NEW

Circular Power Politics: A Politician's Guide To Five Opportunities To Lead With And For The People

Very excited to put this out into the world today - the key output of a year of work with @OmezzineKel @lisamwitter @ApoliticalFound

Link and summary in 🧵 Why did we do the work? (1)

Because existing "linear" politics - where people vote for politicians then leave them to it - isn't working for ANYONE

People are feeling left out, and the good politicians we do still have are coming under unsustainable pressure

BUT...

Today - on a day when we arguably couldn't be any more in need of a different vision for how UK politics could be - THIS is launching

It matters for UK nature, but it might be even more significant for UK politics

Here's a bit of the back story 🧵

peoplesplanfornature.org Around the time I finished writing the first edition of CITIZENS, @reenwilson and I were presented with an opportunity by @HelenMeech, a friend and former @NewCitProj colleague now working for @Natures_Voice...

This is the central dynamic of our times, and it must be broken

Here's how it works, and how to break it 🧵 We talk a LOT about people not trusting institutions (politics, business, even NGOs/nonprofits)

But we don't talk enough about INSTITUTIONS NOT TRUSTING PEOPLE

And they don't

The implicit assumption is people are selfish and lazy, so institutions need to do stuff FOR us

What if we Brits responded to our ridiculous government not (just) with anger, but by stepping into a much deeper, richer way of doing democracy?

Oh look… 👀

peoplesplanfornature.org The big UK nature NGOs are coming together to crowdsource a “People’s Plan For Nature” - starting by gathering stories and ideas from all over the country and then using a randomly selected citizens’ assembly to digest all that, hear from experts, and produce recommendations

I think @ColombeCS @Venzon_Andrea are going to be high up my “favourite new friends of 2022” list

Here’s their 5 points on how to build a movement from @ForumAthens

And keep a close eye on @atlasparty

✊🔥 1. WITH not FOR 🤝

“You want to build a movement? You do it WITH people. Say it again. WITH. You don’t do it then take it to them. That’s uncomfortable - but essential.”

A 🧵 for those piling in on me as a result of this reply to @mrjamesob

TLDR: we are a decent people, one awful govt away from power and possibility, but if ALL we do is lament their awfulness, we are on a fast track to fascism

https://twitter.com/jonjalex/status/1572109030574723073

First thing to say is I’m to a large extent a fan.

I believe in accountability.

But I also believe it’s at best not enough.

We need to build the future we want, in spite of this govt - not just watch them destroy us.

No one is coming to save us.

🚨 NEW with @arianesconrad via @BBC_Future

Too many people - esp our leaders - believe there are only two possible futures: Orwellian authoritarianism or reheated consumerism

But there is a third: the Citizen future

Where everyone has a role to play

bbc.com/future/article… This is not a moral argument; it’s empirical

Across the world and in every sector we’re seeing that the best strategy for success in this time is to get everyone on the pitch

To tap into the ideas, energy and resources of everyone

On Thursday I was at #FutureOfBritain conf hosted by @InstituteGC @BritainProject @mylifemysay

The pitch was ideas for a new politics, and there was some good stuff

But I came away deeply worried, by a SERIOUS lack of respect for our nation’s biggest asset

Its people

🧵 It started well, with a powerful challenge from @cloverhogan

“Voting is too often a choice between a climate denier and a serial procrastinator”

🔥🎯

What if the West were to learn from Zelenskyy, and start fighting in a way that treats us all as participants?

What might we do?

5 poorly thought through but illustrative ideas… 1) What if von der Leyen or Stoltenberg made a film addressing the Russian people directly, just as Zelenskyy did, making an offer of friendship and addressing Putin’s misinformation as fellow citizens of the world?

"I come today with an appeal to all citizens of Russia. Not as President. I am appealing to the citizens of Russia as a citizen of Ukraine."

This is a war like no other in history. Power is shifting. It is coming to us.

"The people."

https://twitter.com/PMoelleken/status/1496941845812760577?s=20&t=x9j-cJsQWF_QJoPOQ5-Jbg

See also
(HT @xdamman)

https://twitter.com/YourAnonNews/status/1497574730282541060?s=20&t=cvpccigpnlQP2gnUhYWJow

📢MY BOOK IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER📢

🤓😀

I've been working on this for ages, and I'm very excited to share

It's full of the stories that have inspired and amazed me, and tools to help you do what they did

Oh and a foreword by ACTUAL BRIAN ENO

canburypress.com/collections/bo… The core idea at the heart of the book is this:

We're living in a moment in time when the dominant story of society - the Consumer Story - is collapsing, and threatens to take us with it

But there is another truth: the Citizen Story is rising

🚨New Report🚨

Winning For Britain: Rebuilding @LibDems to change the course of our country

By me & @LiberalPatriot_ for @soclibforum

Unless BOTH Labour AND Lib Dems win big and start NOW, Conservatives will rule the 2020s

It's time to step up

socialliberal.net/winning_for_br… TL;DR?

