A butterfly can change the world. I remember learning this at university and was reminded of it recently watching Adam Curtis’ mind-blowing documentary “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”.
Set over six episodes, Curtis starts by taking us on the journey of a Trinidadian immigrant, a Chinese actress, an English model and an American writer to tell the story of how the old power of empire and hierarchy started feeling challenged and tried to hold onto the vestiges of power in deeply melancholic and fearful ways. The consequences of this were, for example, preventing black people from renting flats, a female model from earning more than her posh husband, Mao’s wife from being an ambitious individual or a writer seeing through conspiracy theories.
This story is encapsulated when an immigrant from a former colony of the British Empire comes to the UK and is surprised that our society isn’t the self-confident nation it portrays itself as but fearful and lost.
Then Curtis shows how mass consumerism distracts people from the monotony of living freely and loneliness. It even co-optsrevolutionary ideals and slogans, while antidepressants are used to blot out people’s anxieties about trying to keep up with the Joneses and potentially blot out a sense of injustice they see all around them.
This continues with politicians losing power to economic elites and delegating power to them not to communities but to technocratic structures that can make rational decisions without the pressure of the electorate.
Old power, a term used to describe traditional hierarchical forms of domination, is contrasted with new power, which is more self-organised and networked, based on solidarity and participation. These concepts are central to understanding power dynamics in society and their impact on communities.
Meanwhile, throughout the period after the Second World War, the struggle for freedom and human rights led to legislative, if not tangible, change for people from oppressed backgrounds.
While old power has managed to cling tightly by reinventing itself, a new power has won victories. However, this is within what seems like an inevitable journey towards greater individualism where there may no longer be such a thing as society. Yet, the rise of new power offers a glimmer of hope, inspiring us to imagine a future where power is more inclusive and diverse.
In “New Power”, Timms & Heimans compare old and new power, as shown in the diagram above. What’s interesting about their analysis is that they see old power as representing the traditional hierarchical forms of domination — from the family to class through to power, which manipulates people to become consumers and no longer citizens. New power is more self-organised and networked, based on solidarity and participation.
For instance, the Diggers, Toussaint Louverture, and the Suffragettes are all examples of new power in action. However, it’s important to note that new energy is not always inherently positive. For instance, while Facebook and Uber use networked practices, they are propped up by top-down closed investors, blurring the lines between old and new power.
Many people would equate the internet to new power in the way it encourages collaboration, but this can be both genuine and a way to capitalise on people’s networked practices to get them to spend more.
Context
In our neighbourhoods, we have very different people and communities living side by side, living different lifestyles, and having different needs and opportunities at different moments of their lives. How do we help neighbourhoods become more resilient?
We can also see emerging trends in how people look after themselves and their loved ones, changes in family, friendship, and work structures affecting how people interact in their neighbourhoods, and the increasing divide between people who can take advantage of these opportunities and those who can’t, without forgetting the impact of unaffordable housing on the social makeup of neighbourhoods.
There is increasing uncertainty about the political, economic, and social challenges to come, as well as the emerging changes in how people work, live, and consume.
Build inclusive & diverse sources of power.
New & old power in terms of behaviours.
National Alliance of Domestic Workers
Distrust of hierarchical institutions while also having a desire for protection and identity
We have moved from citizen to consumer, and we think people have lost the ability or desire to deliberate, let alone create new power sources.
While new power is often perceived as being more deliberative and participative, it’s not always about wanting to build power. In some cases, new power can be perceived as ‘fluffy ‘, lacking in substance and not necessarily leading to meaningful change.
The way we build power needs to be inclusive and diverse. It’s about bringing in and connecting different voices and ways of creating power — politicians, artists, campaigners, entrepreneurs, organisers. This approach empowers us all, motivating us to contribute to a more inclusive and diverse society.
Tirana, Bogota and Porto Alegre. Barcelona En Comu and The Alternative in Denmark are examples of where they have created coalitions that have taken political power. During the pandemic, there were great collaborations between public services, businesses & communities.
Show how power can be created at a human scale.
You can also create powerful symbols and visual identities that bring to life the type of power you want to create, like Bologna’s Office of the Imagination, Civic Square’s Dept of Dreams, Barking & Dagenham’s Everyone Everyday, or Think & Do in Camden. These examples inspire us to think creatively about how we can visually represent the power we want to build in our communities.
Develop social contracts that bind the people that make the place
We need to develop a social contract that shows the different relationships we want to build with residents — Paris’ 15 Minute City and Participatory Budgeting or New Zealand’s Wellbeing Budget — and that creates more substantial commitments from institutions, like Wales’ Future Generations Act, Preston Model, Amsterdam Doughnut, Stockholm Climate Contract
Create new policy levers that expand the possibilities
UK’s Climate Change Act or the Human Rights Act, New Zealand’s Wellbeing Budget and thinking about new levers like a Community Wealth Fund, Universal Basic Services or Universal Basic Income
Can the rights we’ve fought for be upheld by collaborative networks where everything can be changed immediately?
Is old power still relevant in representing the diversity of people in our communities?
Can new power develop strong ties among people to build social cohesion?
Bridging old and new power
- What are the infrastructures — like new forms of cooperative or community wealth funds — we can build to embed the “new behaviour” values & principles of collaboration, sharing & decentralisation?
- What assets are needed to support people using and building new power in their communities, like universal basic income/services/infrastructure?
- How do we root new power in the distinctive identities of our neighbourhoods so that it builds on past collective struggles and creates the space for hope & imagination at a local level?
- How can we build new economic power at a local level so that communities can create wealth that isn’t co-opted but collectively owned — like community wealth building or new forms of social / climate contract?
