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Thoughts from Coatbridge residential participants

  • by Coatbridge residential participants
  • 17 December 2024
  • 3 minute read

Since April 2023, Carnegie UK has been working in partnership with members of the Poverty Truth Community across the UK and undertaking a series of deep listening exercises. The purpose of this work is to learn more about the reality and consequences of inequality in the UK, and together, to create a shared vision of what a society that puts collective wellbeing at the heart of decision-making could and should look like.  

Carnegie UK’s Life in the UK evidence tells us that democratic wellbeing is significantly low. In   2024, people from some of the Poverty Truth Commissions around the UK came together to discuss these findings, and what they mean for those living in hardship. Residential sessions in Manchester, Coatbridge and Swansea explored what a good democracy could look like, and what might change if decision makers took the time to really listen to the experiences of those living in poverty.  

At these residentials, participants worked together to create campaign placards, identifying their own political priorities. In this blog, people who attended the Coatbridge residential share some reflections on creating their placards.  

 

A group of us from The Poverty Truth Community had come together with others from the Poverty Truth Network and Carnegie UK for a second overnight residential in Coatbridge to talk about what democracy means to us. Hearing more about the research and adding our thoughts to conversations already had in Manchester and still to come in Swansea. Ensuring that it was grounded and alive in the stories, wisdom and learning of people living with poverty.  Talking of what would be a priority for us if we were Prime Minister for the day.

Our one final task together charged us with the challenge of creating a collage placard to sum up our thoughts from the day – our one important message.  We sat on the floor with magazines and pens and glitter and glue and we were ready.

We were ready to write our manifesto, our protest banner, our slogan to stand behind.

We were ready because we had listened so carefully to each other and held that wisdom as a collective.

And in the heat of the moment those ripped up piece of paper meant everything.

Because all the stories we had shared,

And all the people each of us thought of as we spoke, 

They mean everything too.

Collage

In the heat of the moment those ripped up bits of paper meant everything.

Finding the right image, the right colour, the right size.

Finding the scissors, the glue, that one piece that was suddenly lost.

Carefully curating.  Carefully creating.

Each tiny piece as big as the whole.

And the words.

The words.

The words of course weren’t hard to find.

We had sat with them for a day now.  They were still in the air.

We had listened to each other so carefully.

We had shared deeper than some of us had imagined.

We had talked about trust, about listening, about being heard.

About democracy, about wellbeing, about what it would mean if we combined the two.

About being ignored, being passed by, being impassioned, being unafraid.

The words were still in the air.