The Bellingen Institute Inc.
A Voice For A Progressive & Just Australia
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About Us
What is the Bellingen Institute?
Formed in 2005, the Bellingen Institute is an independent and incorporated think-tank. We are community-based and largely voluntary.
Three important values we bring to our work are:
- Challenging the cultural narratives that underpin social systems based in fear, hierarchy, control, domination and violence, which lead to inequality and environmental degradation
- Recognising our interconnectedness and interdependence, both to humanity and the planet, so as to be conscious of how we affect each others’ wellbeing and happiness
- Engaging with people as ‘whole’ human beings, paying particular attention to the fundamentally important but often neglected emotional and spiritual dimensions of life
Our Objective
The Institute seeks to promote co-operative, peaceful and collaborative ways of living at the local, national and global levels.
Our Current Strategy
We are pursuing our objective through four inter-related avenues:
- Engaging in dialogues with the Bellingen community, working cooperatively in a spirit of critical enquiry to enhance the community's life enriching capacities.
- Contributing to public debate on quality of life issues by commenting in mainstream and alternative media, in peer-reviewed journals and through the production of research reports, books and monographs.
- Hosting seminars, film evenings, workshops and retreats.
- Connecting nationally and globally with like-minded research centres, Institutes and other organizations and individuals who share our belief in the potential for a dramatically different world.
Our Rational
The world is riven by environmental degradation and global gender, racial and class inequalities, the erosion of human rights, and the escalation of violence and militarism. Amidst this panorama we see the necessity for compassion towards those who are suffering and marginalised as a result of these global processes, and of the necessity for the emancipation of those who are dominated and oppressed. As well as presenting immense challenges, the present conjuncture also contains rich opportunities for re-imagining a plurality of futures based around the values stated above. Accordingly, we also see the necessity to reshape the domain of politics and economics towards universal inclusiveness, and to reshape social life towards sustainability.
Latest Publications
Dead Bodies Don’t Count: Civilian Casualties and the Forgotten Costs of the Iraq Conflic ... click here for more info
Latest Media Releases
Between Iraq and a Hard Place - Mike Otterman, Feburary 4, 2008