There's a new Elephant in the room... Starting our series of reflections on shaping a new system, mid-Corona, with Peter Macfadyen

As we sit isolated in our homes, our lives severely disrupted by the Coronavirus, many are beginning to ask big questions.

Why are we experiencing new, deadly infections all of a sudden and how do they become pandemics? Why does the infection play out so differently in one part of the world than another? What’s the role of money in all this – how come we didn’t have enough to fix our social and economic problems before and suddenly we have loads? What’s my role in all this? I feel so shocked: why couldn’t we see this coming?

The questions are not easy to answer without pointing at a complex system of interacting practices, theories and structures. And yet, there is a hunger for understanding and somehow doing something about the system that led to this breakdown of global security. But what?

In December 2019, 30 of AUK’s co-creators came together to think about the Elephant in the Room.   What was the socio-political-economic system that had got us into this mess? And what was the alternative? At the time we were thinking more about the climate crisis and the ten-year window we had to turn the corner on greenhouse gases, but the Coronavirus is another symptom of the same set of dysfunctions.

We had a sense that each of us were playing a clear part in developing a new system that would, as Buckminster Fuller put it, make the old one obsolete. Yet at the time, we couldn’t name it. 

Like the parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant, we all had our unique perspective but none of us could see the whole. At the same time, it’s the Elephant in the Room – the thing we find hard to name, or even talk about. 

Our gathering was challenging and profound, with no easy answers. Yet it was clear that the key to any better system was its relational qualities. How one part of the system really sees another and they begin to collaborate and integrate what’s common. 

Now suddenly we are in the Coronavirus pandemic. Instead of working more closely together we have been forced to sit at home and isolate ourselves. Offices, shops and streets are empty.

Yet the world is strangely topsy-turvy. Despite their status, Prince Charles and Boris Johnson are early victims. Key workers, especially in the NHS have become our national heroes. The homeless are being housed overnight and anyone can sign up for Universal Credit with the briefest of interviews. 

Is the socio-political-economic system we associate so closely with the current crises dissolving before our eyes? Or is it a mirage and everything will simply return to normal as soon as we are allowed out of our houses? What can be done during this fragile moment that constitutes new and better practice? How can we make it more permanent, create a new normal?

In the first of a series of Zoom events, we are inviting the original Elephanteers into the spotlight. Our first, Peter Macfadyen, was part of the Independents for Frome who took over the local council in 2011. He became the first Independent Mayor of Frome and subsequently wrote Flatpack Democracy which has inspired another 21 Councils to follow suit. In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, Peter continues to innovate together with new citizen action networks that have sprung up to help people in need. 

In our Zoom event, Peter will be in brief conversation with A/UK Co-Initiator, Indra Adnan, to share his thoughts and responses to the Coronavirus moment. After which participants will have a chance to discuss their own responses and share their ideas with Peter.

To whet your appetite, below is a short video where Peter answers three questions we put to all the Elephanteers in December in preparation for their gathering:

1.    Who are you?

2.    What is your biggest complaint against the current system?

3.    Can you describe a new system emerging?

To take part in this free event, please register (or use the embedded box to the left). Let’s all offer our perspectives on the Elephant in the Room and see if we can bring a new system into being, together.