Day 5 take aways: A New Hope
This blog is one of a daily series crafted by James Oriel to capture his insights and reflections from the day. They can only hope to provide a quick peek into the rich discussions held, and we hope they offer an invitation in for those who may wish to explore further via the recordings, links and other resources provided.
A few things we learned on Friday
Our closing Friday session riffed on William Gibson’s line that “the future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed.” We went in search of the people and places that were already showing us signs of what our future possible systems might look and feel like, to show us that yes, the future’s already here. We just need to notice it.
Rodney Foxworth was haunted by the personal cost of living in systems bound by racism and prejudice. Born from that history, he described a world that put power into the hands of communities who, like his own growing up, could determine their own future if given the chance. Rarely are they given that chance. But what if, Rodney said, instead of relying on institutions far removed from the places impacted by oppression or discimination, we instead “cultivate financial institutions that cede power, ownership, control to communities that have been long excluded and diminished”. Rebalancing, the act of communities reclaiming the power of their values.
Indigenous worldviews have also been ignored, and oppressed, “systematically devalued through the process of colonisation” says Carol Anne Hilton. But today, those same Indigenous views are rising again, being brought to the economic table and in so doing, emphasising different things. For Zita Cobb, this shift comes by reclaiming lost agency– “we ended up in this mess because we ended up with the wrong economy arriving, one that we had no agency over. So let's build an economy in which we have some agency”. Carol sees this agency manifesting in something that’s not quarterly, it’s generational, it’s not get rich quick, it’s sustainable, and above all, it’s not winner-takes-all, it’s systemic. It sees the world as “everything as one and interconnected” she says. Call it solidarity.
So there are values to ground these new systems in, but also ample generosity and care too. Amhara Spence reminded us that these different futures and systems aren’t just academic and intellectual worlds (though they are of course smart and thoughtful!) they are the ones we’ll inhabit with all our senses, so it matters what they feel like too. For her, that place might be like her Grandad’s house, a warm, joyful, convivial space, a place of “radical hospitality”. For you that “future might be in your granddad's house... in your neighbourhood... in your street, but the future is now and the great rehearsal has already started”.
The work of shifting systems has got to be about “making the revolution irresistible” to quote Toni Cade Bambara; art is powerful at making things irresistible. Precisely because it doesn’t offer to solve problems, or give a clear path forward, says Gabriella Gomez Mont, but because nonetheless, “we want to engage with it. It fascinates us enough that we will sit with the nuance”. So it’s sort of humility and vibes all the way down. And that’s not to downplay it! So whether you draw on ancient ancestral wisdom, or art, or dream of something fresh, our imaginations need to flourish, the feeling has got to be right. What Geoff Mulgan calls “our collective imaginations” needs the space to think about what else might be.
Where do those ideas come from? For Richard Bartlett, probably a place of safety; “if I want to take on an ambitious, challenging, confronting movement. I need to be fueled by good feeling, by hope, by enthusiasm, by companionship and good meals, that conviviality is the essential ingredient at the core of all of this”. Systems change is big, but it starts small with good relationships, with encouragement, with a new social fabric (maybe in Amhara’s Grandad’s house?).
But what are the stories that bind this altogether, how do they contribute to people’s lives rather than clutter it? Well, maybe it’s about starting with our audience, not ourselves, says Ella Saltemarshe. Progressive activists share transformative stories of innovation, but lots of people hate these stories! So it might mean accepting that the stories that are going to be most potent, might not be the stories that move us the most”, she says, maybe instead we leave behind grand, sweeping visions, and replace them with a series of “glittering invitations”, scattering seeds everywhere.
We’ll close with one final quote, from Ilya Prigogine, who seems to articulate neatly one of the strong themes of our whole week: “when a system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence have the capacity to shift the entire system”. Onwards.
A special thank you
To all our speakers who have shared wisdom and wit in equal measure over the course of this week, so thanks go to: Bo Lidegaard, Melanie Goodchild, Alvaro Salas, Raquel Mazon Jeffers, Dr Suresh Kumar, Karen Ingerslev, Valerie Hannon, Gregg Behr, Rod Allen, Loni Bergqvist, Vishal Talreja, Madhav Chavan, Elana Ludman, Julie Repper, Ahmet Günes, Nathalie Nguyen, Nora Bloch, Emmanuel Ansah-Amprofi, Nikishka Iyengar, Marc Ventresca, Christian Bason, Kenneth Bailey, Carolyn Curtis, Zazie Tolmer, Aunty Vickey, Niall Fay, Jess Dart, Angie Tangaere, Lee Alexander Risby, Ben Ramalingham, Anne Bergvith Sorensen, Chris Clements, Nina Strandberg, Rob Riciligiano, Søren Vester Haldrup, Yaera Chung, Anna Folke Larsen, Beth Smith, Bonnie Chiu, Mark Cabaj, Emily Gates, Indy Johar, Jessica Davies, Ingrid Birkett, Sabina Curatolo, Ben Gales, Simon Baldwin, Jeff Cyr, Willemijn de Iongh, Robin Hacke, Giulio Quaggiotto, Erica Barbosa, Adam Spence, Thomas Bagge Olesen, Amit Shah, Steve Waddell, Dr. Johan Schot, Philip Essl, Joseph Nelson, Cassie Robinson, Derek Bardowell, Rodney Foxworth, Amahra Spence, Richard D Bartlett, Zita Cobb, Geoff Mulgan, Gabriella Gomez Mont, Ella Saltmarshe and Carol Anne Hilton.
And of course, a big thank you to everyone who has joined us across the week, to those who have read and watched along. And the team that helped put it all together.