Doing democracy
If you’ve watched our film, Out Of The Ruins, you’ll have seen that the transition from ordinary person to active citizen is an intensely rewarding experience. You’ll have seen the liberating effects of self-determination. You’ll have seen that deliberative democracy is not always easy, but that anyone and everyone can do it. Hopefully you are inspired to do it yourself.
How do you get started?
Screening and sharing
Well, you could organise a community screening of the film. We are happy to supply a high-resolution master copy for use on large screens. We’re also happy to have a conversation about organising a video or in-person Q&A session with the film’s director. Email us at quiethero@allhandsondoc.com.
We’d also be very grateful if you would share the film with friends, family and colleagues. Many people assume that democracy equals elections. They may not be happy with that situation, but they may also struggle to imagine a better alternative. That’s why we are making these films. Here are the links to share the film.
Out Of The Ruins website page.
DIRECT/LOCAL DEMOCRACY Resources
In Out Of The Ruins we see how direct democracy works in a café collective, in a migrant community, and in a theatre group. Democracy doesn’t have to be about Politics with a big P. It’s about how we make decisions together about any issue that matters to us. Here are some links to tools and resources that can inspire and help you to democratise the things that matter to you.
DOUGHNUT ECONOMICS ACTION LAB. Kate Raworth, who wrote the book on Doughnut Economics, has created this lab to act as a transmission system between a transformative idea and transformative actions. In this Oxfam blog post she outline the motivation for setting the lab up, and lays out some practical and inspiring principles for turning radical ideas into positive action. These include, “Make practice part of your protest,” and “Embrace play”. The latter might sound frivolous but deceptively so. Read for yourself.
THE CITIZENS HANDBOOK. An encyclopaedia of democratic and activist theory and models for change. Strategic, tactical, and pragmatic. A good example of useful content is Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation, a model for escalating (pun intended) the influence of “have nots” in policy making.
TRUST THE PEOPLE BY EXTINCTION REBELLION. This document sets out practical ways to “nurture and unleash” people’s energy for community organising. Direct democracy and grassroots mobilisation are core aspects of Extinction Rebellion strategy. They are creating resources to make it as easy as possible to get started.
HOW TO CITIZEN. A wonderfully inspiring podcast in which Baratunde Thurston, with the help of expert guests and audience interaction, aims to reimagine the word “citizen” as a verb. We can not recommend this highly enough, as much for its tone as anything else. Baratunde is a highly intelligent activist comedian who approaches his subject with joy and humour and infectious enthusiasm. It is a million miles from the dry, academic approach of much democracy innovation content.
FLATPACK DEMOCRACY IN ACTION. The Flatpack Democracy book, by All Hands On friend Peter Macfadyen, was sold as a “DIY guide for creating independent politics”. It is a practical masterclass in how to implement local democracy independent of political parties. This “in action” page on the Flatpack Democracy website includes links to interviews with people who have been there, done it, and got the T-shirt.
IN SEARCH OF POLITICAL LITERACY. All Hands On founder, Patrick Chalmers, has written a series of articles for The Correspondent, in which he attempts to address his own, self-declared political illiteracy. It’s ok to be a beginner. We all are.
FUNDING
Out Of The Ruins was funded by The Guerrilla Foundation, La Fondation Pour Les Générations Futures, and some generous individual donors, who are named in the end credits. If you know someone who is politically inclined and financially able to support our work, please point them in our direction, either by email as above, or via the Donate link in our website header or the button below. Thank you.