We receive a lot of potential contributions and not everything fits our format.
Please follow the guidelines below and send your proposed story to our official email mail@radicalpolitics.org and include what you want to contribute (text, photo, video), a brief description of the content and two or three sentences about yourself.
Writing guide for writers on Radical Politics
Do you want to contribute to Radical Politics? Here are some points to keep in mind and some help along the way.
A-B-C about the text:
Title: This should be self-explanatory and work on its own. The title should motivate the reader to read more. Benefit, but not a requirement that the subject/person is involved.
Introduction: Short text below the title that makes the reader want to read the rest of the text. Should not contain more than one point. Max 180 characters.
Links: Minimum three links in the text to relevant articles, photos or videos.
Intermediate titles: There should be an intermediate title approximately every 2000 characters at least.
Length: We have no fixed norm here. The text can be short or long, and both can be great. Say what’s on your mind. But a rule of thumb is that the longer the article, the higher the requirement for it to be thoroughly worked out and well written, otherwise people will drop out along the way.
Portrait of the author (portrait)
Self-presentation: In two or three sentences
Republishing: Basically, we do not publish texts that have been published elsewhere previously.
A guide:
Below is some help to design the article for Radical Politics. These are not absolute rules – but we believe that these points can help to structure the thought and the writing process.
- Which theme do you choose?
We want to reach out with a sharp opinion or a good story, which more people should be able to read about. The post can easily be linked to current news, debates or actions in the public eye. Or it can link to and criticize texts that have been published on Radical Politics.
- What is the issue?
Think through what you want to say in this text. What is it about? Feel free to state what it is about in the first few sentences. It helps the reader to follow along.
- Who is wrong?
Not all texts are critical. Some texts are only about telling something or informing. But if it is a critical text, it is useful to think through: Who is wrong? — and then write it, preferably directed at specific people. It makes the text more interesting and fun.
- Who do you turn to?
It is useful to think through who you are addressing with the text. Is this text primarily addressed to people who agree with you in the first place? For example, do you want to give people who agree with you new arguments or professional reinforcement? Or do you also want to write for a wider audience, who don’t necessarily agree with you – or weren’t aware that they agreed with you?
- How are you going to convince those you approach?
Feel free to be personal or use specific examples. Then it becomes easier for the reader to follow along, and any numbers and statistics are linked to something real. Think through how you will convince readers who may not agree with you in the first place. Then a good rule is to avoid “tribal language”, i.e. terms only people on the left have a relationship with, for example words such as capital accumulation, overhang in the salary settlement or gender essentialism. Furthermore, it is often a good strategy to start from something that most people can agree on, and then argue from that. Example: “We all agree that economic inequality is a bad thing. This decision by Jens Stoltenberg will increase inequality, because so and so”.
- What happens after publication?
After the post has been published, it is great if you follow and participate in any debates that follow the post or on the Mastodon/Facebook page of Radical Politics.
The editors reserve the right to edit articles, but will, if possible, do so in consultation with the author.