<div>Hi again Matt<br><br>Thanks for this. About the first part of what you say, I can see how there is an overlap/potential synergy between what is being expected / aimed for (albeit with justified scepticism) among policy makers and watchers, and what some of us are proposing by way of a bottom up agenda for democratic localists and wider/higher/deeper democratic processes & transparency. And yes, I bet the contract culture - or managerialism? - is really making it difficult for independence and genuinely democratic structures to be sustained and /or emerge. Would be great to find ways to engage with your network on this problem, aswell as to explore possible misconceptions about the wider activist community (btw, to my mind these misconceptions are probably mirrored in the activist community, who sometimes seem to me so purist and ideologically driven, which is to say sectarian as to exclude all possibilities of chatting and learning from other sections of civil society) </div>
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<div>So yes let's move it forward with some constructive chatting and engagement. If CRD/Project 2012 members - and the ideas they've been developing and members of your CSC (Voluntary and Community Sectors) can be given the opportunity explore the idea of unionising around 'real democracy policy objectives' while at the same time dispelling some of the misunderstandings you refer to, well, I think that would be grand.
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<div>One other domestic group I should refer to is PNUK or the Planners Network UK who are now working on a gathering in November around a broad anti-supermarkets being parachuted in to local communities without their say-so pro-democracy agenda. There are quite a few academics, aswell as some of the more thoughtful activists in that grouping and I think they might be amenable to some of these ideas. Also, Friends of the Earth have recently disbanded a lot of their LA21 / Ecological Justice through Rights based work so apparently there are quite a few experienced, disgruntled activists looking to get their teeth into something. Would be great to have CSC (and NCIA) represented along with CRD at the Autumn meeting so I will keep you posted on that. </div>
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<div>About the geography of this, well, I am keen to see a union that takes place on national - and ideally also international, europe-wide and even beyond - lines, but I do think that London/other city-wide networks are perfectly good, and may even be better in some ways depending on how events pan out. If people can unite across cities, but also at the same time find ways to unite the cities without leaving out the rural areas then we are on to something. There is, as always a diversity of decent strategies. But however it occurs I do think if we can build something with national reach that would be great. But I definitely don't think we should allow ourselves to be limited here. The way the state operates from one nation to another may be different but my instinct is that the kind of structures we need in order to create a really democratic society must be universal, and so a union for real democracy won't mean much if it can't transcend local (by which I mean national) conditions, while at the same time engaging effectively with all of them. The EU project - which, after all, has it's own set of 'national conditions' which go alongside the varied conditions of its member nation-states - i crying out for a people powered movement; and to extend even further for a moment there are ancestral lands and independent cultures (including, again in the EU, the Roma) that need solidarity and protection worldwide. Our considerations must be wide enough to engage all of this while still maintaining relevance at the macro level. No mean task! </div>
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<div>But obviously we need to start somewhere, and crucially with the national - ie English, British etc - conditions we are stuck with. Sorry if that is too much of a wide answer but it's a tricky question. </div>
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<div>What do you, and others think? </div>
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<div class="gmail_quote">2009/9/14 Matthew Scott <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:Matt@communitysectorcoalition.org.uk" target="_blank">Matt@communitysectorcoalition.org.uk</a>></span><br>
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<p><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Mark</span></font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Happy to try and see about this</span></font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Yes there is a body of people who have this interest, which would include the CSC (Community Sector Coalition) members – in particular your 5 points connect with two areas that are live for the voluntary / community sector – namely the work in part sponsored by DEFRA and related statutory bods on climate change (where there is frustration and hope in equal measures about going beyond narrow top down and individual behaviour change models to collective action and social justice rooted action; and also the democracy / localism angle is for me, absolutely key to what the community sector is all about, albeit the contract culture / service delivery mantra has created a division in our sector so that increasingly voluntary sector groups define themselves in narrow professional criteria which is not helpful. </span></font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Taking it forward, one thing is how geographically located is this union of democratic localists? Is it primarily London? That will make a difference – CSC is national and because I live in London I have range of local contacts here. Secondly I think the voluntary / community sector identity can take a bit of working through, which will need a bit of attention. Personally I connect what I do in the sector in very broad social terms whereby everything relates to political structures but I believe it is sadly often the case that community / voluntary sector workers struggle to make the connections with wider activist campaigns being the same common cause as theirs; so in order to reap the benefits a bit of chatting through how it all fits together, where goals and objectives unite is usually required so everyone gets it. All a bit obvious but worth considering. I am keen to take this forward so lets follow up soon</span></font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Matt</span></font></p>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" color="navy" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: navy">Matthew Scott</span></font><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy"></span></font></p>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" color="navy" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: navy">020 7336 9461</span></font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Work mobile: 07827 258411</span></font><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy"></span></font></p>
