By Dave Stewart SJ, College Chaplaincy Team.
“All politics is local”, claimed an influential Massachusetts politician of the last century, Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill.
If O’Neill was right, he was telling us that people acting together have the power to change their communities for the better.
And, having brought about change – for the better — in the local community, they contribute to bringing about change in their country, and in the world.
All over the world and throughout history we see inspirational and committed people who have worked locally and brought about change. Sometimes it’s about tackling a specific injustice, sometimes it’s a broader concern about the betterment of human society for all. We might think of Gandhi, or Mandela, and even US President Barack Obama who cut his political teeth as a community organiser in the poverty-ravaged Chicago inner city. And that’s what has become known as community organising.
Now, community organising has come to Heythrop!
As announced during Freshers’ Week, Heythrop College is now a fully-fledged affiliate organisation of West London Citizens, one chapter of London Citizens.
This exciting initiative has come about after extensive and wonderful co-operation between the HSU and the Chaplaincy. College Chaplain Dave Stewart SJ and HSU Past President Jim Johnston have been talking to Citizens UK leadership since earlier in the calendar year, while current HSU President Gala Jackson-Coombs and several other students have already attended several West London Citizens events.
Citizens UK points out that political and corporate leaders don’t often embrace change or reform unless they are pressured by the people whom they are meant to serve. The growing citizens community organising movement supports and resources that pressure, allowing members of the local community, who are serious about making things better, the opportunity to do so. Members meet other members. Strategies get hammered out democratically. Ordinary people, workers, students, migrants get challenged to imagine the change they want to see in their local community. They are empowered, by the all-important person-to-person community organising that Citizens resources, to link their interests and strengthen each other, taking real local control of the agenda for change.
Who’s in it? So many local communities and organisations that it’s hard to keep count. Mosques, trade unions, churches, community and youth leaders, sixth forms and now, with Heythrop’s affiliation, a university college. A local Borough Organiser is in post to help support & resource the smooth running of this coalition. Where and when do they gather? As needed, usually on a borough basis – West London Citizens covers the London boroughs of Kensington & Chelsea, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Westminster & Hounslow. Leaders, who come from the various member organisations and communities, meet to review progress and to share ideas for planning for the future.
What happens, and has it worked? Two of the best-known campaigns recently have been the “Strangers into Citizens” campaign, a movement to better the lives of migrants & asylum-seekers and their families in our city, ending the disgrace of destitution for people who have sought sanctuary in our great city. There’s the London Living Wage campaign, which recognises that nobody could live in the capital if earning only the Government’s national minimum wage (£5.93 an hour); a significantly higher “Living Wage” (£8.30 an hour) is advocated. Some big and powerful interests, notably HSBC Bank, have already listened to Citizens and are changing the way they treat their lowest-paid workers. Others campaigns and causes, all originating from among the membership itself, have included attempts to re-connect communities across neighbourhoods after the recent summer riots, and organised groups to clean up the streets physically, meetings with the 2012 Olympic authorities to press for several guarantees for local people in Newham; and a fun “flashmop” action in Tesco Hammersmith in support of demands for the Living Wage, that led to a successful meeting with Tesco’s top management. The Community Land Trust proposes affordable family homes in the capital and action on overcrowding in existing housing stock.
What’s planned? A major event in the life of our capital is the London Mayoral elections of May 2012. London Citizens is currently launching the “2012 Governance of London Campaign”. The aim is to develop a “Citizens’ Agenda” for the mayoral candidates, an agenda that might not be what the political parties want to offer the people. The Mayor of London has a great deal of power and a huge budget (£13.8bn) to run this city. As the election draws near, there’s going to be a Listening Campaign. There’s a big difference from the usual election hustings – it’s the candidates who are to do the listening, not us! If they try to make political speeches during the meeting, they won’t get far! Just think — if you could speak directly to the next mayor, what would ask them to prioritise?
What will we do here at Heythrop? Everyone’s invited to a meeting with Jessica Kennedy, our Borough Organiser who will, with James, Gala and Fr.Dave, outline what our membership of the movement will involve. That will be in the College on Wednesday 12th October.
We want to participate in the Mayoral Listening campaign. That gets under way quite soon. Remember – this is not them addressing us to get our votes, but they have to listen to us and our concerns as local people.
We want to recruit at least 10 Heythrop people as delegates to the WLC Assembly on Tuesday 15th November. That will give us 2 votes in the meeting; if more of us join up, we get more votes! We want to invite you to the Annual General Meeting of London Citizens, to be held in “London’s Living Room” in City Hall on Wed, 7th December.
Especially if you’ve just come to London, here’s a great way of engaging with the realities of this city – and of making change for real. Making a difference locally will have an effect nationally and internationally, if Tip O’Neill was right. Heythrop, as a College in the Jesuit tradition, seeks to encourage its members to become “Men & Women for Others”, the tradition of so many Jesuit colleges and institutions in over 100 countries worldwide. HSU and the Chaplaincy hope that our exciting new partnership with West London Citizens will provide us all with a great opportunity to do just that – and to bring about lasting change in this great city, change for the poorest, change for the better.
Note: thanks to the 40 plus students who joined the team at Fresher’s Fair! We look forward to the next meeting.
