The new social entrepreneurs: spacemakers, school of everything, techno-libertarians

[treelover]

What do people think of the new 'social entrepreneuers such as Spacemakers?
http://www.spacemakers.info/
(they did the Brixton 'pop up' thing), School of Everything and other projects. They seem to have left libertarian impulses and the need to prepare for minimal welfare states/social protection, but for instance the SOE was created when adult education was being cut and the WEA, etc. One of its leading lights of this new movement Dougald Hine (who also runs the Dark Mountain festival with Paul Kingsnorth) They see technology as central to social change, though the D/M festival seems to be about when such civilisations collapse.

http://dougald.nu/

is now working with Swedish universities on how to prepare for "when the Swedish welfare model is no longer sustainable". I seem to recall some of this type of ideology was taken up by proto-reaganites to endorse the concept of care in the community, etc, though of course this is on a much smaller scale. I do get the impression they are becoming influential in academia globally and seem to get significant funding for projects.

I was going to put this in the 'commentariat' but reckon its worth its own thread.

 

[Fez909]

Why would the Swedish welfare model ever become unsustainable?

 

[treelover]

That's my point, are they really outriders for a post welfare state society?

I think some of them are influenced by (can't remember his name) Iilyanvich?

btw, the swedish welfare model has been under attack for years.

 

[smokedout]

We are a utopian regeneration agency.

footsoldiers of gentrification, need murdering

 

[treelover]

They are more than just Spacemakers though, they have a 'vision' for future living

The guy running it now is sound, an architect, he was central to the campaign to save the old cooling towers here.

 

[Fez909]

btw, the swedish welfare model has been under attack for years.

From whom? And why?

 

[treelover]

By the right in Sweden, neo-liberals globally

 

[Fez909]

By the right in Sweden, neo-liberals globally

The right will always attack social policies; that's what they do. It doesn't make them unsustainable, though.

 

[Brainaddict]

In the commoning article Hine wrote, linked to on his site, he is for sure engaging with something that is quite popular in academia. I kind of like the term commoning at the moment because it seems quite open - lots of people are unsure what it might mean in practice. The danger of that, as with so many 'radical' ideas produced (or recycled) in academia over the years, is that it may never find practical expression. But I'd rather deal with an open idea than a certain idea

This is a different discussion from the social entrepreneurship side though. I mean, that School of Everything was pretty pricey. The people I know into commoning are if anything too averse to money as an exchange mechanism. He seems to be questioning the term commoning but I wonder if it is from the same direction I might question it?

 

[sleaterkinney]

Do you see the shadow of thatcher in everything? (@ OP). He doesn't seem that much of a neo-liberal:

http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2013/11/11/the-fairly-big-society/

 

[el-ahrairah]

yuppie scum.

 

[treelover]

Do you see the shadow of thatcher in everything? (@ OP). He doesn't seem that much of a neo-liberal:

http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2013/11/11/the-fairly-big-society/

That's why I'm asking for opinions on the OP, I don't know yet, but that kind of politics informing what they do can lead down some problematic roads..

it must be interesting though, its had 100 views already

It's basically a phenomenon of the intelligentsia but its impact could go much wider.

 

[J Ed]

I really like the bellacaledonia blog.

 

[captainmission]

They sound like the buzz word toting toss rags that infest the 'third sector'/ charity world. They have honed their ability to put in funding applications to the point they forget it's completely meaningless jargon when spoke to anyone outside that world. But they're nice middle class mediators that even in this 'minimal state' era can still get government funding for writing down verbatim what people of tottenham say about the area and publishing a 'fanzine'.

This Dougald Hine chap is particularly amusing. An oxbridge graduate, maligning his time at university, saying he learnt more in his 'de-schooled' web thing. Yet his blog is peppered with little stories about how he just happened to run in to the head of demos, or the commissioning editor of channel 4 who became 'angel investors'. An experience i'm sure we can all relate too.

 

[treelover]

Bit harsh, are you sure he is Oxbridge?, I think he went to Sheffield University.

 

[equationgirl]

Bit harsh, are you sure he is Oxbridge?, I think he went to Sheffield University.

Not until postgrad. From his wiki page:

Dougald Hine (born 1977 in Cambridge, England) is a British author, editor and social entrepreneur. He co-founded School of Everything[1] and the The Dark Mountain Project,[2] of which he is Director at Large. In 2011, he was named one of Britain's 50 top radicals by NESTA.[3]

Hine went to school in Darlington, and read English Literature at Oxford University. Following his first degree, he studied broadcast journalism at Sheffield Hallam and then spent four years as a BBC journalist (2002-2006). He has been involved a number of projects and initiatives.[4]

As from 2012, he has been living in Stockholm

 

[captainmission]

if you just happen to run in to these people you went to oxbridge.

And why harsh? what have these people done that's of any merit?

