everyday social democracy

2011-05-22T22:10:00.001+01:00

2010-10-30T14:17:00.002+01:00

Do you prefer to be home or away from it?!

Despite living in between the undiscovered beauty of Battersea Square and the melancholic raucousness of the Thames, I can never sit still and always have to be somewhere different.

Where was it that you caught the travel bug?

On the TGV down to the Alps, vomiting over a Swiss version of Cruella. I was 18 months...Seriously though, that is my first memory of travelling!

Have you ever lived abroad, taught abroad?

I went to university in Paris up until Masters level, but still couldn't sit still and during my time there I went to live in Spain about three times, went to Barcelona on an Erasmus study exchange – never having learnt Spanish let alone Catalan. When I finished my degree a couple of years later, I missed the pomp of my graduation ceremony to go to the Costa del Sol to work as a waiter for the summer season. Except for the drug-fuelled manager and the whisky-fuelled cook, no-one had worked for the restaurant – it was like the tower of babel with students from all over Europe. I randomly went back to Barcelona as part of my Masters, managing at the end of my stay there to even string along ten minutes of Catalan – more listening than speaking. Now I don't work abroad, but I do organise campaigning abroad – nothing like surprising locals you're canvassing when you tell them you're English campaigning in Sweden or France.

Do you prefer hotels to hostels?

Hostels, it's not just recession chic, it's like turning up at a friend's house – you listen to the stories (and the snoring, vomiting, banging, etc) of the people sharing your room, you get a feel of the locals, their tips on where to go, the complementary can of beer or cup of coffee. Only downside to hostels is that they lock up far too early and you have to sleep rough in the presidential gardens like I did in Sofia. I also feel guilty about my recent experiences of hotels – being all four star, and all paid for by campaigning organisations in areas which suffer from poverty (except for in Swaziland when I pulled the short straw and stayed in a hotel which hadn't yet been fully built). Although hotels are making a comeback, having woken up after a hangover in a four star hotel, discovering a 50 metre breakfast buffet in a hotel in Madrid (Auditorium Hotel) which started with a tropical fruit bar and ended up with a fry up frenzy.

Solo or group travel?

Group, it's better sleeping rough with others than on your own. You feel more adventurous in a group – egging each other on to try new things – like staying up all night to eat scorpion in raspberry coulis, because the “insect bar” that sells it only opens in the morning in La Boqueria market in Barcelona – or getting a DJ slot a an underground jazz bar run by the mafia, and finding out all the exchange students...and their Spanish flatmates have got free drinks by saying they were with the DJ. Travelling with locals just opens you up to so much more – it's like discovering a different city to the one described in the tourist guides – like with volunteers who took us through the Swazi countryside to meet women with HIV who through growing and selling vegetables - really gave them a sense of dignity and pride, but also power to be able to make a living independently. Although solo travel can have its advantages, if you join up to “Useful Vistors” (sorry for the plug).

A lot of your tips come from Barcelona - is that a place you went to for any particular reason?

I lived there twice – the first time on an Erasmus exchange as part of my degree, only having learnt Spanish for a term – and the second time for my Masters, managing to string along 10 minutes of Catalan by the end of my stay there.

What do you love about the city?

Although most of my friends never actually went to the university, despite it being on the main shopping street – Las Ramblas – I would turn up to lessons at 9am sharp after having returned home clubbing only a few hours before. In every nook and crannie of the city, whether it's an old school pharmacy or a cafe that sells jelly and ice cream, everyone goes out of their way to wow people and ultimately make Barcelona more than just a city. It's like they all feel a sense of pride and responsibility to want to be part of creating Barcelona's identity – to reflect the people that live, work and play there – and given how many people come to the city to do all of those things (usually in reverse order) – those people are never the same. It's like a melting pot of the minds of all the people that come there. From Salsitas, a restaurant which when the clock turns midnight, waiters start taking the chairs around your table if you haven't finished eating and the clubbers start pouring in, Pipa Club which is officially a pipe-smoking members' club but actually turns into a messy post-clubbing hangout on weekday nights if there aren't any doughnuts left down the Lancaster bakery and you've returned from the all time favourite discotheque – La Paloma. But it's never over the top – because the trendiness is so inclusive, it's less lounge bars with new age music and more comfortable sofas found on a skip in a reconverted old-man's tapas bar with the barman flicking over the vinyl when he's taking time-out from making cocktails. So much that you'd almost forget the Mediterranean was only a short walk away. However much you've been out all night, working out all day or...lying on the beach, you just want to keep going – there's always something in the corner of your eye you want to go and check out. I remember writing this about Las Ramblas, but it goes for Barcelona itself. “The best advice when it comes to (this city) is to plunge in, go with the flow and enjoy the constant weird and wonderful activities taking place around you. “

If you had to sum up your travelling style in three words what would you say?

Nooks and crannies

Where are you planning to go to next and why?

Berlin. Haven't been there for years and after sampling its culture – whether it's the music (BPitch), the films (Goodbye Lenin) or just friends going on about how raw and raucous – it just makes me want to go back for more.

Where is your favourite view?

On the beach on the Lac d'Annecy where I used to go on holiday to see my relatives as a child – whether it's the summer and you can feel the warm glow of the sun on the lake and the shadow of a sombrero from the doughnut seller, or it's the winter and you can feel the snowflakes dropping down from the mountains towering around you.

Do you feel like your life has been enhanced through travelling? In what way?

When you discover a new place and take a wander down the streets – you might be shocked by it inequality and its decadence, you might be amazed by it's beauty and authenticity. At the end of the day, you're opening up to new experiences without knowing what's going to happen next, you're discovering as much about yourself as you are about the locals and immersing yourself in their culture. Those experiences are always different and that's why I always feel goosebumps when I set foot in a new country.

Describe a weekend day in your hometown.

Can't help having a peek down the South Bank and Brick Lane – ironically I know there will always be something going on – and there's no shame in going to places filled with tourists, if they are drawn to areas which are so multicultural, vivacious and authentic, then that can only make us Londoners proud of where we live and invite more people to come and share those experiences.

Can you tell us about your best moment travelling - even if it's in your hometown?

Going to South Africa – it was a surreal experience, which started off checking into the trendiest hotel I’ve ever seen. It was like the TV programme Hotel Babylon – with lifts themed around shark cages and cable cars - a swimming pool circling the restaurant and a climbing wall outside the hotel, so much for fighting consumerism. Experiencing the emotional distress of a terminal AIDS sufferer, talking to a nurse on the same day as meeting women with HIV working in the fields reskilling as farmers, manage the tensions between the taking part in amazing street interventions on Soweto market to raise awareness about AIDS with a group that promotes abstinence before contraception (although we did also meet TAC whose volunteers compete for who can distribute the most condoms in their communities), being deluded into getting into a casspir as part of a rehearsal for a CSR initiative of a famous fizzy drinks company – basically a truck that used to threaten the corners of every township in the apartheid years – and amazed at witnessing the courage of volunteers walking through a rape crisis centre in the face of the shadow of the state no no longer threatening by its presence but in many ways by its absence, attending the annual youth day, which celebrates the past – the Soweto uprising – as much as the future – err...young people. All of this was summed up when we met Dennis Goldberg – an anti-apartheid activist who stood in the Rivonia trial in 1964. It was strangely wonderful that the barbeque he organised brought together community organisers from local townships and ourselves from the UK, or to put it more simply, getting people from different backgrounds to be able to share stories, laughs and share good food together without feeling the chains of inequality and inferiority. This type of benign event on a winter's night (our summer!) was what he had dreamt about all these years ago. It's what kept him going from when he started as a political activist through to the famous Rivonia trial and through the mind crushing years in prison. Although he argued that South Africa wasn't a rainbow nation yet, but more a nation of diverse cultures, I felt both awkward and inspired throughout the trip at how every time you turn round, someone is there to take your rubbish, fill up your cup of coffee, lend you a hand. It's that genuine sense of solidarity and fraternity, put simply neighbourliness that we so miss in this country. At the end of the day, it's about creating the spaces to listen and let people open up and explore their insecurities which may be crystallised through prejudice, such as racism, sexism or ageism.

Ipod or book?

Book, I haven't got an Ipod

Most essential item?

A camera

First published here.

Out of office, out of sight, out of reach - Generation Why?

2010-03-16T20:38:00.002Z

I remember walking into a briefing on the Erasmus scheme while at university. I remember thinking this scheme reflected the principles of the European Union - uniting Europeans from all backgrounds behind a common identity by creating it together. The film, the "Auberge Espagnole", itself epitomised this Erasmus experience of what the European good society could look like. But did it really reflect how young people lived their lives in the noughties?

What else united young Europeans? More and more us got places at university, more and more us got into debt paying for tuition fees and more and more of us were betrayed by the myth that graduates would get graduate jobs. The only bar we had a chance of practising at was at the local pub, bistrot or discoteca. All we've done is wait. Wait by the phone in the hope of a job, wait restaurant tables to pay the bills and wait in the queue for the dole.

For those who of us who couldn't get into university, we were promised that employers preferred vocational skills to degrees, so more and more of us took up apprenticeships. The only vocation that united us was trying to hard to please the employers who ignored these new diplomas and preferred recruiting from their old boys networks.

To stop the rise in youth unemployment, governments traded off our wellbeing with employers by allowing them to pay us as little as possible. In many cases we were paid less than the minimum allowed, providing loopholes for the most powerful professions - accountants, lawyers and politicians - to recruit first class talent on pocket money wages. Despite our governments' blind belief in economic growth, wages in relation to the cost of living fell. We became the "Generation Precaire".

And now the recession's turned up on our doorstep, young workers are the first to be shown the door. Youth unemployment has shot up across the continent - between 30 to 40% of young people are out of work in most of Europe and that's not even including all those who graduated this autumn and have just joined the queue.

We may look back at the noughties and forget the fads that came and went - from Big Brother to X Factor - but we won't forget being unemployed even when we get older. Not being in work means we lose valuable experience and training and even when we get a job, we're going to go back to the cycle of low self esteem and lack of job security, low wages and lack of career advancement.

As a generation, we don't know where to turn back to. Like other under-represented groups in the places of power, young people are marginalised. In politics, we are too often restricted to "youth issues". In the economy, we are treated as ideal bait for consumption. In society we are asked to wait our turn, we are the "next generation", but next never means now.

It's partly why we are least likely to take part in the structures defined by the generation that preceded them - such as political parties and trade unions. With the crisis we face, people are crying out for a new way of doing politics. It's not that young people aren't interested in politics, it's that they see no way of being able to make change happen.

That's why so many are refusing the compromises of the centre left and putting their trust in the parties on the fringes - from the greens to the far left, just look at the recent election results in Germany and France. Many more aren't even bothering to vote and instead taking to the streets to fight the marketisation of their education, storming the runways to make sure future generations don't pay the price.

Our grandparent's generation fought and got the welfare state, our parents took to the streets for individual liberties. The challenges for our generation can only be solved by working together across borders. Only doing this can provide us with a decent future across Europe.

Noel Hatch is the National Chair for Compass Youth and co-author of "Radical Future, Politics for the Next Generation" (Soundings, forthcoming April 2010).

CREATIVE CAMPAIGNS CAMP - 7 FEBRUARY

2010-01-22T19:00:00.000Z

Do you want to learn creative campaigning techniques and use them to help shape our campaign?

We’re launching "All Doled Up" our campaign on youth unemployment and we want you to try out new techniques to help develop it!

Almost one in five young people are out of work. Unemployment affects us all, whether we're out of work or our friends and family are.

That's why we want to work with you so you can do something about it together. So you can get together with other young people to campaign on youth unemployment where you live or study.

Toynbee Hall and Compass Youth want to invite you to an all day training day. So you’ll be able to

Use stories young people have shared with us on youth unemployment to spread the word about our campaign and get those in power to support and act on our pledges

Learn creative campaigning techniques - such as making viral videos, get your message out to the media and designing campaign visuals

You'll be able to try these out on the day itself with other young people and most importantly what you create will be what we use to campaign on youth unemployment - your videos, your slogans, your flyers!

This is what our last campaigns camp was like, just imagine you could take part in our next one!

Creative Campaigns Day 09 from Creative Campaigns Day on Vimeo.

What are you waiting for?

THE CUTS DON'T WORK

2010-01-19T18:00:00.000Z

Do you want to vote which ideas we campaign on youth unemployment?

Do you want to help develop how we campaign on this?

The Cuts Don’t Work
Saturday 30 Jan - 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Congress House, Great Russell Street, London, United Kingdom

Why do we have to pay the price for their crisis? When they want to charge us more to get into university and get housing? While they carry on slashing our pay, our jobs and our services. It’s time to fight the recession. It’s time to take back our future.

Whether you’ve been involved in organizing before or not, you’re probably curious about how to campaign and maybe even fired up about an issue you’d like to campaign on.

You’ll be able to help develop campaign strategies on issues that are affecting young people the most through the recession. You can then work out with us and other young activists how we spread the word and how we target those in power to act.

We’ve also invited a cracking line up of speakers who are organising for young people right across the country:

Noel Hatch – Chair of Compass Youth

Rowenna Davis – Journalist at the Guardian, Independent and Headliners

Sam Tarry – Hope not Hate Organiser and Chair of Young Labour

Nizam Uddin – President of University of London Union

Bell Ribeiro-Addy – Black Students’ Officer for NUS

As well as the Mercury Music Award Winner – Speech Debelle!

So come and join us and Progressive London on Saturday 30th January between 10-5pm.

Sign up here!

Everyone who signs up to this session will get a free campaign toolkit on the day

Ideas are nothing without action. But together we can build the London we want to see.

This session is part of a wider conference that will bring together leading figures in London and beyond to discuss the most important issues for progressive politics in 2010, nationally, internationally and in London and the ideas, alliances and policies we need to move forward.

Progressive London was initiated by Ken Livingstone in 2008 as a cross-party, multi-community forum involving politicians, artists, trade unionists, bloggers, community activists and campaigners to promote social progress in the capital.

What will you pledge?

1. Sign up now

2. Bring along three of your friends

3. Come along

WHERE ARE THE YOUNG WOMEN IN POLITICS?

2010-01-16T19:00:00.000Z

With the current political debate taking place on families and marriage it looks like issues close to women will be being discussed in the coming election campaign.

That's why we at Compass Youth hope we can use the platform to discuss women's representation in UK politics and beyond as well as 'women's issues' on the political agenda.

All four of our amazing speakers have different areas of interest and expertise so it should make for a really broad meeting and hopefully we should get some ideas for the future too.

Speakers confirmed:

Emily Thornberry, Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury
Dr Rainbow Murray, Politics Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London
Bellavia Ribeiro, Black Students' Officer, National Union of Students
Tulip Siddiq, Labour Party council candidate in Regent's Park and BAME Officer for Young Labour

Contact our Vice Chair - Cat Smith at cat@catsmith.co.uk if you have any queries.

What will you pledge?

1. Sign up now

2. Bring along three of your friends

3. Come along

THE RESOLUTIONS WON'T BE TELEVISED

2010-01-16T09:06:00.001Z

I’ve been reflecting on some of the trends of 2009 and thinking about what New Year’s resolutions public services could start thinking about.

Thanks to digital technologies, more people are creating content and collaborating online in ways that weren’t possible before.

If we want radical efficiencies, it can’t be about doing the same for less, but about doing things differently and better, as well as measuring what matters.

If we look at where the web is most successful at driving social change, it’s where it mobilises untapped resources – people’s energy and innovation – for mutual benefit. It’s what we could call the gift economy.

So what’s this all about? When you receive gifts for Christmas this year, you don’t pay them the amount it was worth. At the same time, if you stop giving gifts to friends, you may find there’ll be less inclined to give you a present.

Our relationship with our citizens is different – it would be like offering a gift to a random person in the street, they wouldn’t necessarily return the favour.

So we need to find how to create relationships with people to mobilise their intrinsic motivation. Relationships affect how people behave and how they’re motivated. Transformation in society doesn’t happen when it adopts new tools, it happens when it adopts new behaviours.

That’s why developing approaches that gain a better understanding of these trends can help us find the innovators we want to work with.

Why not use techniques like relationship mapping or social network analysis? These could enable you to find people innovating to meet the needs of your customers, and they may even be working in your office.

Listen and make sense of stories

You might be able to find who’s been involved in an innovative project before that’s saved time and money but how do you come up with an innovative idea?

When someone asks you for an innovative idea, many of us feel put on the spot. Often, it’s informal conversations that spark off ideas. It’s what’s called the “water cooler” effect”.

Yet we don’t congregate around the water cooler to bounce off ideas, we go there to catch up and share stories about what’s been going on in the office – trying to get our heads around something or solve a difficult problem.

There are various ways that digital technologies are enabling that, not just in the office like micro blogging or communities of practice but also in our local communities with social reporting. It’s because people want to share their stories of what’s going on where they work or live.

So we’ve got stories and we’ve got data on what’s going on in our local areas – but how do we make sense of it all? It’s not just about evidence or consultation was carried out last year, it’s about what data and conversations people have been publishing to the web last night.

Why not use tools that can help you visualise all of this information to pick up new trends as well as open your expertise to the public so they can make better decisions on areas that affect them? With these tools, a picture quite literally is worth a thousand words.

Why not also use tools that enable people to re-use your public information and customise it create their own online information services in ways that suit them?

Get people together to make stuff that matters

So now we’ve listened to people and made sense of their networks and stories, we can start building relationship and mobilising people’s resources, their energy, creativity and goodwill.

Digital technologies make it easier to mobilise these resources. They also bring substantial opportunities for individuals, businesses and other groups to create innovative models to meet these new demands.

These models can be found in very niche web services like Enabled by Design or MyPolice. Both of these haven’t just created new models that wouldn’t have been possible before, they’ve exploited the power of the web to create approaches that offer a form of public service.

What’s more important is they weren’t created by councils or businesses – they were created by groups of people in their spare time. You might think, why would anyone want to do that? I asked the creators of both of these services.

So we can create an environment that nurtures the capacity for innovators to develop and take these models to scale.

Who not bring people together to develop prototypes of online services that meet specific challenges in just a day?

Join up the dots to involve everyone

We may have mobilised the innovators to help us tackle problems, but the strength of innovators is often at the edge of what we do, not at the centre, so how do we scale up innovations so that the wider public can benefit, especially those not online?

Why not reach out to local innovators who can use the web to help people help each other offline, so that the opportunities that digital technologies bring meet those that community engagement bring.

Transform services by transforming ourselves

The following quote captures the lesson I've learnt over 2009. "Transformation isn’t just about transforming services, it’s about transforming ourselves, it’s a new way of thinking, it’s a new mindset."

The challenge for all of us is to harness all those people in public services and the community who are intrinsically motivated to make things better – to make stuff that matters.

YOUTH RESPONSE TO THE ECONOMIC CRISIS - 23 JANUARY

2010-01-13T22:25:00.003Z

Crunch time - what's happening?

The number of 16 to 24-year-olds out of work is now 952,000 - the highest figure since records began. We’re in a down turn, but we refuse to believe we’ve crashed.

