Inequality to equality

June 1st Assembly

From the discussion “From Inequality to Equalitty”.

We decided to ground our discussion by imagining inequality to equality in an area like Govan. We kind of wanted to describe what they looked like.

Inequality in Govan meant more; bookies, money lenders, off licenses, processed food, money lenders as physical characteristics as well as more desperation, worklessness, trauma, challenges.

It also meant less; fresh food, work, money to fuel consuming, resources, health leading to less meaning, power, voice and trust. It was less sense of coherence (which relates to the study of health as opposed to the study of disease).

So how do we transform this picture of an unequal community to one that is more equal. We acknowledged that it was helpful to look at this from two perspectives; horizon 1 being the things we could do to address some of the symptoms of inequality while horizon 2 identified some of the bigger structural changes that would make communities more equal.

Equal characteristics included more local power and resource, better physical and mental health, more even spread of resources. Horizon 1 actions included community gardens to improve physical health and access to good food. Also micro credit schemes and credit unions to provide accessible credit to counter the attraction of money lenders. Horizon 2 actions were more structural like monetary reform that would lead to big changes in things like debt and distribution of wealth between communities and sectors of society. Other structural changes which would contribute to more equal communities included redefining work to include the things people do that are of value to the community other than monetary value. Also re-evaluating the roles in society and the purpose served.

We thought that having more local control contributing to more local and more participative forms of democracy could be both horizon 1 and horizon 2. Local peoples assemblies could discuss what could be done now to make the community more equal and identify some practical steps that could be undertaken. They could also contribute to horizon 2 change in that they would contribute to wider structural change and to sense of coherence and therefore greater health.

Any comments or suggestions for next steps would be welcome. How do these findings fit with the area where you live? What should we do next?