What civilization amounts to in the present day is approximately eight billion people trying to be happy while trying to push each other out of the way, kick each other's heads in, and screw each other over usually through some organization. No matter however which way you look at this, this is not a pleasant situation.
But see you can take a step back and look at your environment and see that we have the money and resources. We have the infrastructure, the scientific and medical understanding, the technological know how, the creativity, the intelligence and the empathy and the love, and the sense of community, to create and develop a kind of human paradise.
But all too often we are confronted by the least among us being in positions of power and authority, often the least competent, the least intelligent, the least honest and noble. But the real issue is that there is usually little pushback and we do not fight back against the dehumanizing values which are handed down to us as cultural control icons. All too often we submit, we acquiesce, we give in and look the other way. Therefore all too often culture works against you and politicians are not your friends. Culture exists for the benefit of organizations, institutions and hierarchy. Culture does not exist for the benefit of individual people.
What is the Community Forum?
The Community Forum is a series of meetings created for community members to come together and have a frank and free discussion of community and social issues which are affecting their lives. This is so as to develop a consensus of local community culture without any involvement of any organization, local authority or corporation. It's just people coming together in community to talk about the stuff which directly affects their lives and their communities.
You see culture is a very important part of language, which we all use to communicate and interact with each other. Language is after all the central human reference point for life and existence. Culture and cultural awareness is the kind of conscious awareness we share with other people and it exists on many different levels in accordance with the social groups we find ourselves in - from individual families and even friendships to entire communities, cities, and even regions and whole countries. Cultural awareness influences pretty much every aspect of your life, the way you speak, the way you think, the way you present yourself to others and even the way you style your hair and the clothes you choose to wear. It also influences your attitude to life.
The main issue when it comes to culture in the community, especially local communities is that you get organizations making decisions which affect everybody living in a community, and all too often you get organizations which are promising changes in the community. But see organizations are fixed entities, collectives of people, and collectively organizations cannot change anything in a community. It's necessary to understand here that all organizations, and even some departments of government, are fixed rigid entities with mission statements and policies, and when they implement changes in local communities in accordance with their policies, missions and objectives, usually those changes are detrimental to both communities and individual people.
It is a fundamental part of democracy that any such changes which are undertaken in a local community need to take place as part of a community process, and not - as is often happens somewhere like the UK - on the whims and policy decisions of some organization. All local communities have a specific form and structure, which is determined collectively by the local community, and when too many changes are implemented by organizations, this form and structure of a community, and much of its identity, gets destroyed and irreversibly changed. This usually works to the detriment of local communities, indiviual people in those communities, and ultimately such changes end up being detrimental to the organizations and local authorities which serve the local communities.
Therefore the whole point of our Community Forum is to create space and opportunity for members of a local community to come together to discuss community and social issues in a frank and free manner to somehow reach a broad social consensus and determine what the local community culture is on a given issue. This is a process which needs to be done by members of a local community without any involvement or moderation by organizations to allow for the community process to develop and take shape. This community process will influence and shape the identity of a local community and it is this identity which can be communicated back to organizations such as local authorities and other associated organizations.
This community process can be called social design. This is something which has never really happened anywhere in the UK. Things happen in local communities randomly, chaotically, and nobody has really bothered about the actual aesthetics of a local community and whether the infrastructure within a local community actually works in favour of everyone living in that local community. All too often changes are made in a community s a result of petitioning, protests, and a great deal of arguing, when often what is needed is simple, straightforward cooperation and collaboration between representatives of a local community (people), local authorities and organizations.
The Community Forum has no set agenda
Very much like the community meetings, the Community Forum has no set agenda, and functions on the exact same principles as our community meetings, in that to participate in our Community Forum all you need to do is turn up with an open mind, prepared to share a narrative of your experiences. The Community Forum is something we are initially looking to set up in our community space in Nine Elms as a form of social design to connect with the concept of 'future visioning' which is currently practised by Wandsworth Council. We feel that there is plenty of scope and opportunity for cooperation and collaboration between the Community Forum and what the Council is doing.
As there is no set agenda, there is no restriction or limitation on what subjects or topics which can be discussed at the Community Forum. We can discuss issues, we can discuss ideas, we can discuss proposals and changes for the local community, we can discuss anything which in some way contributes to development of culture and social progress in the local community in which we live.
How you can get involved
This webpage is intended to serve as a catalyst for discussions on our Community Message Board. Therefore if you are interested in participating in our Community Forum and want to get involved it is enough for you to joiun the Qultura community by registering on our Community Message Board and participating in the discussions on the Community Message Board.
Alternatively once registered on the Community Message Board you can contact Stella by direct message and ask specific questions and get specific information.