We’re the upside of down and it’s up to us to take action. Working with you, Compass Youth are developing a campaign that’s going to be led by you to start the bounce back.

Who's been queuing up?

Over the last six months, young people across the country from universities, youth groups, schools, graduates on the street and people in the job centre have been listening to each other and developing ideas for that we’ll then act on to make change happen.

We want your support in Barking and Dagenham

Whatever your background or situation we believe you’ve got a voice and the ability to act. Young people have come together across the country and now we’re bringing people together in Barking and Dagenham between 23 January between 10.30-3pm to explore the impact of the crisis and develop ideas for action.

From 11 to 12.30 we’ll be running a listening session with young people on the problems’s we face and the solutions we propose.

We’ll then take our conversation to the streets and campaign with Jon Cruddas on the issue of the economic crisis locally.

What next?

After listening to young people of all ages and backgrounds across the country we’ll work with you to decide the three most effective ideas for action at the session we're holding at the Progressive London conference on 30 January and then enable you to learn campaigning techniques to shape our campaign on 7th February at Toynbee Hall, before campaigning over the coming months.

What will you pledge?

1. Sign up now

2. Bring along three of your friends

3. Come along

KEEP YOUR COINS, WE WANT CHANGE!

2009-11-19T19:27:00.000Z

A couple of friends and I have decided to organise a rather last-minute stunt to raise awareness about the Copenhagen talks on 6-18th Dec and The Wave march on Saturday 5th Dec.

We're calling on all buskers / musicians / street performers / out of work actors / photographers to take to streets in the lead-up, and instead of busking for money, to provide passers-by with entertainment and flyers to raise awareness. Hence the (borrowed) name, "Keep your coins, we want change!"

The aim is to try and inspire a decentralised thing where people can just go and do it in whichever town or city they live on whatever day they're free. However, we also want to gather a group of people in London on the weekend of 28/29 November and spend an hour or so busking and spreading the word.

Although we are particularly looking for musicians, we also need flyerers and photographers. So noone is free from the invite. ;-)

If you are interested in helping, here are a few things you can do:

Sign up to the Facebook event

Follow us on Twitter

Add to our collaborative Spotify playlist of busking songs

Let me know if you can make it on the 28th/29th Nov

Spread the word!

As you may have guessed, this is a bit of an experiment. However, it also feels like something that could just spark an interest in the wider public, something that The Wave, and climate discussions drastically needs.

So, if you wanna get on board, get in touch, or forward this to all your friends!

Many thanks,

Becky

Do you have a story to tell about how you're using exciting campaigning techniques to make a difference to the issue you care about? Let me know!

It's time to clean up the house, It's time to take back our democracy

2009-11-17T18:00:00.000Z

We say that young people aren't interested in politics, let alone democratic reform. If you asked them whether they were in favour of PR, the first thing that would come to their mind would be spin doctors not proportional representation.

They may not have known before what actually happens in the corridors of power, but they knew their voices weren't being heard, let alone represented. Let's be clear, the expenses crisis didn't create distrust between young people and MPs, it exacerbated it.

Young people don't listen any more to the rhetoric on local community that all parties bang on about, because what they see is supermarkets being allowed to crush any competition from local shops.

They don't listen any more to the rhetoric on fairness when what they see are fat cats bailed out once again lapping up the caviar and champagne from their bonuses, while young people are forced to lap up the rhetoric on the age of austerity and accept pay cuts and job cuts.

And they don't listen any more when faceless MPs who never rebel on our behalf just in case they get pushed off the greasy careerist pole, start rebelling to maintain their juicy perks.

When we get MPs who'd rather get a windfall payout than continue to represent their local constituents, we know that the game's up for the politics of greed and envy.

After all, why should MPs care about young people, when the only people they need to convince are "swing voters"?

We might not vote as much as other groups, but we'll certainly be voting for the MPs that pledge they will stand up for the issues we care about.

That's why Compass Youth teamed up with Power 2010 to hold a public debate on the change our democracy needs. Because we wanted to enable young people to be able to come together and come up with radical ideas on taking back our democracy. Because the ideas fed in through Power 2010 will go to a citizen's panel selected from across the country. Because the top five ideas will become the pledge that all candidates standing for the next elections will be asked to commit to. So we can see who's really progressive and who supports our politics.

And that's why the most popular idea at our session was to introduce a fairer voting system based on proportional representation. So that's why we are supporting the Vote for a Change campaign too.

So after touring London to film young people with Ed the Duck on what they would do if they were MP for a day, we dressed up as zombies for Halloween marching down Westminster as part of the Vote for a Change campaign.

Our democracy deserves better, we deserve better, let's change it.

Be scared, very scared

2009-11-14T18:00:00.000Z

We’ve been out and about. People often confuse exciting and gimmicky. There is nothing gimmicky about cleaning up politics and fighting for a fairer voting system. This would transform our democracy. But with such a complex issue, the only way to get people fired up is to tap into what makes them tick.

As Crazy Epic says "Gen Y are politically motivated, politically mobilised, and have the tools to spread their opinions. Events such as Zombie Walk show that they also have the creativity to make themselves heard."

That's why we toured London to film young people with Ed the Duck on what they would do if they were MP for a day and dressed up as zombies for Halloween marching down Westminster as part of the Vote for a Change campaign. Watch the video and be scared, very scared.

Drop outs or start ups? Next generation social entrepreneurs

2009-11-11T20:23:00.003Z

The more there will be people losing their jobs, the more there will be people with more time and less money.

What can young people do with their time and energy if they've got no job to go to? How can they spend their time more creatively? Can young people out of work be the next generation of social entrepreneurs?

We don't know...That's why we want you to come and tell us what ideas we should campaign on to tackle youth unemployment. That's why we want you to come to the first of a series of sessions focused on different ways young people out of work can develop their skills.

As well as being able to have your say in shaping our priority campaign for 2010, you'll be able to hear from an amazing trio of social entrepreneurs, David Floyd (Social Spider), Peter Ptashko (Young UnLtd) and Amisha Ghadiali (Amisha/The Hub) who'll share their stories.

COMPASS YOUTH GOES CLIMATE CHIC!

2009-10-03T12:57:00.001+01:00

You told us about your "green" ideas, from carbon taxes, green jobs to school gardening. Do you want to have your say on how to campaign on climate change and do something about it with others where you are?

If so, come and join Compass Youth & Change is Coming (ChiC) at "SWaP your Story" on Monday 19th October 6.30-8.30 pm at the Railway Tavern, Liverpool St (London).

Tell us why the environment matters more than ever in the recession. Find out how you can make change happen where you are with other activists and groups. Try out exciting techniques so you can get other people involved in the environmental movement.

Don't miss out, book your place now!

This workshop is open to all activists, whether you want to share your environmental involvement or if you want to make their first steps. Sign up at http://swapyourstory.eventbrite.com

Any questions or want to find out more? Email us now! If you can't see the video below, click here.

The only change worth fighting...

We don’t just listen to what you care about, we work with you so you can do something about it together. Because I know if you give people an inch, they'll give you a mile. That’s why I invited one of our activists Becky to run our first ever session on the environment.

Becky runs Change is Coming (ChiC), which encourages increased recognition of the power and responsibility of individuals in responding to and initiating change, through the use of creative & collaborative action. ChiC's primary venture is EnviroWiki.org.uk - a collaborative mapping directory compiling activity & debate for the growing environmental movement.

...It's time to get ChiC

You may be concerned about the threat of climate change, but find it hard to communicate it in times of recession and financial uncertainty. You may want to get involved in the environmental movement, but feel unsure where to start. You may just want to find out more. Either way, come and join us at SWaP the Story!

Noel Hatch

National Chair

Compass Youth

www.twitter.com/compassyouth

www.compassyouth.org

stop the excess express

2009-09-05T10:00:00.002+01:00

I watched Fox News for the first time last night. In a nutshell, along with occasional expert advice from our friend Dan Hannan, they try and make people believe that there’s a socialist conspiracy to take over the world. If only, I thought... And then something struck me maybe there is…

We had a Republican president going all socialist by providing around $1tn to bail out financial institutions so that the economy didn’t go bust.
We had Wall Street falling in love with nationalisation because it's all they had left.
We’ve got the Lord who runs the agency regulating financial services supporting the iconic Tobin Tax pledge of the anti globalisation movement.
And now we’ve got the conservative duo Sarkozy and Merkel making the running to tame excessive pay and bonuses in banks.

I never realised there were on our side! And then I realised they tried to convince us they were when they expalined how the excessive greed of the other “masters of the universe” was somehow contributing to the economy. “Yes we can” they all must have said when they gave themselves bigger and bigger bonuses, higher and higher pay.

So it does feel slightly strange that many people now applaud the Establishment for calling for policies which were deemed too radical when those less in thrawl to the City called for them?

As Jackie Ashley comments, “If everyone is a member of the soggy centrist consensus, serious thinking becomes flabby and the point of parliamentary politics declines…Who can now say that the iron discipline of New Labour MPs during the boom years was such a good thing? If it meant that there was very little probing of the City and banking practice, wasn't that a mistake?”

There was (is?) as much iron discipline by MPs towards the City as there was towards their party whips. From all sides of the house. While we warned that the excessive greed of the fat cats probably affects social cohesion more than a teenager spraying graffiti on your wall, the government are still giving out ASBOs to kids and letting bankers at government-controlled banks give themselves bonuses.

But let's move beyond the "we told you so" (we did…he did even earlier) and look at how we can get out of this mess.

There are many proposals around proposing maximum wage ratios or bonus taxation. Of course these all need to be considered and the thread that brings these all together is the urgent need to review excessive pay across the board.

Now that doesn't sound too radical does it? Well…no actually, as 65% of the public polled here agree we need a High Pay Commission that would do exactly that. OK, so surely all those people must have been socialists? Well…no, as 66% of Labour voters are up for it, but so are 63% of Tories and 75% of Lib Dems.

So are we going to wait for other “masters of the universe” to tell us what to think or are we going to start rocking the boat for the right reasons?

2009-08-14T17:08:00.003+01:00

why I'm (re)standing for compass youth

2009-07-13T18:00:00.002+01:00

I'm always amazed by the passion of members I meet and your energy in making change happen, from Sam & Dan for running Compass Youth, my comrades on the committee to those who've just joined - that's why I want to say thanks to all of you!

Young people are changing the world around them - fighting fascism, lobbying for a living wage, reclaiming the night or campaigning against climate change. What really motivates me to be involved in Compass Youth is supporting people to make change happen on the issue that matter to them. Because I know if you give people an inch, they'll give you a mile.

That's why I want Compass Youth to be a space where you can do all the things you didn't think possible before, knowing we will trust and support you:

So you can debate the issues you care about, like I've done by enabling you to promote your ideas through our blog and video and discuss them at workshops like Progressive London and TUC Young Members.

I would launch a listening tour (like this and that) to find out what issues are really affecting young people - like unemployment, debt and inequality - not just in London but across the country, hand in hand with trade & student unions, community groups and others. With this coalition, we would then work with you on your campuses or local areas to develop campaigns on these issues.

So you can learn how to create campaigns with the best organisers, which I've started by organising Creative Campaigns Camp (see here http://snurl.com/n2gly). I won't only bring the best organisers to develop campaigns camps on issues that matter to you, I want all of you to develop this programme together.

So you can campaign for progressive politics - like I've done helping run Sam Tarry's campaign for YoungLabourChair.

So we can help promote your local campaigns too, like I've done helping Love Difference in London, Bristol & Northampton, Pin The Pits in Doncaster and the Yes Congestion Charge campaign in Manchester. I've also made sure Compass Youth took part in campaigns on political reform, migrants rights and ending poverty, as well as organising campaign exchanges abroad.

I want to make sure this year we give a stronger platform to all our members, especially women, disabled, BME, LGBT and working class so you can make Compass Youth more diverse and more accountable.

I also want you to develop together a leadership training programme with the "movers and shakers" in the progressive movement, so that you can be the next leaders in your student clubs, trade unions and your campaigns.

To cut a long story short, I want to make sure that for each of you, Compass Youth can be exciting and rewarding. I want you to be able to have your say and do something about it with others where you are.

To find out more, contact me at noel.hatch1@gmail.com or www.twitter.com/noelito.

creative campaigns camp - next steps

2009-06-27T11:08:00.002+01:00

Thank you for taking time out of your weekend to take part in Creative Campaigns Camp. It was a chance for all of us to step back from what we know and try out new ways to campaign using creative techniques.

Sign up for our next session

Thanks for the feedback about how practical the workshops were, how organically things came together for you to learn new skills and create campaigns and how we might improve.

Do you want to meet up so we can work out together what we can do next? Sign up here for our next session on Thursday 9th July at the amazing Whitechapel Gallery.

We can talk about how we can take forward the campaigns you developed, how you might like to contribute to our activities or even organise a Campaigns Camp where you are.

Sign up for our new website

We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. It was amazing at how you all bonded and worked with each other so well.

Do you want to relive the different journeys of your campaigns as well as your experiences of the day? Sign up here for our new Creative Campaigns website where we’ll show all the videos we filmed of the day.

This will also give you the opportunity to not just find out about upcoming activities but tell us about projects you may be involved in, to upload your experiences and stories of campaigns and issues that matter to you.

If you have any queries or would like to chat further, feel free to contact us!

Noel and Ffiona

What will you pledge?

Sign up for our next session

Sign up for our new website

Forward this email to a friend

stop agonising, start organising

2009-06-19T11:11:00.000+01:00

You might think that things couldn't get any worse after finding out politicians claiming to represent us are using taxpayers' money to build houses for ducks rather than homes for people and a government preferring to attack each other than attack the recession. With Big Brother back on our screens, it's like going from one reality show to another.

But in the real world, people are getting sacked, evicted and left on the scrapheap of the recession. And young people are getting hit the hardest, with unemployment rates much higher than other age group in "last to join, first to leave" jobs. These aren't just passing concerns but "permanent scars" even going as far as damaging their physical and mental health.

So rather than choose which sides to take in the political football games going on in Westminster village, isn't it time to stop agonising and start organising? To choose to campaign to fight the recession where we are, whether that's neighbourhoods, our campuses or our workplaces?

You may have set up an online group because you were getting ripped off. You may have invited people to a campaign session so people can live better off. You may have written to your MP to support the campaign you care about the most. You may have pitched up your tent to prevent the world turning to toast.

You may have stayed at a shelter to help the homeless. You may have gone down the beach to clean up the mess. You may have taken part in a flashmob to show people how exploitation of young people at work just isn't right. You may have marched through the streets to reclaim the night.

You may have been a street captain spreading hope not hate, you may have interviewed the wild and wonderful to instigate debate. You may have got into a bath of baked beans to raise money for comic relief...Or you may not have got involved with any of these.

Whether you've been involved in organizing before or not, you're might be curious about how to campaign and who knows even fired up about an issue you'd like to campaign on. There is no right or wrong way on how to turn an issue you care about into a campaign - just look at the examples above and you can see all the different and exciting ways people have gone about it.

So just imagine if you could bring together people who are campaigning in their communities, people that are getting their voice heard in the media and those using new and creative tools to put this in action.

Just imagine if you could work with each other to develop exciting ways to campaign, finding out how others are organising and creating the spaces where activists with different skills involved in different groups can affect real change together.

We have all been to conferences where most of the time the only way we have ever got input into our events is over a drink down the pub. Don't get me wrong, I'm still keen on having those sideline chats at the end of the bar, but there are probably other ways which are just as exciting.

That's why we've joined up with TUC Young Members and Toynbee Hall to launch a weekend to fight back against the recession. On Saturday 20th June, you'll be able to get together into groups to discuss what impacts the recession is having on young people and what the Government should be doing in response. You'll then be able to put forward ideas on how we might more effectively organise and campaign for the rights of young people in and out of work.

On Sunday 21st June, we'll share grassroots stories from local campaigners, get together with facilitators so you can develop your skills on new campaigning techniques. You'll be able to get involved with other young people in trying these out to create new campaigns together to fight the recession. We want the workshops to be driven as much by the people taking part as the speakers facilitating, as much by the intensity of developing a campaign in such a short space of time as the excitement of activists with such a diversity of experiences - working together to tackle issues which matter to you.

We do want to produce something at the end of the day however and although it will be intense, ultimately you'll have developed a campaign that you can take away together and take forward across your networks.

So let's dive right in, get our hands dirty and start campaigns - let's help people create change for themselves, from the grassroots up.

It's time to take back our future, it's time for you to take back your communities.

Noël Hatch, National Chair, Compass Youth

To take part and find out more about our activities next weekend, please go to www.compassyouth.org or contact noel.hatch1@gmail.com

WANT TO CREATE A CAMPAIGN TO FIGHT THE RECESSION?

2009-06-10T09:56:00.004+01:00

Come and join Compass Youth & Toynbee Hall at our Creative Campaigns Camp on

SUNDAY 21ST JUNE BETWEEN 11-5PM

Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street, London, E1 6LS (next to Aldgate East)

Just imagine if you could bring together people organising in their communities, getting their voice heard in the media and campaigning through through art, film or music.

We’re passionate about enabling you develop exciting ways to campaign, finding out how others are organising and creating spaces where you can make change.

That's why the camp will feature sessions for you to:

GET INSPIRED by Toynbee Hall's experiences of campaigning from the bottom up - from That Money Thing campaign on student debt to the Post Office campaign.

GET TOGETHER in workshops facilitated by film makers, vocal artists and animators and share their skills of turning people's hopes and fears into collective action.

GET INVOLVED to create on the day with other young people, new campaigns to fight the recession that we will support you to take forward together where you are.

DON'T MISS OUT, SIGN UP NOW!

BOOK YOUR PLACE - email noel.hatch1@gmail.com

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS TOO - forward this to a friend.

Want to find out more? Call Ffiona on 02073922963.

treat yourself to a milky bar - is it time for a citizen's income?

2009-05-10T13:26:00.005+01:00

In the recent Budget proposals, it was announced that children would get an extra £20 Child Tax Credit from April next year. The Chancellor highlighted that a third of a million families would get an average £35 a week more through tax credits. Given that nine in every ten families already qualify for tax credits, you could argue that’s good news. However, campaigners argue that amounts to an extra 38p a week to the three million children living in poverty – this was more a “milky bar budget” for them than a “people’s budget”…

So should we campaign for an even greater increase in tax credits then or would more of the same still prevent families climbing out of the poverty black hole?

We know that although financial equality doesn’t directly guarantee social equality, income inequality certainly aggravates other inequalities we face as The Spirit Level demonstrates. Despite the increase in tax credits, the proportion of wealth has fallen for the majority of us as much as it has risen for the richest 10% since the earlier 90s.

Up until now, the government has focused much more on opportunity much more than equality – it even has a name for it - “social mobility” and the most visible example of this is their approach to “getting people back into work”. The paradox though for the people that take this up is that they fall into a trap – they lose most of their benefits – housing & council tax as well as job seekers allowance while the rate of deduction of their tax rates rises significantly. This obviously discourages people from trying to get back into work, as well as the practical difficulties of being able to afford to get to job interviews or even broadband to search for jobs.

