This week will see Theresa May trigger Article 50 and the negotiations will begin to part Britain from the European Union. With this just over the horizon, there was another outpouring of support for the European Union on its 60th anniversary on Saturday (BBC, 2017; BBC, 2017{2}).
Even now the question has been settled by Act of Parliament (Asthana et al, 2017), there remains understandable opposition. Only a third of voters chose to support leaving the EU - contrary to the 52% claims of the 'Brexit Majority', that opponents of Brexit are have apparently had the last word on the matter.
However, while opposition, resistance and mourning will continue, there also needs to be a concerted effort and determined focus on building the new friendships, alliances and institutions that will ensure cherished values in the years to come.
The first frontier for this will be the city. As citizens of neighbourhoods and municipalities there is a whole new path, a local front, on which to work for progressive values to play a vital role in everyday lives.
In the United States, the Republican control of Federal institutions - the Presidency, the Supreme Court and both the Senate and the House in Congresses, however ineffective its leaders may be in using it (Revesz, 2017) - people have found in the city a frontier for effective opposition.
With the Dakota Access Pipeline having been green-lit again, opponents in a number of American cities have sought a new approach. Working with local government, they have sought to take public money out of the hands of the banks and financial institutions that back the pipeline.
The first divestment success has been won in Seattle, where community pressure led to the city announcing it would pull its money from the DAPL backing bank Wells Fargo (Gabriel Ware & Trimarco, 2017). Other cities have sought to follow their example - under the banner of public money being used only with more socially conscious partners (Tobias, 2017).
There is hope to be taken in the contrast that can be seen between the ineffectiveness, U-turns and deadlocks of central governments from the US to the UK and Spain, and the changes, such as divestment, that can be won at the municipal level.
In Barcelona, at the beating heart of the municipalist movement, Ada Colau was elected to the role of Mayor two years ago (Burgen, 2015) and governs the city with the support of just 11 of 41 members of the city council, in the form of the citizen's movement Barcelona En Comu.
And yet. The impact of the movement has been huge, not least in terms of the visibility that its open, engaged and transparent approach. For instance, the city has cut the pay of elected officials and freed up some $200,000 to support a social projects fund (Russell & Reyes, 2017).
Tackling housing issues was at the top of the list of things to address for Colau when she took office, as a former housing activist. The first issue they took on was empty homes. Right from the start, there were fines for holding properties empty in the city for a long period of time (Kassam, 2015).
The first step was to start securing these empty properties for social housing at a social rent - a project that in the first year freed up hundreds of homes (Rodriguez, 2016). It was accompanied by subsidies for those who are falling behind on their rent (Kassam, 2015), as part of the fight against eviction and homelessness.
More fines, and larger, were around the corner for long term abusers who had failed to respond to smaller fines the year before (Badcock, 2016). Yet there is also a carrot to go with the stick, as those willing to make empty properties available for low rents are offered subsidies on renovation and property tax rebates.
The second is tackling the negative impact of tourism in Barcelona, particularly on housing. In particular, AirBnB has been targeted by the city council for working around the city's tourist license approach to curbing the huge number of tourists (The Economist, 2016).
Reestablishing municipal control of important local services has also been a feature of Colau and Barcelona En Comu's time in office. In order to tackle costs, both a municipal funeral company and a municipal water company have been voted through (BComu Global, 2016; BComu Global, 2016{2}).
And Barcelona En Comu has been active on the international stage too. Working with other cities and local governments horizontally (Zechner & Hansen, 2016), they've been at the heart of organising on a range of issues from support for refugees and fighting TTIP.
This is of particular significance to those mourning the impending loss of EU membership. Over the past few years, continent wide city forums have become more prominent. From sharing best practice, to partnering up to take on big challenges together, municipal government is showing just how much of an impact it can have.
There are sparks of municipalism springing up around Britain too. In Preston, in face of the council's funding being cut in half, councillors have been trying to find ways to make the city more self-sufficient (Sheffield, 2017). The start of that has been to redirect procurement through local businesses - doubling its investment in local businesses over three years - to boost the local economy.
And in 2015, Bristol City Council established 'Bristol Energy' as a municipal energy company to fight unfair energy prices (Melville, 2016) - with assistance from the EU's European Local ENergy Assistance (ELENA).
Last year's local council elections showed that in Britain, even under the dark cloud that seems to hover over progressive movements at the moment, winning big elections is still possible on the ground, in local government - even in the days of the "unelectable" Jeremy Corbyn.
Sadiq Khan became Mayor of London, despite the hostile campaign of Zac Goldsmith; and Labour won three other Mayoral elections in Bristol, Liverpool and Salford. Meanwhile the Lib Dems made the most gains of any party.
With more cities getting devolution deals and brand new mayors come the summer, there are not just more chances for progressive parties, but for progressive local action by and for citizens.
