The coronavirus recovery must be bottom-up, not top-down
What this crisis has demonstrated is that grassroots, bottom-up organising can be so much more effective and so much more responsive to local needs than top-down government programmes. The principles of spontaneous, participatory, open organising are the foundation of groups such as those closing a…
As the state fails communities, mutual aid projects are working to meet people’s needs across the UK
Since the beginning of the UK coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, tens of thousands of people have lost their lives. But the coronavirus crisis is not only a health crisis, it has had far reaching effects on people’s lives and livelihoods. Across the UK, communities have come…
Local response in health emergencies: key considerations for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic in informal urban settlements
The potential health impacts of COVID-19 are immense in informal settlements, but if control measures are poorly executed these could also have severe negative impacts. Public health interventions must be balanced with social and economic interventions, especially in relation to the informal economy upon which…
Matthew Thompson on new municipalism
What is New Municipalism? Matthew Thompson, author of the article What’s so new about new municipalism? published in February 2020, walks us through the evolution of the concept of new municipalism starting from its origins, passing through international municipalism as a way of the sharing…
People-powered local politics can save democracy from populism
In the current context of crisis created by the COVID-19 the importance of people-focused local politics has never been more vital. Across the world, social solidarity in the shape of mutual aid networks, food banks, online support groups, and even acts. Photo: Jeswin Thomas
Public ownership in times of coronavirus
People around the world are rallying to fight privatisation and to bring services back under public control. In tandem with the failure of private corporations to provide affordable and good-quality services – such as health, water, education, energy and transportation – support for remunicipalisation is…
Organizing under lockdown: online activism, local solidarity
The coronavirus pandemic is confronting us with unprecedented contradictions. The foundations of neoliberal capitalism are crumbling before our eyes, as governments in the EU are taking control over their economies in ways that would have been unthinkable just a few weeks ago. At the same…
The new municipalism (part 2)
In the second part of the New Municipalism series, Ross talks to Barcelona-based scholar-activist Laura Roth. She talks about the Spanish experience, particularly in relation to Barcelona en Comú, the movement party, which has been in minority government since 2014. Laura talked about a range…
New municipalism as space for solidarity
How can new municipalism develop a progressive localism and forge translocal solidarities? This article considers municipalism as a form of progressive localism, which on the one hand connects the local and the global through translocal solidarity, and on the other scales-up and becomes an alternative…