Building a London-Wide Social Movement: Event Recap

On Saturday 11 July, around 60 people came together at St Pancras Church House for a full day of discussion, learning, organising and networking focused on how communities across London can build greater collective power.

The event brought together people with a wide range of experience and expertise. Attendees included experienced campaigners, academics, community organisers, political representatives, mutual-aid practitioners, independent media groups and people who were completely new to community organising. This mixture made the day particularly valuable, allowing practical knowledge to be shared while creating space for new voices and ideas.

The day was initiated by Shake It Up, alongside contributions from a broad network of organisations and campaigns, including Take Back Power, Cooperation Haringey, Don’t Pay, Crossroads Women’s Centre, Global Women’s Strike, Media Revolution, Movement Ecology, Pull the Plug, Assemble, Sense and Solidarity, Real Media, Kin Cooperative, the Green Party, Lambeth Community Assembly and others.

The event began with a welcome from Shake It Up candidates Ruby Bukhari and Jo Scott, alongside Councillor Jacki Bond from the Green Party. This was followed by talks exploring the practical principles behind effective organising, including the power of people’s assemblies, how people change their minds, how mobilisations are designed and how organisations can work autonomously across different sectors.

Throughout the day, participants took part in workshops covering campaigns, housing, artificial intelligence, mutual aid, food cooperatives, savings groups, independent media, elections, local councils, political education, movement structures and community assemblies.

A central theme was the need to build permanent, community-led structures rather than relying on occasional consultations or one-off events. Participants discussed how assemblies can empower working-class and migrant communities, how councils and community movements can work alongside one another, and how organisations can collaborate without becoming overly centralised or bureaucratic.

There were also important conversations about building practical resilience within communities. This included developing food cooperatives, community savings initiatives, housing campaigns, independent media networks, training programmes and other forms of mutual support.

The afternoon sessions encouraged participants to think beyond individual campaigns and begin considering what a coordinated London-wide movement could look like over the next three years. People shared ideas for future campaigns, events, mutual-aid projects, community assemblies and regional organising across west, northeast and southeast London.

Most importantly, the event created new connections. People from different boroughs, organisations and political traditions were able to meet, exchange ideas and identify areas where they could support one another.

The level of energy, knowledge and commitment in the room demonstrated that there is a real appetite for deeper collaboration across London. The event was not intended to provide every answer, but to begin building the relationships, structures and shared strategy needed to respond to the challenges facing our communities.

This was the first of what we hope will become a regular series of London-wide networking and movement-building events. We are grateful to everyone who attended, contributed, facilitated discussions, shared their experience and helped make the day such a success.

We’re coming together again on September 12th to start planning and update on work done so far, more info and tickets here : https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1994952632025?aff=oddtdtcreator