Mushroom image by Angela C. Wild
Mushrooms are like tiny trees, in that what you see on the surface is considerably less than half the story. Out of sight, in private, they are busy creating networks – linking, interweaving, connecting with, influencing, helping, changing the tiny ecosystems around them and the majestic trees above.
Make like a mushroom
That was the catch-phrase at a political organising workshop I went to in Brighton recently. The session was led by Kiri Tunks on behalf of FiLiA. It was about networking – not corporate schmoozing, but the diligent and persistent making and maintaining of connections and communities that goes on even when the ‘top-rank’ politics of the country looks entirely devoid of hope.
That idea has been my driving force ever since I stood down as a Labour Party officer when it became clear to me that the Party was stopping me, and most of the people I know, from doing the politics we knew we should be doing.
Back in the summer, in the run up to the election, a local group got together to plan a citizens’ assembly. We felt the loudest voices in the election were irrelevant, and that local people needed more opportunities to listen to each other, rather than would-be Westminster politicians. We wanted to find out what needs and ideas the people of Hastings had in common.
That first assembly was an exhilarating experience. Over 100 people came along, eager to talk, listen and think, rather than get battered by the usual tub-thumping and arguing politics seems to generate.
Click here to read about that first assembly
Quite a few people were energised by the experience, and went away with plans for what we could do next. Not long afterwards, we had an assembly on the subject of housing near where I live. Various housing groups had stalls, but the central feature was an area where people could talk – some of the time talking to councillors who joined the event, but mostly talking to each other, planning campaigns and actions to match their concerns.
Click here to read about the Cornwallis assembly
I particularly liked that, being high summer, this meeting was outdoors, so quite a few passers by came over and said ‘what are you doing?’ and then found themselves involved.
Underground
I got embroiled with my own issues for a while after that – busy with family, earning a living, all the rest of it. The only politics I did was out of town, that ‘make like a mushroom’ workshop for example. I had a few conversations with local people about the possibility of a ward-sized assembly where I lived. Interesting, but apparently not getting us far, and I heard that a couple of follow-on assemblies had happened in different parts of the town. I hoped the idea wasn’t dying off, but my attention was elsewhere.
Surfacing
Then, last night, I went to a ‘where are we at?’ assembly organisers’ meeting, and they blew my socks off.
The great thing about assemblies is that you don’t have to wait for someone else to organise whatever it is you want to go to. You just need to say, or hear someone say, ‘let’s do an assembly here, or there, or about this, or to do that.’ You don’t have to join any big organisation, unless you want to and you don’t have to be following some fancy, inspirational leader, unless you want to. You just need half a dozen people, an idea and a venue. It can be done for as little as £100 if you can find a free venue – just money for a batch of leaflets and one-day insurance.
So if a range of conversations have been had, by a range of people who’ve got the idea, well – since the instigation of that pre-election conversation…
Hollington had an assembly, attended by around 80 people, who set to and organised themselves into a residents’ association.
Ore had an assembly that plans to link up with southern Housing tenants’ association, but also instigated some ideas about making better use of their excellent Community Centre, where the assembly was held.
Standing up for Nature had an assembly, which instigated Protect Our Green Spaces, to feed alternative ideas into the council’s current build-on-everything-everywhere Housing Plan.
They are meeting again on December Ist – all welcome!
Gensing are having an assembly in St John’s Hall on 9th November – all welcome.
And plans are underway for a Battle assembly.
By the by, the ward names don’t mean you can only go if you’re a resident of that ward. They’re just a handy title to give an idea of the area in mind.
Other assembly outbreaks
During the course of the evening, various projects across the country were mentioned. The Collective, for example, which among other things is co-ordinated with the forum in Jeremy Corbyn’s constituency, and which Andrew Feinstein has been working with in search of genuine grassroots voices to inform would-be politicians. Our own local Independent councillors are in touch with The Collective, and planning more of their own local fora to hear from the people of Hastings.
Hastings assembly organisers have now launched a website where you can follow events as they develop…
Click here to take a look. Not a huge amount there yet, but keep an eye. There will be more!
Making like a Mushroom
I didn’t actually achieve either of the goals that Make Like a Mushroom workshop asked me to set for myself, but my attempts to do so led to some fruitful meetings in both Westminster and Hastings, meetings that furthered other projects. Last night, I found that while I was involved in those things, the Hastings Assembles phenomenon has been mushrooming.
It’s brilliant! If you haven’t dipped your toe in yet, do go along to one of those meetings, and discover how fantastic it is when you stop trying to make politicians do things, and just get together with local people and say, ‘what shall we do about…?’ and then do it.
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Kay Green 