Mutual & Social Action in Lambeth

ORGANISING TOGETHER
IN LAMBETH
A Historical Review of
Co-operative and Mutual
Social Action
Sean Creighton
History & Social Action Publications
ISBN No. 978-09548943-5-1. £2

On Friday evening I went to the Open Space session on Lambeth's Co-operative Council initiative. Most of the 35 people who attended were green activists, especially in Brixton. While a wide range of concerns were raised, the perspective was very different from the one I had expected given the suspicion of Lambeth Council that is usually expressed at meetings involving activists in the community and voluntary sector. I suggested that a historic understanding of the rich history of mutual and social action was needed, along with an understanding of the deep-set Council cultural problems that have existed since the Borough was created in the mid-1960s. The initiative was seen as one which provided an opportunity to potentially change the culture of the way the Lambeth bureaucratic machine operates and to encourage large numbers of people actively engage in deciding the solutions they want to the problems they face or to fulfil their aspirations. I sold copies of my pamphlet review of co-operative and mutual social action in Lambeth.