Community Assemblies

Community Assemblies provide a way for people to organise locally and to experience the power of deliberative democracy to make progress on the issues that are most important to a community. To choose our future, mitigate power and empower our communities, Community Assemblies are a powerful tool. This book gives you all you need to get the best from your experience. Your Community Assembly can also demonstrate how XR's third demand for a Citizen's Assembly on Climate and Ecological Justice could work. Locally organised assemblies empower ordinary people to open converations with allies about our Third Demand, and to talk to their politicians and local or unitary authorities on the opportunity for creating change via a Citizen's Assembly at a national level. Community Assemblies can: 👥 Show what more inclusive democracy looks like 🤝 Strengthen our local alliances by collaborating with other organisations 👔 Keep up the pressure on politicians by inviting them along!

What Are Community Assemblies?



A community assembly is local people hearing, deliberating & deciding about local issues that affect community lives everyday.

The current political system is failing to take the actions we need.

It’s time to decide for ourselves, together!

Let's bring deliberative democracy into our communities to show them the power of deciding together!

By organising local Community Assemblies, we can…

Ready to co-create a beautiful bonding experience in your community alongside your local allies?

Then check out our Community Assembly Resources.

Citizens' Assemblies, People's Assemblies and Community Assemblies
XR uses three different kind of assemblies, which have some similarities and some differences: DifferentAssembliesRGB.jpg

You can find out more about the differences between the three possible models here Bear in mind too, that different organisations have different names for assemblies and there are a wide variety of structures and processes across the deliberative democracy spectrum. It's a rewarding learning curve!

Resources to Run an Assembly

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Local Group Pack

Support

We’d love to know if you are planning a Community Assembly in your local area so that we can support you with any questions you have, help obtain expert advice and possibly help provide facilitation. Please:

Community Assembly Manual

Community Assembly Facilitation Guide

Community Assembly Trainings & Open Calls

Communications.

There's lots to do in advance and afterwards (especially to support any funding bid). We've got your back... If you need support on organising press releases, getting your assembly on XR's Events Map, or getting broadcasts out, if you can get your support request in as early as possible, you have the best chance of getting support. Go here to request Comms Support.

Working with the Press.

An important part of your communications plan for the assembly will be sharing your event with the press. This will include writing one or more press releases, and identifying the press contacts to share those with. To help with this please see the following resources:

Funding

For assemblies that happened before 17th January guidance is available on this page.

For assemblies happening in the future, or which have happened since 17th January, check out the General Fundraising Guidance.

Local / Combined Authorities Map

If consideraing involving politicians and officers in your community assembly or escalation plans check out the Local & Regional Authorities Map


If you have any questions on any of the above, please:

5 Step Escalation Plan

The Vision

Imagine a plan to make sure the interests of people and nature are taken into careful consideration in all decisions. How might our society look if none were left behind, as we transition together to a healthier, fairer society?

We have seen corporate offices and government buildings occupied all over the country in recent years, including those with the simple demand to follow the recommendations of a local community assembly on issues that are important to those campaigners.

Community assemblies are one tool in the toolbox of activists; they are a great way to bring people together, bridging divides and laying out practical steps towards fair and inclusive transformation and green transition. They can be one part of making our communities more resilient and bringing us closer to community influencers.

Without effective community decision-making, there can be no just transition; assemblies for the people, by the people help shifts in power.

We know the voices of local communities are systematically ignored or purposefully polarised and that things are getting worse. That’s why we need stronger, engaged communities and regular assemblies everywhere to ensure we are all heard in respectful, inclusive and effective ways.

To apply people powered pressure, you need to be clear who your target(s) is or are, e.g.

Do invite these key decision makers to your assembly, either as expert speakers (with speech parameters set by the organising group), or as general participants, like other members of the public. We want radical inclusivity, so get them onboard. If they say no, at least you know where you stand!

The XR Community Assemblies Campaign group believe that:

DEMOCRATIC ASSEMBLIES + DIRECT ACTION = FAIRER SOLUTIONS EVERYWHERE

and that there is another way to bring about change via a 5 step process...

A Simple 5 Step Plan

  1. Research:
  1. Prepare:
  1. Act:
  1. Occupy:
  1. Escalate:

More Info & Support

At the end of 2023, into early 2024, over twenty local XR groups had run community assemblies, badged and unbadged. When XR funding ran out, Humanity Project took up the mantle and continued supporting what they called 'POPS' (now 'Popular assemblies'). Since then, assemblies, peoples' assemblies, peoples' juries, etc. are happening regularly around the UK.

