Sixty-three percent of the voting population did not vote for the Conservatives (there is no proportional voting in the UK as there is in Australia) but the 36% that did have endorsed another five years of grievance and fear. Another five years of a particular form of capitalism that understands economic ‘growth’ is achieved when taxes are cut for those who are the better off in the belief that this will lead to more money and jobs, ensuring government does not interfere with the free market (unless the banks make a mess of it all again and need the government to bail them out) while at the same time balancing the books by reducing ‘welfare’ to the most vulnerable people in British society. Throw in a dose of ‘nobody tells us what to do’ and a vote in 2017 will determine if the UK stays in the EU? That inward looking boundary parochialism itself is enough to know grievance and fear will be the hallmarks of the next five years. And don’t forget the rhetoric of David Cameron who has captured the aspirational middle class vote with ‘those who work hard and do what is right will prosper’.

If you think this approach to running a country does not have the potential for a serious mess then remember dear old George Bush whose neoliberalism created more and more for the rich, less and less for the poor and eventually did all it could to assist with the GFC (read Joseph Stiglitz, The Great Divide if you are not sure this is for real).

And then there is Tony Blair lamenting the terrible lurch (although we didn’t see it) to the left by the Labor Party, apparently shunning business and focusing on the poor. Blair argues the Labour Party needs ambition and compassion – unfortunately ambition always seems to out balance compassion – especially at austerity time. Curioser and curioser is the announcement by David Cameron that in the next five years the Conservatives will stand for compassion and ambition for the working people – as one editorial puts it ‘parking tanks on Labour’s front lawn’.

So where does this leave the ‘social’ sector here in the UK?

Already there are many individual and peak charities calling for the sector to shape its own future in defiance to the Conservative austerity that will generate more and more poverty and widen the gap between the wealthy and the aspirational, as well as the poor.

Curiously quiet are the social enterprise advocates. They rejoice that all the political parties in the UK including UKIP endorsed ‘social enterprise’ and have announced two free drinks for anyone who can turn up at the appointed London venue next Tuesday!

So here is our guess at what will happen.

There will be those social enterprise advocates – thankfully the minority – who knowingly will continue to co-opt ‘businesses trading for a social purpose’ to roll out the Conservative neoliberal agenda. Mostly located in the intermediaries happily taking big society’s money, they work to reduce government provision of public services – privatisation by stealth.

Then there will be those happy social entrepreneurial enterprise advocates who love the hype and the idea and who never really spend any time critically reflecting on anything much except their new app that will somehow become a social business (what business isn’t ‘social’ one could argue – not many anti-social businesses survive). Unfortunately there may be more non-reflective entrepreneurial types than is healthy for the future of ‘businesses trading for a social purpose’.

And then there are those social enterprise advocates and practitioners that are already deeply committed to justice and equity who will keep working at the coalface of human need generating opportunities for those who suffer the most from a Conservative victory. These practitioners are already aware of the politics of grievance and fear. They see it in the faces of those they work with. They have and will continue to shape their future and the futures of others in defiance to the neoliberal austerity that cements the divide between people with money and those without the opportunity to make enough to live with dignity – including those who work hard and do the right thing.

We agree with the call to shape our own destiny, and not unwittingly have it shaped for us by neoliberal ideologies. We agree that the politics of grievance and fear must be replaced by generosity and hope. We believe the social sector should refocus its energy not on quaint notions of doing ‘good’ but systems change with the intention and effect of justice, empowerment, and equality.

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Disruptive Dragonfly Edition 04

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Mammon’s Kingdom: An Essay on Britain

This could easily be an essay on Australia . . . if you don’t want to read the whole book check out The Guardian review.

Disrupt Magazine

Creatively destroying what doesn’t serve humanity. Check them out here.

The Pale Blue Dot

‘ . . . our posturing, our imagined self importance, the delusion we have some privileged position in the  universe are all challenged by this point of pale light’.’
Watch and feel the power of this humbling and challenging scientific insight from the Sagan Series.

Social Renaissance

Social Renaissance defines a process aimed at spreading awareness about the growing weight of the “marginalities”, through innovative impact-driven models that combine new technologies and humanities, entrepreneurial approach and civic engagement. Check out the new movement.

Public services as products?

Even the staunchest opponents of neoliberalism have been infected by its presumptions: Humphrey McQueen on why healthcare is not a product despite what neoliberalism has taught us.

