About us
Meetup Albany is your place to meet new people, create new friends and discover great things to do in Albany. You can join an event that interests you, or if there is something you would like to do that isn't happening become a host and make it happen. The team at Meetup Albany will support and train you about how to create an event that is friendly and welcoming for people to connect with and share.
People + Fun = connections and we, at Meetup Albany, want to help everyone in Albany to feel connected and a part of the community through your shared passions and interests. It is one way we, the team, can be warriors against loneliness.
Your Meet Up administration team is made up of people from the Albany Regional Volunteer Service, the City of Albany Community Development and Rainbow Coast Neighbourhood Centre. Together we will help you get the most out of your experience on Meetup.
Upcoming events
28
En français s'il vous plait...
Gourmandise & Co, 56 Stirling Terrace, Albany, AURecherchez-vous un peu de conversation en français à Albany ?
Nous sommes quartre, cinq, six personnes normalement, peut-être plus si vous venez! (Les autres ne répondent pas sur meetup - mais nous serons là !)
Venez nous rejoindre le jeudi à 8h00 pour une heure et demi de conversation -- en français uniquement s'il vous plaît. Nous serons chez Gourmandise & Co (56 Stirling Tce) ou chez Kate's Place si Gourmandise est fermé.
Bien sûr, des mots franglais et des expressions utiles comme « comment dire... ? » et « pourriez-vous répéter, mais un peu plus lentement » seront acceptables.
If you are looking for more formal French lessons (to support your conversational skills?), contact Anyes (une francaise-australienne) who offers French courses at ALAC, and a guided conversation on Fridays at Twilight Dreams: https://www.twilightdreams.com.au/french.html.
1 attendee
Cafe Philo: democracy?
Albany Public Library, 221 York Street, Albany, AUHumans live in much larger communities today than they ever have before—cities, mega-states, and global trading blocks. Accommodating the wishes of millions or billions of people is incredibly complicated.
How might the input of the people be best managed?- Do we just let them talk? (Free speech)
- Do we let them vote for politicians? (Representative democracy)
- Do we let them vote directly on policies? (Referenda)
- Do we let them deliberate and decide for themselves? (Participative democracy)
THOUGHT-STARTERS
Thought-experiment: Imagine a local community hall has fallen into complete disrepair. A developer wants to buy it, demolish it, and build apartments. However, residents want to save it and turn it into a youth centre.
The options are clear: sell or renovate. But how should that decision be made?- By a vote among elected local council members?
- By a public referendum of the entire neighborhood?
- By forming a dedicated citizens' assembly of interested residents to formulate a solution/compromise?
Which method is the most "democratic"—and which is the most just?
Realistic Challenge: Winston Churchill famously argued in 1947 that "democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried." Is he right, or are we just lacking imagination?
Philosophical Challenge: How truth and democracy depend on how we talk to each other: https://aeon.co/essays/habermass-theory-of-truth-meant-he-changed-his-mind
Mathematical Challenge: Veritasium's on why true representative democracy is mathematically impossible (Arrow's Impossibility Theorem): https://youtu.be/qf7ws2DF-zk
Australia's Challenge: A report from the Grattan Institute on how Australia cannot take our democracy for granted: https://grattan.edu.au/report/for-the-people-future-proofing-australias-democracy/
3 attendeesEn français s'il vous plait...
Gourmandise & Co, 56 Stirling Terrace, Albany, AURecherchez-vous un peu de conversation en français à Albany ?
Nous sommes quartre, cinq, six personnes normalement, peut-être plus si vous venez! (Les autres ne répondent pas sur meetup - mais nous serons là !)
Venez nous rejoindre le jeudi à 8h00 pour une heure et demi de conversation -- en français uniquement s'il vous plaît. Nous serons chez Gourmandise & Co (56 Stirling Tce) ou chez Kate's Place si Gourmandise est fermé.
Bien sûr, des mots franglais et des expressions utiles comme « comment dire... ? » et « pourriez-vous répéter, mais un peu plus lentement » seront acceptables.
If you are looking for more formal French lessons (to support your conversational skills?), contact Anyes (une francaise-australienne) who offers French courses at ALAC, and a guided conversation on Fridays at Twilight Dreams: https://www.twilightdreams.com.au/french.html.
1 attendee
Past events
1571
