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Heads up! Live long and prosper! Clive Clive Durdle 4 Toronto Road Ilford Essex IG1 4RB 0208 554 5889 0794 198 8846 [log in to unmask] http://clivedurdle.wordpress.com/about/ http://web.me.com/clivedurdle I wish to develop the Renaissance concept of Opera, where people work together closely to resolve the issues they face, from a participatory, equal, just, sustainable and whole system perspective Clive Durdle MSc BA (Econ) FCIH Dip Soc. Studs Durdle Door Consulting Begin forwarded message: From: Independent Action Coalition <[log in to unmask]> Date: 15 November 2010 5:08:32 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: NCIA Assembly notes - Cuts: how do we respond? - 26 Oct 2010 Hello all Notes from NCIA Assembly on 26th October 2010 Speakers from Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, nef and Coalition of Resistance talked about their experiences of the cuts and how they have responded through local action, research and mobilisation. At the workshops that followed, people figured out what they wanted to say and do about the cuts. Please find below a summary of ideas for action from the Assembly meeting. More details of speakers and notes from the workshops are on the NCIA website here: http://www.independentaction.net/?p=7811 (let us know if you would like the notes as an email attachment.) Also, please let us know if you're interested in being part of an alternative meeting to the official 'Building the Big Society' conference in London on 30 November or to another conference on 16 February (this one's called 'The Big Society In Practice'). Email [log in to unmask] The next Assembly will be in Sheffield in late January. We'll make sure there is plenty of time to share stories and talk tactics - more details to come nearer the time. Thank you to all who came along to the Assembly. If it was your first time at an NCIA event and you would like to join the Assembly, have a look at our website: http://www.independentactionnet/?page_id=2993 or email us at [log in to unmask] Summary Local campaigns are springing up around the country as people feel the injustice of the cuts. As well as supporting justice and quality of life, and rather than opposing all cuts on principle, this action is about creating something new and showing there is another way apart from self-interest. We need to focus on the actual impacts on people around us and use on-line surveys and other methods to gather local evidence. In charities, voluntary organisations and community groups the 'big society' rhetoric creates problems as it often says the things that we aspire to, when we know that it will not turn out like that. We also need to challenge our so-called ‘representatives’ to say the right thing. ‘Fairness’ is a front – we have to expose this. We can speak plainly and use our own language as well as challenging government rhetoric: commissioning doesn’t allow for ‘local control,’ ‘innovation’ or ‘people power’. In local authorities many people are still speaking the same language about commissioning, looking upwards to central government targets and behaving as if it is business as usual. One effect of the cuts inside the statutory sector will be to lose people who have experience of voluntary organisations and community groups. We need to keep opposing commissioning when it leads to poor quality service provision, inequality and profiteering. However, we need to avoid being split and divided from each other and from fellow travellers in the statutory sector even though many public sector workers see the voluntary and community sector as a threat. Joint action has been seen elsewhere, e.g. G7/G20 protests and we can manage conflict between us and find the things we can do together. We can also find the individuals who want to be active by exploring the unofficial links between people. We can encourage people to join their union and encourage trade unions to be more canny about their actions through selective withdrawal or using grievances. We don't want to replicate what others are already doing, e.g. ‘The False Economy’, but link to it instead and map contacts and connections and gather and share examples of things that work. Summary of action for NCIA Link people – mapping, website, facebook. Support activism – share resources, training, mentoring, ‘help line’, targeted support to a couple of local areas. Form wider alliances – with statutory sector, especially locally, MPs, trade unions, other campaigns? Get the message out – show evidence of impact, real effects of cuts, campaign against commissioning, challenge Big Society Show and social enterprise, give a historical perspective, challenge the received interpretations, engage the media, be clear about the ideology. Since the meeting, our speakers and their organisations have been busy too: Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit have taken their campaign to the next level and are asking people to email their MP and the Legal Services Commission after South Manchester Law Centre won their permission hearing in the High Court: http://www.gmiau.org/ nef has warned that spending cuts will break the 'big society': http://www.neweconomics.org/press-releases/spending-cuts-will-break-big-society-warns-nef?utm_source=nef+%28the+new+economics+foundation%29+List&utm_campaign=a223b54d12-eletter-nov&utm_medium=email Coalition of Resistance is gearing up for their organising conference on 27 November in London: http://www.coalitionofresistance.org.uk/ Please let us know if you have any comments or questions. Keep on keeping on... Rachael, Andy, Melaina www.independentaction.net [log in to unmask] ****************************************************** Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your message will go only to the sender of this message. If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's 'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically to [log in to unmask] Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site www.radstats.org.uk. *******************************************************