Social change in Shoprite, aisle 5

Millions of Americans use supplemental food benefits each month. Along with the stigma of holding up the supermarket checkout line comes a large helping of empathy with other people.

By Frida Berrigan

/ 18 Apr 2014

The selective awareness of Wisdom 2.0

Take an ancient practice, remove it from its context, strip away its ethical imperatives and sell it for a profit. Is the goal of the corporate mindfulness movement to comfort the already comfortable?

By Open democracy

/ 16 Apr 2014

Can philanthropic oligarchy nurture economic justice?

Will NGOs and foundations ever be able to look at their moneyed benefactors and challenge how they generated their wealth? The national correspondent of NonProfit Quarterly takes on our series on the role of money in the transformation of society.

By Open democracy

/ 15 Apr 2014

To survive bipolar disorder, I needed people who didn't love me

There is a unique hope in a stranger's kindness. Despite my catatonic state, despite barely recognising the people I loved, I knew that a society with a system that cares the way the NHS does, is somewhere I could learn to live. Part of Transformation's politics of mental health series. Content wa

By Open democracy

/ 9 Apr 2014

Why green growth won’t transform the economy

Green growth is a myth. Because it ignores the social, political and personal dimensions of sustainability, it can never cut deep enough into the structures of self and society to secure solutions to the crises that we face.

By Open democracy

/ 8 Apr 2014

Feminism helped me survive a forced marriage

I have Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of fleeing a forced marriage a decade ago. Writing and feminist activism helped me find a space for survival. Part of Transformation's series on the politics of mental health.

By Open democracy

/ 2 Apr 2014

The Religion of the Future

How can we organize a society that gives us a better chance to be fully alive? How can we reinvent religion so that it liberates us instead of consoling us? A new book provides some answers.

By Open democracy

/ 31 Mar 2014

Philanthropic power erosion: the Edge Fund alternative

When power and privilege are acknowledged and addressed, decisions over funding can unite people instead of dividing them. This is the ninth article in our series on the role of money in the transformation of society.

By Open democracy

/ 27 Mar 2014

The Labour Party's real challenge is finding a radical voice

Will the UK Labour Party ever really, vocally resist Conservative policies? They should be engaging young voters on global social inequality.

By Open democracy

/ 26 Mar 2014

Uganda's 'Kill the Gays' bill: Pastor Martin Ssempa and the anti-gay lobby

You can now be imprisoned for life under Uganda's anti-homosexual law. It was pushed through by religious pastors, whose moralising arm-twisting has silenced moderate voices. If you disagree with them, you may face blackmail.

By Open democracy

/ 25 Mar 2014

Organizations as communities: lessons from Deir Mar Musa in Syria

Successful communities welcome disagreement and approach conflict constructively. Maybe the 21st century is the time to think about all organizations as communities, and to see where this radical change in direction might take us.

By Alessandra Pigni

/ 24 Mar 2014

Demand homes not jails: queer homelessness is being criminalized

Cities globally are starting to criminalize homelessness: banning begging and making free food provision illegal. I work within LGBTQ communities, whose multiple oppressions lead to a high level of homelessness. When I see police disrupting rough sleepers, I remember their life stories.

By Open democracy

/ 19 Mar 2014

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