Alternative Editorial: Deep Revolution
In week 33 of The Shift let’s look away from US politics and relocate our perspective to the UK grassroots. We were happy to see a major article in The Guardian by John Harris about the Flatpack 2021 campaign which we reported here. Harris’s enthusiasm for what’s been happening in towns and parishes over the Covid crisis is palpable: here’s a snippet:
I live in Frome in Somerset – where, in 2011, a town council with an annual budget of about £1m was wrested from the Tories and Lib Dems. A new group of self-styled independents began running things, with an accent on participation, sustainability, community wellbeing, and the rejection of traditional party politics. The same basic idea has now spread to about 15 other places: its name, coined by an inspirational councillor called Peter Macfadyen, is “flatpack democracy”.
In the first phase of the pandemic, the agile, open way that the town council now works came into its own. The town centre venue previously used for gigs and indoor markets was turned into a bustling food depot. Banners suddenly appeared everywhere, suggesting we all check in on five of our neighbours. Cyclists raced around town dropping off food and prescriptions. This work, which also includes help for local businesses, has carried on; the town council is now thinking hard about how to sustain it beyond the pandemic.
John also creates a broader context throughout his piece with links in a number of directions. Firstly to an article by the Guardian’s Social Affairs Correspondent, Robert Booth which emphasizes the values of those working within the Covid Mutual-Aid groups.
“Society has been divided, but now we can show we can act in a unified way... There are safeguarding concerns, and that is why we are encouraging people to keep it as local as possible,” said Seren John-Wood, 23, who helped establish the first group in Lewisham. “The solidarity that has emerged from this is incredible. We are hoping this will forge long-lasting connections”.
“It is testament to the fact that people are worried” Kevin Smith said, but added that “it also showed people have a very grounded sense of community and its importance… Individual wellbeing is dependent on collective wellbeing and common resilience.”
Later Harris links to both Labour and Tory responses to the grassroots phenomenon, both of which are notable: Labour’s work with Barking & Dagenham council in Participatory Cities (we’ve been blogging here) and a set of proposals from Tory MP Danny Kruger that builds on long term Conservative interest in the Big Society (we’ve also kept tabs here). While both show signs of party politics taking local interests seriously, they both stop short of seeing the real revolution that Flatpack Democracy is pointing at.
There are four aspects to this revolution:
1. This is not primarily about citizens taking on the work of councils or councils organising the citizens to help them out. Although it includes these benefits it is not simply a services-led change in the age of austerity. It starts with people waking up to their own ability to see what is needed and responding to it better than the local council can. This might have been going on for years before Covid – see all the community groups already in existence – but it has accelerated and become more visible since the first lockdown. In the age of the internet, this will be as much about innovation as delivery.
2. This self-awareness has revealed the democratic deficit, or as Peter Macfadyen might say the absence of democracy, where our representative system completely disempowers the people and their own capacity to make the best decisions. This is not against the other political parties, but a complete re-imagining of what politics should be. Again, in these pages, you will see many forms of new political architecture falling into place to hone that autonomy – not just what the council would like to offer. Much of the energy is anarchic: determined to stay independent. When the people take over the council their power is not absorbed into the old political structures: it transforms the council making it a vehicle for the community.
3. While some of the benefits of communities choosing the Independent route might be practical – as Harris describes above – what is more important in the long term is the shift in culture. At the core of both the Flatpack manuals are the ‘ways of working’ together which challenge every aspect of current party-political culture. Collaborative not competitive, diverse on principle, deeply connected to individual as well as planetary well-being. Don’t forget Frome is a Transition Town and also working closely with Extinction Rebellion to align with the climate emergency.
4. Possibly most importantly, the revolution at hand is not simply local or grassroots. If it was there would not be a national campaign. As more and more towns and parishes pop up to join in, they are meeting, discussing and sharing principles as well as practices. Flatpack makes itself distinct from other independents standing, insisting the point is to bring in citizen participation at every level. They have this intention in common with municipalist movements worldwide as well as other kinds of citizen action networks the world over. Much more on this here.
Two further points about the context for the Flatpack 2021 campaign that may not be directly related to the take-over of councils, but certainly point at new possibilities as a result of their success.
Firstly, within this new relationship there should be more support for long term goals such as community wealth building: let the people not only use empty buildings and other assets but generate income from them and create common ownership. Working actively with local cooperatives to build on the social capital they have built over the years could help communities begin to thrive.
Secondly, it’s crucial that this does not remain a volunteer network doing the governments work while Westminster spends 30 billion on military expenditure we never approved. More community agency should add up to more jobs, more money and more flourishing.
To achieve that local economies are increasingly what we call cosmo-local – drawing on the experience, methods and practices from cutting edge thinking from around the world. This is partly through CANs like Transition having global communities of their own to connect with. But it will increasingly be through global networks of all kinds coming into the homes of every citizen.
In the final para of John Harris’ piece he says he can’t quite see the implications of a successful Flatpack Campaign in 2021. I hope we’ve given him some ideas here.