thurs 9 nov

Civic Futures. For the last few months I ‘ve been part of a cohort of people on the ‘Civic Futures Fellowship’ facilitated by Koreo, Dark Matters Labs and the Young Foundation - coming together in the belief  that “transformative social change has always started in and with civil society.”

This begins with the question ‘how can we build shared wisdom in making the transition to a better future? To work towards a more just and regenerative world in the context of cascading crises and emergencies that ‘hunt in packs.’  Thirty people from across London’s civil society, local government and activist spaces joining together to break through silos, languages and approaches.

Today was a session of reflection and a set of provocations. Mama D Ujuaje, founder of Community Centred Knowledge, begins.  She is familiar from our first in person session when she prowled the room with the same question she offers now: “Who are you?” You who shares this planet with billions of others. What does being a human ‘being’ actually mean when our bodies are a continuity of the earth we live on – of the minerals, water and toxins that pass through us. She argues that we need forms of governance that understands this truth – that we are all beings in relationship to one another and the world we are part of – a manifestation of Ubuntu  - a Zulu expression and philosophy translated as humanity towards others or ‘I am because we are’, ‘I am because you are.’  She talks of the European Enlightenment’s disconnection of minds, bodies and souls with Descarte’s ‘I think therefore I am’ rather than ‘I am (I ‘be’) therefore I am’ and of how this separation was globalised via colonialism.  A termination of connection with vast repercussions for our shared humanity.

Humanity. We have heard a lot of this word recently - humanitarian aid, humanitarian pauses, crimes against humanity. We have also seen how the extreme opposite of Ubuntu is the default mode within our global governance. Weaponising talk of ‘Jewish Values’, ‘British Values’ whilst ignoring universal, human values of solidarity and mutual interdependence and care. The siege on Gaza and its enablement by Western powers is an abomination of this profound interconnectedness of being on earth. A deadly toxin contaminating us all.

Mama D sets the stage for a session on creative stewardship and David Heineman of the Young Foundation raises the fact that when we talk about art and creativity we are not talking about the soft, gentle nice things to have but crucial parts of our individual and collective efficacy and our abilities to imagine and make change.  

He speaks of artists as the snorklers of society- looking beneath the surface and reporting back. I wonder if there is a deeper dive involved and more to do than report back. I imagine the curtain being drawn to expose the man behind it in the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  I understand the agency and responsibility of artists to reveal systems and ‘structures of enchantment’ in order to change them. And that beyond revealing and reporting it is also necessary to destroy, dismantle and reconstruct - reimagining and creating bold visions of possibility. Turning expected and accepted values on their head, repurposing and reconfiguring in a process of ‘detournement.’ POWER STATION is a form of this. What could a Power Station be if it was an infrastructure made by and for people and planet? Bank Job (www.bankjob.pictures) employed this process – occupying a Bank and the idea of what a Central Bank could and should be and do.  It is a direct counter to the neoliberal idea that ‘there is no alternative’ – it is a process of show and do and tell -  making visible the reply ‘There is an alternative and we can make it happen.’

Together.

In mischief and action.

And we return to civic futures. To what a citizen is and can be. To both our right and responsibilities.

Mama D asks “If we are breaking down civic silos can we do so with tools that are intersectional, intergenerational, interdisciplinary, inter-everything, so we leave behind the categorisations which paralyse us?” Holding a diversity of knowledges can we all be more than citizens defined by the borders of Cities and Nation states but citizens of the earth in our shared belonging and being?   

I look back through notes on previous sessions. I have highlighted ‘an insurgency of hope.’