The Social Energy Collective

As we are being encouraged to save energy through utilities, waist, waisted food, reuse, carbon footprint, car-use and a whole range of ideas. Why not apply this to our social energy? We each have finite time and energy both physical and mental to spend on things. How do we ensure the best value for the expending of this energy? Particularly when it has become an ever increasing imperative to do so?

To make radical change

energy needs to be harvested and pointed in the right direction otherwise it dissipates and loses mass. The question asked here is. Where should it be directed? We can chose to be passive citizens and let thing be done to us. Or choose to be active citizens and do things for ourselves. This project is about doing things for ourselves. By finding ideas that are relevant, people can enjoy doing and can see the benefit of. By understanding where our power lies, exploring between the lines and working for a common good.

Value and money

Social energy is needed to resist the prioritisation of corporate interests we are burdened with. We need to preserve social energy to fight these things not give it away to the banks. Social energy is way more valuable than money. Social energy is time and when it is gone we don’t get it back. Money may work in the short term, but only if we have it and many do not.

Everyone has social energy.

Question is. How do we understand it in looking at present and future problems as well as goals? Money is a bad way to look at or value social energy, because those who control most of the money want to keep it all. If we only use money as a label of value, of worth, it limits the ways we can engage in the world for the obvious reason most folk don’t have much, or any. What we do have is expertise in the communities we live in. We either blow our energy in complaining to people who don't listen, or we use it to build an alternative to, make them listen.

We need something to work with

The Social Energy Collective works on the Dewy principal of not “what you learn” but “how you learn”. Meaning not just about exploring or solving particular problems. But about applying learning that is useful to all-sorts of problems. The city will be our learning board, this city Glasgow. What does it mean to us as citizens? How should it represent us? And how better can we become involved in making it a city (And in the long run a world) to be proud of?

Sharing and expanding

So this year will be about Building tools for conviviality. (Illich) or Building tools for constructive conversation and actions. We will set out to support and build the critical connections between a variety of community groups with different kinds of remits and activities to find avenues of solidarity. We will try to achieve this by not creating more work for people but by sharing and expanding on work already done or being developed

Joining the consultations is over

We have had all of the conversations we need. Consultations are the neoliberal, developers, comfort blanket. Discourse and sitting on panels and the fact finding mission is over. We have concluded by the evidence freely available that the only discourse that is needed is between ourselves. And for the authorities, we need accountability not probability. We need factual statements not the opinions of self interests. When they start to talk about that - then is the time for conversation. Now we need to plan.

Constructive discours

We should not be against discourse with those who are supposed to represent us. But we do not need to be invited to nor join panels that seek only to gain consensus from us to maintain the status quo, ignore us and get on with business as usual. Our meetings should be about our own agendas and making demands of those we pay to represent us. But we can't wait for them they have no interest in communities, the evidence is all around us. More's the fools us we allow them and deny our agency.