The building had the kind of mundane atmosphere I have come to expect from most government buildings but on being introduced to Councilor Mahmud and Mr.Gould, my impression immediately changed. They had very pleasant demeanour and strangely enough the room they led seemed to be the only place in that building to have natural light.
Both Saima and James started out by telling us about their roles and what they were responsible for and some of the duties they each had to carry out on a daily basis. It was clear from the way they spoke about their work that they take their roles very seriously and are very passionate about making positive changes in the lives of people within the local community.
The only problem here is that they have limited funding and resources to work with which means their work has to be targeted to whatever groups of people are deemed most vulnerable. Here lies the reason for my frustration with the system of government. Yes there are some great individuals with integrity and genuine desire to make changes working within the government, but a system that is built on hierarchy will only serve to create as much problems as it solves hence prolonging the illusion that we need a government at all!
I can’t see how targeted support is ever going to work as all that will happen is that as the government the focuses its attention on one group, more and more vulnerable groups will appear.
This is one of the reasons I started my campaign 'I Refuse To Vote Until Politicians are Paid Minimum wage'.
Everybody needs support in some form or the other and it’s the government’s job to figure out how to manage that with the resources we have available. What we currently have is a government telling us what they are prepared to give and we, the people they are supposed to serve, have to conform to their rules.
This leads me into the other main part of the conversation, planned government cuts and this ‘Big Society’ the new government keeps talking about. Funnily enough, they were as enlightened as we were when it came to the ‘Big Society’ in that nobody really seems to know what’s going on. All that’s confirmed is that there will be cuts and local governments have to figure out to carry out all the work they have been doing with less budget.
It seems central government is expecting the voluntary sector and local communities to handle most of the work they used to do, which I think is great personally. People should be more empowered and government less relevant but the transition will not be an easy one for most to make and I’m not sure how prepared this government is to deal with that. I think Evolution Now can and will play a big part in waking people up to their power and responsibility to create the future they deserve.
On a brighter note, it’s good to have people like Councilor Mahmud and James Gould working on behalf of local communities. I know it would be virtually impossible for everybody in the local community to be happy with the work they do, but I am convinced that they do all they can to serve the community within the constraints set by central government.
All in all, this meeting has further fuelled my desire to see politicians on minimum wage!
Blee
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