There are other organisations joining the push for upgrading our democracy, whom you can read about elsewhere in this book. That said, our focus in XR is our Third Demand for a Citizens' Assembly on Climate and Ecological Justice. The role of the Community Assemblies Campaign crew is in helping people understand the 3rd demand, through experiencing deliberative democracy where they are and seeing how this might work at a national level.

The assembly escalation plan has been based on a successful action by the Cornwall Climate Coalition, who consistently show what is possible with collaboration with local and district authorities. With some tailoring to the realities of specific authorities, there is no reason why their example can’t work elsewhere.

Assembly Escalation is a direct action campaign to build community resilience and elevate our Third Demand to encourage UK-wide conversations, starting at the grassroots and taking it to the pillars of power. Organising an assembly is sowing the seed at the local level for democratic change and opening conversations on a Citizens Assembly on Climate and Ecological Justice.

Community assemblies provide an opportunity to reach out to and build alliances with local community organisations, aligning with XR UK's values as far as possible. They offer one way to give local groups a more powerful voice and help to include a more diverse range of people and viewpoints.

We are stronger together, but unity does not mean uniformity. It is vital that local groups are prepared to stretch their comfort zones. We are all learning together through practising. We need to listen to the voices of other community groups and ensure that projects worked on together are done in the spirit of cooperation, mutual aid and common good.

Let's adapt, unite, build together with this proven tool in our community building toolbox.

Join the Assemblies Escalation group; the Community Assemblies team is here to help every step of our journey into upgrading our democracy together.

Massembly Resources

Massembly Resources

Massembly Links

Thank you for taking part in the Massembly

Please follow the links below to the following resources:

Massembly Information Cards

Click here to access Pol.is - Pol.is sometimes closed between assemblies or for an update

See a summary of the Massembly results from 31st August

See a summary of the Massembly results from 13th October

Find out what happens next


Massembly Resources

What happens next?

We hope that you have enjoyed taking part in the online assembly, and experiencing first-hand what it feels like to participate in deliberative democracy! Hopefully you should now have a clearer idea about how democracy could be upgraded and what XR is doing about it. So what happens next?

See the results from the original Massembly on 31st August in the summary report

Results from the 13th October online assembly will be incorporated once available

Encourage others to join the conversation

Join XR!

Other ways to learn more and get involved:

Massembly Resources

Summary of results from 31st August

Here are the results from Saturday 31st August's in-person and online Massemblies. We will publish the results incorporating further phases of the Massembly as they occur.

Over 450 people took part in our incredible Massembly at Upgrade Democracy, to discuss the question: "How can we take meaningful steps to Upgrade Democracy?"

1. Citizens' Assemblies and Participatory Democracy

2. Civic and Political Education

3. Accountability and Transparency in Politics

4. Political Reform and Representation

5. Environmental Protection and Rights of Nature

6. Building Trust and Confidence in Democracy

7. Long-term and Future-focused Governance

Massembly Resources

Have your say via Pol.is

Pol.is voting can be done here

At times Pol.is is closed between assemblies or for an upgrade.

Massembly Resources

Online Assembly

As a continuation of the Massembly in August, we are organising a further online assembly on Sunday 13th October, 18:30-21:00 to once again consider the question:

“How might we take meaningful steps to upgrade democracy?”

Bring your ideas and imagination, discuss these with others and decide together. This is deliberative democracy in action!

Register for the online assembly here

Note: We recommend joining on a laptop. Tech support will be available.

Be prepared!

What happens next

A summary of the results will be made available after the assembly, together with suggestions of steps to take forward.

More information on deliberative democracy:

Funding

Watch This Space! Meantime keep in touch with your Gardener, if you have one in your region or nation, they will be among the first to hear of any new funding support for your assemblies!

We recommend that local groups wanting to run a community assembly check out Rebel Toolkit General Fundraising Guidance.

POTENTIAL SOURCES OF FUNDS

There are now a number of players in the deliberative democracy space, some of which are either planning to access funding, or can help your organising group raise funds or match fund. Check out:

If you come across a funder of community assemblies, please tell us about your successes in what you asked for, from whom and how. Share a weblink if you have one via our Telegram Chat

Additional Learning

More Resources

If you are seeking one to one advice on how to organise or run your assembly, one of the Assemblies Escalation Working Group holds an 'ask anything and share experiences' drop in every Friday afternoon at 3pm. Drop in link.

Training and Support

Community Assembly Case Studies

Additional Guides to Deliberative Democracy

Books

Other Resources

Citizens' Assemblies

See Citizens' Assemblies information on the Toolkit here


Need More Help?

Join the Community Assemblies Telegram [chat channel](Invite link for this chat: https://t.me/+ESA_GQHHFBQxZmY0) Ask anything. Share your positive stories.

Email the Assemblies Escalation Campaign with your questions at communityassemblies@extinctionrebellion.uk