What a year!

2015 was an incredible year politically – from the Conservatives winning big against the odds to Corbyn winning big against the odds. But it’s the even bigger things that concern and challenge us at Compass: the crisis of capitalism that can’t pay people enough to live a dignified life, climate change that leaves us with the hottest December on record, a crisis of solidarity with migrants and refugees coupled with a global rise in intolerance and fascism, the erosion of women’s rights and protections – and a system of democracy that can’t cope with any of these problems.

So this year, next year and for the foreseeable future we are going to think big and act big. Let’s start taking ourselves seriously. We want a good society so how are we going to create it – what ideas and who should we collaborate with to get us there? We have started doing some of that thinking this year and have huge plans for 2016. On the surface we know it has been a bit quiet – but we are digging deep and as ever will need your help and guidance about what we do going forward and how we do it.

Look out for a draft strategy paper articulating this thinking early in the new year to help shape our direction and challenge our ideas. Then join us at our annual gathering on March 5^th to debate them together.

For an organisation with such a small number of staff, we punch way above our weight. And we are able to do this because of the big hearts and minds of our members and supporters. Here is a taste of what we have done this year and what we plan to do next. We’re really excited to continue this journey with you.

Compass is changing and developing to meet the new times – after all what is the point of having a Compass and standing still?

We look forward to campaigning with you in 2016!

Upcoming events

2016 is going to be a big year – and already there are a couple of dates to put in your diary, details to follow:

– 5^th March, London – Compass Annual Gathering – this is open to everyone and gives you the chance to shape what Compass does, and how, over the next year. More info soon.

– 18th & 25th Feb, Birmingham – Anti-Austerity: But Pro What? A two-part workshop to create a common vision.

– 7^th May, Brighton – Brighton Rocks! Democracy Sucks? Creating a new democracy – a day participatory event and festival.

Great events in 2015

This year we held our second Change:HOW? festival of ideas, bringing together 100 speakers and 600 participants with small doses of hope on making change happen. We also held a sold out night at the iconic Roundhouse with over 700 participants and 15 speakers sharing their stories of struggle, oppression, hope and their visions for political and social change.

There were great events across the country including: Radical Hope in Sheffield which brought together a diverse group of progressives to start developing an ambitious vision of what devolution and a citizen’s constitutional convention could look like; Together we can! In Liverpool; and Movement Building in Birmingham with Zoe Williams.

Exciting Projects

We’ve started working on some very exciting projects – from modelling a citizen’s income (it’s possible – Finland has already announced they’re introducing one), to looking at what political parties, the state and a citizen’s constitutional convention could look like. We’re continuing our work building progressive alliances inside and outside of parliament, working with people like Caroline Lucas MP, Lisa Nandy MP and Jon Trickett MP, alongside grassroots campaigns, think tanks, NGOs and academics.

We’ve started to have difficult and desperately needed conversations about how Compass can understand and challenge structural and systemic oppressions – from racism and sexism to ableism – and how we move from discussion to practice. If you want to get involved in any of these projects, and especially around power & privilege, please email Jacqui.

We’re creating big visions with two major projects launching in early 2016 – one in the lead up to the London mayoral and assembly elections, the other on the kind of Europe we want and the institutions we need to build to get it. Both these projects are around experimenting with real systems change ideas and putting into practice the politics Compass speaks of: kindness, empathy, openness, inclusivity, and radical democracy. So there’ll be loads of space to get involved, shape and participate.

All of this just touches on a few of the projects and ideas we’re working on… Here some of our favourites to read and listen to from 2015.

Publications we love

Big Education: learning for the 21^st Century – A vision for an open, expansive, lifelong education system.

Finding our voice: making the 21^st Century state – A collection of essays. The assembled authors share a trust in people to shape the state and see handing control over to people as essential.

The Osborne Supremacy – On why progressives have to develop a hegemonic politics for the 21st century.

Our favourite food for thought

The new Jerusalem at our feet – New forms of democracy have been created experimenting with a politics independent of party, and attempting to transform the state in the process, for example in Porto Alegre, Coin Street, Marsh Farm, Newcastle.

To count for nothing: poverty beyond the statistics – We need to understand how people living in poverty are ‘othered’ and truly acknowledge their agency.

Rethinking migration for a good society – How we can conceive of a fair and more just migration policy which is more in tune with a world in which ‘people just move’ than with anti-immigration sentiment and xenophobia.

Downfall: Is Labour Dead and can radical hope be rebuilt? – As relevant now as it was after the election – if the Labour Party is to connect with these social and cultural forces then it can help deliver a good society; but everything about the party is going to have to change. Can it?

News from our friends

If you want to catch up on what happened in the economy over the last year, check out the lively and engaging Weekly Economics Podcast with an overview of the year from our friends at NEF. It also includes a brilliant 5 part series on neoliberalism that’s not to be missed.