adding it to @RoyScranton’s ‘We’re Doomed’ and @BayoAkomolafe’s ‘These Wilds’ as essential books to devour and always keep to hand
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RT @Cult_Unstained: BREAKING! After 33 years, BP’s sponsorship of the @RoyalOperaHouse in London has come to an end! 🎶🎭🥳 This is a seismic shift, a near wholesale rejection across the arts of BP’s brand and the business it represents! 🙌🙌🙌 https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/jan/25/bp-sponsorship-of-royal-opera-house-ends-after-33-years #FossilFreeCulture #DropBP
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RT @LeonieVHicks: Lots of resonances here in this great piece from @anthlawson1 with recent discussions at work (see thread on @JayIngate’s talk last week) and with how humans, environment and landscape interact. Adding to our ecocritial and landscape week for the MA. https://twitter.com/anthlawson1/status/1618316823665180673
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RT @davidjlintern: Damn fine piece https://twitter.com/anthlawson1/status/1618316823665180673
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RT @underscrutiny: On the Dartmoor right to roam protest I walked alongside @anthlawson1. A lot has been rightly written about the event, but her piece about ‘naming the bastards’ is well worth a read. Love the description of Crockern-summoner Martin Shaw as ‘chthonic moss-covered storyteller’! https://twitter.com/anthlawson1/status/1618316823665180673
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I wrote a blog about belonging to the land rather than owning it, and whether activists should name and shame the bastards we’re fighting https://www.anthealawson.uk/post/walking-and-protesting-on-dartmoor
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Yes! This is what keeps the pinstripe army of lawyers/bankers/accountants/PRs respectable: the idea that they offer only neutral plumbing services for the system. Actually, without breaking laws, they can be ENABLERS of activities that undermine democracy and the public realm https://twitter.com/kadhim/status/1617223541463695362
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RT @carolecadwalla: 4/ Why does it matter? Because as @pevchikh says, the UK played a key role in facilitating what’s happening in Ukraine now. And London is still a central node in Putin’s empire of corruption. The “mass rapes & killings” are on our side of the ledger.
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Dartmoor wild camping protest today. This generation’s fight for access to the land. Crowd of thousands in fine form. The moor in fine form: reminding us why this matters. We are the land.
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Super news (and inevitable). Bye bye @Fastglobe. Hello @AtmosTotnes: affordable housing, developed by the community. https://twitter.com/AtmosTotnes/status/1616391757620559874
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RT @RobGMacfarlane: So: wealthy landowner takes case to High Court to exclude wild camping from his 4000-acre bloodsporty Dartmoor estate. Wins case. Now *sells* the right to camp back to the taxpayer, on a reduced area. Sucks so much. A massive step back—and a stitch-up. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/19/dartmoor-national-park-to-pay-landowners-to-allow-wild-camping?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
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For more content, see Jonathan Rowson.