People's Republic of Southwark
In too many areas of our lives, there's an inexplicable amount of tribalism, in which our tribe was better/more interesting/more important/more everything than your one, very much like 'people's front of Judea or people's Judean front'. This never made much sense, especially not when it comes to the planet, which, whether we like it or not, belongs to all of us, and to which we all equally matter.
Initially, we set up the People's Republic of Southwark website (http://www.peoplesrepublicofsouthwark.co.uk) hoping to bring together all the tribes of Southwark and encourage them to share the knowledge, skills and information. The initial idea, like all ideas, evolved, and we decided to bring the ideas out to people through events, as not everyone is online all of the time. In August 2008, we organised the first Southwark Freecycle event and then became a travelling theatre of ideas, and went to Peckham Green Fayre in September, The Synergy Centre in Camberwell in October, The Spike in November, Camberwell in January, Loughborough Junction in February, Stave Hill in March etc.
The key idea for the events is to show how anyone can be doing little or big things and how everything we do does make a difference. The events themselves have been evolving so that the November one included a free shop, a seed swap, an amazing invisible food project and an ongoing art project. February one had the bike power workshop, March was the month to build ladybird houses. Events are open to everyone willing to share their time and stories and we are hoping to create spaces for discussions, one-off or ongoing workshops and everything and anything that people think is worth sharing.
If any of you reading this would like to contribute in any way, do let us know.
