I have just finished reading Red Tory by Phillip Blond and before that The Big Society by Jesse Norman. It would seem that there is a strand within UK conservative politics that concerns itself with building community, supporting co-operative movements and not pursing wealth and material gain for its own sake. I guess I have not really taken much notice of this movement before and I just kept believing the old left and right wing stereotypes.
Not being in the UK it is difficult to know how these ideas are influencing policy within the coalition government though from the South Atlantic it looks as if the Big Society has become just another empty political slogan.
I got to thinking about this as I tried to work out what political party I would join if I lived in the UK or Australia for that matter. I have never been a union person (I once committed the cardinal sin in Australia of crossing a union picket line as I do not believe that nurses should strike) but I guess I have always been more sympathetic towards the left. Probably because I have never really been too fussed about making money or accumulating stuff.
Now I hear that there is a counter movement called Blue Labour and I have ordered the book as it sounds very interesting.
Why does any of this matter? In our context I think it is very important that on St Helena we start to analyse the political climate. There is no doubt where the external forces of DFID/UK are pushing us. Towards a private sector, strategic goal driven economy. While there is no doubt that past inefficiencies within Government have lead to stagnation I am wary of completing embracing the new agenda. This is not because I am against economic development, I recognise the need for this with airport development, and the need for greater prosperity but it needs to be done organically. I certainly do not agree with the mantra that a 'rising tide lifts all boats' simply because if a boat is on a short chain or leaking it is not going to happen. Many of the people who are calling me to ask for help with various problems suffer chronic illness, are in debt or had problems at school so they are not in a position to take advantage of economic prosperity. This is not an argument for an enlarged welfare state, though we must make sure that our welfare reforms are actually supporting those in need, but is an argument to ensure that we are not leaving people behind. Our strength is that we are a small enough community to develop relationships with those at risk so that we can work with them to support them to overcome the obstacles they face.
All good words but what does it really mean? I think it means just that. Developing relationships, listening to people, being prepared to accept that we do not all have the same goals and aspirations. We will not agree on everything but we must be prepared to listen to each other. My feeling is that we are being asked to follow the path of economic development and chase the tourist dollar without any real appreciation of the stresses that our community is facing now. There is an element of blind faith that economic development will give us enough money to then start tacking the problems in our community. What I have learned from Red Tory and The Big Society is that we cannot achieve sustainable economic development if we do not first strengthen resilience within the community. The cohesiveness within our community is starting to break down and the signs are there for us to see, alcohol abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence, depression, are all indicators that we as a community are suffering.
It is not either/or, we need economic development but we need as a community to be part of the change. If we don't we may not have a community.
As the Bruce Springsteen song goes:
I'll wait for you
And if should fall behind
Wait for me
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