The Crookes People's Assembly: Rebuilding democracy from the ground up

Alison Romaine

Only by taking power into our own hands, in our communities and in our neighbourhoods, can we start to tackle the problems we collectively face.

“Please raise your hand if you’re happy with the state of the world?”
“Please raise your hand if the challenges we face as a society anger you?”
“Please raise your hand if you’d describe yourself as hopeful?”
“How many people here want to have community in their lives?”

Last month, I posed these questions to seventy people gathered in a community hall in Crookes. Few were happy, some were angry, and many described themselves as hopeful.

Despite feelings of anger and sometimes fear about the state of the world, I learnt during a people’s assembly facilitated by Cooperation Sheffield that, in fact, most of us believe in other people’s good nature and in their resilience, and want to come together to create a close community and a better world.

But why run a people’s assembly in Sheffield?

Alison Romaine

We live in an age where the majority of people feel powerless when it comes to the conditions that affect their everyday lives. Decisions undertaken on behalf of the many are devised by the top-down structures of political parties, which are more deeply tied to capital and big business than they are to people going about their everyday lives.

This conjoining of political and economic power has led to a society where many people’s needs are not met. Wealth inequality is rife and expanding in the UK, with the top fifth owning two-thirds of all wealth, and the bottom fifth owning just 0.5%. This divergence in living standards means that 50% more people are living in poverty in the UK compared to the 1970s, including more than four million children.

Solidarity economies and connected communities

We’re seeing cynicism and apathy expressed en masse towards our existing democracy. At the local elections in May, voter turnout in Sheffield was just 32%, with some wards returning as low as 19%. This mass abandonment of our democratic systems indicates one of two things: either people feel their vote won’t make a difference to them and their community, or that no-one represents their beliefs. Either explanation highlights the lack of agency people have over the decision-making process in their communities.

“To respond to the issues we face, we need new tools to create solidarity among communities”

At Cooperation Sheffield, we believe we need to make four main changes for our society to thrive:

• Change a failing democracy into thriving local democracy

• Turn an economy that focuses on profit and not people into a solidarity economy

• Combat widespread social alienation and division and create connected communities

• Address an accelerating climate and ecological crisis and shape a healthy earth

Who fills the void when the ruling class are unable to provide an inspirational vision for a better world? Well, we’ve seen the rise of charismatic figureheads like Trump and Farage, thanks to their easily interpretable politics and financial backing from the super-wealthy. These leaders provide an unrestrained critique of society that appeals to many people’s feelings and values – regardless of how they sow hatred, blame scapegoats and spread division.

To respond to the issues we face, we need new tools to create solidarity among communities: forums where party politics doesn’t divide, and where values of care and community rise to the surface.

Alison Romaine

A people’s assembly is one of these tools, and on 17 November Cooperation Sheffield facilitated one at St Timothy’s in Crookes. We hope this will be the first of many in the neighbourhood, and across Sheffield.

Defining community

At our first assembly, we explored the idea of community. We posed three questions, discussing each for 30 minutes:

• “What role does your community currently play in your life?”

• “What makes a strong and healthy community?”

• “What is the biggest issue your local community is facing at the moment?”

The assembly defined a strong and healthy community as one that connects people with shared interests, which holds respect and which overcomes differences. Knowing your neighbours allows you to share skills and experiences, fostering neighbourhood vitality.

This process is supported by existing spaces where people can share ideas as well as food, and bond with each other. Of course these spaces exist in many communities. In Crookes, there’s the Social Club, religious centres and the high street itself, supported by local organisations such as Crookes Forum, Crookes Collective and residents’ associations.

“Peoples’ assemblies are based upon participation. The more people in the community that are participating, the stronger they become”

But we’re currently so far away from the vision of a strong community put forward by the assembly that it sounds almost utopian. The rise of individualism and the lack of agency that most people feel over what happens in their neighbourhood has led to feelings of isolation and a loss of community.

This is compounded by the deterioration of public infrastructure, with limited access to community buildings and green spaces, disconnected public transport, and crumbling public services. This, people felt, has led to a rise in antisocial behaviour, political disenchantment and online polarisation. Wider issues such as the cost-of-living, gentrification and the housing crisis were also felt across the assembly.

We split into breakout groups of 6 to 10 people, each mediated by a trained facilitator, before feeding back to the wider assembly. As a result, Cooperation Sheffield identified four core themes that the community could look to work on in the future:

• The need for communal space

• Street safety and transport

• Shaping the local environment to fit people’s needs

• Reimagining housing

Alison Romaine

Each of these themes contains practical ideas that the Crookes community can organise and campaign around. We shared the findings with our participants a few days after the assembly, and Cooperation Sheffield is aiming to serve Crookes and other communities across Sheffield in 2025 to co-design solutions to the challenges faced in our neighbourhoods.

Get involved with Cooperation Sheffield

Peoples’ assemblies are based upon participation. The more people in the community that are participating, the stronger they become.

What are we going to achieve? My honest answer is I 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.

We’ll be running an introductory talk in January on who we are and our movement's philosophy, for which we welcome everyone – whether you’re left, right, or somewhere in-between.

Please reach out via email (cooperationsheffield@gmail.com) or follow us on Instagram to stay in touch.

First published by Zak Viney on 16 December 2024 at nowthenmagazine.com