Brave New Words

Introducing Wonder Media Network's latest audio documentary, Teaching Texas. In 1961, Norma and Mel Gabler were a quiet couple living in Longview, Texas. One day, they noticed some factual errors in one of their sons' textbooks. What began as a small complaint morphed into a multi-decade crusade to shape what children of Texas ​​— and therefore the country — read in their textbooks. In an election year with raging debates around education, this audio documentary charts how Texas dictated American education over the last sixty years and examines how the fight over our childrens' classroom has only intensified today.WMN on Twitter: @wmnmedia Grace Lynch on Twitter: @gracelynch08

Starting in 2019, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advocates began an ambitious two year effort to flip the script on sovereignty, self-determination and justice for First Nations. Now, after comprehensive communications training and robust messaging research, campaigners are making new gains on land rights and tackling damage to the climate.Learn more about the show at WordsToWinBy-Pod.comFollow Anat on TwitterFollow Wonder Media NetworkWebsiteInstagramTwitter

In 2020, Georgia selected a Democrat for president for the first time since 1992. But the organizers who made this happen, having registered 800,000 new voters, had an arguably more daunting task ahead: winning two Senate runoff elections two months later. With unwavering commitment to Black, Latino and Asian American communities, organizers deployed best practices in voter mobilization across mediums to win both races and flip the balance of power in Congress.Learn more about the show at WordsToWinBy-Pod.comFollow Anat on TwitterFollow Wonder Media NetworkWebsiteInstagramTwitter

A las 4 de la mañana del 30 de diciembre del 2020, mientras las multitudes estaban reunidas al frente del Congreso esperando el voto final, Argentina legalizó el aborto. Se hicieron realidad las expectativas y se validó el trabajo arduo de las organizadoras y abogadas, políticos y proveedores de atención médica, líderes feministas veteranas y activistas adolescentes recientemente comprometidas.Aprende mas sobre el podcast en WordsToWinBy-Pod.comSigue Anat en TwitterSigue Wonder Media NetworkWebsiteInstagramTwitter

At 4 a.m. on December 30th 2020, as crowds gathered in front of Congress awaiting the final vote, Argentina legalized abortion. This realized the hopes and validated the hard work of organizers and lawyers, politicians and medical providers, veteran feminist leaders and newly engaged teenage activists. Learn more about the show at WordsToWinBy-Pod.comFollow Anat on TwitterFollow Wonder Media NetworkWebsiteInstagramTwitter

As we witness today's rightwing attacks on our public schools, we consider what the 2018 educator strikes can teach us about formulating an effective response. This movement to secure better healthcare, classroom funding, and more equitable pay ignited in states you might not expect: West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arizona. And from there, it took off and delivered wins across the nation.Learn more about the show at WordsToWinBy-Pod.comFollow Anat on TwitterFollow Wonder Media NetworkWebsiteInstagramTwitter

En el 2020, un grupo tenaz de organizadores y activistas veteranos propulsaron a José Horacio Rodríguez desde la oscuridad hasta ganar un escaño en el Congreso, con más votos que ningún otro candidato de su circunscripción en el distrito central en la República Dominicana. Combatiendo partidos arraigados en un sistema corrupto de recibir pago para jugar a la política, la campaña de José Horacio desencadenó el poder de lo positivo bajo el título ‘Buena Política'.Aprende mas sobre el podcast en WordsToWinBy-Pod.comSigue Anat en TwitterSigue Wonder Media NetworkWebsiteInstagramTwitter

In 2020, a steadfast crew of veteran organizers and activists propelled José Horacio Rodríguez from obscurity to win a seat in Congress with the most votes of any candidate from his constituency in the Dominican Republic. Battling entrenched parties in a corrupt system of pay-to-play politics, José Horacio's campaign unleashed the power of the positive under the banner ‘Buena Política,' Good Politics.  Learn more about the show at WordsToWinBy-Pod.comFollow Anat on TwitterFollow Wonder Media NetworkWebsiteInstagramTwitter

While many Americans looked on in disbelief as Donald Trump refused to accept the outcome of the 2020 election, others had been reckoning with this scenario for months. Lawyers battled frivolous suits, advocates recruited poll workers, and organizers thwarted efforts to toss out ballots.A far less visible effort was also underway: armed with nightly empirical testing, messaging experts and artists provided narrative guidance and visual content to support countless leaders across states to ensure the will of the people did, indeed, prevail.Learn more about the show at WordsToWinBy-Pod.comFollow Anat on TwitterFollow Wonder Media NetworkWebsiteInstagramTwitter

In 2016, fresh off dual victories in a referendum criminalizing immigrants and a parliamentary election that brought them nearly 30% of seats, the far-right Swiss People's Party seemed destined to pass a second enforcement initiative to strip Swiss residents with foreign passports of any due process rights. With opposition parties and major human rights groups leery of taking on a campaign they considered a lost cause, the newly formed Operation Libero jumped in. With virtually no resources, they thwarted the right-wing framing of the initiative to defeat the referendum by 18 points. Special thanks to Thomas CoombesLearn more about the show at WordsToWinBy-Pod.comFollow Anat on TwitterFollow Wonder Media NetworkWebsiteInstagramTwitter

In 2020, all eyes were on Wisconsin, a state that paved Trump's way to the White House when he won there in 2016 by just 0.77% of the vote. This time around, organizers and strategists both from within the Democratic Party and the grassroots, bested the right-wing playbook with persuasive and mobilizing messages that ensured Biden his victory with an even closer margin of 0.63%. Learn more about Race Class Narrative at WeMakeTheFuture.usLearn more about the show at WordsToWinBy-Pod.comFollow Anat on TwitterFollow Wonder Media NetworkWebsiteInstagramTwitter

On season 2 of Words to Win By, we're going from Switzerland to Arizona and from the Dominican Republic to West Virginia to unpack some of the fiercest fights - and biggest come-from-behind victories - for progressives. For each of these stories, we examine the words, tactics and strategies needed to take on entrenched parties and defy expectations to win. Season 2 premieres November 9th.

In the U.S., the battle over drug prices is heating up to confront corporate greed and pay-to-play politics. We examine how audacious organizing and morally-centered messaging proved victorious decades ago and holds promise for building a movement to liberate us from living at pharma’s mercy.

In 2017, despite voter attitudes indicating the conservative National Party would retain control of the government, Jacinda Ardern became Prime Minister of New Zealand. We look at how she and the Labour Party defied certain campaigning conventions to deliver an unexpected win that made her the world’s youngest woman head of state.

Advocates in Washington state, confronting one of the most permissive standards for justifiable use of deadly force in the country, brought police reform to the ballot and won. We explore the strategies behind their unorthodox coalition and how leaning into race, in defiance of conventional wisdom, proved pivotal to persuasion and mobilization.

The Australian government has crafted and carried out an immigration policy so abusive that it earned President Trump’s praise. Yet, over the last few years, facing a conservative and openly xenophobic administration, human rights advocates mounted and won four campaigns challenging offshore detention of people seeking asylum.

With abortion at a flashpoint in the U.S. and states practically or literally banning the procedure, we unpack how Ireland went from total ban to public acceptance. We learn how campaigners avoided a gauntlet of messaging missteps to deliver a decisive victory on an issue once considered too taboo to name.

In Minnesota, GOP operatives read in Clinton’s slim victory an opportunity to gain ground with their racially coded, anti-immigrant, Islamophobic appeals. Yet in 2018, progressives in the state not only stalled these efforts, they won across races, defining what it means to be “Minnesotan” through an aspirational narrative of multi-racial populism.

An early listen to some of the stories you'll hear on Brave New Words.