"Consensus at times is hegemonic. When the policy of central government proclaims community empowerment, is there any need for community struggle? Where once 'community empowerment' implied conflict and an active counter-politics, today it is part of the vocabulary of new urban governance. Doutbless the shift towards a nominally bottom-up urban policy, and the new 'intsitutionalist' approach of planning together while living differently (Healey 1997), reflects a concern for the inclusion of diverse groups and that it is more democratic and potentially more effective than relying on the trickling down of market gains. Our concern is that a search for consensus can rely on a process of exclusion. More specifically, a policy environment that puts a premium on what is claimed to be a strategy based on 'holistic' partnerships may also crowd out dissent. In this case limited concepts of community and empowerment are measured by improving the competitiveness of individuals in the market, not in nurturing competing voices in democratic debate."
"Community Empowerment: Rethinking Resistance in an Era of Partnership", by Peter North and Irene Bruegel
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Weed it and reap
Guardian article about a former drug addict turned community activist-allotment grower. You can watch a short film about him called 'Weed it and reap' here:
More altruism
Following on my theme in the last post, of people volunteering to be penalised for the greater good, I found this story about a group of rich Germans calling for higher taxes to pay for "ecological programmes, education and social projects". Particularly significant is their recognition that what we need to take us on the path to recovery is environmental and social solutions, not simply more economic growth:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8321967.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8321967.stm
Monday, October 19, 2009
Scottish land reform - part 2
Oops! think I forgot my causes for optimism - these came from two people I spoke to briefly:
1. A beef farmer, arguing for less beef farming (we should be growing grain to feed ourselves not for animals or the whisky industry)
2. A landowner, with six acres of land for horses, arguing for a land tax.
The beginnings of altruism in the face of the urgent changes we must all make!
1. A beef farmer, arguing for less beef farming (we should be growing grain to feed ourselves not for animals or the whisky industry)
2. A landowner, with six acres of land for horses, arguing for a land tax.
The beginnings of altruism in the face of the urgent changes we must all make!
Land reform - it's not over til the fat cat gives up his castle
I was privileged enough to attend an extremely significant seminar discussing the future of land reform in Scotland last Monday (thanks Andrew Anderson!). The event was hosted by Local People Leading, who have set themselves up as an umbrella partnership to provide a single, coherent voice for the community sector in Scotland. One of their jobs is to keep reminding the Scottish government of their policy commitments to communities, and the need for further land reform in order to give the community sector a strong and sustainable asset base. They produce particularly good fortnightly briefings, which I often quote on the CLT site.
Andy Wightman presented on how the Land Reform Act 2003 emerged and what it was orginally conceived to achieve. He has done a lot of important evidence-gathering on land ownership in Scotland, and has set up a number of websites, including Who Owns Scotland and Commonweal, which aims to identify, document and restore Scottish Commons. The latter is a topic which has received some much-needed attention recently, with the awarding of the Nobel Prize for economics to Elinor Ostrom for her work on the commons.
The general feeling was that the Act has 'lanced the boil' of the injustices of feudal tenure, but has not gone far enough. There is a lot more to do in terms of changing the patterns of land tenure across the whole of Scotland - not just the Highlands and Islands. And not just rural communities but urban communities too. And there is a long wish list of related topics that community groups believe need attention - from asset transfer from the public sector, social enterprise support, community planning, to succession rights.
It felt very different to community sector meetings I have attended in England. I think the difference was the idealism, the faith that an abstract piece of legislation would change lives. And expectations. Expectations that politicians would deliver what was needed! I think someone actually bemoaned the lack of 'political vision'. It is a long time since i heard anyone in the community sector even referring to the possibility that there could be such a thing as political vision.
People I work with in England don't expect anything from the government or from politicians. This is how bad it has become. Westminster is a tired, jaded institution which seems remote to most of the country, and is tarnished by so many scandals. The contrast really struck home to me the lack of faith we have in our London politicians to do anything they say they will. How much power do they have, anyway? Hazel Blears really seemed to believe what she said about communities, yet residents her constituency of Salford have been scandolously treated by the City Council, and her public support was insufficient to progress a proposed community buy-out of a hospital site in Stroud. How can we trust our 'democratic' institutions - when they produce arrogant men who announce quite publicly that taxpayers (peasants?) are simply jealous of their vast estates?