In Greater Manchester, the favourite, Labour's Andy Burnham, has already made a number of significant promises that could make a big difference at the municipal level, including longer term security of tenure for renters, longer term security of funding for the community and voluntary sector and paying off student loans for graduates who stay and work in the Greater Manchester NHS (GMCVO Hustings, 2017; Weston, 2017).
But there is more to be done. For instance, an experiment with participatory budgeting in Madrid, were funds were earmarked for local projects decided by online polling, caught some attention in Greater Manchester were the People's Plan was formed, with journalist Paul Mason expressing his support for the idea (Mason, 2016).
What all of this reminds us is that real political and social change starts in your own community, in your own municipality. Whether trying to fix local services or build an international movement, the starting point is your own neighbourhood.
On health, housing, energy - on any of the chief issues - action can be taken at the local level that makes a tangible difference. With Brexit, one path towards cooperation is closing. But others are open and we must turn out attention towards getting the most out of them.
References
'Thousands take to streets in anti-Brexit London march'; on the BBC; 25 March 2017.
'EU treaty anniversary sees protests and marches in major cities - in pictures'; on the BBC; 25 March 2017{2}.
Anushka Asthana, Rowena Mason & Lisa O'Carroll's 'Parliament passes Brexit bill and opens way to triggering article 50: Peers accept MPs’ decision to reject amendments aimed at guaranteeing rights of EU citizens and meaningful vote on final Brexit bill'; in The Guardian; 13 March 2017.
Rachael Revesz's 'Donald Trump endorses Fox News show blasting Paul Ryan as President’s team targets Speaker: Opening statement on the show called for the Speaker of the House to step down'; in The Independent; 26 March 2017.
'Donald Trump's US healthcare bill withdrawn'; on the BBC; 24 March 2017{3}.
J Gabriel Ware & James Trimarco's 'Seattle Just Divested Billions From Wells Fargo Over Dakota Access Pipeline: Minneapolis and others are ready to follow'; in Yes Magazine; 7 February 2017.
Jimmy Tobias' 'These Cities Are Pulling Billions From the Banks That Support the Dakota Access Pipeline: From Seattle to San Francisco, Alburquerque to Raleigh, cities are joining the fight to defund the controversial pipeline'; in The Nation; 20 March 2016.
Stephen Burgen's 'Barcelona mayor-elect Ada Colau calls for more 'feminised' democracy: Colau, set to become city’s first female mayor, says awareness of a ‘kidnapped democracy’ has given rise to grassroots activism'; in The Guardian; 7 June 2015.
Bertie Russell & Oscar Reyes' 'Eight lessons from Barcelona en Comú on how to Take Back Control: After 20 months in charge of Barcelona, here are eight things we have learned from Ada Colau and Barcelona en Comú'; on Open Democracy; 8 March 2017.
Ashifa Kassam's 'Barcelona fines banks €60,000 for empty homes: Council levies fines over 12 properties that have been empty for more than two years in crackdown led by city’s leftwing mayor Ada Colau'; in The Guardian; 10 September 2015.
Alba Rodriguez's 'A new drive to secure empty housing for social rent'; on EL Digital Barcelona; 7 January 2016.
James Badcock's 'Barcelona fines three banks more than £1 million for keeping empty apartments amid housing shortage'; in The Telegraph; 22 November 2016.
'Clampdown in Catalonia: Barcelona hits Airbnb with a hefty fine - The problem for the city is not increasing the supply of tourist accommodation, but curbing demand'; in The Economist; 25 November 2016.
'Barcelona launches municipal funeral company to guarantee the right to dignity in death for all'; from BComu Global, on Twitter; 11 November 2016.
'Barcelona votes for public control of water: Barcelona En Comú’s motion to remunicipalize the city’s water service has been supported by an absolute majority of the City Council'; from BComu Global, on Medium; 1 December 2016{2}.
Manuela Zechner & Bue Rubner Hansen's 'More than a welcome: the power of cities - What is the scope for circumventing the national and EU deadlock over migration, and what role can cities, together with solidarity movements, play in overcoming this crisis?'; on Open Democracy; 7 April 2016.
Hazel Sheffield's '‘Poverty was entrenched in Preston. So we became more self-sufficient’: The city voted for Brexit because it felt cut off by a failing economic system, says councillor Matthew Brown. But the region has been revived by thinking locally'; in The Guardian; 14 February 2017.
Emilia Melville's 'Nexus between community and municipal power in Bristol’s quest for energy democracy'; from Bristol Energy Network; 10 November 2016.
'Leading candidates for Greater Manchester Mayor will be committed to our manifesto for a new relationship – don’t forget to vote on 4th May!'; from GMCVO; 7 March 2017.
Barney Weston's 'Andy Burnham and the Mayoral election’s historical significance: As Andy Burnham prepares for the Mayoral Election, we take a look at its potentially huge importance'; in The Manc Union; 20 February 2017.
Paul Mason's 'An idea for Manchester’s new mayor: let the people decide where the cash goes - The head of the city’s new authority needs to ditch the plans of the Cameron era – and embrace participatory democracy'; in The Guardian; 17 October 2016.
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