What is CfC?
CfC is a pan-Ireland network which enables grassroots activists to work together under a shared vision for a caring and resilient world that is good for people and planet. We open the space for mutual support, shared learning and collaborative action because we believe that when we work together we can be more effective in bringing about change.
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Who is CfC?
Collaboration for Change (CfC) has a small team that handles admin and communication. We are Noeleen, Marian, Mary, Patricia, Neil, Stevie, and Bridget.
However, CfC is led and driven by all of its members, making it a collaborative and participatory activist initiative. CfC involves people who are already working for progressive change whether that be in women’s rights, workers’ rights, transgender rights, disability rights, young people’s rights, LGB rights, participatory democracy, monetary reform, a Basic Income, cooperatives and democratic workplaces, community banking, local currencies, environmental protection, zero waste, the cultural and urban commons.
We are non-governmental, we have no membership fees, and we get by on little or no funding (which allows us more independence in the work we choose to do).
Who can join?
Anybody who has a desire for progressive change is welcome to get involved – whether you already work on a progressive project or whether you simply understand that our current system isn’t working and you want to do something about that.
Why was CfC established and why now?
Despite the wholesale acceptance of TINA (that There Is No Alternative to the way things are) we believe not only is there an alternative, but that it is entirely achievable.
Our current situation is one where there is a mismatch between our lived context and what we aspire to. We understand clearly that this has consequences for our wellbeing and for those coming after us, and we are frustrated.
We feel unsettled by having to act within the context of significant uncertainty and lack of power.
On the one hand we struggle with a scarcity mentality which encourages an excessively competitive and callous culture, and reinforces segregation, tribalism, polarity and fragmentation. We are increasingly disconnected from natural ecologies.
And yet, on the other hand, we do act in abundance motivated by a sense of hope and a certain amount of feeling we have nothing to lose. We see the best parts of ourselves as being people capable of independent thought and contributing to the common good. We see reasons to be hopeful in our curiosity and resilience, and in our joining with others who seek to go on a similar journey.
There is power in small things, and people and initiatives are already on the move.
Is our current way of life really in need of change?
The short answer is yes. Let’s look at some of the headline challenges we all face.
Wealth inequalities are at obscene levels. Just 10% of the world’s population owns about 80% of the world’s wealth. The other 90% of the population must make do with what’s left. In apple pie terms, that’s akin to dividing a 10-slice pie among 10 people so that 1 person gets 8 slices and the other 9 people share 2 slices.
The income gap is wider than ever before. There’s something very wrong in a world where a CEO can earn £150,000 a week while a minimum wage brings in around £250 a week. Jobs are becoming more casualised too with the rise of the gig economy, part-time and shift work, and zero-hours contracts. At the same time, while most of us feel the squeeze on our weekly wage and struggle under the triple threat of rising costs, austerity and debt, corporate profits have reached unprecedented levels reaching £10-£15 billion per year.
The one and only economic model we follow is based on continuous growth. In a world of finite resources it’s a failing model. Economic recession is the norm with outright crashes brought about by financial recklessness of a few people. And to rub salt into the wounds, when the economy crashes, it’s public money that pays for the losses made by the few while the many have to tolerate cuts and austerity.
If that wasn’t bad enough, our taxation systems aid and abet these wealth extremes with tax incentives and loopholes. It’s estimated that tax havens handle an unrecorded global wealth that is lost to public taxes around the world and amounting to around $18.5 trillion.
So what can we do?
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and discouraged when you start thinking about all of this, it’s easy to believe it’s just the way things are, that there’s no alternative, as though these problems are laws of nature like gravity.
However, the truth is these things aren’t laws of nature, they’re man-made. We can make them over again but better, not individually or in isolation but together in collaboration. All the solutions to these problems already exist. Brilliant, practical, achievable solutions that put people and the planet first, that give us a society based on equality and cooperation not competition and greed. By working together we have the power to reimagine our way of life for the better.