Community Organising across Cultures
4 things that green movements in Coventry, UK & Silesia, Poland have in common
On the plane heading towards Katowice, Poland, after a long drive to the airport (read: a nap in the car), I wondered if our Community Organising team would have much in common with other attendees of the ‘Organising in Times of Crisis’ training. Maybe people care about different things in Poland? Maybe the things they are organising around are so gritty that our work will feel less urgent by comparison?
How pleasantly surprised I was when our hosts, the Common Thing Foundation, shared a case study of a piece of work that centred around the goal of creating green, healthy spaces!
Enter: the Silesia Blooming campaign.
They spoke about connecting with existing groups to develop leaders and to help them consider using Community Organising methods as a way to have more impact. They showed pictures of people smiling inside giant photo frames, handing out green heart shaped stickers, & a flash mob made up of people young & old, each holding a green square above their heads to create a giant green heart. It looked fun & colourful! It looked powerful! It looked like something I could imagine the Coventry Urban Eden team doing back home!
Enter: Coventry Urban Eden. Known for short as CUE.
A group of people I brought together after their vision for a greener Coventry city centre came out of 1–1 conversations. They were willing to take action towards this vision, and with time, their individual ideas became a shared goal. They have been working on team, strategy and connecting in order to get closer to that goal ever since. After hard behind the scenes work and a lot of patience, the team are entering their first growing season with permission to develop two city centre sites
I don’t know as much about Silesia Blooming as I do CUE, but I can see a few similarities, despite the 1000+ miles & 4 countries that lie between them.
Our Heart Beats Green action by Silesia Blooming action // Image 2: Coventry Urban Eden launch day4 things that we have in common:
1. We are both using Community Organising to harness the passion of people to work towards something that matters to them, and as leading people towards leading themselves.
It’s all about shifting power towards communities, and within this we see that people do care about lots of the same things. We offer people an opportunity to be part of something. The people who take up the challenge are ‘ordinary’ people: your neighbours, the folks who pop into your local shop, the ones who lose their glasses and find them on top of their head. They are simultaneously ‘extraordinary’. They are not accepting the myth that we are doomed so sit down for the ride, they are standing up and pulling things forwards.
2. We are having fun!
Silesia Blooming are not just moaning about the hardships that befall us, they are using activity and laughter to engage people, educate and make a big, hard and complex issue like climate change, into something that centres joy and connection. They provide a space where a small act can combine with those of others to create something bigger.
Likewise, the CUE team are the friendly face of Coventry’s green movement! They make bumble bees out of pine cones, DIY planters out of old plastic milk bottles, and give away wildflower seeds. Like Silesia Blooming giving out stickers, they give people something to take away and remember them by. This doesn’t mean they are not taking things seriously. They know that our climate crisis is too huge for most people to engage with. They know the power of small acts multiplied. They know that fun and joy are the antithesis of apathy and inaction.
3. We understand that connections are key to nurturing hope
Silesia Blooming is a grassroots, social coalition made up of people from all over the Silesia region. They have a strong sense of ally-ship and of pride in their area — they believe that “the once black heart can become the green heart”. They believe that the people living in the area deserve more.
The CUE team share a pride in their city and want to nurture that in others. They also have a vision to turn a grey city into a green one. The team have made numerous connections but they have not yet called them to action. The question of whether people who have shown interest and positivity would show up for them remains to be answered. Nonetheless they are natural connectors with a passion to pull forwards not only their own campaign, but also the work of others in the city with shared values and similar goals. In a city full of silo work, they know that collaborating well is key to building new power. After all, “We’re all pretty much working towards the same thing”.
4. We know that it is political, whether you like it or not
The main difference that stands out is that Silesia Blooming set up to be political. They use protest as a team bonding tool. Part of their mission is to explicitly challenge structures that do not serve the local people. Although apolitical, they name that they “ want an authority that serves — listens, respects and represents the interests of all residents, facilitates their participation in decisions regarding the immediate environment, and supports social bonds.” They are clear that they are representing the voice of the people “hitherto unheard, ignored when making major and minor decisions” .
On the other hand, CUE didn’t set out to be political. They say now that at the start they thought they’d just be throwing around some seed bombs! However, through deep thought, persistence and committing to a big vision, the CUE team have found themselves as key players in shaping the city council’s future Climate Change Strategy. When people come together to create their own rules and work towards something new, it becomes a political act. Everything is a political act.*
My main takeaway
A reminder that we are all people, and that people generally care about similar things. Unfortunately many of our voices are not heard, so turning that caring into action through community organising is amazingly powerful. With the passion and work, this methodology can garner impact in any language! And, in a world where it is easy to feel isolated, how lucky we are to have allies across the miles.
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Through the Common Thing Foundation’s ‘Organising in Crisis’ training, their work has reached past Poland to Serbia, Slovakia, Hungary, and the UK, at the very least. And it rocks!
More about Silesia Blooming: https://slaskiekwitnace.pl/
More about Coventry Urban Eden: https://www.facebook.com/CovUrbanEden/
*Source: Skunk Anansie, ‘Everything is Political’ ;-)
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Questions for readers — I’d love to hear your thoughts
I would love to know of other ‘green’ focused Community Organizing that is making an impact on local lives whilst feeding into wider strategies.
- How did it come about?
- What tactics are you using?
- How do you balance the energy for local connection and the fight towards positive change?
- How important is it that everyone involved in an activity understands the wider purpose? How do you make space for people who just want to craft or learn about plants?
Let me know!
#ConnectingForGoodCov