How will they be able to pay for the bills at the end of the month, not knowing how many hours their recruitment agency will give them to work and facing a sharp decrease in tax credits that takes place when you get a job?

Those who suffer the most are families with children – they experience marginal deduction rates of over 60%. The only benefit which reduces child poverty and does not contribute to deduction rates is Child Benefit. On the other hand, those benefits which increase the likelihood of entering a “poverty trap” are Working or Child Tax Credits. The difference between child benefit and tax credits is that the former is paid unconditionally and the latter is means-tested. In these times of change we can believe in, we would normally look to Obama, but the US is so far behind in terms of social protection, that it doesn't make sense this time round to be inspired. What we surely need then are more unconditional and non-withdrawable and less means-tested benefits to tackle child poverty?

How about a citizen's income?

A “citizen’s income” pushes all these buttons, so should the government need to reduce tax credits to pay for a “basic citizen's income” to everyone or should it increase taxes for those who earn more or even introduce a maximum wage to pay a “living citizen's income”?

What are the overriding benefits of a citizen’s income?

The Citizen’s Income Trust argues that it’s unconditional, so it would also reduce the stigma attached to means-tested benefits. Its non-withrawable, so it would also reduce the stress attached to working out how much they would be left with at the end of the month. It’s redistributive as income is redistributed from people who are better off more towards those less so. Those who earn the least would get a quarter more in come than they currently do, while those who earn the most would only get a bit less. The rest of us would either get an increase in income or would stay in the same position as we are now. It's empowering as it would also encourage more flexible working, lifelong learning and retraining which is so important at the moment.

A survey amongst MPs shows that there is support expressed right across the political spectrum that everyone would gain from getting a “citizen's income”. If we don’t want to turn back on our pledge to reduce child poverty by half by next year, we need to do better than the “milky bar budget” we got a few days ago. Isn’t it time for a citizen’s income?

Thanks to Cliph for the photo published under Creative Commons

If I can't dance, I won't join your revolution

2009-05-04T18:09:00.026+01:00

Many Labour activists see what’s going on like the end of a relationship with their party, no matter how much they want to relive the good times, they sense something is broken and it’s time to move on. .

Because like most people, activists too miss out on the happiness of seeing something they have shaped together and feeling empowered to do so. And despite being ignored and mocked by their own party for calling the government for fairer taxes and more equal rights, there are still many of them relentlessly trying to persuade voters that the government will deliver a better deal for them.

These activists are all that’s left to save Labour from itself. Those who have left can't see the point of saving a party that won't listen to them and took them for granted, thinking they wouldn't leave as they had nowhere else to go.

As a fellow activist said “I suppose I always had this illusion that my membership brought some influence. But when you realise that you cannot influence what happens, and you’re just supporting something you find insupportable … what do you do?”.

To paraphrase a cult socialist proverb, if you can't dance, why join the revolution?

You can cancel your membership and many of us have. You can complain and even more us do. Or you can campaign to try and get Labour to change.

You then might argue there have been so many proposals on how to reconnect disillusioned members to come out and campaign. Most efforts by the party have so far been more "pin the donkey", trying to attach the long tail of the grassroots to the skinny rigid body of its own structures.

Given how many young members are even more disillusioned with the party and how it has been virtually impossible for any "left" candidates to win any Young Labour positions, you'd be forgiven for thinking that campaigning for the recent Young Labour elections would be a lost battle.

But once we realised how many people wanted their party back and how we could contest democratic elections for Young Labour Chair, we knew this was an opportunity we couldn’t miss.

The campaign didn't start in Westminster, even less so in Victoria Street and not even in the narcissistic egos that so many candidates standing to represent young people get. We knew that as well as making change happen with other young Labour members in his region, with other young progressives, with other young people in his community, Sam Tarry really was the best candidate to make change happen in becoming Chair of Young Labour. He is probably the only candidate I know who had already delivered the promises he was yet to make.

But we didn’t just write the campaign on the back of a cigarette packet. Campaigning for apprentices to get a minimum wage isn't an issue Sam picked out of a lucky policy hat, it was an issue he'd fought for with other young people. "Your idea, your campaign" isn't some motherhood and apple pie concept he proposed to sound like Obama, we tried it out in workshops and through video.

That’s why “It’s not about me, it’s about you” was a message that Sam was keen to spread and helping run the campaign, I can assure you it’s so much more exciting to feel that your team is constantly growing and growing. Every day people bringing in new ideas, new skills and this is where your ears will prick up…new supporters.

But we didn't stick to a structured plan of how we would engage young members, we adapted and innovated to make it as comfortable and empowering as possible for different people at different times in different ways to feel and get involved in the campaign.

Here are a few of the lessons I learnt in running communications for the campaign, I won't take up any more space on this blog, but if you click on the hyperlinks you can get a better idea of what we learnt.

empowering your activists to campaign for you

move it and shake it like they've never seen it before
name and frame the campaign
release the pressure of your team
join up the dots before jumping in

encouraging people to support you

start with your personal story
connect up your personal story to the collective story of your activists
go where the people are - adapt the messengers, not the message
track the causes and campaigns that matter to your potential supporters

developing your message

don't make deals with people you don't know, earn their trust
don't treat them as employees, treat them like your family
don't take them for granted, value them as people you couldn't do without
expect to be surprised by your supporters, they're the people you've been waiting for
understand what you're doing with the tools you've go
understand how your supporters can participate
share your success and they will commit even more to you

coping with your campaign

embrace the mess, you need rules for radicals not robots
focus relentlessly on the people you need support from
start with your instinct, be ruthless in your judgement
don't just make it blood, sweat & tears, give them leadership & a smile
don't just tell supporters what you stand for, get them to vote for you!

Don't just get people on your dancefloor, get them to run the show and they'll join your revolution.

empowering your activists to campaign for you

2009-05-04T17:56:00.007+01:00

The first part of the campaign toolkit to get (s)elected is how to empower your activists to campaign for you. Move it, shake it, name and frame it. Read on!

Move and shake it like they’ve never seen before

Get on board the people you know who can mobilise others who want to help you win - “your movers and shakers”. They’ve organised for progressive candidates in similar elections or been involved in organisations or movements who are very good at building broad based support.

What they share in common is their passion for the politics you stand for and their understanding of building support from the bottom up. They will also be able to get you public support from people who others can identify with very easily as sharing your values – whether that’s young leaders or ministers.

Engage with closely those people who may be “non aligned” but are symbolically very important, because of the leadership they demonstrate. Think about what value supporting you will offer them and then work out how you can describe those benefits.

Don’t think for one minute that just because they haven’t publicly come out in favour of any candidate, that they will support whoever’s the highest bidder for their vote. Listen to them to understand why – it could be they can’t decide between the candidates, because everyone strikes a chord, or worse because none of you are listening to their concerns and hopes.

Name and frame the game

See how other candidates are campaigning but never try and systematically react to their issues as quickly as possible. Obviously when you stand for anything, you do need to explain what you stand against and why, but never “name” people who you feel represent the latter. Focus on framing the issues you stand for.

If other candidates or their supporters do attack your campaign – whether on what you stand for, or your lack of experience – make those attacks feel personal to you and to members and reframe them back to « they want to make it about me, I want to make it about you » (you may have heard that nugget before…) to the people you want to vote for you. If you are trying to convince them, they are unlikely to vote for you if you or any of your supporters “slander” people (even if other candidates provoke you into doing so).

Release the pressure

Listen to your supporters who don’t feel comfortable trying to mobilise other people. Be especially honest with people who volunteer but feel pressured to do so because they want to help you out, but don’t feel confident, ready or likely to lead from the front. This is a big responsibility you're putting on their shoulders so go through this with them so that you know early on whether they will “run for the hills” at the last moment. If they are supportive, they will be keen to help you out in other ways and this is much better for both of you than pressurising them and then finding out you have lost a supporter at the last minute.

See how other people who are neither supportive nor challenging you evolve throughout your campaign as they can become convinced by one candidate or the other, or “flip flop” based on their performances. If they are people you don't know and do become supportive and are keen to help you out, trust your instincts as to whether they want to genuinely help you out or want to sabotage your campaign.

Join up the dots before you jump in

Find out who is active. Find out if you have a mutual friend and ask them to recommend the campaigning you've done in the local area you’re standing in or on the issue you’re standing for. If you don't have that connection, engage with them at local meetings and campaigning sessions. Don't explicitly ask them for your support if you don't know them, but start touching on topics which can bring you onto talking about what you'd like to do to if elected.

Next stop, encouraging people to support you, developing your message, and coping with your campaign.

Hope you enjoy reading and who knows, you may find the articles useful or even interesting! Please feel free to comment - I welcome criticism as much as compliments.

encouraging people to support you

2009-05-04T17:45:00.013+01:00

And after empowering your activists to campaign for you, the next part of the toolkit on getting (s)elected is how to get people to support you in your campaign.

Start with your personal story

We used a variety of techniques to spread Sam’s personal story – social reporting, tweeting and blogging, to complement his website and manifesto. You may think that his story is so unique and powerful, from grassroots organising against tuition fees, the Iraq war and the BNP to campaigning across the country to get the Sustainable Communities Act passed into law. But many of you will have been involved in campaigning for issues that matter to you, whether it’s for civil liberties, abortion rights or for the planet.

Get a friend to film you talking to young people where they live about how you got involved in politics (i.e. use a campaign which will trigger people's memories of the issue without you needing to make it explicit or current), if they are facilitating a workshop or speaking from the floor at a debate. Get people to take photos of you out campaigning with their local activists and MP.

Connect up your personal story to the collective story of your activists

As important as your personal story is how you connect this up to the different stories that the campaign is telling through the work of your activists. Telling their story means they can really feel ownership of your campaign to get elected.

We asked people for their endorsements and then we asked them for what would be the top ideas they wanted to campaign on if Sam was elected. We wanted to show this wasn’t just about a candidate standing for election, it's about representing all the activists that don't get talked about, don't get on TV talking to ministers, don't work in Westminster, etc. Show how far you can reach out, not only geographically, but politically (from those who have always been on your side to those who are more “non-aligned”).

Go where the people are – adapt the messenger, not the message

Remember it’s not only about attracting supporters to come to your website or events, it's about reaching out to where they are. Reach out to the different activist groups & social networks you are involved in, but rather than just going yourself – identify allies who are active in those individual groups and get them to recommend you. For members of all of these networks, if they don't know you, they may think you are just doing the rounds.

Which is why for Sam Tarry’s campaign for Young Labour Chair, we only used microblogging when people started telling us they wanted to find out how Sam was campaigning on a daily basis. They wanted to know how he was explaining his proposals to people and how they were feeding them new ideas. It’s better to be honest about how you're trying to win people over than using spin to pretend you're not.

Which is why we only used videoing when people asked who Sam really was. As he wasn't the incumbent, most of them didn't know who he was and wanted to know what evidence there was to suggest he would make the changes he promised. That's why we quickly filmed a "who is Sam Tarry" vox pop with the man himself and produced a series of short videos to ask him the questions that people wanted answered about his different pledges.

Which is why we focused on texting only in the last few hours of the campaign, as we were keen to make sure all our supporters could get to the election venue. We wanted to reassure them that whether they were coming from Glasgow by train or walking down the road from Gillingham itself, we would meet them and go together to the conference.

Track the causes & campaigns that matter to your potential supporters

Identify progressive networks you are involved in and write an article about the issue that matters to them most – so that members of those networks can relate to you and trust that you will champion the issues they care about, but when up against your challenger, they can clearly identify you with that issue (which they themselves identify with).

Use these issues as a way of contacting your potential supporters and encouraging the most supportive & influential of these to endorse you. This will be far more effective than “cold calling” them out of the blue to vote for you & will get your message out on their mailing lists.

Build on your pre-existing campaigns & networks – especially if they haven't been actively engaged by the other side – they will prefer you championing them as part of your own candidacy.

Use each issue you’re standing on to show your campaigning capacity – only get involved or lead on the “low effort, high gain” activities which you can promote to your potential supporters (emailing them about the campaign, getting interviewed or on photo shoots which you can then share with them).

Identify progressive networks (particularly local) your friends are involved in and ask them to recommend you to their networks. Identify your potential audiences through general networks and “niche” networks on the issues you’re standing on.

Get a photo/video of you campaigning with your local party and with councillors/MPs/MEPs (these will be essential for those who endorse you, but also important for those who don't want to endorse either side, they are always happy to have their photo taken on the campaigning trail!).

Get in touch with people you know who are active in the media – whether its up and coming journalists or bloggers – and see if they can talk about your campaign. Feed the links to these articles back to the delegates from your region to show you can get the regional young Labour voice heard in the media.

Get in touch with friends or relatives who aren't involved in your party or campaign group but can help you with areas of your campaign which either demand greater resource (designing a flyer/website/video, ringing people up, etc) or show the direct impact you can have (organise or heavily promote one local campaigning activity to your potential supporters in your area and then invite as many local friends as possible). You can then promote this story.

Encourage bloggers who support you to place articles, banners or even just a link to their websites. This enhances the debate, attracts support, provokes publicity and spread links. You need to ensure everything you write about links back to your blog/website.

Thanks to Hannes Treichl for the photo published under Creative Commons license.

Next stop, developing your message and coping with your campaign.

Hope you enjoy reading and who knows, you may find the articles useful or even interesting! Please feel free to comment - I welcome criticism as much as compliments.

developing your message

2009-05-04T17:37:00.009+01:00

And after having encouraging people to support you, the next part of the toolkit on getting (s)elected is how you develop your campaign - deals on wheels, family values, caring & sharing - sounds like a 1950s film, but really it works.

Don’t make deals with people you don’t know, earn their trust

If you want to encourage people to vote for you, you need to build relationships and earn their trust. Even the committed activists who leaflet whatever the weather – ideologically and well…literally! They are not necessarily supporters of the status quo just because they go out campaigning and don't engage in debate.

Don’t treat them as employees, treat them like your family

Even when you are trying to encourage people to vote or campaign for you, you need to explain clearly what is on offer and what is being asked of them and what they stand to gain from campaigning and voting for you. This can take time to work out, but it is well worth the effort. If you don’t, they may become anxious and frustrated, which in turn could lead to them backing out from voting for you and being disillusioned from the whole process.

Don’t take them for granted, value them as people you couldn’t do without

When your supporters do decide to get involved and give freely of their time and energy, you need to recognise and value their efforts, however small. This can be as simple as thanking them regularly, buying a round of drinks or getting them to lead parts of your campaign.

Expect to be surprised by your supporters, they’re the people you’ve been waiting for

The best ideas for your campaign and manifesto can be found in surprising places, and this shouldn't be a linear process of you publishing a manifesto and stopping there. There should always be space for your supporters to bring in their new ideas.

Understand what you’re doing with the tools you’ve got

Using as many web channels as possible won’t work unless they are clearly connected to what you’re doing offline. Your website doesn’t only need to be updated regularly, also think about who will use your website – both your supporters who will link to it, and your audience who will be directed to it

Understand how your supporters can participate

Remember you are not looking to get as many supporters as possible, you are looking to get very specific supporters to commit to doing different things. You need to understand this in terms of when and how these different people contribute.

Share your success and they will commit even more to you

You need to think about why you are standing and who you are standing for – this means you need to accept to share in whatever success you get with the people & networks that have supported you (even if you don't necessarily support everything they individually stand for). They will be more interested in spreading your message if their ideas have helped shape it.

Thanks to madamn flick for the photos published under Creative Commons license.

Next stop, coping with your campaign.

Hope you enjoy reading and who knows, you may find the articles useful or even interesting! Please feel free to comment - I welcome criticism as much as compliments.

coping with your campaign

2009-05-04T16:47:00.007+01:00

Now that you've developed your message, the final part of the toolkit on getting (s)elected is how you cope with (sorry, I meant manage) your campaign.

Embrace the mess, you need rules for radicals not for robots

The start of any campaign is inevitably uncomfortable and confusing. You need to allow for this, as people move closer to your campaign. If you try to move too quickly to a rigidly planned campaign, your target supporters won't feel a sense of ownership in this.

Focus relentlessly on the people you need support from

It is easy to forget that your existing & target supporters will have important insights to contribute on how you could really convince them to come and vote for you on the day.

Start with your instinct, be ruthless in your judgement

Experiment and then reflect. Your campaign will never be 100% perfect, so go with what you feel is best at that particular time and then carry forward what's worked well and discard what hasn't.

Don’t just make it blood, sweat and tears, give them leadership and a smile

All campaigns need a mixture of inspiration and perspiration. You need to display a certain degree of charisma to galvanise your supporters, even and especially in the most stressful moments. But you need to accompany this passion with empathy and listening to empower your supports to carry the campaign forward.

Don’t just tell supporters what you stand for, get them to vote for you!

You can’t sustain your campaign until whatever elections you’re standing for just by getting people to sign up and get involved in your campaign. You need to put in hard work into getting this commitment, but if you don't, you will have hundreds of people signed up to your mailing list, but this will be useless if you can't get elected. If you get a maximum number of people who can vote for you, you will be confident of being with a very strong shout of winning.

Hope you enjoy reading and who knows, you may find the articles useful or even interesting! Please feel free to comment - I welcome criticism as much as compliments.

if you lost your home, who would help you?

2009-05-04T15:36:00.010+01:00

What an amazing way to organise by Crisis! They're launching a new campaign tomorrow to help prevent people becoming hidden homeless. We all know someone who's been down that road and some of us have been there too.

The recession isn't just about big bailouts and bonus bandits, most of the people who are feeling the full fury of the crisis are not the Fred Goodwins of this world or even those who will have to pay an extra five percent of tax.

It's the people who are waiting for their turn in the jobcentre queue, the people trying to pay back their debts or the people sleeping on friends' and families' floors, hostels, B&Bs or on the streets. Not the silent majority, the hidden majority.

Let's not get depressed about this, let's dance about this...Not to celebrate but to campaign for all these people to be noticed by the government and, well, by all of us to be honest.

You could get to see the best bands - like Hot Chip and...Dodgy ("staying out for the summer" anyone?). You also get to see how precarious hidden homelessness is - now that Crisis won't be revealing where the venues will be held until the day before the gig.

It is important that everybody possible is saved from homelessness, and in the recession we are particularly concerned for private tenants. Please write to your local MP and urge them to sign EDM 1154 calling for proper protection for the hidden victims of the recession – private tenants.

What can you pledge?

Get your bells on and buy tickets for the gigs here

Sign up to get involved with Crisis

create your campaign

2009-04-05T19:26:00.009+01:00

After the amazing success of our workshop with Progressive London where you told us what you wanted to improve young people's lives in London, we know want to tell you about an exciting activity where you can put together creative campaigns for London, as we always listen out to the pulse of the Compass Youth membership. As Laurie Penny says

"We may not have the kind of arts you want us to have, but this generation is creating more art, more music, writing, performance and brilliant new ideas than ever before, most of it cooked up with pirated equipment in the privacy of our own bedrooms and disseminated over the internet....We are creating. What most of us want now is a chance to combine creativity with real social progress, a chance to turn our imaginative brilliance to dreaming up a new world for ourselves, where our arts and our ideals have real relevance."