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<p><font face="Arial" color="navy" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Website: <a href="http://www.communitysectorcoalition.org.uk/" target="_blank">www.communitysectorcoalition.org.uk</a></span></font><font color="navy"><span style="COLOR: navy"></span></font></p>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" color="navy" size="2"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy">T</span></font><font color="black" size="1"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt; COLOR: black">his message is intended only for the use of the addressee and may contain information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify us immediately by return e-mail and delete this e-mail and all attachments from your system.</span></font></p>
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<p><b><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">From:</span></font></b><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"> Mark Barrett [mailto:<a href="mailto:marknbarrett@googlemail.com" target="_blank">marknbarrett@googlemail.com</a>] <br>
<b><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</span></b> 14 September 2009 12:08
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<div><br><b><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</span></b> <a href="mailto:campaignforrealdemocracy@lists.aktivix.org" target="_blank">campaignforrealdemocracy@lists.aktivix.org</a>; <a href="mailto:project2012@googlegroups.com" target="_blank">project2012@googlegroups.com</a><br>
<b><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Campaignforrealdemocracy] [project2012] Community Networking</div></div></span></font>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Hi Matt</span></font></p></div>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Thanks for this. </span></font></p></div>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">I'm trying to work out a way in which the Project 2012 / CRD work can connect effectively with these networks. </span></font></p></div>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">I know you're only subscribed to CRD list, which has a more reduced traffic but the Project 2012 list has been humming with good ideas and debate over the last 6 months and there's been, especially in the first period of discussion a reasonable level of agreement about structural changes (some of which I mentioned to you at our meeting at the Royal Festival Hall) that would be good to put out to a wider audience for deliberation. (More recently we've been debating values and taxation and how to connect these two to the proposals for structural change but that is all still quite open-ended) </span></font></p>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Matt do you think there is a body of people who you could connect with who would be interested to develop an alternative civil society manifesto for real political and economic power at the local community level. Something with the aims of, say </span></font></p>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">1. challenging the politicians rhetoric on decentralisation with a clear set of proposals for a decentralised sovereignty (by pointing out the gap between what they are taling about and what the policies they support will actually achieve) </span></font></p>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">2. maintain and develop a level of critical and operational independence and pursue the same for everyone </span></font></p></div>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">3. possibly fighting for some strategic seats in local / general / other elections after GE 2010 </span></font></p></div>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">4. encourage greater (ie real) democracy amongst all its members </span></font></p></div>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">5 challenge and attract activists, from transition towns to climate camp and beyond to help out with direct action / electioneering as they feel comfortable..</span></font></p>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Something akin to a Union for Democratic Localists with the desire to join together across the regions..?</span></font></p></div>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">What do you think?</span></font></p></div>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Mark</span></font></p></div>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">2009/9/14 Matthew Scott <<a href="mailto:Matt@communitysectorcoalition.org.uk" target="_blank">Matt@communitysectorcoalition.org.uk</a>></span></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Hi Mark<br><br>Community Matters are a well established national community umbrella org - they have around 1,000 members, typically community centres are their core supporters / constituency so there is a strong local connection. Likewise CM is part of the Community Alliance which is a significant force in the sector around the idea of community 'anchors' - i.e. local multi purpose infrastructure. CA are also one of my members, i.e. of the Community Sector Coalition. Yes they are funded by government, as are most community orgs at that level and would not, I think, see themselves as the 'opposition' or as a counter hegemonic block (for those of you who know about the 'in and against the state' work of the early 1980s), so the idea of revolution is a tad rhetorical in my view, but there is a very strong connection with local communities and a strong interest in the civil as opposed to civic sphere and in deeper local democracy and there is a critical and independent element to it<br>
<br>Matt<br><br><br><br><br><br>Matthew Scott<br><br>CSC Director<br><br>020 7336 9461<br><br>Work mobile: 07827 258411<br><br>Website: <a href="http://www.communitysectorcoalition.org.uk/" target="_blank">www.communitysectorcoalition.org.uk</a><br>
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<p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">-----Original Message-----<br>From: Mark Barrett [mailto:<a href="mailto:marknbarrett@googlemail.com" target="_blank">marknbarrett@googlemail.com</a>]<br>
Sent: 12 September 2009 22:48<br>To: <a href="mailto:campaignforrealdemocracy@lists.aktivix.org" target="_blank">campaignforrealdemocracy@lists.aktivix.org</a>; <a href="mailto:project2012@googlegroups.com" target="_blank">project2012@googlegroups.com</a><br>
Subject: Re: [Campaignforrealdemocracy] [project2012] Community Networking<br><br>Hi Matt and All<br><br>Thanks for this Steve.<br><br>Matt, and others, what are your thoughts on Community Matters? I note<br>their Leicester AGM, titled "Planning the Revolution" is taking place<br>
this weekend, and that it is co-sponsored by the government and costs<br>upwards of 70 pounds to attend.<br><br>Mark<br><br>2009/9/12 Steve Gwynne <<a href="mailto:satoritree@yahoo.co.uk" target="_blank">satoritree@yahoo.co.uk</a>>:<br>
><br>> Possibly another community network to liase with.<br>><br>> <a href="http://www.communitymatters.org.uk/community-matters-locally/london/" target="_blank">http://www.communitymatters.org.uk/community-matters-locally/london/</a><br>
><br>> Steve<br>><br>><br>> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~<br>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups<br>> "Project2012" group.<br>
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