This piece is based on a strategy review that the two of us behind this project have just undertaken. We conduct these exercises every few months to take an overview of what we're doing with our limited resources, and assess if it's making the impact it should. This obliges us to be painfully honest about not only what works but also more importantly, what doesn't work and why. What we try to do is come up with a realistic and achievable strategy that doesn't end up burning us out.
Hopefully, you'll understand that there's a difference between what can go into an internal strategy review and what we can share with the public. As much as we want to be totally transparent with people, we have to make a few adjustments to ensure that our security isn't compromised. Anyway, here goes...
It seems like every time I think we've managed to fix on an operational strategy, something happens to throw it off track yet again! This time round, it's a few health issues I've been dealing with that have placed some constraints on what we have been physically able to do. To say this is a frustrating situation is an understatement. The good news is that slowly but surely, these health issues appear to be resolving themselves:)
To adapt to the changed reality, another strategy review is needed. One that's based on a realistic assessment of what we can and can't do in the face of the various constraints we face. Also one that is based on how we do (or do not) fit into the ecology of the activist scene in both Bristol and Bath. Compared to the winter of 2022 going into 2023, we've stripped back a lot of what we were doing and have gone right down to the basics of our practical work in the community, this Substack blog and some occasional stickering. There's literally nothing else we can strip back. The only thing we can do is work out how to make what we do have more of an impact.
Practical work
We've always believed that genuine change has to come from the grassroots where we live in our community. The vanguardist approach with its elitism and hierarchy has never really done it for us. What has worked for us, both here in Keynsham and when we were back in Thurrock was getting involved in community projects that made a positive difference. One that will always stay in my mind is what we achieved working with the community run Hardie Park in Stanford-le-Hope. This kind of work is not easy and it certainly isn't glamorous, but, it forms the building blocks for starting to bring control back down to the grassroots. So, let's have a look at what we're involved with here in Keynsham...
The Plot In The Park
For us, the plot is about showing people that they can grow their own food and that there is an alternative to buying their vegetables from the supermarket. It's about starting the process of localising food production so over time, it becomes something the community controls, not the corporations. Which is why we should actively encourage people to set up community vegetable plots in the neighbourhood where they live. I don't see community vegetable plots emerging across Keynsham as competition - I see them as allies in something a lot bigger. As things get weirder and more dystopian, being grounded with a plot that can meet at least some of our food needs while building community solidarity is vital.
If we're being honest, we have to admit that the plot has been going through a bit of a rough patch. From my health issues putting some constraints on what I could do through to losing the box hedge along the edge, leaving the plot looking very exposed, it feels like it's been an uphill struggle. The winter fall off in volunteers hasn't exactly helped matters. However, taking a few steps back, it would be a rare community project that didn't have lows as well as highs. Most eventually get over the lows and go on to brighter times. Over the last couple of months, from planting the beginnings of a new border hedge, creating new paths and working over some of the new beds between the paths, we have started to turn the plot around. Passers by can see that people do care about the plot and that changes are happening.
Now the plot is starting to look both presentable and productive again, we can start to think about how we can get more people involved. We've got a stock of promotional leaflets which we need to start shifting. The big date for getting this done will be the music festival in the summer. Other than that, we need to start getting them into venues across Keynsham. Hopefully, it will be onwards and upwards this summer:)
Litter picking
This may seem like a minor amenity matter but, picking litter shows that you care about where you live. Caring about where you live is a vital part of building community solidarity. Taking part in litter picking events such as the recent clean up by the Avon, the summer music festival and the winter festival helps build solidarity among those taking part and sends out a clear signal to the community that people do care about where they live. Also, the regular picks around where we live send out a signal that we care. If the populace see that litter is being picked on a regular basis, the majority will respect that and do their bit to help keep the place clean. Then all we have to deal with are the selfish 'renegades within' who seem to have no conception of what community means, let alone any sense of responsibility towards it.
Also, as council budgets come under increasing pressure and services get cut back and back again, stepping in to do the litter picking becomes ever more vital. Not just to plug the gaps but also, to prove that residents co-operatively working together can get the job done. Which is all part of the broader project of bringing power down to the grassroots.
Propaganda
Blogging
We're down to one blog, Stirrings from below which is hosted on Substack. Within that, there is the At the grassroots section which features pieces about grassroots activism. Everything is now under one roof and as such, is a lot easier to manage. I'm aiming for around two posts a week which is a schedule that keeps things moving along but doesn't put me under unnecessary pressure. From the ambitious ideas we had at the end of 2022 going into 2023, we're now operating on a considerably more realistic basis. That can only be a good thing.