This is why we are working with Toynbee Hall in their "Creative Campaigns Day" taking place on Monday 6th April.

Aged 16-25? Your chance to get vocal about issues that you care about!

Create a campaign in either film, music, theatre, photography or spoken word with the help of industry professionals.

Explore future campaigning opportunities with organisations. Perform your campaigns in an evening showcase.

To find out more or register send an email to ffiona.rowland@toynbeehall.org.uk or call Ffiona on 07828 696 759.

Compass Youth will be exhibiting its campaigns so come and join us and Toynbee Hall's Active Citizenship programme!

"It is projects like “Pin The Pits” and projects which Compass Youth seek to actively support and promote that can bring people like us together, each with their own political voice, to listen and to be heard, like with the “Pin The Pits” campaign which united people under one roof, in the very place where to be heard, there is every hope of real change, where politics, expression and opinion have so much power in this country, where dreams can become real and change can become possible."

What will you pledge?

I will take part in the Creative Campaigns Day (contact ffiona.rowland@toynbee.org.uk)

I will showcase my campaign with Compass Youth (contact noel.hatch1@gmail.com)

I will sign up to Compass Youth e-updates to get involved in more of these activities

#g20rally only a week to go - will you be there?

2009-03-22T19:37:00.011Z

We asked you to tell us what mattered most and you didn't disappoint. At our workshop or by video you submitted ideas ranging from mentoring young people for green jobs to microfinancing creative activity, from cross border collective bargaining to campaigning for equal parenting leave.

Because you know that attacking the recession isn't just about the banks, it's about fighting for jobs, fighting for climate, fighting for justice.

Only a week to go! Join us next Saturday!

This is why we want to invite you to join us, next Saturday 28th March as we will march with thousands of other people through London on the #g20rally as part of a global campaign to challenge the G20 on the global financial crisis.

Come and meet us at the assembly point on Victoria Embankment at 11am. Check out the map. The nearest tube is Temple, but this may be packed by the time you get there, Embankment and Waterloo aren't far, see more here about getting there.

Coaches will also be coming down to London for the march so everyone can join us.

Let's get the party re-started! Free wine and food!

Our comrades at UCL Labour Society are celebrating their first birthday nextThursday 26th March from 7.30 with a cracking party. There will be free wine and food (and cake and balloons), so, please do come along, it would be great if you could make it. Sign up here.

What will you pledge?

Join the march next Saturday

Party with our comrades next Thursday

Forward this email to five of my friends

We know there can be no turning back, so it's time for us to take back society and put people first. You are the change we've been waiting for!

Noel Hatch

no turning back!

2009-03-09T20:09:00.010Z

The leaders of all three main parties want us to turn back as soon as possible to the failed ideas of the pre-crash. We think this would be a huge mistake; with this in mind Neal Lawson and John Harris have written a major essay to kick start a national debate about our country's future: Polly Toynbee" > wrote about this over the weekend and now we want you to join the discussion!

New times demand new politics. If we don't want to turn back to the old political economy of market fundamentalism then we need a conversation with individuals and groups who want to build a better society: not just the Labour movement but NGOs, faith groups, Liberal Democrats, Greens and others - aimed not at any kind of electoral pact, but a popular movement that could shift the terms of debate and reconnect politics and real life. Both Neal and John are committed to Labour as a necessary vehicle for advancing progressive politics - but know it must be transformed and forge alliances with others if it is to bring about meaningful change.

This has implications for Compass. Is this the right approach, what does it mean politically and organisationally? The truth is we don't yet have all the answers. But we want to know what you think. More than anything we want a conversation about these historic times. Please post any views you have on this news item and/or email Neal.

The article suggests 10 policy ideas to ensure we don't turn back - are these right? Please add your ideas to the How to Live In The 21st Century policy competition.

Crucially it is incumbent on all of us involved in Compass to organise and bring together all those who don't want to turn back to the ideas of the past: to stand up and say ‘enough is enough' it is time for something better.

To start this process today we've launched a No Turning Back video (please watch it with the volume on). We think it's quite inspiring and we want you to send it to everyone you know. We need more people to be part of our No Turning Back network - so please forward the video on and at the same time urge people to join our email list.

Then on Tuesday 31 March from 6pm, just a few days before the G20 summit, we've organised a No Turning Back debate in Parliament, both Neal and John will speak with Polly Toynbee chairing: we hope you can be there.

Furthermore we can now announce that Saturday 13 June will be the day of our National Conference - it will be the No Turning Back event of the year. This is where the coalition for real change will come together to discuss and debate how we build a new political economy for the 21st century. Put that date in your diary now!

Through the autumn of 2009 we will then be holding No Turning Back meetings and events across the UK. We want a meeting in every town and city. If you want to help organise a meeting please let us know.

These are critical times for everyone involved with Compass - the windfall tax campaign and now the battle to modernise not privatise the Post Office and Royal Mail are big issues we can and must win on. Now more than ever it's time to make the case that there can be No Turning Back to the failed ideas of yesterday - we hope you'll get fully engaged in the weeks and months ahead.

Download the New Statesman essay as a PDF (including 10 point policy plan) (4MB)

Read the No Turning Back essay

interview with the guardian

2009-03-07T16:10:00.007Z

First published here.

How old are you? 27

Where is your hometown?

I live in Battersea, although my hometown is Hythe (Kent).

Do you prefer to be home or away from it?!

Despite living in between the undiscovered beauty of Battersea Square and the melancholic raucousness of the Thames, I can never sit still and always have to be somewhere different.

Where was it that you caught the travel bug?

On the TGV down to the Alps, vomiting over a Swiss version of Cruella. I was 18 months...Seriously though, that is my first memory of travelling!

Have you ever lived abroad, taught abroad?

I went to university in Paris up until Masters level, but still couldn't sit still and during my time there I went to live in Spain about three times, went to Barcelona on an Erasmus study exchange – never having learnt Spanish let alone Catalan. When I finished my degree a couple of years later, I missed the pomp of my graduation ceremony to go to the Costa del Sol to work as a waiter for the summer season. Except for the drug-fuelled manager and the whisky-fuelled cook, no-one had worked for the restaurant – it was like the tower of babel with students from all over Europe. I randomly went back to Barcelona as part of my Masters, managing at the end of my stay there to even string along ten minutes of Catalan – more listening than speaking. Now I don't work abroad, but I do organise campaigning abroad – nothing like surprising locals you're canvassing when you tell them you're English campaigning in Sweden or France.

Do you prefer hotels to hostels?

Hostels, it's not just recession chic, it's like turning up at a friend's house – you listen to the stories (and the snoring, vomiting, banging, etc) of the people sharing your room, you get a feel of the locals, their tips on where to go, the complementary can of beer or cup of coffee. Only downside to hostels is that they lock up far too early and you have to sleep rough in the presidential gardens like I did in Sofia. I also feel guilty about my recent experiences of hotels – being all four star, and all paid for by campaigning organisations in areas which suffer from poverty (except for in Swaziland when I pulled the short straw and stayed in a hotel which hadn't yet been fully built). Although hotels are making a comeback, having woken up after a hangover in a four star hotel, discovering a 50 metre breakfast buffet in a hotel in Madrid (Auditorium Hotel) which started with a tropical fruit bar and ended up with a fry up frenzy.

Solo or group travel?

Group, it's better sleeping rough with others than on your own. You feel more adventurous in a group – egging each other on to try new things – like staying up all night to eat scorpion in raspberry coulis, because the “insect bar” that sells it only opens in the morning in La Boqueria market in Barcelona – or getting a DJ slot a an underground jazz bar run by the mafia, and finding out all the exchange students...and their Spanish flatmates have got free drinks by saying they were with the DJ. Travelling with locals just opens you up to so much more – it's like discovering a different city to the one described in the tourist guides – like with volunteers who took us through the Swazi countryside to meet women with HIV who through growing and selling vegetables - really gave them a sense of dignity and pride, but also power to be able to make a living independently. Although solo travel can have its advantages, if you join up to “Useful Vistors” (sorry for the plug).

A lot of your tips come from Barcelona - is that a place you went to for any particular reason?

I lived there twice – the first time on an Erasmus exchange as part of my degree, only having learnt Spanish for a term – and the second time for my Masters, managing to string along 10 minutes of Catalan by the end of my stay there.

What do you love about the city?

Although most of my friends never actually went to the university, despite it being on the main shopping street – Las Ramblas – I would turn up to lessons at 9am sharp after having returned home clubbing only a few hours before. In every nook and crannie of the city, whether it's an old school pharmacy or a cafe that sells jelly and ice cream, everyone goes out of their way to wow people and ultimately make Barcelona more than just a city. It's like they all feel a sense of pride and responsibility to want to be part of creating Barcelona's identity – to reflect the people that live, work and play there – and given how many people come to the city to do all of those things (usually in reverse order) – those people are never the same. It's like a melting pot of the minds of all the people that come there. From Salsitas, a restaurant which when the clock turns midnight, waiters start taking the chairs around your table if you haven't finished eating and the clubbers start pouring in, Pipa Club which is officially a pipe-smoking members' club but actually turns into a messy post-clubbing hangout on weekday nights if there aren't any doughnuts left down the Lancaster bakery and you've returned from the all time favourite discotheque – La Paloma. But it's never over the top – because the trendiness is so inclusive, it's less lounge bars with new age music and more comfortable sofas found on a skip in a reconverted old-man's tapas bar with the barman flicking over the vinyl when he's taking time-out from making cocktails. So much that you'd almost forget the Mediterranean was only a short walk away. However much you've been out all night, working out all day or...lying on the beach, you just want to keep going – there's always something in the corner of your eye you want to go and check out. I remember writing this about Las Ramblas, but it goes for Barcelona itself. “The best advice when it comes to (this city) is to plunge in, go with the flow and enjoy the constant weird and wonderful activities taking place around you. “

If you had to sum up your travelling style in three words what would you say?

Nooks and crannies

Where are you planning to go to next and why?

Berlin. Haven't been there for years and after sampling its culture – whether it's the music (BPitch), the films (Goodbye Lenin) or just friends going on about how raw and raucous – it just makes me want to go back for more.

Where is your favourite view?

On the beach on the Lac d'Annecy where I used to go on holiday to see my relatives as a child – whether it's the summer and you can feel the warm glow of the sun on the lake and the shadow of a sombrero from the doughnut seller, or it's the winter and you can feel the snowflakes dropping down from the mountains towering around you.

Do you feel like your life has been enhanced through travelling? In what way?

When you discover a new place and take a wander down the streets – you might be shocked by it inequality and its decadence, you might be amazed by it's beauty and authenticity. At the end of the day, you're opening up to new experiences without knowing what's going to happen next, you're discovering as much about yourself as you are about the locals and immersing yourself in their culture. Those experiences are always different and that's why I always feel goosebumps when I set foot in a new country.

Describe a weekend day in your hometown.

Can't help having a peek down the South Bank and Brick Lane – ironically I know there will always be something going on – and there's no shame in going to places filled with tourists, if they are drawn to areas which are so multicultural, vivacious and authentic, then that can only make us Londoners proud of where we live and invite more people to come and share those experiences.

Can you tell us about your best moment travelling - even if it's in your hometown?

Going to South Africa – it was a surreal experience, which started off checking into the trendiest hotel I’ve ever seen. It was like the TV programme Hotel Babylon – with lifts themed around shark cages and cable cars - a swimming pool circling the restaurant and a climbing wall outside the hotel, so much for fighting consumerism. Experiencing the emotional distress of a terminal AIDS sufferer, talking to a nurse on the same day as meeting women with HIV working in the fields reskilling as farmers, manage the tensions between the taking part in amazing street interventions on Soweto market to raise awareness about AIDS with a group that promotes abstinence before contraception (although we did also meet TAC whose volunteers compete for who can distribute the most condoms in their communities), being deluded into getting into a casspir as part of a rehearsal for a CSR initiative of a famous fizzy drinks company – basically a truck that used to threaten the corners of every township in the apartheid years – and amazed at witnessing the courage of volunteers walking through a rape crisis centre in the face of the shadow of the state no no longer threatening by its presence but in many ways by its absence, attending the annual youth day, which celebrates the past – the Soweto uprising – as much as the future – err...young people. All of this was summed up when we met Dennis Goldberg – an anti-apartheid activist who stood in the Rivonia trial in 1964. It was strangely wonderful that the barbeque he organised brought together community organisers from local townships and ourselves from the UK, or to put it more simply, getting people from different backgrounds to be able to share stories, laughs and share good food together without feeling the chains of inequality and inferiority. This type of benign event on a winter's night (our summer!) was what he had dreamt about all these years ago. It's what kept him going from when he started as a political activist through to the famous Rivonia trial and through the mind crushing years in prison. Although he argued that South Africa wasn't a rainbow nation yet, but more a nation of diverse cultures, I felt both awkward and inspired throughout the trip at how every time you turn round, someone is there to take your rubbish, fill up your cup of coffee, lend you a hand. It's that genuine sense of solidarity and fraternity, put simply neighbourliness that we so miss in this country. At the end of the day, it's about creating the spaces to listen and let people open up and explore their insecurities which may be crystallised through prejudice, such as racism, sexism or ageism.

Ipod or book?

Book, I haven't got an Ipod

Most essential item?

A camera

you want us to campaign on the issues that matter to you?

2009-02-15T20:04:00.004Z

What are the issues that matter to you? We don't know! That's why we want your views!

Compass launched its competition "How to Live in the 21st Century" so you can tell us your ideas. We've received over 100 such as a living wage, equal parenting leave or even pediatric allergy centres. We will campaign on the most popular policies you put forward.

It could be you! So get involved now! You only have a week left to submit your ideas! The deadline for submitting your ideas is Monday 23rd February - that's only a week away!

It's time for us to take back society. You are the change we've been waiting for!

P.S. Forward this email to five of your friends so that can submit their ideas too.

Noel Hatch

success at progressive london

2009-01-31T10:45:00.003Z

The organisation I help run - Compass Youth held a highly successful workshop and debate at the Progressive London Conference. Over fifty people took part and the results of the 'progressive future' ideas and campaigns will be announced shortly.

The interactive event and all the ideas that came out of it had a fantastic write up in the Guardian Comment is Free:

" ...where the high-ranking politicians failed, the people succeeded. In a series of workshops, participants held serious debates about concrete policies. They talked about increasing vocational jobs by training a new wave of green plumbers and electricians. They talked about starting a campaign to end the rules forcing the voluntary sector to pay for CRB checks – a policy that effectively puts a £45 tax on every volunteer in the UK. In the Young London session, one young woman proposed a microfinance scheme to help young people turn their informal creative activity into income generating talent. Listening to the sessions, it became clear that the UK policy debate has widened, and the political enthusiasm has increased."

Read the full article here.

In the meantime if you missed out catch up with all the action and discussion on Compass Youth TV on You Tube

Here is a taster - Chuka Umunna on a progressive young London interviewed by Compass Youth Chair Samuel Tarry:

Compass Youth Obama Campaign Workshop

Thursday 12th February, 6.30pm,

House of Commons (Committee Room 6)

Obama won the Democratic nomination and then the American Presidency on the back of inspiring and innovative campaigning. Not only did he offer a refreshingly optimistic and hopeful message, but he harnassed technology in new ways to communicate with and mobilise his supporters.

There is much the progressive left can learn from his campaigning techniques, and with that in mind Compass Youth has organised a campaign workshop with three excellent speakers:

Matthew McGregor worked for internet strategy company Blue State Digital for three months during the Obama campaign, and has now set up Blue State Digital's London office. He also ran Jon Cruddas' deputy leadership campaign, winner of Channel 4's 'Political Campaign of the Year' award. He will talk about what set the Obama campaign apart, and what we can learn from it in the UK.

Tom Miller from Compass Youth has blogged for a number of years, now doing so on several platforms, including his own; newerlabour, and LabourList, the newly launched website which aims to provide a space for Labour-based debate. He will discuss the current use of technology in British politics and where things are heading.

Max Freedman is a Parliamentary researcher and the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Kingston and Surbiton. He helped canvass in Ohio during the Obama campaign, and will about how the field campaign operated so effectivly.

For more information or to book a place please contact youthchair@compassonline.org.uk or join the facebook event here.

"The crisis changes nothing"

The crisis of global capital and the lefts reaction to globalisation; a Compass Youth think-piece - Adrian Bua-Roberts:

"...if the left reverts to the comfort zone it naturally finds within statist discourse it is surrendering its chance to influence the reformation of the transnational state structures within which capital is continually entrenching its dominance.

It is of crucial importance that progressives and the left realise this. Organized labour, acting within the nation state framework, has proved structurally incapable of combating the increased transnational coordination of capital. Improvements in communication and technology have enabled capital to tap into reserve armies of poverty stricken workers around the world, pitching their governments against each other to become more "competitive" in what amounts to a regulatory race to the bottom. In the West, this has began to dissolve the myriad of rights gained through centuries of class struggles and has created a huge downward pressure of wages. Stagnating wages led to increased debt, feeding the capitalist systems' fetish for consumption, laying much of the groundwork for the present crisis."

Read the full article on the compass website.

Finally a word from our friends:

President Bush backed US 'Missile Defence' since he was elected in 2000, including unilaterally withdrawing from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia in 2001. Designed to give the US military 'full spectrum dominance,' it is destabilising relations with Russia and causing concern across Europe.

President Barack Obama has not yet given his full support to the system - join us in sending him a clear message of opposition in his first days as President.

Speakers include the Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee, Michael Connarty MP, Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, and Green MEP Jean Lambert, who will be joined by parliamentarians and campaigners from Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland.

The conference will be held on Saturday 31st January from 10am-5pm at SOAS, University of London. See the Europe Against US Missile Defence Conference page for full details.

To register email campaigns@cnduk.org or phone 0207 700 2393 and click here to download a leaflet. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

if you give people an inch...

2009-01-28T21:12:00.007Z

It seemed from the Progressive London conference that there are alternative narratives - moving from the “what worked” under Ken (living wage, congestion charge, etc) to the “what matters” (fairness, care & solidarity) which…well really matters lot in how we frame our responses to the recession to Londoners out there who are really feeling the bite.

But is it enough to bring together politicians from across the “progressive spectrum” to show our solidarity on issues like Heathrow or the living wage which portray that alternative narrative to the government? Is it enough to congratulate ourselves on getting such a massive turnout at the conference? People will be fairly interested in a range of issues but there’ll be one issues that really drives them - whether it’s Gaza or civil liberties - these wedge issues were all represented…but there was no mechanism for people to take these forward from the grassroots…

At our Compass Youth “young london” workshop, the room was packed out - with people but mainly with ideas - mentoring scheme for young people to get into green jobs, youth mayor for London with a capacity building budget, making CRB checks portable, a virtual youth club and cooperative schools. To be honest, with an hour an half and with four exciting speakers that we were keen to listen to as well, as well as competing against other heavweight sessions at the same time, we were scared that either no-one would turn up or not many people would want to put forward, let alone work out together what campaigns we should take forward for young Londoners.