There's a punchy summary in this @Independent piece

But the thread below is really good 😁

independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

We @NewCitProj always prefer talking about questions than visions

A vision is a kind of answer, so there’s only one

A question can have many answers

More creative in that sense...

https://twitter.com/ems_lawton/status/1293077251228086272

Suggested structure

How can we

Together with X (people we want to be participants with us)

Achieve Y (outcome/impact we want to have)?

I'm voting @EdwardJDavey as the Leader @LibDems need now

Why? Because he is...

✅ a champion of community power
✅ excellent in the Commons
✅ unrivalled in green creds
✅ bulletproof on coalition
✅ rebuilding the party already

Thread 👇 Let's start with community power.

Cummings is centralising to all hell. This is the most fundamentally dangerous aspect of this government.

At our best, putting power in people's hands is what Lib Dems are all about.

Ed gets this

👇 (this is really good)

4 tasks for @LibDems via @LiberalPatriot_ @soclibforum

His points, my reflections

First, CORE PURPOSE: "offering a progressive non-socialist alternative to Conservatives which puts interests of citizens at its heart"

Citizen-led politics - YES - not just "centre left"

1/4

https://twitter.com/LiberalPatriot_/status/1284069223346647040

Second, "overhaul its organisational and campaigning CAPABILITIES"

NB the Party Election Review didn't properly analyse social media, while @LabourTogether drew heavily on @Londonstani @DatapraxisEU et al to show them how elections are fought now

2/4

electionreview.labourtogether.uk/chapters/the-o…

Five weeks ago, when Johnson changed the message from "Stay Home" to "Stay Alert", I wrote that he was trying to shift the story from Subject to Consumer

Over 600000 people read this piece

Today's headlines show how right I was

medium.com/@jonjalex/john… Yesterday my @TEDxCardiff went live

I describe how after 9/11 Bush, Blair, Giuliani told us to "Go shopping" - and how that held us back in a story that was dying even then

I set out the shift from Subject to Consumer to Citizen as the work of our time

medium.com/@jonjalex/a-ti…

In our new @NewCitProj piece, we zoom in on Local Government

Why?

Because it's right at the heart of the crucible we're in

If #localgov can lean into the Citizen story, it could create the space for all of us

Intro THREAD below

Full post: medium.com/new-citizenshi… This has been hugely inspired by lots of people and orgs - to name but a few...

@SimonFParker @OJGarling @Notwestminster @kirkdemocracy @jj_mclaughlin @NLGNthinktank @LocalTrust @demsoc @mySociety @clairemansfield @_LiberalPatriot @ewgjones @IndigenousKnow @involveUK and and and

You know how pretty much every city in the world is restricting roads, making walking/cycling easier, increase air quality, fight climate emergency?

I've just heard @7oaksTories want to leave 2 main roads thru Sevenoaks town centre alone and... wait for it... LIMIT PEDESTRIANS In case anyone thought @Conservatives were only out of their depth when it came to NATIONAL government

You literally couldn't make this up

Here's the map

Can't believe I hadn't come across this profound work by @simonjduffy before

"#Citizenship reminds us that we can each live a good life, in our own way, while also living together with mutual respect."

Intro on link, more highlights in THREAD below
centreforwelfarereform.org/library/keys-t… Three implications of being a Citizen:

❤️Being RESPECTED

❤️Being EQUAL in fundamental worth and dignity

❤️Being DIFFERENT: we "have many different gifts which [we] bring together to build a better world"

And then the 7 keys to Citizenship...

New from us @NewCitProj (and the brilliant @OliverHoltaway)

A challenge to "mission-driven" business in the Covid era and 3 shifts to face it

This time requires businesses who genuinely have a purpose not just to sell, but to involve

Intro thread...

medium.com/new-citizenshi… Any business that says "buy our stuff to fix the world" is complicit in the lullaby of Consumerism

Don't gaslight people to feed your ego

We've found agency and voice in this time - channel that, and you can build a successful business and genuinely contribute to a better world

The game plan is now clear

Frame Cummings story as a distraction from the serious business of govt in time of Covid

If this sticks, talking about it can be described as distracting and therefore irresponsible

This plan needs combating with an alternative frame Just saying “but you created the distraction” will not work - this accepts the frame that the issue is distraction and will reinforce it

You end up looking as bad as him, caught in a pathetic tit-for-tat

Repeat: beating this needs an alternative frame

Options? Well...