AidWatch at the Newkind Social Change Conference
This spring, AidWatch is heading to Kinglake, Victoria for the NewKind Social Change Conference, running Wednesday 30 September to Sunday 4 October.
NewKind brings together thought-leaders and grassroots organisers from across social, economic, environmental and human rights movements for a week of systems-change thinking, best-practice sharing and cross-sector solidarity-building, exactly the kind of collective, movement-connecting work AidWatch believes has to underpin any serious push for justice.
We’re bringing two sessions to the program, both on Saturday 3 October.
No Justice, No Peace: Reimagining an Economy that Fosters Peace
Sat 3 October | 9:30am, Kookaburra Stage
AidWatch’s Liz Downes joins Dr Kiran Kashyap, Dr Sabrina Chakori and Saba Sinai for a conversation on the links between economy, equity, prosperity and peace — asking what it would actually take to build an economic system that produces peace rather than perpetually financing its opposite.
Beyond Extractivism: Pathways to a Life-Sustaining Future
Sat 3 October | 11:30am, Koala Stage
Liz is joined by AidWatch Coordinator Nat Lowrey for a workshop making the case that critical minerals policy, greenwashing and market-based fixes will not save us from climate and ecological collapse — because they were never designed to. Drawing on case studies from the communities AidWatch works alongside, Liz and Nat will present the lifeways of the future already being built and defended: Water is Life resistance campaigns, regenerative conservation and agriculture, the rights of Nature, and Indigenous sovereignty. Together, these show real pathways beyond the extractivist model, locally and globally.
In the spirit of building solidarity networks, this workshop is designed as a two-way conversation to share examples of mining impacts, resistance campaigns, Yes to Life alternatives, to help build the shared picture of what comes after extractivism.
If you’re heading to NewKind, come find us at either session — or both.
