Local activism

One of the things that I've been meaning to do since I started in this job is to get organised about supporting our local groups. In my original interview for policy co-ordinator I made a big thing about how fantastic it was to have a network of local groups and contacts. But since I've actually been in charge of that network, I've done very little to develop it or to really support it.

But I'm hoping that's going to change now we have a full staff team in place, and this week I went along to Hackney the first meeting of the new branch there. Like other of our branches, they met in a local pub (the Pembury) which I like as it's part of that continuity of voluntary association that goes back to beyond the eighteenth century (and is kind of related to the phd) where pubs played a role as the location for people to get together and try and change things themselves. However, we were right in the middle of the pub so it wasn't a great location if you actually wanted to have a good debate. But the people involved are really keen and have already been campaigning at the weekend for a borough-wide 20mph limit. The meeting also provided good evidence of how those involved in one group are often involved in many more. So with this meeting, we had people who were already active in Hackney Cyclists, local disability organisations and connected to the civic society. It is easy to label these people as "the usual suspects" but these are the people who do have some initiative and can make the connections between groups and can claim a wider legitimacy through those connections.

These people are also the ones who can galvanise wider support and get that wider "armchair" member support. I was reminded of this at the training day we organise yesterday with CTC and the Campaign for Better Transport for our local activists. Rod King from the Warrington Cycle Campaign was talking about their successes snd the way in which they work, with about 10 activists backed up by 250 members. Not everyone has to be active, but the wider membership can help give legitimacy to their work. The day also made me think about how much of the discourse about the voluntary sector only really talks about, on the one hand, big voluntary organisations who deliver services or who run big national campaigns, and on the other hand the smaller community organisations who work at a local level to improve areas (and only the ones in more deprived areas are of interest to academics or policy makers). But this ignores lots of voluntary activism by members of local groups of national organisations, like Friends of the Earth, the WI or Citizens Advice. These associations are vital in linking national policy with what is happening at a local level, and government strategy should recognise this more.