New wine, new wineskins part 3: What needs to change?

“A revolutionary moment in the world’s history is a time for revolutions, not for patching”
(William Beveridge) 

We don’t want to propose specific policies here. Rather, we are looking for the vision and values that will guide us as we journey out of the pandemic and into a new world.  What would it mean if we sought to:

• Build stronger communities based on shared values of compassion and solidarity, and stronger relationships with our neighbours – including people who have been marginalised, ignored and mistrusted in the past.
• Ensure that everyone has a voice in decisions about how we build back better – most especially people who have been marginalised and excluded 
• Build systems and policies that are rooted in community, security, solidarity, sharing and mutual aid, rather than competition and profit. 
• Invest properly in the public services that express our interdependence and connection to one another, including the benefits system.
  
  

“The pain and cost of rebuilding must be borne by those with the broadest shoulders, not with another 10 years of austerity,”
(Justin Welby)

Are we prepared to speak out boldly and prophetically, with a more positive vision of the future, while people still remember the deep values of community and solidarity that are sustaining us all during the pandemic?

Questions

• How can the voices of those who are usually marginalised be brought to the centre of public debates as to how we build a better society?
• What are the ways in which communities and society have responded to the pandemic that we would want to build on in future?

• What kind of ‘revolutionary ideas’ might now be more feasible and help create a fairer society which enables us all to be more secure and more resilient in future? What would we need to do to bring them about?