Last year we produced a series of blogs aimed at highlighting the ways in which political decisions and policy making in Glasgow have had a largely negative effect on the city’s supposed aims of being fair and sustainable. Although the city council seems to recognise the significance of cities as drivers of effective change and indeed aspires to be a “world class city,” we argue that its approach is one that is essentially pragmatic, entrepreneurial and reliant on capitalism. It boasts about its involvement in a form of municipalism and funded research networks which focus on redesign, resilience, and experimentation to respond to the climate crisis, and to different forms of inequality and deprivation. However none of these connections and initiatives address the root causes of these problems.
As you will know if you have searched our website, SANE subscribes instead to radical municipalism. We are seeking a fundamental break with the way that Glasgow and other cities which present themselves as progressive are organised. At the heart of this, there needs to be a shift in power from the top down to the bottom up. What matters in the every-day should be placed at the heart of decision making about politics, the economy and society. Achieving this requires the active engagement of citizens in face to face, non-hierarchical assemblies where people of varied backgrounds and perspectives can come together to work on shared understandings of problems and search for common ground and action, that is to say, in deliberative dialogue.
The radical municipalist hypothesis is that through these types of assemblies, dual power emerges. Firstly, there is a shifting of existing state power as the institutions which maintain this power become occupied and transformed. At the same time, new ways of working begin to surface as people get together into different forms of social movements and practices. That radical municipalism focuses on cities and towns is not that there is something intrinsically beneficial about these arrangements but because of the way that people’s lives intertwine at this scale, they are where people are most likely to encounter each other and where the possibility of assembly is enhanced.
The drive towards the type of change that radical municipalism aims to bring about has arisen in response to the crises that we are facing at the moment – environmental change, the depletion of natural resources, the costs of living, widening inequalities, all products of a capitalist economy. Four themes have been identified which are seen as the most effective ways of countering these crises – the democratisation of political decision-making which is outlined above, economic reorganisation, feminisation of politics, and ecological transformation. We will explore the meaning of these in more detail in subsequent blogs but in summary these themes encourage the remodelling of the economy towards what is ‘foundational’ for everyone – food and water, housing, education, energy, care, culture and so on. Further, they challenge dominant, masculinist ways of thinking and working which are hierarchical, competitive and authoritarian. Ecological transformation is concerned with the way that human nature and non-human nature can co-exist in harmony.
Different cities around the world have begun journeys in which the ideas of radical municipalism have started to take shape but the struggle is a difficult one. What might work in one place might not work in another. Glasgow has a strong history of resistance to imbalances of power and oppression and experimentation with alternatives. Why not join us and become radical municipalists too.
If you want to join in the discussion about the way forward let us know, if you are inspired by our dreams and want to contribute financially to our work, why not become a member of SANE?
LINKS
This blog is based around an article by Roth, Russell and Thompson (2023): Politicising proximity: Radical municipalism as a strategy in crisis
Examples of Glasgow’s involvement in different networks and research interventions include:
The Resilient Cities Network
GALLANT – Glasgow as a Living Lab Accelerating Novel transformation
Fantastic blog which succinctly captures the vision and processes of RM.
Many thanks 🙏