Don’t Wait for the State?

Making the world we want through imagination & action

Welcome back to Go Prefigure. If it’s your first issue, a hearty double-handed high-five to you.

GPf’s continuing mission: to make space to imagine new social solidarities and new ways of connecting.  To water the green shoots of radical hope and collective solutions, and share inspiring ideas and culture. To look up at the sky together and ask “what if…”

In this edition, we’ll talk about some societal questions, and share part of my personal story. Less starry-eyed than the mission statement - we’re grappling with things on the ground, wasting no time.

Don’t Wait for the State?

Ambition Lawrence Weston, a group doing things for themselves with community energy

I was struck by a statement from the eco-progressive online outlet The Alternative: “don’t wait for the state”. They said “We can’t wait for the state to solve urgent problems for communities: anxieties about whether these people are just replacing state services - a la the Big Society - are misplaced.” 

I confess I’ve been stuck on the fence with this one. I observe in myself a (possibly misplaced) belief that a well-resourced state “should” take care of people’s basic needs and leave us free to live our lives, find creative fulfilment. So when I see a community clearing a trash-strewn eyesore, I think “you’re letting the landowner / state off the hook and legitimising austerity”. 

For example, in my street or park, I could pick up litter on my morning walk, but if I don’t, experience shows that the state will do it eventually. This may be lucky as these services are under threat. Back when I used to volunteer regularly with Good Gym, a network of running clubs that double up as a community-minded flash mob of red-shirted Wombles, we participated in an annual Capital Clear-Up to “spruce up your city” that clearly overlapped with what council-paid cleaners do (or used to do). A local councillor even wanted a photo opportunity with us. I felt uneasy. Was I co-opted into the spirit of the Big Society, a sticking-plaster for slashed budgets? Not much use for areas without the volunteer base, one might grumble.

Turning to climate action - yes, individuals can do things, but the responsibility shouldn’t be on them alone and the focus on consumers distracts us from applying pressure to governments and corporations. We can’t let “divide and rule” work with climate action - we need “unite and force change!” As we are seeing with heartening changes like HSBC ending funding for new oil and gas fields following a shareholder revolt started by Share Action. (Every adult clicking “offset” when they buy their next flight wouldn’t have achieved that, which feels more akin to throwing a couple of coins in a fountain.)