2010 year plan Workshops Conference
Project Plan
Informed by
Planned Workshops
A Conference
A Publication
Future Plans
Timescale
Part of the CGAP is an idea to create a series of workshops, a conference and a publication that will help to generate awareness of the common good assets of Scotland – Dealing with: What the CG is, what is happening to it, why it needs protecting. And finding ways of how the financial and cultural wealth of the CG could be put back in control of, and for the benefit and political empowerment of ordinary people.
The plan is, to hold 4 workshops in different parts of the country over say 18 months with a national conference and publication at the end of this period.
The "common good" is very special in Scotland because there are a set of laws (unique to this country), through which assets such as land, buildings and objects – artworks, collections donated from people of all backgrounds can be placed and protected in public ownership (CG). These assets are part of a common good Fund through which money derived from these valuables (such as through rent) is, by law, supposed to go back into that fund and be made available for public benefit. At present common good Funds are often poorly maintained and the public are not receiving the full benefit of them.
These assets can run into tens of millions of pounds in different towns and cities and have been accumulating all over Scotland for over 500 years.
Much of our common good is being rented out with changing use to private developments and with with no proper public consultation – particularly our public parks and green spaces.
Even when these private developments are environmentally acceptable, the rents and profits of land sales almost never go back into the common good fund. This gives a clear signal that many of the gardens of the public estate are not doing what they have been employed to do.
Many of our city parks, the jewel in the crown of our common good, are now open for private business ventures and commercial manager have been employed to pitch for business ideas to go into our parks – but not in the interest or profit of the common good. Profits are being diverted into council coffers rather than back into the common good fund. This lack of procedure concerning common good assets is being carried out in places all over Scotland. Part of the problem is that even elected councilors are unsure or even ignorant of common good laws and practice.
Privatising history
Apart from the hundreds of millions of pounds these assets are worth, the common good is an integral part of Scottish history. It is not just about the assets – an important part of our very culture is heading towards privatisation. We are starting to see the main art galleries, museums and public space of our cities, which still offer free admission, turning into a costly day out for families. catering to exhibitions, based on pop stars, fashion and television programs costing as much as £7 entrance
The main danger to the disappearance of our common good is our "unawareness", not only to what is being lost, but more importantly, understanding the potential of how the common good could be used to create community business models and get money going back into the community. The present situation regarding these assets is the opposite – the only profits being made are profits made “from” the community
Campaigns
The knowledge of common good laws have been used to empower campaigning groups, such as against developers demolishing homes and historic world heritage sites in Edinburgh and the Pollok Park Campaign to stop the leasing off of common good woodlands for expensive admission (£45 per head) adventure playgrounds and car parks and other "business opportunities".
We have 90 parks and formal gardens in Glasgow that could be under threat of private business enterprises … and there is a carbon copy process happening across the country. The profits from the sale of common good land and buildings if they are of no use to the community and are being sold off – the cash should go back into the common good fund. The common good fund should then be used to fund things the community needs – nurseries, schools, events. For example, in Aberdeen it is possible for a member of the public to apply for a grant from the common good fund for community activities. The Inverness common good Fund is worth £7.084 million. Tain has a thriving mussel fishery which is an asset of the Tain common good. (Whightman) This should be happening all over Scotland. In a climate of dis-empowerment, debt and fragmentation of community life, the awareness of common good and its usefulness could help to re-empower communities using assets most are unaware that they own.
Despite successful campaigns to re establish these assets as part of the common good, the "common good" can be difficult to understand, even for people in government. There is a bit of work to be done in reconnecting the public with ownership of these assets. The purpose of the proposed workshops and publication is to draw on the experience of community campaigners and CG awareness, to help educate a broader public about what the common good is and how it can be used to benefit them. Procedures need to be established where the public can source common good knowledge and an understanding of CG law that they can equip themselves with—then use this knowledge to set up proper administration and management of these funds.
One aspect of the project will be aimed at organisers and groups already connected with community activity who could incorporate aspects of common good awareness within what they already do. People connected to the teaching profession, schools colleges who would have avenues of disseminating information further afield. Community centre’s and organisation’s who host projects in catchment areas. Folk who show interest at the various events connected to the CGAP
Or for instance. Working through a network of common good campaigners around Glasgow, Fife, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and outlying areas, using already existing networks and mail groups to extend further afield. There is a core of dedicated and knowledgeable people involved in common good issues and its preservation connected to universities, schools and research that can be used when creating and disseminating information. How information is organised would be a worthy task of the Open Source commons.(FLOSS)
common good Awareness Workshops
One approach to a workshop would be to work with what we already have in the community. The first idea is to get people together. Check out the local community and find out what is already happening. Can connections be made to things already going on in the community, perhaps with reminiscence groups, camera clubs, video workshops – interest groups? Then we could introduce the common good and ask how connections and collaborations could be arranged to broaden CG understanding. If there are folk interested, we would find out the knowledge and skill that are available, then find what individuals are not so good at and work on that. This could be anything from photography, writing, computers, local history, planning events towards research. Some communities are strong on history others have very active with groups, campaigns, or community centre’s that work in tune with these kind of local interests. Workshops first and foremost will be tailored for places that can offer the widest networking possibilities – or whose communities are most under threat.