In Scotland, on the other hand, there is a feeling that the devolved government is more accountable, more responsive. It is newer, younger, less tainted by scandal. The first Labour government won on the basis of many promises to resolve longstanding injustices and reform land tenure. As a result there are now very high expectations. It is important that these expectations are not frustrated. Disillusionment with devolved government will hurt Scottish psyche. We must not let the Scottish dream die.
On the other hand, does waiting for action from authority not slow down community empowerment? It should come from the grass-roots, and does not need permission from local or central government. That is the positive feeling I get from colleagues in England. There is so much that can be achieved - without any kind of land reform or supportive legislation, there are still £490m of assets in community ownership in England.
For the Scots the history is present. It is not remote, in the past, but something that is still felt, that still hurts. But in trying to repair past injustices, taking on long, slow battles over points of principle, are we missing out on smaller, easier wins? Society does not change to fit legislation, legislation changes to reflect society. I felt that all the resources to achieve a brighter future were in that room, or represented in that room. Do we need local government or politicians? Get on and show what is possible, then wait for them to catch up! They soon will, if it's popular and successful, and then they will appear for the photo opportunity!
Andy Wightman presented on how the Land Reform Act 2003 emerged and what it was orginally conceived to achieve. He has done a lot of important evidence-gathering on land ownership in Scotland, and has set up a number of websites, including Who Owns Scotland and Commonweal, which aims to identify, document and restore Scottish Commons. The latter is a topic which has received some much-needed attention recently, with the awarding of the Nobel Prize for economics to Elinor Ostrom for her work on the commons.
The general feeling was that the Act has 'lanced the boil' of the injustices of feudal tenure, but has not gone far enough. There is a lot more to do in terms of changing the patterns of land tenure across the whole of Scotland - not just the Highlands and Islands. And not just rural communities but urban communities too. And there is a long wish list of related topics that community groups believe need attention - from asset transfer from the public sector, social enterprise support, community planning, to succession rights.
It felt very different to community sector meetings I have attended in England. I think the difference was the idealism, the faith that an abstract piece of legislation would change lives. And expectations. Expectations that politicians would deliver what was needed! I think someone actually bemoaned the lack of 'political vision'. It is a long time since i heard anyone in the community sector even referring to the possibility that there could be such a thing as political vision.
People I work with in England don't expect anything from the government or from politicians. This is how bad it has become. Westminster is a tired, jaded institution which seems remote to most of the country, and is tarnished by so many scandals. The contrast really struck home to me the lack of faith we have in our London politicians to do anything they say they will. How much power do they have, anyway? Hazel Blears really seemed to believe what she said about communities, yet residents her constituency of Salford have been scandolously treated by the City Council, and her public support was insufficient to progress a proposed community buy-out of a hospital site in Stroud. How can we trust our 'democratic' institutions - when they produce arrogant men who announce quite publicly that taxpayers (peasants?) are simply jealous of their vast estates?
In Scotland, on the other hand, there is a feeling that the devolved government is more accountable, more responsive. It is newer, younger, less tainted by scandal. The first Labour government won on the basis of many promises to resolve longstanding injustices and reform land tenure. As a result there are now very high expectations. It is important that these expectations are not frustrated. Disillusionment with devolved government will hurt Scottish psyche. We must not let the Scottish dream die.
On the other hand, does waiting for action from authority not slow down community empowerment? It should come from the grass-roots, and does not need permission from local or central government. That is the positive feeling I get from colleagues in England. There is so much that can be achieved - without any kind of land reform or supportive legislation, there are still £490m of assets in community ownership in England.
