S2.E7: Bernard Crick on Politics & its Enemies Artwork

Listen, Organize, Act! Organizing & Democratic Politics

The Listen, Organize, Act podcast focuses on the history and contemporary practice of community organizing and democratic politics. Alongside this specific focus are two others: the first is to explore how organizing connects democracy and religion, particularly at a local level; the second is to explore the visions and practices that shape small 'd,' participatory democratic politics. The name of the podcast reflects these concerns. Through a series of conversations with folk who live and breathe the work of organizing, each series looks at democracy as not first and foremost about a system of government, or set of laws, or an ideology but as rooted in three things. The first is a commitment to listen to others different to oneself because their experience, their story, who they are as a person matters. Listening honors fundamental premises of democracy, as it marks a way of respecting the dignity of each individual, the importance of dialogue as against killing and coercion as means of resolving conflicts, and that people should have a say in decisions that affect them. The second is that democracy does not just happen, it needs organizing. And if it is to be democratic, it needs people organizing between themselves to determine their living and working conditions. If ordinary people don’t get organized then they are subject to others acting on them and their living and working conditions being determined by systems and structures controlled by others who either won’t listen to them, don’t have their interests at heart, or are actively hostile, wanting them silenced or disenfranchised. And finally, democracy lives or dies by shared action. Listening and organizing generate the means of coming together, but at a certain point people must act together to move the world as it is towards becoming a more just and generous one in which all may flourish. Each episode is a stand alone discussion, but when listened to together, the episodes build on each other to form an integrated series. Season 1 is a foundational course in the meaning, purpose and mechanics of how to do community organizing and build a more just and generous common life through democratic means. Season 2 is a foundational course in the meaning, purpose, and character of democracy.

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Listen, Organize, Act! Organizing & Democratic Politics

S2.E7: Bernard Crick on Politics & its Enemies

November 29, 2022 • Maurice Glasman, Luke Bretherton • Season 2 • Episode 7

This episode discusses the work of British philosopher Bernard Crick, with a particular focus on is his seminal essay “In Defence of Politics.” In clear prose and with sharp insight, Crick sets out a definition of politics and an account of why and how politics is essential not simply to survive but to thrive. Community organizers, alongside many others, have turned to Crick's essay again and again to explain the meaning, purpose, and character of democratic politics.

I discuss Crick's political philosophy and the essay with Maurice Glasman, a political theorist, Labor peer, and a founding figure of the Blue Labor movement. The concerns of Blue Labour very much echo and resonate with those Crick outlines in his essay. As well as knowing Crick personally, Maurice shares an involvement in Labour Party politics with Crick. Prior to this involvement, Maurice was, for many years, involved in community organizing as part of London Citizens and Citizens UK.

Guest

Maurice Glasman is a Labour Life Peer and Director of the Common Good Foundation. He was educated at the Jewish Free School, a comprehensive school in East London, and then studied Modern History at Cambridge University. He went on to complete his Phd at the European University Institute. He has written two books, "Unnecessary Suffering" (Verso, 1996) and "Blue Labour: The Politics of the Common Good" (Polity, 2022).

Resources for Going Deeper

Bernard Crick, In Defence of Politics, 5th edn (Continuum, 2005)

Bernard Crick, "Civic Republicanism and Citizenship: the Challenge for Today," in Bernard Crick and Andrew Lockyer, Active Citizenship: What Could it Achieve and How? (Edinburgh University Press, 2010)

Maurice Glasman, 'Preface to In Defence of Politics' (2013)

All available to download from: https://ormondcenter.com/listen-organize-act-podcast

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For readings to download relevant to or discussed in an episode visit: https://ormondcenter.com/listen-organize-act-podcast