Thoughts encouraging collaboration……. “When individuals join in a cooperative venture, the power generated far exceeds what they could have accomplished acting individually.”—R. B. Fuller
“You are not as drop in the ocean, but you are the entire ocean in a drop”.
PLEASE revisit the questions below. Only 21 of our 197 associates have replied. Yet this is the most promising indication of our collaborative potential in all the 18 years of our existence. If all recipients reply, we will have a significant understanding of the way forward. If you feel insufficiently informed of the project to answer, then let me know and I will send the introductory Package.
1. Would you sign up to the 2015 Constitutionalists Charter initiative when the process for doing that is clear: Yes/No
2. Do you understand the relationship of the dense and comprehensive Charter at its present stage and the filling in of the detail now taking place? It might help to imagine accepting the value of an Atlas in hand before the content of each page becomes clear: Yes/No
3. Will you join in the search for Speakers and Candidates around the regions of England? Yes/No
4. Would you consider a donation, once off or by Standing Order, to fuel this huge voluntary effort? to “Launch 2105 Const UK” – Code 55-50-39 – Ac. No. 63414929, or to CCMJ: sortcode 07-00-93 Ac.No. 33333334 Ac.No./Ref. 1197/702170451: Yes/No.
MEETING NOTES:
UPDATES
• Melvin Bragg is running a series on the history of the Magna Carta at Runnymede.
• Ray brings copies of a Guardian Article by Timothy Garton Ash,”What is Britain? The right answer could win the next election – The Tories are winning he battle to appeal to the unhappy English voter. Labour needs to sharpen up”, in which Lord Salisbury is quoted – may be worth contacting him. Also description of Cameron.
• Peter mentions Bruce Kent’s article in the “King for the Day” column.
• Peter also mentions articles by George Monbiot.
• Clive mentions “Occupy Democracy” which meets monthly, and is a re-energising of the Occupy brand, with new people having become involved. They have revealed Boris’s £250k expenditure on suppressing dissent in Parliament Square, and are worth making contact with, so someone should start attending their meetings.
• Peter says our movement is “incremental, imperfect, and evolving”
• Ray says in our contacts with individuals, e.g. Michael Meacher, it’s worth mentioning that our intervention is not in competition with other political parties – we are complementary to them, we are an intervention in parallel.
• Mary suggests contacting the Cogers for an opportunity to have a debate: http://www.cogers.org
• TTIP activists
• Richard Murphy on Taxation.
WEBSITE DESIGN: WordPress multi-site. The charter will be explained by mini-videos and podcasts. Every candidate will be able to build in local content. The structure exists basic content should be there in two weeks. We need contributors on particular topics (names mentioned). Janos will be a candidate. Difficult to involve Generation X & Y – too busy. People talking about their own family trees, asking younger generation to become involved. 3 million first time voters in this election. There is no longer any certainty about which way people are going to vote. Clive says Occupy Democracy has the younger demographic, and should be approached.
THE CONSTITUTION: Charter has been developed in the last nine months and is reasonably stable. The graphic is seven weeks old and is now trademarked. Anyone standing as a constitutionalist can have this logo against their name. The order WISE (Wales Ireland Scotland England). Looking at document “Seven Questions You May Ask?” – should this be FAQs. Wording of paragraph 2 needs redrafting a little.
OTHER MATERIALS: The Manifesto, Communication Tools. Associational Organisation Structure. Description, cellular, rather than hierarchical. Six major products – need to look at them and suggest how they can be improved. Do we know a cartoonist? Mary points out cartoons in Graham Burnett’s basic guide to permaculture: http://www.spiralseed.co.uk.
OTHER NETWORKS TO INVOLVE:
• THE MAP project – Peter has sent Mary a list of topics that could be included – could we get working on this. Mary says we need to get help with editing.
• GREEN ACTIVISTS – Permaculturists, The Transition Network, Richard Nelson’s “commons” greenhouse project. Not necessarily politically conscious.
• Need to evolve CAFE SOCIETIES to address these issues. Janos suggests not using words to introduce it as a political issue, and suggests the idea of “democracy” as a starting point. Democracy is deeply rooted in talk. David Baum talks about the need for “dialogue”, gently pulling together lots of apparently diverging notions. We often disagree because we do not understand. Socratic dialogue is a specific process. Involve others in talking about things that matter. Ray brings example of leaflet from New Zealand’s “Democrats for social credit: http://www.democrats.org.nz
• SCOTLAND – following up from recent political campaigning, there are live land issues, Fred Harrison is on the case.
• GREEN CANDIDATES, need to make it clear how they connect with this campaign, without competing with existing party affiliations. Slogan “use the system”.
• Lib Dems, eg Alan Rayner.
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Also see: Michael Hudson on Public Banking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkUNaO4T6gI
Runnymede Gazette – December 2014 – A Journal of the Democratic Resistance
