Community Activism at the Regional Level
Article published: Thursday, May 6th 2010
It is the nature of things that people come together to collectively attempt to improve life for themselves, their families and their communities. Success depends on several factors – capacity not being the least of them. Equally important is the extent to which citizens have control over their lives and the freedom to enact change from a responsive local leadership. In a repressive regime, confronting authority on society’s behalf can be a hazardous vocation.
We are lucky to live in a society that allows free expression and dissent. Whenever an established power structure makes decisions that affect the prevailing state-of-affairs, challenges to those decisions emerge. At the forefront of those challenges are activists – citizens who actively campaign for change. Our own democracy may not be perfect but our freedoms allow for dynamic, vibrant discussions to emerge, often causing those in power to readjust their thinking and policy-making processes. Activists give ‘voice’ to such discussions. Their value in a democratic social order lies in expressing the diverse opinions within civil society in such a way that meaningful dialogue occurs between those in power and those affected by power. Sometimes it’s ‘who you know’ and sometimes it’s ‘how you go about it’.
If they ‘go about it’ at neighbourhood or local authority level, activists who ‘know the score’ can be effective in the short term by organising media campaigns or protest rallies regarding any specific issue, such as a school closure or an unpopular development application. In the medium term, activists might form a group, adopt a constitution, access funding, organise regular meetings, develop relationships with local authority officials and elect representatives to the forums that make decisions regarding their issues. In the long term, committed activists might become board members of a Primary Care Trust, trustees for the local branch of a major charity or a CVS; perhaps become a school governor or a community representative on a Local Strategic Partnership. Active citizens, mostly volunteers, voice the community’s perspective wherever decisions are made concerning their local neighbourhoods. It can be a thankless task. If the opinions they express are contrary to the establishment’s agenda, the danger of being ridiculed, undermined or isolated exists. Activists need support, like anyone else.
Realising that activists need a support network and as yet have little input at regional level, community activists from across the North West were invited to a residential conference at Trafford Hall on the 21st & 22nd of May 2009. Over 50 people attended, agreed on the need for an activist network and the type of organisation it should become to address identified issues and bridge perceived gaps. Workshops were held regarding the priorities, the remit, the mandate and the structure. A second residential conference was held at Borwick Hall on the 14th & 15th of September 2009, attended by representatives from regional agencies, where a constitution was agreed upon and a steering group appointed to develop the network.
The North West Community Activists Network now exists to support activists in whatever field they operate and to bring community ‘voice’ to regional forums. A website has been developed. Anyone who considers themselves to be a community activist might like to visit www.nwcan.org or email info@nwcan.org. Send name, group (if any), email address and postcode to be included on the mailing list.
Joe Taylor (secretary of the North West Community Activist Network)
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