To be even more honest, the winning idea, making CRB checks portable to enable more people (young or old!) to take part in volunteering, isn’t something that we may have thought of on our NEC, but we committed to campaign on idea that won most votes and that’s what we’ll do. In fact, we’ll support people who want to take forward the other campaigns put forward...and remember to twitter like others did at our session!

Why? Because if you give people an inch, they’ll give you a mile?

in government we trust?

2009-01-14T20:28:00.002Z

Something that stood out from the debate "in government we trust?" was the question - what happens when we unleash the free market? Think about the pharmaceutical industry and you'll see that the market there will always survive, but in many cases customers don't (like if we don't provide free access to generics). The private sector will always walk away, but the government can't and the citizens are stuck either way. I'd also like to pull my woolly hat off to the man like Crudddas - great facilitation of the debate, almost like being in his surgery, with the added populist bonus of a vote at the end. Next time, let's push people out of their narnian comfort zones and move beyond the nationalisation-privatisation debate (which the speakers did, although the audience did't follow them, I guess Narnia's a warm place to be in the winter...). Let's ask how much centralised nationalisation do we really want without it smothering the space for innovation and the human touch by staff and the users they work with? Even if we have FDR style infrastructure projects, it's very likely that "public sector industry" multinationals will just walk away with the cash and come back when they've spent it all on peerages or consultants. This also brings us to the debate around public sector ethos and how it's being pervaded by the private sector (esp now with the financial sector having swallowed itself up). If we get stuck at stopping public services getting privatised, then we end up with the NHS which has been nibbled at through new public management & efficiency savings right through to slowly but surely putting all the pieces to the privatised jigsaw that the NHS now is. We need to look at how we can embed public service values of equality, quality and care. We need to start with the people on the ground, not with the Whitehall/Westminster/Treasury "menage a trois" of choosing between privatisation & nationalisation. A story brings this to mind. Personalised budgets for social care do individualise people's risks and even destinies. However, many of the "service users" have pooled these budgets together, not because they want to be seen to be progressive, but because they don't want to get ripped of by private care suppliers and actually instinctively feel the need to come together with people in their situation to collaborate. Equality, fraternity, liberty - we ain't supporting these values all the time in public services, but they're fighting for it anyway.

And I got some great video clips for the How to Live in 21st Century competition on some cracking issues - criminal justice, allergies and ID cards...

Thanks to zero spin for the photos used under Creative Commons licence.

young london for a progressive future

2009-01-12T22:34:00.003Z

It's not because Ken Livingstone isn't Mayor of London any more that we should stop fighting for cheaper public transport, more social housing or the environment.

Our generation gets stereotyped as always wanting instant gratification, pessimistic that everything's wrong with the world and apathetic that they can't change it because those in power won't listen to them anyway.

But there are so many everyday heroes off the radar of opinion leaders who work in the shadows trying to creating positive change in their communities, maybe even where you live or work.

This is why at this session facilitated by Compass Youth at the Progressive London Conference, we have invited an exciting range of speakers to talk about the issues that matter to young people and how we can campaign for a progressive future across London:

David Lammy MP, Minister for Higher Education & IP
Samuel Tarry, Chair of Compass Youth
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, NUS Black Students' Officer
Nii Sackey, Director of Bigga Fish
Emma Jane Cross, Chief Executive of Beat Bullying

Young people in London are changing the world around them all the time - lobbying for the living wage, fighting against fascism, giving people the freedom to express themselves or campaigning against knife crime & child violence.

We want to make connections that will keep the progressive movement in touch with the most dynamic and innovative ideas and campaigns.

Come and be part of our participative and interactive debate on how we make the future for Young Londoners a progressive one!

At the heart of what drives this session is that it will be shaped by the ideas and people that take part in it.

Register now at http://www.progressivelondon.org.uk

Have you got a spare minute?

Why not spread the word to other young people living in your street, halls of residence or even your neighbourhood! Take the pledge here or text ‘pledge younglondon’ to 60022.

...We are the people we've been waiting for

...Get inspired, get involved, get ready

...It's time to take back society

Watch this space for more info!

it doesn't matter where you come from?

2009-01-03T09:37:00.006Z

Oh yes it does...oh no it doesn't? Moving away swiftly from pantomine mode, there's a debate going on here about how much background matters to living a good life. There's even a whispered hint of the re-emergence of a discussion about class.

So background has got a lot to do with what assets your family have - the money to give you the private education to get into Oxbridge, the old boys club to get you into the City - the money to get you a financial adviser who gets you off paying any tax and so on...

But not coming from a privileged background shouldn't make you unhappy, as adwilliams134' dad shows so well.

"Life is bloody marvellous. It's not for working yourself to death over or acquiring the petty trappings of wealth. It's for having a good time, a beer and a fag, and a laugh with your mates. Take what you need, spend the rest and don't worry about leaving any to the kids. If they're of any use they'll get there on their own."

Society convinces us that what we consume defines how successful we are, how independent we are, how worthy we are of attention? Because it's what we respond to best. Because deep down, we prefer the conformism of running the rat race like a hamster on a spinning wheel and the standardised consumption of “keeping up with the Jones”. We prefer the quick fixes of consuming, because we fear the freedom to do things for the pleasure of doing them without calculating how we appear to others.

But then again, if we don't have money we have to depend on others, which opens us up to the threat of being dominated or even exploited by those that do. And if that sense of feeling exploited is passed on from generation to generation, people feel a sense of inevitability about their powerless to “get ahead”. Their eyes are wide open to their background and subconsciously so are most of us – programmes like Little Britain or Shameless expresses the dirty little secret that we still see society through the lens of class.

If having a privileged family background gives a lift up, would providing people with greater assets (like the Child Trust Fund), help give less privileged people a lift up too?

Thanks to sleepydisco for the photo provided under the Creative Commons license and to Tom for the link to Richard Murphy's great post.

taking the living wage to the regions?

2009-01-01T16:40:00.008Z

I've commented on the reasons why we should be campaigning for a "living wage" from the student halls of Kings College to the streets of Johannesburg, via the skyscrapers of the City and even across Europe. Friends have been advocating this too and even Obama's new labour secretary, Hilda Solis.

Just reading Mil's post and David Semple's post over at Liberal Conspiracy about regional minimum wages, after San Francisco's decision to increase its minimum wage, it reminded me that we need to push the councils where we live to define what the minimum hourly wage needed to live about the poverty line is - this may be different from city to city (compare London & Liverpool) and region to region (compare the South East and the North East). We also need to get the organisations that employ us to join the growing coalition of "living wage employers".

Obviously, we don’t all have “living wage units” like at the GLA in London, but the “minimum income standard” project run by the JRF provides a well researched measure of how much a worker needs to earn to avoid the effects of poverty, such as ill health, poor levels of child development and social exclusion and not just related to the consumer price index. Calculations can even be made for different family types. Have a look at http://www.minimumincomestandard.org/cost_calculator/reckoner/index.htm and campaign in your workplace with our toolkit here!

What about the merits of a basic income? Don Paskini blogs that Namibia has introduced this whereby every citizen gets 100 dollars per month without being means-tested. This is paid for through more progressive taxation on those in poverty and higher taxes for those well off. I'm keen to find out more about this and will blog about basic income soon.

Photo by United Workers used under Creative Commons licence.

useful visitors

2008-12-15T21:20:00.002Z

Here’s the original idea for Useful Visitors that was entered into the Social Innovation Camp call for ideas in November 2008. I had the opportunity to take part in helping develop this idea over the course of the SICamp weekend

Here’s what we developed. We were awarded second prize for which most of the credit goes to Femi!

Usefulvisitors

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

vote for tif

2008-12-07T20:36:00.000Z

no one written off? Don't penalise care, reward it

2008-12-07T10:24:00.006Z

While the progressive flames have been rekindled, we cannot ignore that for those who are being made redundant or repossessed, it's going to be a bitterly cold winter. After binging on the roulette of consumerism to “keep up with the Jones”, people are now struggling to stay even just above water, teetering on the brink of financial and emotional crisis.

The welfare reforms proposed by the government not only proposes to make people work under the minimum wage for income benefits, but the consequences of the reforms will push over the brink many of the people it penalises - parents with young children, carers, disabled people and other vulnerable people.

Credit crunch, social stigma and emotional distress – mixing up a toxic trinity

We make the assumption that focusing on getting people into work helps take people out of poverty – whether it's using the incentive of tax credits and the minimum wage or the threat of cutting welfare payments. But when we look at what's going on the ground, many people find it difficult to find the money or the time to look for jobs. Even when they have found work, many families still face poverty, having to get high cost sub-prime loans because they are refused better value loans. Let's get this straight – the more disadvantaged people are, the harder they're going to be it by the credit crunch.

Many people aspire to be “good families”, but face the constant threat of the windfall companies charging them ever more for their basic needs, with benefits agencies telling them to cut corners when they are no more corners to cut and society labelling them “bad parents”. This all creates a social crisis of of deteriorating mental health and self exclusion.

Income inequality doesn't only affect spending power, it exacerbates everything else – indeed there is a direct correlation between the rates of emotional distress and income inequality. We may be able to reboot the banks at the touch of a Treasury button, but rebooting people's livelihoods requires a far more radical approach.

Start with the soul not with the handbag

It's not because Ken Livingstone isn't Mayor of London anymore that we should stop fighting for free public transport, more social housing or the living wage. But we also need to shift mindsets, we need to look at what people themselves can bring to the table, not just as consumers but as citizens. We need to start with people not with savings, providing the stimulus that revitalises their wellbeing, not just their spending power.

We also need to start changing the arguments. It's not about who is deserving of help or not. It's neither only about defining who is poor or not. It's also about understanding how that poverty is experienced, how people's social and cultural relationships define what they see as their material needs and what they see as socially acceptable - “hard working families” - or not - “benefit scroungers”.

Why do you think so many people want to define themselves as anything other than “working class”? Whatever people think Blair meant by “we are all middle class now”, many people took this to heart because they felt it could take away the social stigma that had lived with them for so long.

People don't want to feel either deserving of fear or pity. Which is why many try and hide away from the helping hand of the state. Which is they become labelled as “hard to reach” or “seldom heard”. Which is why even some of the best services like Sure Start don't reach them as well as they could.

Respect, dignity and hope – nurturing a sense of collective belonging

Recognition and respect are just as important as redistribution. A school which nurtures relationship building is just as valuable as one which nurtures exam success, depending on whether we want to create good little consumers or good citizens.

Recognition that services can be improved by the mutual interests of staff and users working together, not by cutting services. Public services that treat people with dignity, values their contributions and develops a sense of collective belonging.

Although many people find it hard to imagine the possibility of escaping from poverty and social exclusion, that doesn't mean they don't hope. When Obama talks about “being the change we can believe in”, it internalises this paradox very well. Their hopes nevertheless constantly battle against the unpredictability of their lives and the fear it generates.

This is why involving users in co-producing public services doesn't only offer greater hope, it allows people to use this hope and energy to work with staff to develop the services that matter to them.

From consumerist havens to safe spaces – from the customer to the carer

People often look back to a golden age where there was a sense of neighbourliness and people took pride in where they lived. But for some people, when they look at where they live, it's little wonder that they escape to the consumerist haven of the Westfield shopping mall or the virtual meritocracy of the X Factor.

We escape the reality of our neighbourhoods and we escape who we know. We feel we've lost our sense of belonging and our sense of trust. We may feel less trustworthy of our neighbours, less attached to our extended or even immediate families, and yet friendship and trust are even more critical in our increasingly atomised society.

We need to create safe spaces for people to talk and look out for one another through better access to mutual support networks and cheaper relationship counselling. Supporting caring, not penalising it.

Outsourced relationships and hidden assets – towards a “reassuring state”

If what we mean by an “active state” is a state that's reassuring, a state that makes us feel more valued and trusted - as citizens and as public servants - then we need to strengthen the intrinsic values that define the relationship between the state and the people it serves.

Yet through how the the state defines its “services”, public servants can only engage in specific moments in people's lives which ignore the complexities of the rest of their daily life. This creates assumptions by the “state” which are reinforced by people themselves.

Indeed, for many people there is an antagonistic relationship with the state. They feel assessed and judged from all corners – from their neighbours, the media and the state itself. This fuels a vicious circle of avoiding the state to avoid accusations made by others, about whom they make accusations themselves, that they are somehow “cheating the system”. It's not they feel ungrateful, but they feel that the institutions don't understand the realities they live in.

For public servants too, that antagonistic relationship exists, they feel they can't be trusted to serve the public efficiently. The unhealthy compulsion to performance manage, to privatise and to personalise drives them even further away from being able to understand the people they serve.

Rather than continuing to outsource our welfare services with our citizens to companies who we may have to bail out as the recession strikes deeper, we need to re-invest in the emotional and social resources for staff and service users to make the “tough choices” on issues like community cohesion, chronic conditions or climate change. They can work out the tensions between different people's needs and their capacity to participate. Only then can the state show its citizens it is not only “on their side” but working with them “on the same side”.

We need to unlock these “hidden assets” of reciprocity and trust and refashion social capital that values these assets as much as more recognised forms of engagement. Of course we need to get people into work. But that means nothing to the communities we serve if we don't help people help themselves by supporting each other, rewarding care rather than penalising it.

Print some flyers now and hand them out today. Put a poster up in the canteen. Spread the word online straightaway!

Support our "welfare for all" campaign

Click on this link now to add your name to the statement.

We urge you to write a letter to your MP asking them to support our campaign and write a letter to the Work & Pensions Secretary calling for an urgent rethink of the proposals. You can also write in support of the campaign to The Guardian letters page and The Observer letters page.

Images by unusualimage and marcus341 under the Creative Commons license.

what it means to be a young man

2008-11-24T18:00:00.001Z

On the eleventh day of our South African trip, we returned from Swaziland to Johannesburg, to visit Men as Partners. This is a program that looks at engaging men in reducing gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS.

They go into the townships and recruit men and run workshops on gender. They engage both men and women in constant dialogue and use peer systems to spread their message. They also facilitate workshops on “what it means to be a young man” and a program where older men mentor younger men as positive role models.

Being able to participate in their street interventions was amazing. Seeing someone being able to attract crowds of 20-30 people in the space of half an hour just by mingling at a market stall and showing people a book with pictures of genitalia infected with STDS. They target the streets which are at most risk of gender-based violence. While the crowds gather, they identify those that are the most interested and recruit them to be peer educators in their own areas.

What shocked me however as their AIDS policy, entitled ABY. Abstinence, Behaviour Change and Youth… What was worse was that they only promote condom use to over 18 year olds through “condocans” and “spazashops”. It was unclear whether they thought that it wasn’t appropriate to raise awareness amongst young people or how much pressure had been applied by their main funders USAID, who won’t fund anything which promotes condom use.

let's stop this now

2008-11-22T18:00:00.001Z

On the tenth day, we went to Swaziland to visit "Swaziland for Positive Living". SWAPOL was started in 2001 for female AIDS survivors and now also focusing on orphans and vulnerable children.

Parents are dying very young which means they cannot be taught family values. Ophans cannot access food and get out abused as so many of them are out of school. In fact, as disheartening as it sounds, education is only free if they can provide the death certificate of their parents and their own birth certificates. Given those conditions are so hard to meet, school registration isn’t very common. So the Friends of Swaziland Trust provide around £40 per child each year, supported by Unite the Union in the UK.

However, on top of that, if the wife is HIV positive, she won’t get the husband’s inheritance, so instead it goes to his brother. So SWAPOL have established law clinics and mobilised widows and orphans to reclaim their homes.

The challenge is incredible for SWAPOL. There are two nurses with one car looking after 365 chiefdoms. So they negotiated with the government to buy medication, supported by the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

On International Women’s Day, they created awareness on grandmother’s programmes, HIV/AIDS, raped young girls and the judiciary, notably pushing the Deputy Prime Minister to make a commitment about the issue of grandmothers. This reminds me of an organisation called Grandparents Plus and the transformational impact that an ageing population can have.

SWAPOL want to work with other players – to raise awareness to companies who own water to improve access, to trade unions to develop their HIV/AIDs programs and spearhead democratisation in Swaziland.

We met with Stephen, who works for Skills Share Development supporting SCCCO. This is a coalition which brings together trade unions, employers, churches and lawyers at the highest level of civil society. It lobbies government on democracy and human rights and uses high level advocacy through the media (including a BBC documentary), which is especially difficult as cannot attack traditional authorities.

Citizenship in most countries is a difficult subject to engage people beyond knowing the difference between institutions. In Swaziland it’s critical to change the culture. SSD provide civic education on how it feels to be a citizen and not a subject. They train around 40 young people and send them to the rural areas they each come from. They empower people to make up their own minds.

Political parties aren’t recognised. To stand for election, you’re invited to stand by the chief who is appointed (and can be expelled) by the king. However, for the elections coming up, by the time SADC and AU observers come, only the loyalists will be in place.

Civil society is riven by rivalries and NGOs are trying to achieve their own ends. The UNDP won’t support the coalition as could be perceived as anti-government. We could argue that they won’t know what civil society needs until they begin that conversation.

Swaziland is in a dire situation. It is second to Zimbabwe in the most unhappiest countries in the world. There has been six years of drought due to the manipulation of access to water. Women and children do not have the right to self-determination. Government spends more on foreign travel than on education. The government has built the country like a rooster, all it would take is a fox to break in.

Go on http://swazimedia.blogspot.com and http://swazisolidaritynetwork.blogspot.com.

A big question for me is how can civic society coalitions campaign on issues (which by definition would criticise government in oppressed states) and be eligible to get international funding? In practice, we know the answer is they can’t as it’s seen as political, but surely it doesn’t make sense and we should be lobbying those international institutions to confront them with this reality?

We need to apply pressure on the EU for how they fund and understand civil society needs in oppressed states. They have done so in the past, for example in Northern Ireland, asking them firstly what the local needs are, then fund projects to help tackle those needs. We need to get the European Union to apply their “peacebuilding” model used in EU member states, to countries outside, particularly in politically oppressed countries.

Where Zimbabwe goes, Swaziland will follow, if we don’t stop this now.

we won't eat rhetoric, we need to eat food

2008-11-20T18:00:00.001Z

On the ninth day of the South African day, As we walked down the allegedly most dangerous streets of Johannesburg (given all of us were wearing Primani there wasn’t much hope for anyone mugging us), I noticed a graffiti mural of the trade union federation COSATU just outside their headquarters, with a tag on their “living wage campaign”. First London now the world I thought, let’s take this global!

We met the International Secretary of COSATU who gave us the history of the federation, formally established as a non-racial organisation in 1985 mobilising as part of the struggle for freedom with a militant internationalism, as black workers weren’t allowed to bargain until 1980. Before that, they would organise informally within a context of contradictory interests within the anti-apartheid struggle between the SAC who were the leaders of the revolution – “the first to sacrifice, the last to leave” – and the ANC who became the political head of the struggle. Most people joined the trade union movement not through being taught theory but experiencing exploitation.

Now however, many workers do not trust the ANC arguing that “we won't eat rhetoric, we need to eat food”. The trade unionist explained there was a two tier labour market between secure and casualised employment and no legal minimum wage.

