DEMOCRACY in DIFFICULT TIMES
Our theme at St Clements Centre was DEMOCRACY in DIFFICULT TIMES; times of austerity, populism, fractured
politics and climate breakdown. Looking for positives and raising awareness at local level,
we provided wall posters of initiatives around the country. Working together was the
thread linking these – illustrated by the Progressive Alliance in Oxford West &Abingdon CLP
in the 2017 general election which replaced the Conservative MP with a Liberal Democrat.
Our theme at St Clements Centre was DEMOCRACY in DIFFICULT TIMES; times of austerity, populism, fractured
politics and climate breakdown. Looking for positives and raising awareness at local level,
we provided wall posters of initiatives around the country. Working together was the
thread linking these – illustrated by the Progressive Alliance in Oxford West &Abingdon CLP
in the 2017 general election which replaced the Conservative MP with a Liberal Democrat.
WAYS THAT PARTIES CAN WORK TOGETHER
MAKE VOTES MATTER alliance’s GOOD SYSTEMS AGREEMENT which proposes that the
best voting system for the UK would ideally be determined by citizens through an evidence-
based, deliberative process and sets out 10 principles of good voting systems for general
elections
1. Proportionality
2. Representation
3. Equal votes
4. Local links
5. Diversity
6. Voter choice
7. Accountability
8. Balance of stability and flexibility
9. Sustainability and adaptability
10. Voting simplicity
WIGAN: The Deal
In 2014 WIGAN council brokered an informal agreement between the public sector, citizens,
community groups and businesses. Its aims were to eliminate waste from its budget and in
return reduce demand for services, for example recycling more and better.
Underpinning all these was the poster about DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY [DD] with its
principles of informed and informative debate which enables people to explore issues from
a range of perspectives. DD is an approach we have been addressing in one way or another
in our café meetings.
Ways of organising DD approaches – SORTITION, Used in the WELSH ASSEMBLY, in
BELGIUM and in MADRID to set up groups to deliberate on issues of democracy.
We broke into 3 small groups to discuss all this – again see pictures of the findings. All three
groups had more questions than answers, but there did seem to be a fair amount of
unanimity about the crisis the country is in and that CRISIS CREATES OPPORTUNITY.
So what are the opportunities for
Getting beyond tribal divides?
Listening, speaking and learning from one another
Using anger in a positive way
Building from the ground up
Doing things differently locally
Developing an outreach agenda, connecting to
- Non-aggression pacts
- Local clusters
- Tactical voting and progressive alliances
- Individual candidate pledges
- Joint policy commitments
MAKE VOTES MATTER alliance’s GOOD SYSTEMS AGREEMENT which proposes that the
best voting system for the UK would ideally be determined by citizens through an evidence-
based, deliberative process and sets out 10 principles of good voting systems for general
elections
1. Proportionality
2. Representation
3. Equal votes
4. Local links
5. Diversity
6. Voter choice
7. Accountability
8. Balance of stability and flexibility
9. Sustainability and adaptability
10. Voting simplicity
WIGAN: The Deal
In 2014 WIGAN council brokered an informal agreement between the public sector, citizens,
community groups and businesses. Its aims were to eliminate waste from its budget and in
return reduce demand for services, for example recycling more and better.
Underpinning all these was the poster about DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY [DD] with its
principles of informed and informative debate which enables people to explore issues from
a range of perspectives. DD is an approach we have been addressing in one way or another
in our café meetings.
Ways of organising DD approaches – SORTITION, Used in the WELSH ASSEMBLY, in
BELGIUM and in MADRID to set up groups to deliberate on issues of democracy.
We broke into 3 small groups to discuss all this – again see pictures of the findings. All three
groups had more questions than answers, but there did seem to be a fair amount of
unanimity about the crisis the country is in and that CRISIS CREATES OPPORTUNITY.
So what are the opportunities for
Getting beyond tribal divides?
Listening, speaking and learning from one another
Using anger in a positive way
Building from the ground up
Doing things differently locally
- Cooperatives – to run social care?
- Closer political party alliances
- Form communities of people who have something in common
- Talk about democracy at the school gates
- Intergenerational cafes – how to involve young people/get into schools/on-line?
- Encourage voter registration
- More diverse cafes – engage with trade unions, with BAME communities
- Participative budgeting
- Council to replace meeting with a public debate on a hot topic, eg housing, transport
- More Citizens Assemblies – building on the climate emergency CA in Oxford. Set up a
- CA on constitutional reform
- Street stalls
Developing an outreach agenda, connecting to
- Street markets – eg Summertown, Headington, Cowley
- Existing Community Forums eg St Margaret’s and Summertown re local plan
- NHS – tap into diverse groups eg Bangladeshi, Afro-Caribbean societies
- EXTINCTION REBELLION/XR
