Local Resilience in a Time of Crisis by Jay Tompt.
To state the obvious, political and economic change happens in all kinds of ways including through crisis and calamity.
For those of us working for change at local, municipal and regional scales, this is the moment when many of the solutions we’ve been promoting are needed and the conditions for building the foundations for longer term change are favourable.
There’s much to explore on this topic, obviously, but let’s just focus on a few points which might inspire immediate action and kick off a continuing conversation in our wider community of changemakers, and especially here in the South West, UK.
My friend and fellow Devon-based organiser, Ben, provides the perfect jumping off point with his recent question:
“Are there economic moves we can make locally that might start addressing our needs outside of the main economic system to maintain incomes, access to the essentials, exchange our labour, distribute goods etc?”
The first move to make is one of attention. Let’s learn the lessons this crisis is teaching about the importance of economic inclusion, decentralisation and bioregionalism, as well as about the divisive patterns of rivalry, blame and authoritarianism.
And let’s be especially observant, noticing the practical opportunities to facilitate more diversity, local ownership and provisioning, positive influence on local government actors, and citizen participation.
Second, organise and work online using collaborative tools of all sorts. The work of organising is, above all, about education and information sharing, spreading knowhow, building relationships and working collectively, and ultimately, developing political and economic power.
Until now, the barriers that have limited participation for many citizens have been time scarcity and physical distance. Now, these barriers have shifted, creating new opportunities to spread knowhow, build coalitions and collaboration.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
