When Barack Obama’s work as a Community Organiser became part of the discussion in the 2008 US Presidential Campaign, Republicans were quick to go on the attack. One former New York Governor ridiculed: ‘I don’t even know if that is a job’ Sarah Palin, referencing her own time as a small-town mayor said: ‘I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organiser, except that you have actual responsibilities.’ In truth, however, Ms Palin knows as much about Community Organising from being a small-town mayor as she does about Russia from living in Alaska.
In Britain, Community Organising is a growing and healthy force in the life of civil society. Moving from success to success, groups like London Citizens and Citizens UK engage on local, city and national levels as part of what is the most dynamic and successful political movement in civil society today. Styled as ‘small p’ politics, such groups unite clergy, imams, rabbis, teachers, cleaners, shopkeepers, union leaders, university lecturers and students, carers and charities (to name but a few) on a shared platform, recognising the importance of the represented institutions in transforming communities and changing lives.
What has this achieved? Thanks to London Citizens, the London 2012 Olympics was the world’s first Living Wage Olympics, with all staff on the Olympic site paid at least the London Living Wage of £8.30. They also directly secured Olympic jobs for 1,200 previously unemployed young people from East London. Citizens UK brought Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg together on the only platform they shared in the 2010 election other than at the TV debates, holding them to account as members of our society, and speaking on behalf of communities across the UK. A direct result of this ‘General Election Assembly’ was a public commitment from all three main party leaders to end child detention for immigration purposes. Not only was this promised, it was achieved in a matter of weeks in June 2010. Meanwhile, London Citizens has worked to transform over 10,000 families in London alone, bringing them out of working poverty thanks to the Living Wage Campaign. They have gained support from both Boris and Ken in public assemblies with Boris promising to use his position to petition Tory HQ and Westminster on it.
These victories, won by ordinary men and women working in networked institutions across society, weren’t won overnight – Community Organisers work long hours meeting people in churches and mosques, sitting rooms and kitchens; in the office of a company’s CEO as well as its cleaners’ entrance. Community Organisers invest in relationships with leaders within institutions and develop strong public relationships between groups you would never expect to work together.
It is in these relationships that the ‘power’ of civil society (rather than The State or The Market) is found by Community Organisers. As they develop leaders and build relationships they also negotiate and engage with the other power holders they are addressing: the councils, mayors, businesses, HR managers and party leaders. But these negotiations are not run by ‘elites’ or ‘cabals’. Leaders within member institutions are bought in – ordinary members of society. These very same teachers, cleaners, shopkeepers and imams, empowered by the relationships built by organisers, get a chance to affect change and sit across a table from those in traditional positions of power. They are not just taken seriously but win serious victories for their friends and families, co-workers and communities.
What Community Organising means is that ordinary people, who thought that politics couldn’t be for them, who felt their voice didn’t matter and their vote didn’t count are empowered within their communities and within society to make a difference: the marginalised and powerless, those whose fathers didn’t have the right friends, and those who never felt they could change anything now find that they can. Campaigns like The Living Wage, Sanctuary (against child detention), and CitySafe (protecting young people against the anti-social behavior of their peers) are campaigns started by members of society removed from traditional loci of political power and influence. These campaigns are winning massive victories and transforming communities. They are proving that people from any walk of life can be ‘political’ and can change their communities for the better. The people are reclaiming politics from the politicians.
