By Niall Crowley (as published in Liberty)
Making connections was the big theme when civil society sat down to discuss our broken politics last month. Claiming Our Future provided the venue, the agenda, and the band and the conversation took off from there. The need for concrete solidarity in contributing to each other’s campaigns was driving the focus on making connections. Broken politics is staring us in the face. When politics cannot make the big decisions our society needs to tackle issues such as poverty, inequality, climate change, global injustices, and precarious work, civil society needs to front up. It cannot take on this challenge without empowering itself through connecting across its different parts.
The ‘Broken Politics’ event in the Mansion House last month was full of energy and ideas, a marker of the importance of creating space for activists to pause, reflect and try to imagine a different future. The reflection was both celebratory and critical. There are achievements that civil society can point to but, equally, there are issues that need dealing with. Fragmentation was one of these issues.
Fragmentation within civil society was seen to have deepened over the years of austerity. This fragmentation is between the different sectors of civil society. Each sector is off doing its own bit, whether it is trade unions fighting for better working conditions or environmental groups challenging the failure to take action on climate change, or community organisations seeking an end to ever increasing poverty. The failure to make links weakens civil society and its potential.
A fragmented civil society is less powerful. Each part fights its own battles without mobilising or securing the solidarity of the full spectrum. It’s not that the battles aren’t linked, it is civil society that is not linked. This is bad news as the forces we face in pursuing these aims are ever more powerful. A fragmented civil society is less creative. Much was made at the event of the possibilities for cross pollination of ideas between the different traditions and histories that shape the different parts of civil society.
Fragmentation within civil society is also evident between national level action and local activism. The need to nurture and strengthen local activism was raised repeatedly. People need to be engaged in the issues at a local level and need to be enabled to get involved in these issues in different ways and at different levels. Change needs a broader mobilisation and empowerment of people. This local activism needs to be reconnected with national level action for change. Local activism can set national civil society agendas and ensure they resonate with the issues people are facing. National action can empower local activism in providing access to opportunities to mount an effective challenge to the powerful.
There was a strong call for leadership for collaboration. This leadership would challenge people to ‘take off their own hat’ and build relationships and partnership approaches across civil society. It would articulate the long-term vision of change that unites civil society. It would identify those campaigns and issues around which civil society organisations could collaborate. Examples given included TTIP, Right2Change, and climate change.
There was acknowledgement of gaps to be bridged. The activist is divided from the academic. Those who seek change through dialogue and those who seek change through protest operate in different worlds. Some politicians seeking change within the system and those seeking to change politics from outside might share values but have not found ways to engage effectively and equally with each other. These are small gaps to bridge when we look to the scale of change our society requires if it is to reflect values of equality, environmental sustainability, and participation.
Empathy, solidarity and hope underpinned a lot of the discussions. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. It is the stimulus for connections. Solidarity is about common interests and mutual support. It is the basis for connections. Civil society needs to prioritise empathy and solidarity. It needs to inspire hope. Success needs to be communicated and celebrated. We need to believe change is possible and to communicate this belief.