 

[purves grundy]

They sound like the buzz word toting toss rags that infest the 'third sector'/ charity world. They have honed their ability to put in funding applications to the point they forget it's completely meaningless jargon when spoke to anyone outside that world. But they're nice middle class mediators that even in this 'minimal state' era can still get government funding for writing down verbatim what people of tottenham say about the area and publishing a 'fanzine'.

Having had to work on social enterprise-themed bids for funding, biting my tongue in every meeting, I share this sentiment although I probably do have a bit more sympathy for some of the folk involved. That said, I haven't seem them in action in the UK , only here in the developing world, but it matters little as these ideas spread through the 'social enterprise global community' with zero thought being given toward a diagnosis of the social and economic problems they believe they are fixing.

The focus is the articulation of their solution, without any comment as to why the question has been asked or the problem has arisen in the first place. Some of them are very well-meaning individuals, especially out here in South East Asia, but their inability to ask political questions means that they're always very wide of the mark. The most basic problem they avoid is that of understanding why social enterprise as a concept, an approach to social services come up now? It's only in the context of the financialization of everything (including poverty - micro-loans etc) that they have any relevance whatsoever - utterly question-begging.

 

[Brainaddict]

Self-reflection and critical thought won't get you far in the development sector purves - to think politically is the ultimate crime

 

[maya]

Why would the Swedish welfare model ever become unsustainable?

Because they're sadly already halfways on their way to wave goodbye to the social democrat model by electing a conservative right govt who keep doing what they can to dismantle the old model and bring in their wicked neo-lib ways...

The parties on the right seem to thrive against the left in elections by flirting with far-right populism exploiting scepticism about immigration and unemployment rates etc... unless the opposition really man up, quit the factionist in-struggling and manage to present a believeable alternative to the blue-brown storytelling it seems like the elections will at worst continue to swing to the right...

IMO a lot was lost for leftist unity around the time the (then) very popular prime minister candidate Mona Sahlin was forced to resign because of the unfortunate purchase of a Toblerone chocolate(!) using her official representative credit card- the so-called "Toblerone scandal" (meanwhile, the conservative loose cannon and former public shool boy Carl Bildt seem to be immune to every disclosure of his chronic twattish and very un-diplomatic behaviour, Prince Philip-style offensive comments and more than bizarre media scandals where he always walks free without a scratch... ),

in the over a decade following Mona Sahlin's losing the prime minister race, the left have presented few leaders with similar "prime minister qualities", the charisma and skills to combat the ice cold rightist rhetoric which I imagine will strike a chord with the conservative business sort of people and the rich (remember that Sweden has always had an aristocracy, an upper class and landed gentry- going back hundreds of years-

there was an interesting documentary once claiming that when the Bernadotte clan was imported from France and became the royal family, the first thing the new king did was to hand out big titles of nobility to senior officials and other ambitious types, to stifle social unrest and cut short the demands for change- divide and rule... or maybe it was the kings before him who did that even earlier and he just continued the tradition, I don't remember the exact details)

Amidst all this though, paradoxically the "social conscience" in Sweden is still very progressive and there's a lot of great initiatives at the moment it seems, grassroots social commitment stuff going on (feminist and LGBT movement are very strong, lots of things happening culturally). But at the same time, both the right and the more extreme populist rightwing groups (frowned upon by the majority but still recruiting) seem to win ground, which is troubling...

 

[Fez909]

Because they're sadly already halfways on their way to wave goodbye to the social democrat model by electing a conservative right govt who keep doing what they can to dismantle the old model and bring in their wicked neo-lib ways... The parties on the right seem to thrive against the left in elections by flirting with far-right populism exploiting scepticism about immigration and unemployment rates etc... unless the opposition really man up, quit the factionist in-struggling and manage to present a believeable alternative to the blue-brown storytelling it seems like the elections will at worst continue to swing to the right... IMO a lot was lost for leftist unity around the time the (then) very popular prime minister candidate Mona Sahlin was forced to resign because of the unfortunate purchase of a Toblerone chocolate(!) using her official representative credit card- the so-called "Toblerone scandal" (meanwhile, the conservative loose cannon and former public shool boy Carl Bildt seem to be immune to every disclosure of his chronic twattish and very un-diplomatic behaviour, Prince Philip-style offensive comments and more than bizarre media scandals where he always walks free without a scratch... ), in the over a decade following Mona Sahlin's losing the prime minister race, the left have presented few leaders with similar "prime minister qualities", the charisma and skills to combat the ice cold rightist rhetoric which I imagine will strike a chord with the conservative business sort of people and the rich (remember that Sweden has always had an aristocracy, an upper class and landed gentry- going back hundreds of years- there was an interesting documentary once claiming that when the Bernadotte clan was imported from France and became the royal family, the first thing the new king did was to hand out big titles of nobility to senior officials and other ambitious types, to stifle social unrest and cut short the demands for change- divide and rule... or maybe it was the kings before him who did that even earlier and he just continued the tradition, I don't remember the exact details) Amidst all this though, paradoxically the "social conscience" in Sweden is still very progressive and there's a lot of great initiatives at the moment it seems, grassroots social commitment stuff going on (feminist and LGBT movement are very strong, lots of things happening culturally). But at the same time, both the right and the more extreme populist rightwing groups (frowned upon by the majority but still recruiting) seem to win ground, which is troubling...

