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Why run Community Assemblies?



It’s time to decide for ourselves, together!

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

We must end all fossil fuels and transition towards a society shaped by ordinary peoples’ recommendations for social and ecological justice that arise out of deliberative democracy processes. XR believe that we need citizens’ assemblies to allow ordinary people to come up with fair, long-term solutions for the most pressing issues of our times.

The reason for XR’s third demand for a citizens assembly on climate and ecological justice isn’t well understood, but experiencing community assemblies in our local communities can open the conversation about how deliberative democracy can work at a national level.

When we organise Community Assemblies in our local areas around the UK, people experience a new and empowering way of improving their quality of life. This can be done in ways that require more or less work, depending on what your Local Group objectives are.

Community Assemblies will be:

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Locally embedded: How Community Assemblies are run is completely up to your organising group. You can follow the guidance here, or try out a local variation. Every community is different, so you need to do this in a way that has meaning for those taking part.

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Collaborative: Community Assemblies are most interesting and enriching when they are attended by people from all kinds of backgrounds. You are more likely to achieve diverse participation if you work with a range of organisations and community groups and plan your Community Assembly collaboratively.

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Goal-oriented - Although taking part in a Community Assembly is an empowering experience, it’s not an end in itself. So when you co-design your local Community Assembly, an important part of your plan should include what you want to do with the outcomes.

By organising local Community Assemblies, we can:

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  • open conversations about XR's 3rd demand for a Citizen's Assembly on Climate and Ecological Justice
  • grow our local networks by continuing to build local alliances around issues we are all concerned about, perhaps even starting a local campaign or project in collaboration with other groups.
  • provide people with a forum where they can hear about, deliberate and decide on local issues that affect community lives everyday.
  • invite local politicians and candidates to build positive relationships and ask if they support the CE Bill to further climate and ecological protections.
  • keep pressure on local authorities to recognise the climate emergency.
  • spread the word about deliberative democracy to empower people by showing what outcomes could be achieved.

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Ready to co-create a beautiful bonding experience in your community alongside your local allies? Continue reading through this book for resources to help with runnning a Community Assembly. Let's bring deliberative democracy into our communities to show them the power of deciding together!

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