Community Organising: New politics for a New Britannia

I first came across community organising in 2004, after a friend introduced me to London Citizens and the Community Organising Foundation. After reading their literature I was impressed by their ideas and contacted the founder and lead organiser Neil Jameson. We arranged to meet the next day. On meeting we immediately sparked a political relationship and found points of commonality. By the next week I was on a 5-day residential training programme learning the fundamentals of community organising in Birmingham. On arrival at the training I was unaware of what to expect and was somewhat apprehensive, the other attendees were from very religious backgrounds some were nuns, there were Methodist sisters, Jesuit monks, Imams and veiled Islamic women but there were also some union workers form Community Union and some local community workers from Birmingham's Asian community. There were also some community organisers from the US, so it was quite a diverse group. The training included role-plays, a class based introduction to the principles of community organising, conversations and testimonials and in the evenings we would gather and discuss philosophy, religion and social issues. My initial apprehension began to wear of as I engaged with my fellow participants and I began to fall in love with community organising as a method of engagement. I was intrigued how they had been able to bring such a diverse group together and inspired by the common ground that we were able to find through dialogue and conversation. Previously my idea of politics had been tribal and rooted in the Black power movement, the experience allowed me to begin to view politics through new eyes. It was at this point that I began to think about how the method could be utilised to create a new politics for a New Britannia.

In the following months I took the time to read the writings of Saul Alinsky, who is known as the father of community organising, digesting his books Rules for Radicals and Reveille for Radicals. I began to operate out of South London Citizens (SLC) and over the next four years I spoke regularly at assemblies, represented London Citizens in the media, worked to strategically organise living wage campaigns and took part

in direct actions at the Tate Modern and Hilton hotel amongst others. I visited the US with London Citizens organisers to experience community organising in New York and see first hand the work of IAF organizations, visiting the East Brooklyn Congregations (EBC), the Nehemiah housing project- the flagship housing project of the IAF, and spent time reasoning with full-time organisers. I spent the summer of 2006 working as a community organiser, organising cleaners at the Tate Modern and Kensington hotel and became a trustee in the same year. I attended board meetings and a load of training sessions and worked on strategy with the leadership. This year London Citizens is coming to an end to become Citizens UK and all the former board members will be gathering to say goodbye and share old memories of the organisation. I am indebted to the organisation for some of my political thoughts. My experience working with a broad based community organisation has led me to believe that in the model of broad based community organisations lays the germ of a new politics for a New Britannia.