I agree with what you're saying about the failures of the left, but what I was getting at with my questions was that the welfare model isn't becoming unsustainable...it's just coming under attack. The only people who are claiming it is unsustainable are the right. And treelover's "left-libertarian" social entrepreneurs.

If they echo the language of the right, and seem unashamedly capitalist, then how is it they've acquired the 'left' tag?

 

[maya]

I agree with what you're saying about the failures of the left, but what I was getting at with my questions was that the welfare model isn't becoming unsustainable...it's just coming under attack. The only people who are claiming it is unsustainable are the right. And treelover's "left-libertarian" social entrepreneurs.

If they echo the language of the right, and seem unashamedly capitalist, then how is it they've acquired the 'left' tag?

Ah, yes, sorry- I don't think it's unsustainable in any way either, like you say it's just presented that way by the rightist rethoric... (I sometimes misunderstand words because of my foreign origin back in the dawn of time... I probably didn't remember the exact meaning of "unsustainable"- Then I lost the red thread as I got lost in explaining some entertaining historical anecdotes... oh, well )

 

[Sasaferrato]

Why would the Swedish welfare model ever become unsustainable?

Cost.

 

[maya]

Cost.

...No. The cost of the social unrest, soaring crime rates (with subsequent toll on the prison budgets) and mental health/living conditions crisis which will be the result of someone axing the welfare scheme will cost much more than the welfare scheme itself.

 

[Fez909]

Cost.

Excellent explanation, sir. I can see the problem clearly, now. Thank you.

 

[Sasaferrato]

Excellent explanation, sir. I can see the problem clearly, now. Thank you.

I could have given an in depth explanation as to why the socialist model in Scandinavia is fucked, but it would just be a lot of words, which can be condensed to one. Cost.

 

[Sasaferrato]

...No. The cost of the social unrest, soaring crime rates (with subsequent toll on the prison budgets) and mental health/living conditions crisis which will be the result of someone axing the welfare scheme will cost much more than the welfare scheme itself.

Really? So unless people live in a society with a high level of social benefits, they will resort to criminality? A rather broad statement on your part I feel.

 

[Pickman's model]

Really? So unless people live in a society with a high level of social benefits, they will resort to criminality? A rather broad statement on your part I feel.

you only have to look what happened in antient rome when they started fucking with the dole.

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

Because they're sadly already halfways on their way to wave goodbye to the social democrat model by electing a conservative right govt who keep doing what they can to dismantle the old model and bring in their wicked neo-lib ways... The parties on the right seem to thrive against the left in elections by flirting with far-right populism exploiting scepticism about immigration and unemployment rates etc... unless the opposition really man up, quit the factionist in-struggling and manage to present a believeable alternative to the blue-brown storytelling it seems like the elections will at worst continue to swing to the right... IMO a lot was lost for leftist unity around the time the (then) very popular prime minister candidate Mona Sahlin was forced to resign because of the unfortunate purchase of a Toblerone chocolate(!) using her official representative credit card- the so-called "Toblerone scandal" (meanwhile, the conservative loose cannon and former public shool boy Carl Bildt seem to be immune to every disclosure of his chronic twattish and very un-diplomatic behaviour, Prince Philip-style offensive comments and more than bizarre media scandals where he always walks free without a scratch... ), in the over a decade following Mona Sahlin's losing the prime minister race, the left have presented few leaders with similar "prime minister qualities", the charisma and skills to combat the ice cold rightist rhetoric which I imagine will strike a chord with the conservative business sort of people and the rich (remember that Sweden has always had an aristocracy, an upper class and landed gentry- going back hundreds of years- there was an interesting documentary once claiming that when the Bernadotte clan was imported from France and became the royal family, the first thing the new king did was to hand out big titles of nobility to senior officials and other ambitious types, to stifle social unrest and cut short the demands for change- divide and rule... or maybe it was the kings before him who did that even earlier and he just continued the tradition, I don't remember the exact details) Amidst all this though, paradoxically the "social conscience" in Sweden is still very progressive and there's a lot of great initiatives at the moment it seems, grassroots social commitment stuff going on (feminist and LGBT movement are very strong, lots of things happening culturally). But at the same time, both the right and the more extreme populist rightwing groups (frowned upon by the majority but still recruiting) seem to win ground, which is troubling...

Can you edit in a few paragraphs there? I'm too lazy to have to parse it all myself with what limited brainpower exists at this time of the day.

 

[Blagsta]

Really? So unless people live in a society with a high level of social benefits, they will resort to criminality? A rather broad statement on your part I feel.

Some knowledge of history is useful sas.