Polls show that over 70% of Brits want a ceasefire. Yet our government refused to even cast a vote at the UN.

More than 600 lawyers and judges sent a letter to Rishi Sunak urging him to stop arming Israel's genocide. Yet our government continues to sell millions of pounds worth of weapons.

In 2003, the biggest protest in British history took place — a million ordinary people marched through London to say no to the Iraq war. Yet our government sent our soldiers there anyway.

Whose voices are heard on the biggest issues of our time?

There’s value in coming together on the streets, but the real power is still kept out of our grasp — the power to decide.

As crops fail due to storms and droughts, as millions are forced to leave their countries, as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, we can expect more war and conflict in our future. If we want to shape a better, more peaceful future, we need the power to decide. We, the people, need to come together in all our messiness and find our own solutions to our own problems.

At a People's Assembly we share our deepest thoughts, and listen to others. We discard media stereotypes and actually work to understand. We hear from experts, discuss with our neighbours, and decide how we want to move forwards together.

War, genocide, oppression: these are symptoms of the systems we're currently living under. Systems that value profit over people, that divide us to conquer us, and that keep the vast majority of us locked out of the decisions that affect our lives. Systems that we built, and that we can change, if we work together.

People's Assemblies are a tool that can change the world. But only if we show up.

Here now,

then everywhere.

21 May 2024

By Cooperation Hull