Why I'm looking forward to Chain Reaction

Tomorrow I'll be at Chain Reaction 2009, an event that brings together many of the most exciting thinkers and doers involved in social action in the UK today.

One of the best things about it is that it's organised by Community Links, a project that has deep roots in London's east end and whose views have been shaped by the real-life experiences of people affected by poverty, poor life chances, and discrimination.

You can read a lot more here about who's speaking and attending. I'm looking forward to meeting people who are doing real good in real communities, as well as the politicians, academics and others who are charged with seeing the big picture and developing policies to fit.

One thing events like Chain Reaction show is how much enthusiasm and creativity there is within communities, even at a time when the economy remains mired in recession. It's an important counterpoint to the political narratives on offer, which revolve around an often unproductive debate about the role of the state.

Yesterday David Cameron, the Conservative leader, made an important speech about his view of 'big society' as opposed to big government. It was important because it modified, in tone if not hugely in substance, his party conference speech which was more of a swashbuckling libertarian attack on big government.

Yesterday's speech set out a role for the state in enabling local governance and individual responsibility, and aimed to position the Conservatives as the best party to tackle poverty. Perhaps because it was geared to a liberal audience rather than a conservative one, it accentuated the positive role of the state as well as the negative, and accepted a desire to tackle the causes of poverty as common ground.

'We all know, in our hearts, that as long as there is deep poverty living systematically side by side with great riches, we all remain the poorer for it,' David Cameron declared. (This may well be the case, though we should note that the better-off have been able to stomach an astonishing amount of this systemic poverty over the years).

He repeated his argument, however, that big government, by undermining personal and social responsibility 'ends up perpetuating poverty instead of solving it'.

This is a more nuanced version of the 'broken Britain' argument, which I've discussed previously.

Broken or not, Britain has spawned a huge amount of social action in recent years. Community Links is a fine example of that; so is the burgeoning movement to link social media with local action. The fact that 400 enthusiasts are descending on Canary Wharf tomorrow to talk about how to make Britain a fairer society shows there's no lack of interest; and the fact that many of them are involved in hands-on projects that are helping to make a better world shows that there's still plenty of individual and social responsibility where it matters.

Where Britain is at its most broken, you'll find a surprising number of people who have rolled their sleeves up and are doing their bit to help. Neither government, nor politicians, charities or social entrepreneurs have a moral monopoly here. The point is about finding ways to work together.



Related posts:

'Break down the hate and bring out the kindness'

Progressive Conservatism and the Pilkington fallacy

It's not fair!