A “cappuccino effect” has been created with a sprinkling of black elites at the top covering a mass of white elites. Indeed, blacks still control only about 10% of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, despite consisting of 80% of the population. Black Economic Empowerment does ensure that there are 50% of blacks in the boardroom, but systematically whites remain as majority stakeholder. Similarly, access to education is still based on apartheid not through law but through income. They were very concerned that if ANC keep going along on the gravy train, they will eventually fall.

They do strongly mobilise with civil society linking up through the Jobs Front, which seems their equivalent to London Citizens.

One of three trade union federations, along with NATU and FETU, they have a membership of 1.9 million members. Their international agenda is articulated through the Programme for Minimum Practice for Working Class Internationalism, focusing on

Trade, socio-political and environmental justice
Working class solidarity
Capacity building

They use a three-pronged approach in campaigning for solidarity

strategic analysis of the world: what are the balance forces?

African economies are more closely linked to the West than to each other and in South Africa, raw materials leave the country and finished products return, thus squeezing the economy of its resources. In effect, for every $1 that the West gives in aid, Africa gives $3 back in trade.

technical and operational mechanisms: how can we influence international institutions like the UN, IMF or WTO

They are lobbying internationally against the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). They advised us to challenge trade unions in Europe and the US on this issue to show real solidarity with African workers.

They also argued on the paradox of NGOs. Many respond to priorities developed in the West through a project management approach which makes them more responsive than pro-active and leaves local groups isolated as they don’t fit into the bid frameworks developed by the NGOs.

practical projects: solidarity on human rights, health and education – focusing on Burma, Cuba, Nigeria, Palestine, Swaziland, TImor and Zimbabwe

Through acting as a quasi diplomatic arm for the African trade union movement, they can lobby Brussels over EPAs and the role of Chinese companies in Africa and at the same time work with progressive forces across Europe.

They also mobilising in areas where the recent xenophobic attacks took place, organising rallies and delivering leaflets in the various local languages spoken, trying to calm down the tensions and racism. Indeed the worst victims were from Zimbabwe and Mozambique, a country who despite enjoying 8% of economic growth, still suffers from terrible inequality. This brought the question that if Zimbabwe became democratic, there would still be a long journey until there was greater equality. COSATU have applied to work as observers in Zimbabwe, independent of the South African government.

from jobless growth to the living wage

2008-11-18T18:00:00.001Z

On the eighth day of the South African trip, we met Isabelle and Glen, who came from the NGO and labour movement set up the Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute in 2006, which very much reminds me of what Compass was like when it first started.

They described how social security reform is currently based on the industrialised version – the assumption of full employment which is why no income support exists. In fact, in South Africa, over 7 million people of working age have no visible forms of income.

Although the government is trying to support to entrepreneurs, it is difficult to identify markets for locally produced goods. Similarly, given the important role women have in the informal economy, when they join government welfare-to-work programmes, when the programme finishes, they are displaced from that informal economy. This brought home to me the question of how can people or groups organise in the informal economy?

With South Africa based on monopolies of social and economic elites, the current macro-economic policy in the country focuses on GDP rather than GIA and therefore reducing state expenditure, resulting in “jobless growth” and a “dual labour market” with increases in shareholder profits as people unemployed (especially young people with 40% out of work).

Indeed, the wider relationship between citizens and the state has dramatically changed. While the shadow of the state threatened the corners of every street in the apartheid years – symbolised through the casspir – nowadays, the shadow of the state is no longer threatening by its presence but in many ways by its absence, especially in the townships.

All of this is happening in the context of growing violence and deteriorating mental health and wellbeing of the population, partly from the lasting effects of the dehumanisation from the apartheid era, but also from the striking inequalities.

There were interesting parallels between the strength of the civil society and the vacuum of provision of public services in townships, but also between that granite strength of the Constitution around socio-economic rights and the anarchic unpredictability in implementing those rights, such as access to water and housing.

As such, there is a feeling by civil society of deep betrayal by the government.

But even civil society is dominated by monopolies, partly through the historic need to centralise to unite against apartheid. They warned that NGOs should be thinking about working themselves out of a job, especially as many of them are from the middle classes and don’t live in the townships. Their understanding of social reality is distanced from where they live themselves.

However, there are exciting groups organising such as the Centre for Policy Development, VITS EPU and the Global Campaign for Education. In terms of policy development, previously this got made at the ANC Congress, but more and more it is about lobbying groups getting their slice of the cake rather than building relationships with individuals and community groups.

They did warn that as long as the ruling class didn’t give a dam, you need a crisis in society for them to react. The commitments are there from the government, but not much has been done.

They argued that as much as they were a campaigning thinktank, it was important they weren’t gatekeepers. They were trying to create spaces for interaction while pushing issues to the top of the agenda, like

campaigning for the government to use its 3% budget surplus to introduce comprehensive social security
capping higher wages and introducing a living wage

Sounds familiar?

living wage launch

2008-11-17T19:02:00.002Z

I just wanted to tell you about the launch of the Kings College Living Wage Campaign a friend of mine has been passionately getting off the ground. It's taking place this Thursday November 20 at Room 1.17 Franklin Wilkins Building, on the Waterloo campus of KCL. I'm sure everyone will have some really interesting questions - to kick off there'll be a welcome and rounds, then a walk through what the living wage is. This will be following by a testimony by university neighbours LSE and their campaign. After an introduction to the umbrella organisation London Citizens coordinating the city wide living wage campaign, there will be a discssion on English for Action and the all important next steps.

skills race or brain drain

2008-11-16T18:00:00.001Z

On the seventh day of the South African trip, We met a member of the NEC of the ANC Youth League. I have always had a lot of respect for their struggles and achievement in defeating apartheid. I was keen on finding out how they involve young members in shaping policy, especially in areas of deprivation. I was also interesting in working out how they work with campaigning groups who don’t belong to parties – “the progressive coalition”.

The ANC Youth League is the largest youth organisation in South Africa and historically have always tried to radicalise the ANC. Historically, its most influential leaders have included Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela, who in 1962 developed a youth manifesto called the “Programme of Action” that started the civil disobedience campaign that led to Mandela’s imprisonment. The turning point was the Soweto uprising in 1976, where they fought against the government and many were killed. However, this was a watershed for the population that South Africa had to change.

Since the start of the new democracy, they proposed to have a Youth Month every June. This is personified in the Youth Day which commemorates the Soweto uprising on 16^th June 1976, but more importantly celebrates the role that young people can play in society. During this day and amongst other youth leaders, the President of the ANC Youth makes a televised address – indeed according to the person we met, they “call the shots in this country”…

The key strategies for the ANC Youth League include

Healthy living campaign: encourage young people to delay having sex and to protect themselves, lobbying institutions to find vaccines as well as targeting alcoholism and drug abuse
Nation building: building dialogue with other races in South Africa to consolidate a multicultural society
Higher education: helping people pay their tuition fees and campaigning for higher education to be free
Political education: work with youth leagues in other countries for better democratisation of the society
Democratisation: campaign for democratising the judiciary and economy

One of their policies has been to ensure uncompromising gender equity, where 50% of every executive – from NEC to local branch – has to be composed of females. If branches decide otherwise, their elections are nullified. The story behind this is that during the apartheid era, women were discriminated against in a very patriarchal society.

We then proceeded to meet a director of the Department of Constitutional Affairs. Albeit being a senior civil servant, he was dressed in a tshirt and blazer, which really relaxed the atmosphere. He was bombarded with questions about the “skills race” and was true to form. He described how the universities were created to serve the apartheid system before 1994.

When democracy came, a program was created to massify further education. This has narrowed the gap in participation rates between blacks (doubling from 21-43%) and whites (60%), with also 53% women and about 20% of students coming from the wider Southern African region.

Racism is still a determinant and although government don’t want to tamper with high performing universities, a commission has recently been charged with investigating social cohesion in higher education. This is also linked to the gap between teacher and research-based universities. The government encourage differentiation of what services students get from universities, but this has led to universities becoming autonomous, tuition fees varying from £7000 to £20000 rand a year.

Having made those positive inroads into greater equality at HE level, they now want to incentivise greater collaboration with employers, other governments and with SASU. Indeed many students study abroad. For example they are working with Carnegie where students are provided tuition fees on the condition of working in South Africa for the next four years. A good way to tackle the “brain drain”.

However, the state recognises that many private universities – which recruit around 20% of students, mainly people who don’t pass sixth form - don’t make the standard and are particularly keen to improve regulation for foreign universities in setting up local campuses in South Africa. So, they have introduced a skills employment levy, whereby 1% of a company’s profit goes to the levy and a “cola” fund for apprenticeships.

Not being a thorough expert of all things FE and HE, how does this compare with the UK?

csr uncovered

2008-11-14T18:00:00.001Z

On the sixth day of my South African trip and escorted by the local police, we visited a Children’s Village in the million strong Orange Farm township. We went there to paint their new dormitories, but arriving with our buffet bellies and branded tshirts, we wondered if it didn’t cost more to bring us here as part of a corporate volunteering initiative.

Wouldn’t it have been better to employ local employees to paint and use their skills to develop their own trade?

Should the orphans be lodged in an orphanage so isolated from the local community or should they live with the extended family where they can create networks of trust and build social capital – where they would have the opportunity to find a job in the future?

We then visited a Coca Cola factory. Maybe aware that the majority of youth and student leaders sat around their boardroom were more interested in workers’ rights than profit margins, they started off by telling us about freedom of association and collective bargaining. 71% of their associates are union members, they have a recognition agreement with the main union, they have full-time shop stewards and they hold annual wage negotiations. All permanent associates are entitled to transport allowance and study assistance to further their education which is covered by the company. As well as their company wellbeing program, their HIV/AIDS service provision benefits the “associate” plus one partner and up to 3 children under the age of 21.

So what we found is that the staff benefits were fairly good, but this didn’t cover neither agency nor temporary workers…sounds familiar?

Many of you will be aware of the scandal involving Coca Cola in Colombia. The company itself argued that it was working with the International Labour Organisation on child labour and had developed a guide and principles for suppliers to ensure the supply chain was ethical – something Compass has been campaigning on when lobbying on the Companies Act.

How do we engage constructively with corporate social responsibility projects by companies who we want to hold to account? Do we accept their “goodwill”? Do we refuse contact?

Do we need to engage young people more on corporate social responsibility and how they can play a role in this debate?

the dance of equals: park it, zone it, mobilise it

2008-11-12T18:00:00.002Z

On the fifth day of my South African trip, we flew into Johannesburg and went to the green quarters of the British Council to learn about their Interaction Programme. As we entered the room, it was revealing to see the open space layout, felt very much “in the zone”.

Anyway, they run programmes right across South Africa which begs me to wonder what image does the Council represent to a community with such a dark history of colonialism?

The workshop they had prepared for us was truly amazing. The theory that underpins this is experience, reflect, theorise, experience, but enough of the words here comes the action. We were asked to think of an animal and introduce ourselves as that...animal. It was like a zoo, we had eagles, ostriches, cameleons, tortoises, hares and elephants – that's my people.

For example, the tortoise felt they weren't as politically aware as everyone else, but they'll get there in the end with the rest. The elephant felt part of a matriarchal society and wanted to get people to new pastures. The zebra was attached to her cultural identity as black and white and was happy to work it out in the background.

We were then encourage to think about what excited us and what got us angry. Slightly perplexed, we did the “dance of equals” - would love to show you how it goes, but we were all too embarassed to capture it on tape.

Something I was thinking about around youth leadership, which may sound controversial, is how we can we mobilise gang leaders – who are trusted by their peers and reference points in the community – to turn on the social change?

Well, the discussion brought out that we should make it comfortable for young people to join in and use their energies, but also acknowledge and invite the gang leaders to the workshops. One of the facilitators related how in Tennessee, they identified gangs and encouraged them to develop their own security companies – creating something for them to do that mobilises their skills and enthusiasm.

“Energies create realities so let's zoom into the positive and ignite the flames of positive change.” was what I head one of the participants say...

At the end of the day, it's about creating the spaces to listen and let people open up and explore their insecurities which may be crystallised through prejudice, such as racism, sexism or ageism.

care enough to act

2008-11-10T18:00:00.003Z

You may have heard about an organisation that has been at the forefront of tackling the myths around AIDS in South Africa. We met this organisation Treatment Action Campaign during our trip to the region.

I met Regis, a Zimbabwean who coordinates TAC's campaigns. Treatment for Action Campaign started around 10 years to mark the 60^th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights, but importantly to ensure dignity and human rights are respected, especially for HIV survivors. They use the Constitution to ensure those rights are respected.

They argue that government isn't doing enough to provide access to treatment. Due to how expensive treatment is and how difficult it is to get hold of, it's proving very difficult to make access easier. They want to see generics as part of government tendarers. They lobby government on develop plans on how they are going to put their good words into practice. When this doesn't work, they take them the court as well as the pharmaceuticals, and particularly people like Dr Rath over peddling fake medicines.

What I found most inspiring is how they get people on the streets involved in mass demonstrations. To do this, members go into their communities to organise. One member of the six provinces they work in won a prize for distributing 20000 condoms, but the overall congratulations go to Isaac the “Condom King” who has distributed over 1 million condoms. They also use mobiles to send people info on aids and flashmobs to get as many activists to demonstrate outside police stations against the xenophobic attacks.

They are true pioneers in educating their members on how to understand treatment (including the side-effects, other illnesses that maybe affecting it, fighting the stigma). They train treatment literacy practitioners. This is particularly vital in a country where even the Prime Minister Mbeki claimed he did not know anyone who had died of Aids and the Health Minister believing that beetrot was the cure to it, stronger action is needed.

TAC also work in Botswana, Mozambique and Swaziland as part of the Southern Africa Access to Treatment Coalition.

They have also been involved bringing 200 volunteers to the refugee camps during the xenophobic attacks, especially where no community halls have been opened for them by the Cape Town City Council. For them, this is not out only out of kindness, but a public health issue – everyone is at risk. It's not about cutting taxes, it's how about how you use taxes. It's about people to people solidarity. Today it's Zimbabwe, tomorrow it could be you.

In the evening we met with Dennis Goldberg, who had invited us to a barbecue he had organised with a community group called Courage & Friendship. It was great just meeting people like us who were doing their thing in the community. The conversation did focus on the issue of the moment – the xenophobic attacks.

For Dennis, the experience of feeling rejected is common everywhere, whether in apartheid South Africa, Nazi Germany, the “stop & search” (SUS) in Brixton and in the refugee camps in Cape Town. He really epitomised for me the struggle of being born free and equal.

It was strangely wonderful that the barbeque he organised brought together community organisers from local townships and ourselves from the UK, or to put it more simply, getting people from different backgrounds to be able to share stories, laughs and good food together without feeling the chains of inequality and inferiority.

This type of begign event on a winter's night (our summer!) was what he had.dreamt about all these years ago. It's what kept him going from when he started as a political activist through to the famous Rivonia trial and through the mind crushing years in prison.

Although he argue that South Africa wasn't a rainbow nation...yet, but more a nation of diverse cultures, I felt both awkward and inspired throughout the trip at how everytime you turn round, someone is there to take your rubbish, fill up your cup of coffee, lend you a hand. It's that genuine sense of solidarity and fraternity, put simply neighbourliness that we so miss in this country.

stop the violence, stop the bus

2008-11-08T18:00:00.001Z

On the third day of my South African trip, I met Joyce from the Rape Crisis Centre, who had arrived at the centre as a volunteer and was now coordinating volunteers. She had joined to develop training for women. Coming from a rural area in East Cape where there was no electricity nor water, she knew more than anyone that equality starts at home.

The Rape Crisis Centre was established in 1976 during apartheid by Anne who is a survivor herself. She started the centre in her own house with other friends. The work built momentum while they were very involved in the struggle for human rights and supported by students of the University of Cape Town. The students started reaching out to others beyond UCT itself, going to other towns to set up local groups. Most of the funding to the Centre came from overseas through trade agreements. Since these are coming to an end, there is a big struggle to resource their amazing work.

Cape Town has moved from being divided from racial demographics during the apartheid to class apartheid in 2008, betraying the view that South Africa is the “land of milk and honey”. The lack of transport and the distance exacerbates the inequalities in access to services such as the centre.

The contributing factors of rape in South Africa are increasingly linked to a vicious streak in multiple violent attacks including rape, but also torture and murder. In the last ten years, from femicide happening one in every six days, it now occurs one in every six hours.

Lots of children lose both their parents due to AIDS and so lose the ability to empathise. Men used to be power during apartheid, but now have lost that with the increase in unemployment. We find the “kick the dog” scenario where they return home to beat up their wives. Rape has also become opportunistic - “because I can”.

The statistics across the country are striking. While one in nine survivors report rape to the police, only seven in 100 perpetrators are convicted, due to a mixture of justice backlog, intimidation and 60% of survivors withdrawing their reports. The centre do have an educational impact on judges, lawyers and the police to tackle some of the myths but unfortunately they are under-resourced and this has led to an increase in vigilantism. People ask “is there really justice?”

But many people don't want to engage with the concept of rape. It's not the kind of thing you want to talk about around the table. The cultural attitude is to keep it quiet in the family, especially if the perpetrator is the breadwinner. But it is about how safe people feel, and surely that's something people can relate to. How do we change those mindset?

Nowadays, 90% of the crisis centre is staffed by volunteers, paid an hourly rate that they rely on for their own families. Recruit volunteers is a really demanding process. They screen men and women who go through a 12 week intensive programme, where they learn different dynamics - “you need to know about yourself before being able to know about others”. They then go through a 6 month probation period.

Their key principles are motivation, availability and visibility. The centre deeply encourages and supports its volunteers to use their work as a platform for skills development. Indeed, volunteers often start local groups afterwards.

Many survivors who arrive at the centre discover they were HIV positive before they were raped – a double trauma not only for them but for the counsellors too. This is why the centre enables them to meet psychologists to discuss the impact the work is having on them.

Women are often seen as being exclusively responsibility for their own safety. This is not enough, we need collective as well as individual responsibility. Rape also takes power away from you, so you need to take that power back. This is why the centre's projects start from the community to work out those issues. The different issues in different communities create the need for specific projects. In one township, being able to get to the centre was the biggest issue due to bad transport links. In another, being able to go the centre without others noticing it was a rape crisis centre was more important. So, some of the centres have signage so people are aware of the support provided, others don't so the survivors aren't stigmatised.

They facilitate one-to-one sessions with the survivor and do work with their families separately to protect their confidentiality. However, if the survivor is keen to have a joint session, that can be arranged.

Survivors have recently developed a media awareness project called “Speak Out” as for some they find sharing the experiences with the press can be a healing process. There is also a need in parliament to lobby as even the female MPs aren't outspoken enough on gender rights.

One of their most successful campaigns was “Stop the Bus”. As their resources are particularly limited to build new centres, when the bus comes through, communities can identify it clearly and talk to volunteers.

They get involved at high school level. They find that more and more teenagers don't know how to dream. This is compounded by the pressures of teachers taking advantages of them and sex education not being part of the curriculum in every school. If it was taken more seriously by teachers and parents, it would be taken seriously by the kids – that's the “catch 22”. However, its the schools themselves that ask the centre to come in.

