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Case Studies

Activist projects that worked – or didn't – and why.

How far is too far?

How far is too far?

An enlightening debate on disruptive protest, with an activist who spends time in police custody for doing it.

e06: Disruptive protest

e06: Disruptive protest

Miriam Meyer is a young activist who gets arrested regularly, for blocking roads with the climate action group Last Generation. In this candid interview, I speak to her about the fine line between pushing your proposals, and turning the public against you.

e05: Taking the power back

e05: Taking the power back

An interview with Chris Smalls, the leader of the first successful union drive in Amazon's history. From May 2020, and very relevant today.

Know what you want

Know what you want

Don’t Pay UK, and why your campaign demands need to be concrete and measurable.

Tiny protest, big results

Tiny protest, big results

Last week, two activists glued themselves to a painting to protest climate change. It was smarter than you think.

Providing hope in the dark

Providing hope in the dark

Highlights of an inspiring interview I did with Miguel Duarte, the migrants rights activist who helped save 14,000 people... and faced 20 years in prison for it.

A contrarian campaign to vaccinate the planet

A contrarian campaign to vaccinate the planet

How can governments do a better job of persuading people to get vaccinated against COVID? I went through all the best practices I could find, and wrote it up.

What issue do you care about?

What issue do you care about?

Work with us to fix it.

Media activism: A Greek crisis story

Media activism: A Greek crisis story

A look inside two grassroots media campaigns, working on the frontline of a financial war.

Video: a behind-the-scenes look at a successful grassroots campaign

Video: a behind-the-scenes look at a successful grassroots campaign

What we did and what we learned -- from an activism project that had an impact in only four weeks.

Successful activism works like this

Successful activism works like this

A post-mortem of a recent, local campaign I worked on to save a piece of Portugal’s natural beauty from private development.

e04: The grassroots battle to eliminate COVID

e04: The grassroots battle to eliminate COVID

A dive into how grassroots groups are changing how we tackle COVID, with Vicky van der Togt, founder of the Zero Covid Alliance.

Introducing Campaign Accelerator

Introducing Campaign Accelerator

A new project I’m working on to support targeted, local, grassroots campaigns.

e03: Creative protest and how to build a movement

e03: Creative protest and how to build a movement

An inspiring, hands-on interview with the activist Radomir Lazovic, one of the founders of Don’t Let Belgrade Drown, a political movement that’s making big waves (!) in Serbia.

e02: Exposing the far-right

e02: Exposing the far-right

What do you do, when your country is holding the biggest trial of a Nazi party since Nuremberg, and the media can’t be trusted to cover it properly? I speak to Antonis Bougias of the Golden Dawn Watch grassroots journalism project in Greece, to find out.

I’m Mehran Khalili, a political consultant and photographer based in Athens. Get Subvrt — strategy and tactics for movements.