Community survey. Looking at what needs done. Drawing up a plan, building social maps, producing a common good newspaper. Bonding activities through a common good.
Part of the workshops will be to do with building social maps pinpointing what is happening in specific areas: gentrification, campaigns, projects, local institutions, common good land, buildings, Claiming things as common good, until it is proved otherwise, taking ownership of community space.
The aim would be to build up layers of activities, exposing their relationships and connections. The purpose of these workshops is to reverse the process of atomisation and encourage solidarity. The attack on poorer areas by gentrification kills the social base. Part of the idea is to strengthen this base, by encouraging community ownership. People need a platform of some stability to organise against the bigger issues. The common good is part of the foundation of that social base.
Research and history
There is much more research needing done on the common good, And much work needing done to make the information available useful and understandable to people. There has been progress made here through common good days, workshops and an archive of audio and visual material, but there is still a long way to go. This project, through workshops, will act as a conduit between academic work and to help to make CG research and the process of researching information available and usable to everyone.
Workshop aims
At the end of a workshop we would expect to have covered:
1. A general knowledge of what the common good means and what it consists of and its history.
2. How the common good – its assets, philosophy and ethos can be connected to social problems – poverty, race, gender, equal opportunities, economics, and ways of organising a fairer society.
3. How to research the common good – What information is available – who is doing this type of work. What work needs done, ways to get involved and how to start.
4. How to build networks of contacts; on-going campaigns and how to start new ones. Getting information out to people, how to engage people using the internet, photography, recording and community surveys.
5. Why it is important to understand, protect and spread knowledge of these valuable assets and their educational value in building community vision and power for ordinary people.
6. An idea of how we start to use these resources using economics, planning and decision making that is accountable and serves a public purpose.
7. Ideas of reawakening the concept of common good further afield and in the global context.
8. The eventual setting up of an International common good constituted group and network.
The 2 day conference will be held in late May 2011
The theme for the conference will evolve around strategies for community self determination, using the tools of common ownership and localised economics in creating power for ordinary people. Workshops will be carried out during the conference focusing on what was learned over the 14 month period
Networking for the conference, organising speakers, topics, papers, information packs, will go on through out 2010. Preparing for the conference and workshop event and launch of book will begin at the start of March 2011. Activities over the year will carry an emphasis on common good to encourage awareness and point towards the 2 day event.
common good Awareness Project Publication
(Self publicising print on demand)
The publication will be print on demand, allowing copies to be ordered for events and individuals on-line at a reasonable price or free as common good. The book will be backed up by real time on-line updates in a graphical and accessible format and point to other in depth researching.
While writings on the common good, by Andy Whightman, and others, tend towards a more academic approach, the proposed publication, as well as acknowledging these works, will function in different ways to enhance the knowledge already there, but in a more direct fashion. It will take a more functional approach to what is happening in our streets right now. It will also explore how to recognise common good attributes in day-to-day life – A kind of common good user manual – including Many of the common good related aspects of the city – What the common good assets could be used for – and its history over the last 500 years.
The information will be related to the activities of different projects, groups, working around the country – with maps landmarks, walks featuring – radical history, working class culture, a vision of the city through the common good. The content of the book will also be informed by the outcomes of the workshops. The book will also be something that is a recognisable contribution from ordinary people.
The book will also attempt to create a template that can be adapted for any city/town and the progress and development of the book will also be shared by an on-line updated open source data-base for use across the network and communities world-wide. The publication will also be used to organise a national common good, conference, to be held on a yearly basis. Monies made from the publication sales will be used to develop other CG publications and events.
The next procedure after creating awareness of financial community wealth, (CG) is how we democratise the process of economics and decision making. I believe the threat to our common good is timely and in some ways a blessing that such a bold move to remove it from public ownership has brought it to the fore. Our economic system at present lacks any credibility of public trust or feasibility. What better time to start to look at different economic models such as participatory economics, credit unions and such like.
The common good is sitting on our doorstep and already encompasses many of the values and principals that could help stabilise and present hope for particularly the poorest parts of our communities. And the beauty of it is the common good is rooted in the imagination of working class people, not in the parasitical enticements of banks.
The concept of common good has a universal resonance with working class people everywhere – particularly with those in the Southern hemisphere whose lesson appears to be – Use what you have before it is taken from you – which is the point we have come to regarding our common good in Scotland. The exciting part of this project is how the spread of CG knowledge could help to create and add to sustainable, democratic, power, for ordinary people – everywhere.
It is hoped in the next 18 months that the mention of the words "common good" will be understood by a good many people. People understand the concept of the common good.
Glaswegian’s, for instance, understand their parks belong to them. There "is" a sense of ownership. What most are not aware of is the political and business machinations to remove them from public ownership. If I ask the average person. "Do you know what the common good is". In my experience most of them answer "no". I then only have to spend a matter of seconds explaining the common good, as all the things we get into free, parks, art galleries – and they instantly exclaim. "Oh yes, I know that". Connecting the words "common good" to the concept and making the words understood as the concept is the goal.
It would be a good thing, especially for places with healthy assets. But more importantly we would need to invent the common good if it wasn’t there – how else are we going to turn back from the unaccountable neoliberal mess that is consuming our society?
