Assembly 2015 - Report and pictures
26 February 2023
Annual Assembly, Saturday 7th February 2015, 11 am to 3.30 pm
UNITE premises on Middle Abbey Street, Dublin 1
Notes from the session ‘Activism since the Crisis: Reflection on Irish civil society’s actions and strategies for change’
Please find HERE Mary Murphy’s presentation.
Feedback from the group work following the presentation:
- This year is a key moment to set positive agendas, that are value based
- We should not waste 2016 by fighting over the space as civil society, use the space together
- We should progress from a narrow to more future-focused protest, Civil society not always progressive, good at seeing/solving problems, but not always solutions/setting the agendas
- Need to engage/ link with other campaign and movements
- Find new ways to re-energize communities – strong empowerment to setting the agenda
- Engage more with young people, outreach to 3rd level/transition year students. E.g. through Future News.
- Build more solidarity in Civil Society in times when funding is scarce
- Encountering marketization is to stress collective interests
- Political Society – Civil society fragmentation requires restricting/reversing the roles
- We should support positive collaborations, e.g. ‘Good Energies Alliance’ (shift from ‘anti fracking’ message) or ‘People’s Energy Charter’
- Do we need a left political alliance, do we have an Irish Syriza?
- Contribute to countering narratives/do Public Education
- Leave behind ‘corporate’ agendas
- Keep the focus on values
- Learn from others – international exchanges
- Harness energy from activist groups
- Involve Community /voluntary arm in collective bargaining
- Government initiatives such as PPN’s, Open Government Partnership, Constitutional Reform need to be better publicized
- Be self-critical – we (I) should do more
- Take risks
You will also find the outcomes of the discussions on the Declaration (which we had in the afternoon) on the website from end of March.