For the Scots the history is present. It is not remote, in the past, but something that is still felt, that still hurts. But in trying to repair past injustices, taking on long, slow battles over points of principle, are we missing out on smaller, easier wins? Society does not change to fit legislation, legislation changes to reflect society. I felt that all the resources to achieve a brighter future were in that room, or represented in that room. Do we need local government or politicians? Get on and show what is possible, then wait for them to catch up! They soon will, if it's popular and successful, and then they will appear for the photo opportunity!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Rehab on the veg plot
Guardian article about a former drug addict turned community activist-allotment grower. You can watch a short film about him called 'Weed it and reap' here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNPEy9xQHY0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNPEy9xQHY0
Pascal's wager on climate change
Discovered a very interesting blog by Paul Clark on the different ways of thinking we need to adopt in order to adapt to climate change. He has written about the need to adopt 'ecological literacy' if we are to survive as a species. This represents a shift in thinking, from structural -> process thinking, from measuring -> mapping, from objective -> contextual knowledge, from dealing in numbers to identifying patterns. This shift is already evident in many areas of thinking, eg organisational development, social media, some parts of academia, but will need to become a lot more pervasive and infiltrate the education system too.
He's a rare academic that takes a keen interest in getting involved in 'real life' - being a key player in Incredible Edible Todmorden. I'm looking forward to meeting with him on Friday, in the meantime I thought I would share one of his diagrams.
Friday, October 2, 2009
DTA Conference
By far the most inspiring 'turn' at the recent Development Trusts Association Conference (13-15 September) was by Stan Thaekakara - 'asking an Indian to talk for just 20 minutes is like asking an Italian to talk with his hands behind his back!'. He had everyone in the room feeling like we were one of his friends - quite a feat when talking to a room full of people. It was obvious that it was his warmth and humanity that had guided him in his working life - he started off in Tamil Nadu working on behalf of hill tribes in order to secure their land rights. Subsequently he set up Just Change India which aimed to go beyond the Fairtrade concept by linking producers, consumers and investors in a more direct relationship than they had ever had before. The commodity - tea - took him to visit disadvantaged communities in Britain. This is the interesting bit - he wanted to make the tea affordable to consumers as well as giving a fair price to producers. An exchange visit took place between Loughborough consumers and Tamil Nadu producers which resulted in lifelong friendships.
It's been a long time since we saw the world as 'one planet' - these days the world is constantly divided between 'developed' and 'developing', 'western' and 'the rest', 'rich countries' and 'poor countries'. Yet these two families from Loughborough and India may have more in common with each other than with the societies they live in. I am beginning to realise more and more that there is so much we can learn about community development and social enterprise from the 'developing world' - for instance leadership qualities, positive attitudes and respect for each other. Also new theories and techniques such as livelihoods, building IT skills, women's empowerment. Microfinance is one idea that's already spread to the developed world from Bangladesh.
As for the rest of the conference - there was also an extensive and tempting array of interesting workshops and site visits - unfortunately it was only possible to choose two! For any community project this must seem like a precious chance to learn the 'magic tricks' to make their dreams a reality - but where to start? The range of skills and specialisms required for asset-based community development is enormous - financial, business management, fundraising, managing assets and investments, housing development, negotiating with local authorities, planning, reporting, public relations, legal governance, facilitating community engagement, demonstrating your impact, monitoring and reporting.
Another theme of the conference was power down/transition to an oil-free economy. For an interesting perspective you can follow Rob Hopkins' blog here
All the resources from the conference are available here.
It's been a long time since we saw the world as 'one planet' - these days the world is constantly divided between 'developed' and 'developing', 'western' and 'the rest', 'rich countries' and 'poor countries'. Yet these two families from Loughborough and India may have more in common with each other than with the societies they live in. I am beginning to realise more and more that there is so much we can learn about community development and social enterprise from the 'developing world' - for instance leadership qualities, positive attitudes and respect for each other. Also new theories and techniques such as livelihoods, building IT skills, women's empowerment. Microfinance is one idea that's already spread to the developed world from Bangladesh.
As for the rest of the conference - there was also an extensive and tempting array of interesting workshops and site visits - unfortunately it was only possible to choose two! For any community project this must seem like a precious chance to learn the 'magic tricks' to make their dreams a reality - but where to start? The range of skills and specialisms required for asset-based community development is enormous - financial, business management, fundraising, managing assets and investments, housing development, negotiating with local authorities, planning, reporting, public relations, legal governance, facilitating community engagement, demonstrating your impact, monitoring and reporting.
Another theme of the conference was power down/transition to an oil-free economy. For an interesting perspective you can follow Rob Hopkins' blog here
All the resources from the conference are available here.
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