From Eureka Street

Abbot and Hockey more Prince John than Robin Hood

And finally a word from the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche

‘Later generations will be greatly disgusted, when they look back at a period ruled by shadow men projected on the screen of public opinion. To some far posterity our age may well be one of the darkest of history, the most unknown because the least human.’ (Schopenhauer as Educator, 1874).

View the Disruptive Dragonfly PDF in our publications section.

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This underclass can be referred to as the ‘knowledge underclass’ within western democracies. This new ‘knowledge underclass’ is primarily affluent middle-class apathetic consumers, who have been taught not to think about the world in which they live or the major issues confronting its future. Instead they focus on (predominantly) mindless consumerism and materialism.

This middle-class is primarily educated through a banking model of education in which the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits made by the teacher or the expert. Critical inquiry is mooted in favor of reciting and learning information with a focus on compliance with the system and neo-liberal self-interest. This ‘education’ continues through adulthood via media ‘information’ and ‘infotainment’ (as distinct from knowledge) that recite the same messages over and over to ensure the ‘masses’ are opiated by their own self-interest.

In order for society to have the capacity to act – rather than remain half asleep or inert and frozen in a sea of ignorance and self-interest – knowledge is of central importance. If democracy is to really work then knowledgeable individuals – given the freedom to choose governments and affect society’s capacity to act – need to morph into knowledgeable democracies that act positively to address the major challenges the world currently faces.

The problem however remains clear. Undoubtedly the type of information we receive in the western world affects our assumption that we are ‘knowledgeable’. The problem is evident when consumption of ‘information’ collected to support a particular worldview is taken as ‘knowledge’ without ever waking up to its particular interests and political commitments. Billboards, televisions, news reports (that are more or less with a few exceptions really just ‘infotainment’), tabloids, advertisements – the list goes on – constantly bombard us with ‘information’ that many then take as ‘knowledge’.

But as Friere argues, knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.

‘Knowledge’ requires a wakefulness that takes people from half asleep, unconscious receivers of information, to a more critically reflective state of consciousness that requires the deliberate act of thinking and reflecting on the information we receive, and developing a clear set of building blocks for a worldview. This requires a space and a place for education – or ‘consciousness raising’ that leads to ‘knowledge’ that in turn leads to awareness (not apathetic disinterest) of the world around us and what is taking place within it.

We need education that questions why things are the way they are and whose interest it serves. Education for change is required from the earliest years of life’s experience and should be continued as part of a life-long learning process.

In the face of the ‘grand challenges’ of the future (ranging from climate change to ageing societies, financial crisis, poverty, social exclusion, migration, the seeking of asylum and social conflicts) it appears more urgent than ever for new streams of ‘knowledge’ to be distributed as widely as possible. This will help to shake people in the Western world awake, and encourage a critical awareness that provides society with the capacity to act for the common good.

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The Dragonfly Collective officially opened our doors to the world on 1 March 2012 and celebrates nine months as a social venture as we approach Christmas and the New Year. We have been honoured to work with a number of people and organisations in the not-for-profit and social enterprise sector. These include United Way Melbourne, Green Collect, Social Traders, Westgate Community Initiatives Group, Baptcare, Centacare Ballarat and Whitley College (University of Melbourne).

We have collaborated with these agencies and local communities in a variety of ways: developing a strategy to address unmet community need in the south-east suburbs of Melbourne; conducting due diligence and assessment on applications to the Western Australian Government’s Social Enterprise Fund; providing strategic planning and business advice to several social enterprises; coordinating and teaching a tertiary level course on community development and community engagement; continued support and advocacy for the humane treatment of people seeking asylum in Australia; and, developing  the scope of and  business case for a $9 million social and affordable housing solution in regional Victoria.

We continue to think critically about the local and international context that surrounds our lives and activities with two questions in mind: why are things the way they are and whose interests does it serve?

Our focus continues to be on co-creating solutions and meaningful change for a more just world. Not just words but practical outcomes that have real social impact. We want to develop tools that others can use to assist in achieving this outcome for their local communities and customers. We want to engage with other thinkers seeking tangible solutions to entrenched social need. And we want to work with other change-agents to develop solutions to social challenges.

It’s been an exciting nine months, and we look forward to 2013 and new opportunities to co-create a more just world.

We wish you all the best for a very happy, safe and enjoyable festive season and a great start to the New Year!

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