However, they have youth clinics and organise “birds and bees” camps where they encourage young people to come together and learn. This is crucial, especially people can only have a legal abortion at 12 weeks (and 24 if raped). Indeed, we saw a lot of back-street abortion clinics on our trip.

How easy is it to change cultural attitudes in close-knit communities through this kind of outreach work?

who's business is human rights?

2008-11-06T18:00:00.002Z

On the second day of my South African trip, we met with Abida, the researcher specialising in Africa for Business and Human Rights Resource Centre. This centre was founded by activists from Oxfam and Amnesty, who woke up one day and thought that given the Universal Declaration of Human Rights applies to all companies, we should be properly holding them to account.

But why should companies care about human rights? If we look at it from their perspective, it gives them a more secure license to operate, improves their recruitment drive and reduces the risk of a boycott.

The resource centre’s model is a mixture of speed and balanced argument. Their success rate is phenomenal, 75% of the companies they write to when concerns have been raised, respond to them.

But why do companies respond to them? Well, there’s a big push for ethical investment but the BHRRC’s website gets 1.5 million hits per month, including over 6000 opinion leaders – the collective scrutiny of the crowds!

One spicy anecdote she revealed was when a company they had written to hit the “reply to all” button with the email “it seems that our next front with the global NGO efforts will be related to human rights”. It was designed to only go to colleagues, not to the resource centre as well!

We then had a discussion about we could make a difference here, something where we do need to increase attention is around tax dodging by multinationals and unfair contracts.

ACTSA are working on this in their campaign around mining in Zambia. Although there’s a development agreement between companies and governments, it has become apparent that companies are abusing their agreements, whether on tax, the environment or labour rights.

Another point raised was around to use WTO legislation to make access to medicines easier, especially through TRIPS – “if a country is in a medical urgency, governments can make generic medicines for free”. This is being used in Indonesia, so how could this be applied to other patents if we interpreted the spirit of the law?

Last but by no means least, there is an opportunity to link campaigning to improve workplace safety and health for the South Africa 2010 World Cup and the 2012 London Olympics, especially in the construction and security industry. Two well-known security companies are currently under scrutiny over allegations of making employees work in South Africa for 18 hours a day in apartheid-like conditions. I wonder what their record is like in the UK?

Unity or diversity - What Europe do we need? Ideas and insights

2008-11-03T20:59:00.006Z

Democracy at the EU level is stronger than ever before but is far from complete. Citizens feel more at ease with national politics than the European Union. If the EU is the 4th house of our democracy (after the local, regional and national) how can we make it more like a home? At the same time European countries are becoming more diverse with immigration and EU citizens moving from one Member State to another. What should the European Union do to make our societies fully at ease with our new diversity? How can the EU protect and improve the rights of the individual?

At at the first of our PES Manifesto debates "Unity or diversity - What Europe do we want?" we had a fantastic debate.

David Schoibl kicked off by arguing that we need to reflect on the past. Europe turned itself in after the colonial carve up in the 1870s and then with the successive world wars. When Europe has been divided, it has not only failed itself but also the rest of the world. To get rid of this narrow militant nationalism that has torn the continent apart in the past, we couldn't just set up Europe as an abstract concept. We needed to start off with tangible linkages, we needed to build institutions as tools of integration.

The challenges are as complex now with both the mismatch between the economic elites and the reality of the effects of globalisation on the one hand and the different speed of European integration (Eurozone, Schengen, etc) on the other. He advised that we therefore also need to work out how we can collectively solve the issues of globalisation in a tangible way. This includes giving up vetoes so we can take on together vested interests. He also advised that regional devolution has helped Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland better engage with the EU. In the relative merits of PR and single list to elect MEPs, he remarked that the "green agenda" shows proportional representation is effective in raising emerging issues. For example, the Green Party's rise in votes had a virtuous impact in raising awareness of this issue to the social democratic parties and Die Link has a similar impact on how the SPD is discussing its social policy.

He proposes greater

Power for the European Parliament
Use of the citizen's rights of initiatives
European perspective of history
Integration of the EU in lessons and education
Rights for EU citizens
Regional governments consult people living in their regions on European consultations already taking place.

Local voices, European accountability

Giving local government a direct line into Europe

He then discussed how to connect the EU with local democracy. Europe has an essential role to play in local areas. The EU is often seen by local authorities as either a "problem solver" (such as through structural funding), a "stage" (such as through profile-raising, notably European Cities of Culture), a "threat" (liberalisation of services challenges traditions of local public provision), an "alternative" (to escape the hierarchy of its own national political system), a "duty" (implementation of EU regulations).

While local government used to focus its minds on cohesion funding, that is now naturally going to the poorer eastern European member states. The other 80% of funding available is managed by Whitehall through quangos and agencies. Regional offices do represent local authorities in Brussels and one participant mentioned that they are a top priority for MEPS whose region they lead. But how do we use regional power and how can we educate local authorities to use these offices more? The political balance of control has also meant there are more councillors who are Eurosceptic and so less likley to engage the Commitee of the Region or MEPs.

Indeed, the Commitee of Regions is a quango in itself whose board members are nominated by national governments. As they are not elected, they are only accountable to central government and not local government. With the Reform Treaty, it does still remain an advisory body but can now refer to the Court of Justice for violations of the principle of subsidiarity (that each decision should be taken at the lowest appropriate level). In essence, this could make it the "guardian of the rights and responsibilities of local government and an advocate for the wider development of power to local authorities".

Its board members should be Leaders of Councils elected by local councillors from all of the administrative regions at the same time as European elections
Transformed into a second chamber to the European Parliament, so as to become a co-decider and made responsible for leading on legislation directly relevant to local government

Local and regional governments should also use the citizens' right of initiative and work together across borders to collect signatures of common interest and concern

Reconnecting citizens to MEPs

There is also insufficient contact between MEPs and their local authorities, except through specific events or through local government associations. The fact the European Parliament is based in two cities doesn't help either. However, as it is directly elected and with the increased powers through the Lisbon Treaty (co-legislator on most areas of EU policy, new powers of supervision over exercise of delegated legislative powers by the European Commission), it should be the EU institution that is the most accessible to local authorities. The regional list for the European Parliament is obscure and ultimately determined by the party nationally and reduces local accountability. He proposes:

Single member constituencies should be reintroduced to reconnect citizens to individual MEPS
MEPs should be elected through the Supplementary Vote (SV) system or the Alternative Vote (AV system)
Hold a single annual joint session of the European Parliament making use both "hemicycles" in Strasbourg

He concluded that Europe is happening on our doorstep. We need to tackle disadvantage and need to address the issues. Let's make Europe more local, let's win hearts and minds.

Emma Jones, Haringey councillor and Labour candidate for the European Parliament

She advised that Europe could learn from community engagement initiatives. Emma proposed that we should

support the citizens' initiative (one million petitioners) by providing a structure for it. e.g. epetitions (as currently happens in the UK) and good publicity in a way that actively empowers people.
improve the public consultations for European initiatives which currently don't seem to exist
introduce European Citizen's Juries for citizens from different countries to debate issues
create a European Youth Parliament but also a European Older People's Parliament
make it statutory for all countries to elect proportionally by STV, so the electorate can choose their candidates for the European Parliament
create pots of small EU funding that local communities can decide how its spent (like Haringey's Making the Difference, with budgets of £50000 per local area)

She also proposed that the PES could work out how to mentor people like herself who are candidates for the European Parliament for the very first time.

Another participant advised that there was a risk of sub-dividing representative democracy and that the best citizen's jury is the European Parliament. David Shoare proposed in this area that the EU should expand its local involvement initiatives like the programme he is involved in Bristol. See a more detailed proposal here.

Managing new migration

Matthew Clifton from NLGN observed there had been a lot of muddled thinking around the issues of migration recently. From talk of losing non-doms to that of excessive numbers of foreigners living here via talk of imposing a sense of Britishness, all seems like a proxy worry about migration. However, with a policy of globalising markets and liberalising employment, the new migration has been a political choice for the last three decades, and coupled with cheap travel and international communication, this has caused a social and economic transformation. This means that we also need to ensure that no community is left behind and so all areas need to improve their NEET (not in education, employment or training) targets.

He advised that immigration isn't a problem, but not being ready for migration is. Government has got to catch up. Evidence shows that the correlation doesn't exist between the pressures on the labour market and the influx of immigrants. When asked about the growing language barriers in multicultural communities, he said that in schools, migration is a massive boon, developing multicultural skills for our children and lifelong learners. However, there is still a lack of accurate information in tracking the movement of migrants which in turn distorts the funding allocation given on the basis of outdated population data.

He proposes that we

Review the fundamental data requirements for the public realm, including considering whether the census procedure still serves its original purpose
Introduce the local development of entitlement cards, as a stronger starting point for the trial of local population registers
Work towards wider UK recognition of qualifications from across the EU as this would help migrant workers from the newer EU member states to find suitable employment and reduce the risk of displacement for young local starters at the lower end of the market.

Proposed greater cooperation on international crime, such as fingerprinting and a criminal record bureau. The UK is against integration on this and one participant argued that the concept of "red lines" makes it more difficult to sell Europe even on these tangible issues.

Constitution

A participant proposed a five page Constitution written in a language that everyone understands and that everyone can agree on. There was lively debate about what therefore would be excluded from the current Constitution if it was to be only five pages long, especially concerning citizens rights, although the five pages could be used to summarise the Constitution or feature our common values.

The Constitution brought together different treaties which was meant to make more sense but complicated things and the Reform Treaty is even less legible. It was argued that this Treaty is what Europe deserves, given how national governments had not wanted or been able to work together across Europe to make it more relevant to its citizens.

Common values

Discussing the potential paradox of unity and diversity, one participant proposed there should be a European debate on where our values emanated from - the Enlightenment, religion, regions - and what we defined respect and justice. Another participant put forward that our shared values are the product of our history and as such could be embodied around the "never again" ethos, that we should make it impossible for the worst excesses of Europe's past to become possible again. Another participant also proposed that those common values are also about the future and therefore the socialisation of Europeans was essential to make the EU forward looking and progressive. But should we be teaching them what's right or wrong, or should we let them discover what these values might be?

Europe's relationship with other cultures: assimilation or integration?

Unlike with the EU, there is no political union with the Commonwealth, so the UK's relationship with the EU doesn't hinder its relations with the Commonwealth countries.

As to a question on whether the Muslim population of Europe should assimilate to the European culture or vice versa, a participant proposed that neither Europe nor the Muslim community are homogenous, so it would be unfair to treat either as a single body. Problems not just in Europe around issues of religion, minority identity politics and political battles are going on elsewhere in the world such as in the US with the fundamentalist Christain right. There is a need to find common ground in a reasonable way that brings everyone together.

Practical approaches to running similar programmes to Erasmus

To improve diversity, it was suggested we could find some practical approaches to running similar programmes to the student exchange Erasmus. People proposed

Teaching/exchanging ideas and languages
expand funds for common apprenticeships and exchanges for older people
establish a European charter for internships

who wants to be?

2008-11-01T18:32:00.000Z

"What we need is where everybody can give to Peckham, like growing a tree or vegetables, so that everybody feels as if part of Peckham belongs to them. Peckham is a family"...

An game show to get the audience to collectively design an advert for Peckham by suggesting ideas which were visualised instantly on the giant screen. Then people then voted on their favorite ideas using a computer vision voting system, advised by a panel of local people.

Other great ideas in a more rowdy setting were collaborative timesharing, where people would buy something together that they needed to use, everyone could use it for an amount of them and then pass it onto someone else, mashing up the idea of "chain mail" and "timebanking".

Their next stop is on Saturday 7th November at the Unicorn Theatre where they will ‘ask the audience’ of 200 people to come up with ideas and then vote on what to do with the £2000 of box office takings, with every idea and decision the audience makes being instantly visualised.

Could we do this to design a manifesto for the progressive left?

READING ABOUT RUTH

2008-10-31T18:00:00.000Z

At Compass Youth, we were very involved in campaigning in the London elections. Everyone talked about how "it was the doughnut strategy wot won it" for Boris, in other words targetting the outer suburbs. We thought we go even further and reach out to Reading, where there's a resurgence going on. Meet Ruth, Chair of Reading University Labour Club.

Do you want to share your experience of being involved in campaigning, your thoughts on an issue that matters to you? Get in touch at noel.hatch1@gmail.com

Why did you get involved in Reading University Labour Club?

I’ve been involved in local politics my whole life and when I went to university I was keen to take this further and become active in Reading. I feel that it is very important to be active in the community, to take an interest in what’s going on around you.

Why did you want to set it up?

When I found that Reading didn’t have a Labour Club I felt very strongly that it was worth trying to set one up. Walking around the Freshers’ Fayre in my first year I saw the Conservative Club and Liberal Democrat Club and felt that there must other students who, like me, didn’t have their political views represented in the University.

How did you become Chair?

I only really became chair of the club by default. Throughout my first and second years at Reading there was just not enough interest for a Labour Club, but luckily our stall at the Freshers’ Fayre in my third year drew a number of interested people. I was determined to keep these people together, to not let them lose interest; particularly so that once I was gone there would be a strong core of young students who wanted to continue with the club. I had a lot of support from Martin Salter, MP for Reading West, his constituency staff, and local councillors and activists. I hope I’ve brought together some students who are passionate about democracy and social justice and want to see the club grow further.

What are your responsibilities as chair?

As the club is only just beginning I needed to make sure I kept its members together – made sure they didn’t lose interest.

"One member had always been interested in political issues, but had never made an allegiance to a particular party. I wanted to show him exactly why the Labour Party was worth campaigning for and what we could achieve."

I organised a trip to the Houses of Parliament and coordinated with the local party for the club to attend dinners with Harriet Harman and Hilary Benn.

How do you help young people get better involved in what you do?

I think a lot of this is about awareness.

"Anyone can tell you that political involvement is decreasing amongst young people and apathy has never been more popular.One of the main reasons for this is that people, particularly students and young people, are just not aware of what is going on in their communities. It is not that they don’t want to be involved, they just need the time taken to show them why local politics is important – and also that it’s not as boring as they think!"

By organising high profile events at a university, we can show them that getting involved is not as onerous as they think, and actually take up issues that they are probably already passionate about and just don’t know what they can do to fight their corner. Student politics can give them a forum to develop this.

What in your daily life makes you feel the most reassured or optimistic about your future?

This is probably my political involvement, locally and nationally. I find myself always campaigning for one thing or the other and I really enjoy it.

"When I see what is happening around me, what is happening around all of us, there are so many people fighting for things to be better, so many people who have made things better. No matter what I do when I (finally) grow up, I know that people, including myself, as working hard to make this a more fair and equal society. "

My future, and the future of young people around me, looks very very bright.

What gives you hope for the community you live in?

The people in the community give me hope. I live in a very small village in my home town and we’ve recently started a Greening Campaign to do our part in the fight against climate change. When it all began I was amazed at the interest people showed and there are now plans underway for our first stage of action. The campaign involved all different kinds of people and is not a political campaign at all.

"It’s about our community, started by our community, and it’s a sign of a community that wants to get involved and can see an area where it can make a difference and is determined to do so."

What would you change to improve the quality of everyday life of yourself, your friends/family and your neighbourhood?

I would really like to bring back some play areas for young children into my village. There used to be an area for this by a recreation ground, and later a basketball hoop was added. Unfortunately vandalism and other factors have meant that they have had to be removed. It is sad and there is now nowhere to take young children to play.

What does being "born free and equal" mean to you?

To me this is just a fact. We are all born free and equal - it’s a shame that it even needs to be said, to be campaigned for. But unfortunately not everyone is in favour of equality and many people are not treated as if they are free and equal.

What is your first political memory?

I can thank my parents for this. When I was just able to walk they sent me out to deliver leaflets in our village. I couldn’t even read the longer words on them.

Who's your role model?

I’m going to have to go with the cliché answer of my parents, I’m afraid. I’ve been incredibly lucky in the opportunities they’ve given me and politically I seem to have followed in their footsteps. I owe them a lot and look up to them both enormously.

What's your favourite activity outside of politics?

Just the usual, really – spending time with friends and family, generally behaving like a student. I’m a big football fan, as well, so I like to get to as many games as I can each season.

What is the issue or campaign that matters most to you?

"It’s hard to pick out just one, there is a myriad of campaigns that are worth fighting for – some winnable and some not, but all still worth fighting for. I think social justice, an issue which I believe the Labour Party still has at its heart, is a crucial fight, both domestically and worldwide. We have still not done enough to bring equality into the most deprived areas of the country."

What would you recommend to people who would be keen to start up their labour club?

Get a stall at your Freshers’ Fayre. This is the optimum time to recruit potential members and it’s very easy to book a stall – just contact you Students’ Union. Try to have something to offer on the day – a drinks event with a local MP or councillor, or a trip to Westminster (though the latter will need arranging a while in advance). If there is a Labour MP nearby make sure to contact them – they can give you lots of support and will almost certainly be keen to see a Labour Club at their local university.

LIFE OF RILEY

2008-10-30T18:00:00.000Z

Most students have gone through freshers week looking round the different stalls, signing up to student societies from "stich and bitch" to "rag", but how many of you have been round freshers fair not to find a labour club. Where do you go to meet other progressives? I met Paul Riley, chair of UCL Labour who was in that same position when he started at university. Here he shares his experiences of starting up a labour club, planting trees and much much more! Do you want to share your experience of being involved in campaigning, your thoughts on an issue that matters to you? Get in touch at noel.hatch1@gmail.com

Why did you get involved in UCL Labour? UCL Labour didn't exist before, or at least recently. I was really keen to get the club going again and spoke to friends who were keen to get involved. We also went to see Queen Marys' Labour Club to find out what you need to do to get it going.

Why did you want to become Chair? I believe in social democratic ideals and wanted to make a difference. I also wanted to address the incredible lack of balance that there was no labour club at the university, but a huge conservative student society.

How did you become Chair? I became Chair through setting up and pulling people together.

We needed to affiliated the club to the student union of UCL, but when we finally agree to go for it on the Wednesday, we realised the application form to affiliate needed to be in by the same Friday...and we needed 20 members to sign up, which we managed in the space of 48 hours!

Having officialised our existence, I set up the Facebook group and contacted Camden Labour, who were really helpful and we got together with them to go out for drinks but also help later on for the London elections to re-elect Ken.

What did it feel like getting elected?

I was pretty relieved and very pleased to be able to properly take issues on.

What are your responsibilities as Chair?

I am responsible for directing where we want to go, chairing meetings and providing an overview of what's going on and who's doing what. I also ensure we respect health & safety and other regulations and generally being accountable to the student union as the first point of contact.

What activities & campaigns have you developed?

I was preoccupied with election campaigns which we only established in the second half of term. We produced a leaflet for students at UCL which was supported by Camden Labour. In return, we went knocking on doors with them and in student halls. We also organised a pub crawl called "Vote Ken again" to combine the social and electoral aspect of supporting Ken Livingstone. During the year, we organise meetings every week.

