We need it to.

We need to create the systems of community resilience now for when we desperately need them in the future. As we teeter on the edge of climatic, economic and social breakdown, we need to prefigure systems which can hold strong, and provide for us through the chaos, whether that’s food, care, housing, or energy. We need to make sure our communities can create a future of collective solidarity.

When communities come together, it’s empowering. Although in our current system we are denied real political power, as citizens, workers, and neighbours, we have the collective knowledge and resources to run our communities the way they should be. The only thing stopping us is that we don’t come together and make it happen.

This is not utopian fantasy. It’s happening in communities across the world today. Taking inspiration from these movements and utilising Sheffield’s historic legacy of resistance and solidarity, we can come together and shape a new fairer, democratic and cooperative society.

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.

And who are we anyway, Sheffield residents!

We have people across our great city, from Highfield to Burngreave, from Norton to Nether Edge - who recognise the possible virtues of reshaping our democracy. And as we grow our movement, we grow our knowledge, network and power together. 

We organise in a fashion where power is not concentrated in a few hands, where coordinating roles across our Assemblies, Working Groups and meetings regularly rotate and are reviewed. This enables us to grow a wide range of skills and develop as a group, but also as individuals.

Want to know more? Arrange a Coffee Date with us today.

Both People’s and Citizen’s Assemblies are gatherings of people discussing a chosen topic in a structured and facilitated manner. These can be hosted on street, neighbourhood, city, regional or even at national levels.

The core difference lies in how facilitators enable attendance. A People’s Assembly opens its doors to the whole community; whoever can attend is welcome.

A Citizen’s Assembly uses sortition to ensure a representation across many levels of demographic, including age, gender, race and socio-economic status.

Citizen’s Assemblies, when facilitated well, can be excellent. Unfortunately, this mechanism of democracy is often one delivered only when sanctioned by the political class, with the agenda enabled or disabled by what is politically palatable or feasible.

You only need to go as far as South Yorkshire’s Climate Assembly, held in Autumn/Winter 2023, to find that a flawed process is as ineffective as no process at all, all whilst footing a high cost to the taxpayer. Check out this blog to learn more.

Whilst ensuring demographic representation is essential to ensure views aren’t ‘left behind’ by often marginalised groups, Cooperation Sheffield believe People’s Assemblies are core to make democracy an everyday practice. These can be facilitated regularly, at low-cost and self-organised by the communities they represent.