CAN handbook, Menu of possibilities

Introductory information on Citizen action networks and The Alternative UK is on our Networks UK page.

is this an inclusive enough list, does it for example include at least one aspect or theme of interest to every A/UK co-creator? anything missing?

Of course what each and every CAN chooses to work on is up to them. What follows is just a menu of possibilities, but drawn from peoples' and networks concerns over the emergencies we face (climate, ecological), and what they feel it's essential for them to work towards.

Towards a democracy that works for people and planet

"One of the things that we saw during the pilots, is that citizens realise how hard it is to build consensus and, furthermore, how hard it is to try to create a policy that fits all. How can this change democracy? It facilitates the understanding of how complex consensus, decision and policy-making are, how long it takes...

Democracy cannot longer be a 'thing' that we do once every x amount of years. You get good at being democratic the more often you practice it. Civic technologies are organised around participation, therefore granting the opportunity to get more experience, to assess different points of view, to build arguments, to accept we don't know everything. Moreover, a grass-roots collection of data creates a very different landscape and understanding of cities by the citizens, at the very least this is why we feel it is worth doing." Mara Balestrini ^[1]

Yes we can (?) : enable, connect, collaborate, and catalyse’ a network sharing between communities, organisations and government.

Thinking about the wider world of citizen and community action, do any processes or ways of working that we use, provide opportunity for citizens and community groups to involve themselves not only in a deliberative and participatory process itself but also in the design (sometimes seen as pre-design) of the process?
Yes we CAN devise ways of working which include this.

An example of an increasingly popular and promising involvement process is Citizens' assemblies, including climate assemblies, about which questions such as the above can and perhaps need to be asked.

"It's time to swim perpendicular to the tide, time to become a real citizen, and time to practice democracy like my life depends on it, because it does." Neal Gorenflo ^[2]

see also Design democracy

A road map to zero carbon for your own local community

(or perhaps even beyond zero!) ^[3] including Carbon literacy

A CAN is a place "where we can contribute to ^[4] the process of getting the UK to carbon neutral by 2025 without waiting for Westminster to agree. And in so doing, pattern-match with others around the globe to reach critical mass."

"What of the relationships built, the degree to which people feel more hopeful, skilled, connected, positive, resilient? What are the gardens actually growing? What are the community energy companies actually generating? What are the construction projects actually building? And these are just a fraction of the thousands of Transition groups in now over 50 countries. And these are just a fraction of the wider, diverse, and innovative networks of grassroots responses happening around the world." Rob Hopkins ^[5]

see also Connecting I, We, World

Ecological restoration and the wonders of the natural world

Why we need, and Yes we can do so much more with "bottom-up biodiversity". sample ref: ^[6] What if... section needed

"One Touch of nature makes the whole world kin." ^[7] William Shakespeare

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts." Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

The garden of the world has no limits except in your mind. Its presence is more beautiful than the stars. RumiQuotes

"The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river." Ross Perot

see also Connecting I, We, World

A fairer, kinder society

Together with the music of Rising Appalachia, the Rise Collective ^W is used to support many of the Smith sisters' community-based projects uniting the arts and justice. Having themselves been community activists during their travels, Leah and Chloe Smith want their art to also be a source of activism, as well as of cultural development.

"Most people participate in their communities not as part of organised groups, but in doing acts of kindness." Professor Carolyn Kagan, Professor of Community Social Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University.

(something inclusive also of arts, sport, culture, the play ethic, education and co-learning, social inclusion, health and wellbeing, the wellbeing of all?)

"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all." Aristotle

"...if we are to move from charity to justice, helping our community members who are most marginalized to be heard is one of the most effective and enduring things we can do. Let's restore one of the strengths of our sector, and one of our sacred duties. Let's mobilize the full power of our community, constantly and unapologetically, in service of justice. We must intellectualize less and organize more. The soul of our sector, and the well-being of our community, depends on it." Nonprofit AF

"Please remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end." @TransitionLag

“We’ve always done skills exchanges. Hundreds of years ago, maybe, it was just with our neighbors and family, But now we have the possibility to take it anywhere in the world, and that’s a great opportunity.” Graziella Michel ^[8]

see also Shaping the system, Share learning, Create the feel

Towards an economy of abundance

"Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich." Paul Hawken ^[9]

including ways of working. A better world of work is possible. Yes we CAN (get to) a better world of work?
4th sector stuff? New kinds of livelihoods? Writing you own job description? ...Sustainable livelihood, Towards sustainable economies, Community currencies activism, Social (and economic) inclusion, and UK versions of CASwiki articles.

"All of it must begin with the 'whole'. When we open ourselves awe returns. This will get us out of the oppression of work. We need to return to nature rather than trying to master it. Our inner work is also community work. Schumacher: "We can each of us work to put our own inner houses in order". We should look at the inner houses of all the communities in which we live. We can do this through ritual and other forms of art. Part of it is letting go, particularly of self-pity. We need to move from a cynical society to a possible society. Business has the potential to lead the change. There is so much work needing to be done." Matthew Fox

"danger of a growing split between those that get paid through funding and the volunteers they rely upon to get things done" - Are there ways of working which counteract this? eg at a very basic level are there ways promoting inclusion through the provision of at least expenses for volunteers and unpaid activists, eg getting to and taking part in gatherings, so as a minimum, any travel and subsistence expenses, and is this practice widespread?

Working on for example, food and food distribution projects, transport projects and all aspects of a local economic system

something like transforming our relationship with, recognition, and valuing of unpaid work

"Unpaid work (parenting, growing food for family and community needs, maintaining households, volunteering in community service, do-it-yourself home and community construction, and repair projects) is estimated as some 50 % of all production in OECD countries and 60 to 65 percent in developing countries." Hazel Henderson

suggested refs: ^[10]

see also Build economies

One world, seeing the interconnectedness

Gaia

section needed: "a ‘larger us’ mindset" (?)

"In giving food to other beings and species we maintain conditions for our own food security. In feeding earthworms we feed ourselves. In feeding cows, we feed the soil, and in providing food for the soil, we provide food for humans. This worldview of abundance is based on sharing and on a deep awareness of humans as members of the earth family. This awareness that in impoverishing other beings, we impoverish ourselves and in nourishing other beings, we nourish ourselves is the real basis of sustainability." Vandana Shiva

"Environmentalism can't succeed until it confronts the destructive nature of modern work - and supplants it." Curtis White ^[11]

see also Connecting I, We, World

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See also: Not in competition with other forms of action

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Notes and References

- zoom 21 12 20 - earlier discussion - google doc of resources - other references

• What is a CAN? Information from The Alternative UK, thealternative.org.uk
• Daily Alternative articles about building CANs, thealternative.org.uk/dailyalternative
• CAN Insights, David Wilcox, Decmember 2020, docs.google.com