As for the content of the blog, when it comes to the posts, I'm trying to hit a reasonable balance between covering local issues around the Avon region, and more generic and quite often, deeper pieces. As for the rest of the content, there is the element of some of it being an archive with links to PDFs of many of the papers and leaflets we've produced over the years. That could be considered by some as being a bit nostalgic and something that should be binned as we're supposed to be making a new start here in Keynsham. The point is that in the interests of transparency, we owe it to our audience to be open about our past as activists, so they know where we're coming from. Overall, I think we've got Stirrings from below in a reasonably good place and it's a platform we can use to start growing again.
As for other blogging projects, I've quietly slipped out of the back door of the Nevermore project, hoping that no one notices my absence! This is because I need to focus more on the practical work we're doing in our community and also, the Stirrings from below blog, and I couldn't do that with the pressure to contribute to another blog on my shoulders.
Stickers and posters
To put it bluntly, this has simply not happened. That's down to a combination of health issues plus the wettest winter we've had for years keeping us off the streets. Now my health issues are (hopefully) manageable and the weather is starting to show some signs of improvement, we can start to get out on the streets more and get some stickers up:)
Other propaganda
I've already mentioned the archives on Stirrings from below where people can access many of our old leaflets and papers. Would we ever produce leaflets and papers again?
Leaflets mean having to have a stall which means having to suck up to people in order to get one. It also means biting my lips at events rather than speaking my mind. On that basis alone, having a stock of leaflets to put on a stall at events simply isn't going to happen.
Papers on the other hand do not require a stall. Heck, they don't even require 'friendly' venues who'll take a bundle for their patrons. All papers require is a large crowd out on the streets. We've had quite a lot of experience of handing out papers on large protests over the years. If there was a large street protest coming up that I thought was worth intervening in, I wouldn't rule out producing a paper to hand out on the day. Never say never...
How do we fit in?
The short answer is that by by and large, we don't really fit into the activist ecology in either Bristol or Bath. Given our maverick take on a range of issues, there's no way we could fit in unless we were willing to seriously compromise many of our principles. I haven't slogged my guts out building Stirrings from below to chuck it all away for the sake of having a few so called 'friends' in what passes for an anarchist movement in the region.
We're not alone though. We have met and worked with people who can think independently rather than ones who strive to fit in with a particular tribe. Also, given some of the comments I'm starting to get on our posts from people based in and around Bristol, there are other mavericks out there. All we have to do is work out a way of contacting them and forming some kind of loose, ad hoc network.
As I've written a good few times before, the old political dividing lines between the Left and the Right are in some ways at least, starting to have less meaning. Newer dividing lines are emerging, with those wanting freedom and autonomy pitted against those who trust the authority of the state, the corporations and the bankers to look after their interests. Obviously, things are in a state of flux as the old dividing lines fade away and new ones emerge. There's a lot that's not clear cut and as such, there will be contradictions and some confusion. In such a climate, our best strategy is to be flexible and nimble.
The overall political context
When it comes to the weird and increasingly dystopian climate we're operating in, the best I can do is refer you to this piece:
Are things really getting weird? 10.4.24
We can argue as much as we want about the way this sense of weirdness may or may not be getting amplified by social media and communications technology but that would be a distraction from looking the problem right in the face and dealing with it head on. We've become so divorced from the natural world that sustains us and in an atomised world, from each other, it's no wonder that things are getting weird. We're in danger of losing track of what it is that makes us truly human and allowing ourselves to be sucked into an alienating, digitised world where we're subjected to a constant bombardment of distraction while everything thing we do and say is increasingly monitored and controlled. All in the name of the Fourth Industrial Revolution which aims to turn us into digital serfs while the elites accumulate ever more power and wealth for themselves.
The emphasis of this review is being realistic about what we can achieve with the resources we have and the constraints we operate under. There's no point in burning ourselves out trying to achieve the impossible. However, it's important to understand the climate we're operating in, not least because it informs a lot of what I write in Stirrings from below. Suffice to say, we live in very 'interesting times'...
Happy to be a fellow local maverick! Never used that word about myself before... I would love to find ways of getting mavericks together more, as mutual support is so important. It always seems to involve being able to hire a room, though, or standing around in a park :-). And when I stand around in a park the topic seems to at some point get onto what shape the planet is and I'm not really worried about that question... I think there are more urgent ones.