How do you help young people/students get better involved in what you do?

We were really inspired by an article by Ken Livingstone about building a progressive alliance, so we organised a cross-student society cooperation. All the groups that took part were pretty much on the same side and so we wanted to build up better collaboration, such as running joint events, so we could mobilise members together and be more involved within the student union.

We are keen to be open minded and not be entrenched. We said, let's just sit down and talk. We might look at certain things from different perspectives, but it's very simple just to talk and work things out.

What in your daily life makes you feel the most reassured or optimistic about your future?

Being in London is a pretty amazing place to live. Everything happens here. It is dynamically politically and culturally - you feel you're at the centre of things.

It might sound a bit cheesy but people give you hope, people you speak to on the street. You think, yes, they really want to make a difference.

What three things would you change to improve the quality of everyday life of yourself, your friends/family and your neighbourhood?

Paul struggles to work out how he could change his own quality of life, but jumps up when I ask him how he could make a difference to the lives of his friends, family and neighbourhood. To think our generation only think of themselves! For students, I would scrap frees and get free education. For London, I would make all public transport free. For my friends and family, I would plant more trees.

What does being "born free and equal" mean to you?

Everyone should fundamentally be free, equality is the foundation for everything. It's about introducing civil partnerships, the minimum wage, legislating for equal pay. The key thing for me to take it further is progressive taxation. It's pretty concerning that the gap is widening between the rich and poor. A lot of people feel this gap is gross. If I was rolling in the money, I would share it out.

What is your first political memory?

Question Time.

Who's your role model?

In a way, somebody like Tony Benn. He's got the style to remain calm but at the same time an amazing power in how we puts across his message.

What's your favourite activity outside of youth/student politics?

Cinema, music, gigs. My favourite films are "Of Montreal", "Beyrouth" and "The Lives of Others". What is the issue or campaign that matters most to you?

The "living wage" and "affordable housing" are the issues that really matter to me.

What would you recommend to people who would be keen to be involved in a student society?

Start a student club up, it's not difficult - I did it! If you've got the ideas, the vision of where you want to go and what you want to achieve, just do it, challenge the debate. I hadn't been a member of an executive before, so if you've got the passion and the ideas, why not?

CITIZEN 16

2008-10-29T18:00:00.001Z

At Compass Youth, we are keen to listen to you to find out what issues really matter. We have also been asking our members the issues that matter to them and activities that excited them. Given that the top issues that mattered to our members were equality, international relations & citizenship/integration, we have focused our events on these themes. Given that the top skills members were interested in were writing articles/guides, campaigning and lobbying politicians we are developing activities around these. You can still tell us the issues that matter to you here.

We wanted to take a step back and get you to tell your stories of youth activism. It makes perfect sense that I interviewed Lorin Bell Cross, who has been at the forefront of championing our latest campaign - Votes for 16. Some snigger that the only way they would support votes at 16 when half a million 15- to 17-year-olds march on parliament demanding it. With activists like Lorin leading the charge, don't bet against that not happening.

Do you want to share your experience of being involved in campaigning, your thoughts on an issue that matters to you? Get in touch at noel.hatch1@gmail.com

Why did you get involved in your local branch?

After Jon Cruddas’ deputy leadership campaign got me interested in the Labour party I thought it would be interesting to attend the local branch meetings and help out with local campaigns. These include the election of Rushanara Ali in Bethnal Green and Bow and stopping George Galloway in Poplar and Limehouse

Why did you want to become youth delegate?

After I was offered the position I thought it would be good to give a different prospective on the political events at the GC. I think I can make positive contributions to the discussions at the GC on issues which effect many young people today such as Crime and Drugs/Binge drinking abuse and offer a different set of ideas to the older GC members

How did you become youth delegate?

I was the youngest active member in my branch and was asked whether I was interested and I agreed.

What are your responsibilities as youth delegate?

Branch youth delegate does not have any substantial responsibilities, simply to take part in the local campaigns and attend GC and branch meetings.

What activities & campaigns have you developed?

Outside of the Labour Party I arranged a speech from Peter Facey at my school.

How do you help young people/students get better involved in what you do?

At school I raise contemporary political issues or problems and debate or discuss them with friends.

What in your daily life makes you feel the most reassured or optimistic about your future?

I feel I am making good use of my education and will therefore be able to get into a good university and achieve a successful career in politics which I desire.

What gives you hope for the community you live in?

I can see that though some people are going through tough times at the moment, they are far more affluent than 10 years ago, and that hopefully the Olympics will help regenerate some of the most deprived areas in London.

What would you change to improve the quality of everyday life of yourself, your friends/family and your neighbourhood?

I don’t really feel there is a need to improve anything in my life or those of my family and friends, we all have what we need. To improve my neighbourhood I think perhaps more funding for youth facilities are necessary to keep kids and teenagers out of gangs. Furthermore, prevent the segregation of the white and non-white groups in the neighbourhood.

What does being "born free and equal" mean to you?

When people are given equal opportunities to achieve a successful career and life which they desire, regardless of their gender, colour, background or accent.

What is your first political memory?

Handing out Charter 88 leaflets with my father when I was about 4-5.

Who's your role model?

Clement Atlee and Dennis Healey.

What's your favourite activity outside of politics?

Rugby and reading.

What is the issue or campaign that matters most to you?

Education and affordable housing.

IT'S OUR FUTURE, LET'S SHAPE IT TOGETHER

2008-10-28T18:00:00.000Z

At Compass Youth, we are always looking for new ways of bringing our campaigns closer to the community. The ideas we try out, the campaigns we work on, the relationships we build together.

Having been inspired by the "talking wall" of a community group in South Africa, and challenged by Compass' very own mission to take "the pulse of the nation and identify the hopes and fears of the people before outlining some of the policy ideas to build a better Britain.", I wanted youth activists to tell their narrative. I was amazed by the energy and passion of the people I met - whether they're our members, supporters or from other campaigning groups - and the talents they bring to making change happen.

I wanted to share those stories with you. I hope you enjoy them. We will be publishing these interviews on a regular basis.

As a teaser, we feature our first two interviews - All consuming Amisha and Knowle West Boy.

Do you want to share your experience of being involved in campaigning, your thoughts on an issue that matters to you? Get in touch at noel.hatch1@gmail.com

KNOWLE WEST BOY

2008-10-27T18:00:00.000Z

At Compass Youth, we strongly believe in the power of transnational action and have developed even stronger relationships with progressive soulmates across Europe. This is why we launched the "manifesto consultation" to keep the social democratic movement in touch with the most creative, dynamic and innovative thinking, but also build mutual understanding between activists across Europe and with our own communities.

I met David Shoare at the first debate of our PES manifesto series. The topic was the PES manifesto and democracy and diversity and there was a lot of discussion about democracy in Europe and how we can make it much closer to the people, and more relevant to them. He suggested one of the ways we can do this is by giving the people concerned more of a say in how EU initiatives, particularly regional and social ones, are conducted and where the money goes.

Do you want to share your experience of being involved in campaigning, your thoughts on an issue that matters to you? Get in touch at noel.hatch1@gmail.com

Why did you get involved in the South Bristol Urban 2 Programme?

Well my involvement with the programme started out via an unfortunately now defunct local youth forum called the Knowle West youth forum, right at the start of it the Programme they (in the form of Bristol City Council, the Government and the European Commission running the programme) wanted to involve various groups in developing and running it, and they took the rather innovative decision of involving young people in it! I suppose I liked the idea of being part of it as we were really making a difference to the area, and the attitude of those running it with us was unique in that our opinions were really being valued.

What activities & campaigns have you developed?

All of the management of the Programme and approval of projects was done by a panel called the Urban Partnership Group, of which, including myself, had people, and young people of course, from many organisations and agencies operating in South Bristol. We took applications from all kinds of organisations for all kinds of projects, and our job was to approve or reject applications for funding (the total budget for the programme was around £12 million) based on measures that we had a role in formulating- one on education, employment and training, one on tackling crime and drugs, one on improving the environment and one called “Getting Together” which was all about getting young people involved in the community and empowering them. I was also chair of the panel for two years, so I was making sure that meetings were running along smoothly (even having to tell civil servants to be quiet and let someone else speak on occasions!!) and also be a representative for the Programme at different events. One of my most nerve-racking points was doing a presentation, at the European Parliament building in Brussels, to several local MEPs!

How do you help young people/students get better involved in what you do?

In helping young people get better involved we’ve done many things, including setting people up with mentors to ease them into the formal environment of meetings, red cards to put up if any jargon was used (and this happened a lot!) and generally making some of the paperwork as simple to understand as possible. One of the young people on the Partnership Group even designed a map with the location of all the projects, with each one assigned a playing card (king of hearts etc) so the vast number of projects were easier to organise!

What in your daily life makes you feel the most reassured or optimistic about your future?

Well, one of the projects the Programme helped fund was the building of a purpose-built media centre called the Knowle West Media Centre. It’s a wonderful building- state of the art equipment to do things with, environmentally friendly (the largest straw bale panel construction in Europe) and the best part, all designed with the help of a group of young people, although I was only able to be there at the start of it, who saw it right through from choosing the architects to construction. A lot of people, including myself, lobbied to get it built (the organisation itself used to operate entirely out of an old prefabricated doctor’s surgery) and it’s amazing to think it’s there. Every time I go there I think, yeah, we did that, and we can do much more.

What would you change to improve the quality of everyday life of yourself, your friends/family and your neighbourhood?

Better public transport- if you speak to any Bristolian and mention buses they will almost universally tell you that we have the worst service in England: expensive, poor punctuality and poor vehicles, so much so that when I go to other cities the thing I always notice first is how much better their transport services are! If we improve public transport, and additionally solve our congestion problem, then Bristol could get moving much faster.

More long term funding for community projects- the one thing I encountered during the running of the Urban 2 Programme that worried me was the sort of funding regime that many organisations are in. Always for the relative short term, and having to constantly look over their shoulders at where the next pot of money is coming from. In order to build relationships and work towards the goal of a better community I do think that long term support is needed to properly achieve that, and this has not really been offered by current funding regimes.

I wasn’t going to moan about the student finance system but I am! Although I think the current system is by all means not the worst place to be, what it has done is often made people think of how much value for money their course is and taking more part time work rather than just living the typical student life as it were. Even living at home I struggle making ends meet as a student and a system that better recognises the support students need to get good degrees at the end of them would be very welcome.

What does being "born free and equal" mean to you?

Being “born free and equal” to me means having a world where we are free to follow our own ambitions and desires and have the support if we need it- where we are equal in terms of opportunity, quality of life and the power to change things.

What is your first political memory?

If I were to think way, way back I always remember that my primary school was turned into a polling station on election days, and sometimes my mother took me down there when she went to the polling booth. I also distinctly remember that once I even wrote a story in class about a man going around asking people to vote for them. Sounds incredibly corny but I assure you it’s true!!

Who's your role model?

Jon Snow. One of the few people on TV who knows how to get awkward answers out of awkward politicians, and still project it in a clear, concise manner.

What's your favourite activity outside of youth/student politics?

I do like going to gigs when I can. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Radiohead and the Foo Fighters already this year and hope to go to more.

What is the issue or campaign that matters most to you?

Electoral reform. I think we could do with an electoral system that better represents the feelings of the electorate, and also I feel we need to do much more to get people involved and voting in elections in the first place.

What would you recommend to people who would be keen to be involved in programmes like South Bristol Urban 2 Programme?

What would I recommend to people who want to get involved in things like Urban 2: The only way you can make things happen in your community is by being vocal and sending a clear message out that these are the sorts of things you want happening in your community. We were very, very lucky that the Council, Government and EU took a chance on the programme in South Bristol by involving young people directly in the process but who’s to say it can’t happen again? Get lobbying and maybe we will see more community programmes like it!

ALL CONSUMING AMISHA

2008-10-26T18:00:00.000Z

Amisha Ghadiali is a social entrepreneur of the exciting independent jewellery label "Amisha" and on the national executive of Compass Youth. Many of us may have heard people talk about social enterprise and wondered what they meant. I've never been good with definitions, so read on and I hope you'll be as inspired as I've been interviewing Amisha.

Why and how did you get involved in social enterprise?

I guess there's a personal and a social element. I was working in politics and international development, when I had an accident and was very ill for a while. It was during this time that I realised I wanted to do something creative and energise positivity. The reason for setting up the label was a platform for campaignining.

"Only some people are involved in campaigning and debates. I wanted to get more types of people excited and activated. I was interested in the idea that people form identities around consumerism rather than around politics."

Everybody is involved in consumerism, so I felt that was an interesting channel to try. It was this interest that led me to get involved in Compass, as Neal Lawson was writing a book on the same subject (All Consuming, watch this space for book launch).

How did you become a social entrepreneur?

I freed myself from everyone else's opinions - blind optimism helped. For me, it never was different, in terms of values, it was a continuation of what I was doing before, it was natural. I did short courses to progress in social enterprise and business skills but most importantly I didn't get scared that it wasn't possible.

How does it feel to have got to where you are now?

The whole thing has been completely amazing. I'm still surprised at how well the label is doing. I am just working on the next steps now, getting new collections, getting more stockists and generally increasing brand awareness.

What are your responsibilities being a social entrepreneur?

I run a social enterprise, which came as a shock six months ago. Day to day, it's more about sales and PR.

Amisha is an exciting new independent jewellery label presenting eclectic pieces that embody romance and timeless elegance whilst hinting at the spirit of passion and rebellion that come with just seeing where life takes you…

The collections are made up entirely of limited edition pieces, each one a unique arrangement of handcrafted silver and semi-precious stones. Each design carefully combines the colours and properties of the stones and crystals used to produce jewellery that complements and enhances the natural beauty of the wearer.

Amisha strives to build strong connections between business and communities and in a step that reflects the positive ideals expressed in the designs themselves, is proud to donate ten percent of the profit to carefully selected local and global charities.

Amisha means, literally, someone who spreads 'the sweetest elixir of the heavens' all around her, and it is this spirit of vitality and radiant positivity we hope will be instilled in every piece of jewellery so that it will be carried by the wearer and shared wherever she goes.

What activities & campaigns have you developed?

I do a few things with the label including various shows such as Pulse and Style in the City. I also sell on markets such as Brick Lane's UpMarket. Recently I have been focusing on campaigning for ethical fashion.

"I have launched my own campaign against 'fast fashion' which means buying loads of cheap thing to wear once and throw away."

This year I took part in Estethica, the Ethical Fashion Area of London Fashion Week. My latest love is Swishing, where you get together and swap clothes and accessories you don't use anymore with others. A great way to recycle!

Outside of my label I am currently working on production of the most exciting event in ethical fashion, The RE:Fashion Awards (www.refashionawards.org), the world's first awards to celebrate improved social and environmental standards in the fashion industry. It is amazing to be working on this and feel we are really pulling the industry together to create positive change. It really is a new phenomenon, set to transform the fashion industry within a decade."

How do you help young people/students get better involved in what you do?

The way I've chosen to help young people get better involved is subtley, which makes it hard to measure!

"My feeling is to make an impact on cynical people, it's about not making a big deal about it. It's only once they have bought jewellery that they see information on campaigns/charities inside the box. When they read it in the privacy of their own home, it makes them feel good that they've done something good."

It's more about reaching out to the cynical people - in fact, I think sometimes i think I'm cynical.

What in your daily life makes you feel the most reassured or optimistic about your future?

Just the fact there are always people trying to make a difference. People are always changing. There is so much out there about fair trade, carbon offsetting, and sustainability in general. The fact it's part of everyday conversation is positive.

What would you change to improve the quality of everyday life of yourself, your friends/family and your neighbourhood?

"Make the roads safer in terms of pedestrian crossings and cyclist lanes, change attitudes for young people on gun and knife crime, make recycling compulsory."

What does being "born free and equal" mean to you?

We are not. Rights to decent education would to a start in making people born free and equal across the world.

What is your first political memory?

Staying up with my mum and dad watching the General Election, in what must have been 1987 or 1992. My parents explained about the two main parties. I ran upstairs I got my red and my blue scarf. I remember sitting on the blue one and holding on to the red in hope.

Who's your role model?

Katherine Hammett. She has dedicated her life's work to making a real difference in the fashion industry. Her statement t-shirts and research into a truly ethical cotton have been both powerful and inspiring. I love how she uses fashion as a political tool. She is still a leader in the field today. Yet it was 1984 when she won 'Designer of the Year' and met Thatcher wearing a t-shirt that said '58% DON'T WANT PERSHING.'

What's your favourite activity outside of being a social entrepreneur?

Live music from seeing bands to watching DJs. I am also training to be a yoga teacher.

What is the issue or campaign that matters most to you?

It's a really hard question, there is so much needed to change in the world. My focus now is sustainability, it's about tackling the social, the environmental and the economic together. When it comes to politics, the thing that infuriates me most is wasting time over personal attacks.

What would you recommend to people who would be keen to be a social entrepreneur?

"Be imaginative, be brave, there are so many organisations that want to help you."

BOUTIQUE LAUNCH PARTY

2008-10-25T18:00:00.000+01:00

Just thought I'd plug a friends's "boutique launch party"! As winter falls upon us, Amisha Jewellery has a few treats to offer. The new online boutique is now live. To celebrate this and get us in the mood for the festive season, we are going to party in style at Soho House on November 24th.

If you would like to join us, please send full names to more@amisha.co.uk and you will be added to the guestlist. We would also like to offer you a special 15% discount for the online boutique. To take advantage of this, please type in dicount code "REFASHION" in checkout at www.amisha.co.uk. This code will be vaild until The RE:Fashion Awards on November 13th.

I'M SORRY I FORGOT!

2008-10-24T19:31:00.000+01:00

Pin the Pits

2008-10-19T19:19:00.000+01:00

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TURN YOUR DREAM INTO REALITY

2008-10-18T15:02:00.002+01:00

Are you between 16 and 35 years old? Are you committed in exploring new paths on future EU challenges? So join the debate and give your contribution in building “The Young Socialist Dream”, the motto for a series of conferences that the Socialist Group in the European Parliament is going to hold in Brussels.

This is the place where you can share your concerns and hopes on EU policies with Socialist MEPs, and to point out your criticism and ideas on how to bring EU politics closer to you and your generation’s aspirations by braking away from political and academic analysis and to give open, taboo-free direct dialogue.

Four sessions will be hold between December 2008 and March 2009: Intercultural Dialogue, Globalisation and climate change, Social Europe, Peace in the World. Each of them will be followed by a cultural event in the evening.

The first will take place on the afternoon of December the 10th and the morning of December the 11th. Migration and interculturality are the focus of the first conference, with priority given to young people coming from Southern Europe, in particular from all those regions which are directly affected by integration problems.

Make your voice heard! Fill the attached application form and return it by October the 20th to heidi.geuthner@europarl.europa.eu. After your registration, you will receive a more detailed briefing about all activities. Please notice that the Socialist Group will cover your transport and accommodation costs.

Please register below. You have until Monday 20th October before the deadline, so register now!

Registration form

Socialist dream

IT'S URGENT - GET WITH IT!

2008-10-03T17:41:00.000+01:00