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OXFORD DEMOCRACY CAFE
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    • Make Votes Matter
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    • Green Tea
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  • 2021 Democracy Questions Responses
    • Mary Clarkson - Marston Ward
    • Trish Elphinstone - Quarry & Risinghurst
    • Louise Upton - Walton Manor
    • Simon Ottino - Temple Cowley
    • Lib Dem Councillors
    • Green councillors
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    • Blackbird Leys
    • Carfax
    • Cowley
    • Jericho and Osney
    • Marston
    • Rose Hill and Iffley
    • St Clements
    • St Marys
    • Wolvercote
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    • OxCAN Flyer
    • OxCAN Summary of Learning from Oxford Citizens' Assembly
    • OxCAN FAQ
    • OxCAN Purpose Statement
  • Contact
  • Links/Resources
Sixteenth meeting of the Oxford Democracy Café
21st November 2020
​on Zoom

Building Local Democracy​
Building Local Democracy
  • Building up from communities?
  • Working with our representatives?
  • Flatpack democracy?

​We reported on, updated and discussed a range of grassroots initiatives in communities around the country and what we could take/learn from them:
 
Trust the People -  part of an XR training programme, which aims to develop community organisers, and would be equally applicable to any community organising.
 
Civic socialism in the borough of Barking and Dagenham through the local Labour council, building a new economy; empowering public services via a ‘one stop shop’, and addressing citizenship and participation in terms of rights and responsibilities. Part of Participatory Cities - Citizens Alliance Network
 
Flat Pack Democracy How people in Frome, Somerset turned their poorly functioning party-political local council upside down and within a couple of years elected Independents to represent them. Community empowerment, which has also spread to the village of Buckfastleigh, Devon. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jun/12/how-to-take-over-your-town-the-inside-story-of-a-local-revolution
 
Representative democracy What is it? Always elected representatives? Local spokespeople [unelected].  How do we choose them? How do we engage with our local elected councillors?  In May 2021 there will be elections for Oxford City Council [48 seats], Oxfordshire County Council [63 seats], District and Parish Councils [many more seats]. ODC agreed to present a Manifesto for Local Democracy 2021 to put to those seeking election, and to develop this at the March 2021 ODC.
 
Ideas/proposals from the discussions
 
Citizens Assemblies, or smaller, less ambitious local community groups set up along similar lines to CAs to bring local people together, for example over low traffic neighbourhood proposals which tended to polarise.
 
Green T[ea] – Eynsham as a Transition Town; to develop resilience to climate change and live more locally. Green T also seeks to influence local councillors [West Oxfordshire] and the MP to designate Eynsham a Garden Village and resist it being more than doubled in size through housing development.  Green Tea
 
How to do things without money? Eg communities picnicking on the playground and involving adults and children while addressing local issues.
 
People were missing face to face communicating, although others pointed out it is possible to talk, talk, talk, [masked!] to neighbours, in bus queues, over the neighbours’ wall.
 
For volunteers, community organising takes a lot of energy and time. An important question is How can ODC engage? Those at the previous zoom meeting when asked what they liked about ODC, said:
How useful it was meeting different people and groups and learning what was going on, holding councillors to account, that although feeling a bit low, this was also a moment of opportunity to get others involved; ‘Let a 1000 flowers bloom’.

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  • Home
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    • ODC 13 July 20
    • ODC 14 Sept 20
    • ODC 15 Nov 20
  • What's going on locally?
    • Make Votes Matter
    • Greening Jericho
    • Green Tea
    • The Oxford Influence Group
    • Oxfordshire Community Action Groups
  • 2021 Democracy Questions Responses
    • Mary Clarkson - Marston Ward
    • Trish Elphinstone - Quarry & Risinghurst
    • Louise Upton - Walton Manor
    • Simon Ottino - Temple Cowley
    • Lib Dem Councillors
    • Green councillors
  • Manifesto for Local Democracy 2020
    • Blackbird Leys
    • Carfax
    • Cowley
    • Jericho and Osney
    • Marston
    • Rose Hill and Iffley
    • St Clements
    • St Marys
    • Wolvercote
  • Citizens' Assemblies OxCAN
    • OxCAN Flyer
    • OxCAN Summary of Learning from Oxford Citizens' Assembly
    • OxCAN FAQ
    • OxCAN Purpose Statement
  • Contact
  • Links/Resources