about cooperaton sheffield
our inspiration
People’s Assemblies are used by groups seeking an alternative politics all over the world, and with massive success. They’ve facilitated the redistribution of wealth in Brazil, helped with victories for truly accountable Mayoral candidates in Barcelona and Jackson, Mississippi, and they’ve been central to the organising of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which is now home to 3-4 million people, living in a new kind of society using hyper-localised decision making.
Inspired by all of these, Cooperation Hull was set up in 2023. With voter turnout at a record low in Hull, a small group moved there to regalvanise democracy in the city. Since then, they’ve delivered assemblies across the city, created their own community operated, pay-what-you-can restaurant, and are now focussing their organsing around targeted communities in Hull. We’ve developed a close bond with Cooperation Hull, and we're adapting their approach to shape people-powered politics in the Steel City.
So, we’re not alone. These groups have different names, languages and context-specific approaches, but in practising People’s Assemblies we’re joining a global movement - communities all over the world, coming together and making decisions for themselves.
Want to learn more about what inspires us? Check out our Big Bookshelf for ideas, and feel free to get in touch if you fancy a read!
What We Do
The core of our strategy is People’s Assemblies
That’s where all of this begins. An Assembly is a public meeting open to everyone, where we discuss, debate, disagree and eventually come to decisions we can all get behind. There’s no hidden agenda, no government or big business or NGOs, just people, and a few ground rules to keep things respectful when we’re tackling the hot button topics. We connect the Assemblies up with local organisations with the resources and skills to help us put into practice whatever we decide.
By using Assemblies everywhere we’re not only working to replace the outdated and broken party politics with real, local democracy, but we’re also laying the groundwork for things to change in all the other circles, too, which means we’re well on our way to changing the world.
Every single one of us has the right to contribute to the decisions that affect our lives. The right to be heard. The right to think, to discuss, to participate.
The vast majority of us are shut out from democracy. We do not have the power to decide our own future. But People’s Assemblies mean decisions are made collectively by us, ordinary people motivated by what’s good for our family and our community rather than what’s good for our career or our election campaign. They are based upon participation. The more people in the community that are participating, the stronger People’s Assemblies become.
What are we going to achieve? My honest answer is we don’t know. The idea of a bottom-up approach to grassroots democracy is one defined by the community itself – the complete opposite of the top-down approach of existing democratic systems.
Cooperation Sheffield doesn't shape the agenda – the people do. Change is created by regular assemblies, focused on what the neighbourhood defines as its biggest issues, so that these can be solved independently of the state, through mechanisms forged by the community itself.
Our Values