Invitation: Models for Social Change

This email came through from St Paul's Institute yesterday - I thought it looked interesting and thought others might agree. Get in touch with them directly if you fancy going, but do let us know so we can link up.

I'm writing to invite you to a forthcoming seminar that we are hosting at St Paul's Cathedral, taking place on Tuesday 25^th September at 6.30pm.  Details for this event can be found below in full, and if you would like to register to attend (places are limited) then please do respond to this email with your full name and, if you wish, organisation.  

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Models for Social Change: New Debate and Democracy
SEMINAR

Date: 25th September 2012

Venue: Wren Suite, St Paul's Cathedral

Time: 6.30pm - 8.00pm

Held in conjunction with Our Democratic Heritage, this seminar will cover themes of direct democracy, technology and its impact on social campaigning, and the way in which we can help promote and facilitate public discourse that explores the meaning of the common good.   

What could be considered the successes and failures of Occupy's political experiment with direct democracy, and where is Occupy now? How is technology and social media changing the way we communicate political ideas and campaigns? What can be learned from other models of representative democracy such as Citizens UK or models used throughout Europe and more broadly, and in what way might St Paul's continue to be a centre for public discourse?

Speakers:

Neil Jameson - Chief Executive of Citizens UK and Lead Organiser for London Citizens

Dr Sara Hagemann - Lecturer in EU Politics, London School of Economics and Political Science

Ludovica Rogers - Facilitator of General Assemblies and part of the Occupy London media group

Dr Dan Plesch - Director, Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy (SOAS) and Co-Founder of Our Democratic Heritage

Chaired by Canon Dr Angus Ritchie - Director, The Contextual Theology Centre

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I look forward to seeing many of you there, and as always if you are not able to make the event itself you will be able to view it in full on our website a few weeks afterwards  - www.stpaulsinstitute.org.uk

All the best and kind regards,

Robert

Robert Gordon
St Paul's Institute Manager 

 

St Paul's Cathedral Institute
3b Amen CourtLondon EC4M 7BUTel.  +44(0)20 7489 1011
Fax. +44(0)20 7489 3104
Web. www.stpaulsinstitute.org.uk 

Justice Matters update

The next Justice Matters pub discussion is this Wednesday (2nd May).  We're going to be talking about the upcoming local and Mayoral elections, why it's important we cast our vote, thinking about some of the policy ideas being put forward and debating the options.

You might like to look at the London Elects website beforehand, but don't worry if you're clueless about the election - you're just as welcome!

We'll be at The Cavalier pub in Whetstone from 8pm and we look forward to seeing you there!

UPDATE
Good turnout to our discussion on the London Mayoral and Assembly elections, and democracy in general. Thanks to Viv and Andy for the excellent provocation and everyone for taking part. Our next gathering is on the 16th May at Coffee Republic. In the meantime, don't forget to vote!

Summer Programme

One of the comments we received as part of our recent away day (full report coming soon) was that members wanted more information ahead of time on when our gatherings were happening and what they were going to be about. In response to this, we have sought to develop and share our summer programme in good time. I think you'll agree, we have an exciting and action packed term ahead of us. We hope you will join us over the coming months as we "learn to do right, seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the cause of the fatherless and plead the case of the widow". First, some information about our main, structured gatherings. These take place on the third Wednesday of the month at Coffee Republic. Refreshments available from 7:30pm.

16 May: Activist networking evening

It is said, "if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." With that in mind, this is an evening designed to meet and get to know other activists, through sharing stories and exploring the inspiration of our passion for justice. Our members told us they wanted more opportunities to get to know each other better - this is you opportunity to do just that.

20 June: Human trafficking and modern slavery

More people are held in slavery right now than during the entire course of the trans-Atlantic slave trade - a market that generates profits in excess of £6bn annually. Come and find out more about this injustice and how we can tackle it from anti-trafficking charity, International Justice Mission.

18 July: Older people

Like it or not, we are all getting older. However, in a society obsessed with youth, the experience of ageing is not always positive. Join us to learn more about the challenges facing older people from Justice Matters founding member and AgeUK policy officer, Lizzie Feltoe.

In addition to these structured gatherings, we will continue to hold informal discussion sessions on the first Wednesdays in the month. These start at 8pm and take place a various venues around the Finchley area. The next one of these will take place on 2nd May and will look at democracy and the London elections. Further sessions will take place on the 6th June and 4th July (venues TBC). We look forward to seeing you!