3 0 June 2017
W
ITHOUT COMMUNITY, politics is dead. But
communities have been scattered like
dust in the wind. At work, at home, both
practically and imaginatively, we are
atomised.
Politics, as a result, is experienced by many people as
an external force, dull and irrelevant at best, oppressive
and frightening at worst. It is handed down from above
rather than developed from below. There are exceptions
– the Sanders and Corbyn leadership campaigns for
example – but even they seemed shallowly rooted by
comparison to the deep foundations of solidarity that
movements grew from in the past, and may disperse as
quickly as they gather.
It is in the powder of shattered communities that anti-
politics swirls, raising towering dust devils of
demagoguery and extremism. These tornadoes threaten
to tear down whatever social structures still stand.
When people are atomised and afraid, they feel driven
to defend their own interests against other people’s. In
other words, they are pushed away from intrinsic values
such as empathy, connectedness and kindness, and
towards extrinsic values such as power, fame and status.
The problem created by the politics of extreme individu-
alism is self-perpetuating.
Conversely, a political model based only on state pro
-
vision can leave people dependent, isolated and highly
vulnerable to cuts. The welfare state remains essential:
it has relieved levels of want and squalor that many
by George Monbiot
Restore political life by restoring
community life
Even the Sanders and Corbyn
leadership campaigns seemed
shallowly rooted by comparison to
the deep foundations of solidarity
that movements grew from in the
past, and they may disperse as
quickly as they gather
All
together
now
OPINION
June 2017 3 1
people now find hard to imagine. But it can also, inad-
vertently, erode community, sorting people into silos to
deliver isolated services, weakening their ties to
society.
This article explores the ways in which we could
restore political life by restoring community life. This
doesn’t mean ditching state provision, but complement-
ing it with something that belongs neither to government
nor to the market, but exists in a different sphere, a
sphere we have neglected.
There are hundreds of colourful examples of how this
might begin, such as community shops, development
trusts, food assemblies, community choirs, free univer-
sities, time banking, Transition Towns, potluck lunch
clubs, local currencies, men’s sheds (in which older men
swap skills and make new friends), turning streets into
temporary playgrounds (like the Playing Out project),
secular services (such as Sunday Assembly), lantern fes-
tivals, fun palaces and technology hubs.
Turning such initiatives into a wider social revival
means creating what practitioners call “thick networks”:
projects that proliferate, spawning further ventures and
ideas that weren’t envisaged when they started. They
then begin to develop a dense participatory culture that
becomes attractive and relevant to everyone, rather than
mostly to socially active people with time on their hands.
A study commissioned by the London borough of Lam-
beth sought to identify how these thick networks are
most likely to develop. The process typically begins with
projects that are “lean and live”: they start with very
little money, and evolve rapidly through trial and error.
They are developed not by community heroes working
alone, but by collaborations between local people.
These projects create opportunities for “micro-partici-
pation”: people can dip in and out of them without much
commitment.
When enough of such projects have been launched,
they catalyse a deeper involvement, generating commu-
nity businesses, co-operatives and hybrid ventures,
which start employing people and generating income. A
tipping point is reached when 10 to 15% of local residents
are engaging regularly. Community then begins to gel,
triggering an explosion of social enterprise and new
activities, that starts to draw in the rest of the popula-
tion. The mutual aid these communities develop
functions as a second social safety net.
The process, the study reckons, takes about three
years. The result is communities that are vibrant and
attractive to live in, that generate employment, that are
environmentally sustainable and socially cohesive, in
which large numbers of people are involved in decision-
making. Which sounds to me like where we need to be.
The exemplary case is Rotterdam, where, in response
to the closure of local libraries, in 2011 a group of resi
-
dents created a reading room out of an old Turkish
bathhouse. The project began with a festival of plays,
films and discussions, then became permanently
embedded. It became a meeting place where people
could talk, read and learn new skills, and soon began,
with some help from the council, to spawn restaurants,
workshops, care cooperatives, green projects, cultural
hubs and craft collectives.
These projects inspired other people to start their
own. One estimate suggests that there are now 1300
civic projects in the city. Deep cooperation and commu-
nity building now feels entirely normal there. Both
citizens and local government appear to have been
transformed.
There are plenty of other schemes with this potential.
Walthamstow, in east London, could be on the cusp of a
similar transformation, as community cafes, cooking
projects, workshops and traffic calming schemes begin
to proliferate into a new civic commons. Incredible
Edible, that began as a guerilla planting scheme in Tod-
morden, in West Yorkshire, growing fruit and vegetables
in public spaces and unused corners, has branched into
so many projects that it is widely credited with turning
the fortunes of the town around, generating start-ups,
jobs and training programmes. A scheme to clean up
vacant lots in the Spanish city of Zaragoza soon began
creating parks, playgrounds, bowling greens, basketball
courts and allotments, generating 110 jobs in 13 months.
The revitalisation of community is not a substitute for
the state, but it does reduce its costs. The Lambeth study
estimates that supporting a thick participatory culture
costs around £400,000 for 50,000 residents: roughly
0.1% of local public spending. It is likely to pay for itself
many times over, by reducing the need for mental health
provision and social care and suppressing crime rates,
recidivism, alcohol and drug dependency.
Participatory culture stimulates participatory politics.
In fact, it is participatory politics. It creates social soli-
darity while proposing and implementing a vision of a
better world. It generates hope where hope seemed
absent. It allows people to take back control.
Most importantly, it can appeal to anyone, whatever
their prior affiliations might be. It begins to generate a
kinder public life, built on intrinsic values. By rebuilding
society from the bottom up, it will eventually force par
-
ties and governments to fall into line with what people
want. We can do this. And we don’t need anyone’s per
-
mission to begin.
This article first appeared in the Guardian
www.monbiot.com
The process begins with projects
that are “lean and live” creating
opportunities for “micro-participation”,
eventually catalysing a deeper
involvement. When 10 to 15% are
engaging regularly community gels.
Playing Out

Loading

© 2015 Village Magazine

Back to Top