Programmes

UK Programme

SCT’s UK Programme

Why Speakers’ Corners?

What kind of society do we want to be? How do we better balance the interests of the individual and the community? What do we value about our system of government and how can it be improved?

The rights of citizens to hold and express opinions lie at the heart of Britain’s democratic way of life.

But almost 150 years after popular campaigning and an Act of Parliament led to the creation of the original Speakers’ Corner as a platform for debate and a symbol of those freedoms, the importance we attach to them has diminished and so has their power to inform and enrich our society.

But if we allow those freedoms to fall into disuse and if the involvement of citizens in debating and developing a common vision for their society continues to decline, how are we to overcome the challenges we face, how do we resolve divisions and disagreements between us, how will we sustain the consensus on which a strong and confident democracy depends?

SCT believes that the re-engagement of citizens in the exchange and development of ideas and opinions - with each other and with the decision takers among them - is a key to rebuilding trust and participation in our civil society.

Speakers’ Corner Trust will seek through its UK programme to work with the public, private and voluntary sectors and local communities to

  • help restore public and political commitment to the principle and constructive practice of free speech
  • promote open debate and the free, face-to-face exchange of ideas and opinions about society, politics and other issues
  • strengthen relationships between citizens
  • encourage politicians and other opinion formers and decision takers to engage more directly with the public
  • encourage citizens to play a more active part in civil life and governance.

While there is considerable scope for interplay between the project and the internet, it is a central feature of the Speakers’ Corner initiative that the debate which it promotes should be face-to-face.

The internet has given us unparalleled access to information and to each other. It can educate, enlighten and enfranchise.

But it has limitations too. As well as engaging people in genuine interaction, it can also detach them from it. It can offer a wide diversity of information and opinion but cannot guarantee that we will seek or find it. It can give us the opportunity to participate in debate - often across cultures and continents - but the anonymity of email can also undermine the accountability of what we encounter or express. It may make us feel that we have engaged with the democratic process but in fact our activity may have been a substitute for it.

SCT believes that it is vital to bring people out of their houses and into unmediated, spontaneous personal contact to express, test and develop their opinions and those of their neighbours in real places, in real time - and with a real prospect of enhancing the understanding, tolerance and capacity for consensus which underpin vibrant communities and successful societies.

The Prototypes
How do we maintain an ethical control over the development of new technologies and sciences? What changes should we make in our personal lives to secure the future of our planet? How should we frame and fulfil our obligations to the world’s impoverished and oppressed? How do we confront terrorism while preserving our liberties and those of others?

SCT will seek in its initial UK programme to pilot three contrasting Speakers’ Corner projects, in a major city, a smaller town and a rural setting. The first, in Nottingham , began in summer 2007.

In all three models, the initiative will take the form of a rolling schedule of events supported by an educational programme promoted in schools, colleges and community centres.

In all cases too, the design and programme of each Speakers’ Corner will be determined, within guidelines, by steering committees (the Speakers’ Corner Committees ) made up of local people.

The Educational Programme

SCT is working with Professor Stephen Coleman of Leeds University to develop an educational package for schools, colleges and as a lifelong learning resource which will explain

  • the history of the struggle for and expression of free speech and the right of assembly
  • the relationship of those freedoms to other rights and their contribution to social progress here and in other societies
  • why freedom of expression is important and how it should be exercised
  • the historic and continuing role of diversity, dissent and debate in the development and exercise of democracy.
Speakers’ Corner as a Public Place

In major cities, as in Nottingham, it may be appropriate to designate defined public spaces as Speakers’ Corners both as landmark symbols of our freedoms and as actual forums for debate and exchange.

The significance of creating such civic spaces should not be underestimated. In some places they could become a powerful focus not only for local democracy, but also of civic identity and pride. Moreover, they will provide platforms for the purest and most spontaneous expression of the right to speak freely, within the law, and to attract and engage an audience of fellow citizens.

Such Speakers’ Corners must be established in prominent and accessible locations - for example in civic squares or parks - where speakers can be heard and seen and where crowds of a reasonable size can gather safely without infringing the rights or interests of others.

SCT will encourage local authorities to adopt a bylaw both as an act of commitment and as a guarantee of the legal and civic status of a Speakers’ Corner. SCT would also welcome, where appropriate, the commissioning of a work of public art to mark and celebrate the space though careful thought must be given to the funding of such initiatives.

Speakers’ Corner as a Public Programme

In smaller towns such spaces may be unavailable or impractical and in rural areas population sparsity would almost certainly make them unrealistic.

But in any event, the ability to designate a space will not in itself deliver the project’s objectives. Speakers’ Corners, after an initial flurry of interest and activity, would quickly fall into disuse if not misuse.

In all cases, a locally organised and sustained schedule of events supported by a programme of civic education will provide the core of the project.

Local Speakers’ Corner Committees will draw up rolling programmes of events (for example in town or village halls, community centres, schools and places of work or worship) designed to reach every community in their area.

Events might include, for example,

  • debates between politicians or the representatives of opposing interest groups, or between individuals with strong or informative views on local or other issues
  • presentations or discussions in which the public would be encouraged to participate, led, for example, by academics or others with expert knowledge or insights
  • interactive entertainments.

They could also serve a number of different functions, for example for

  • government departments, local authorities, parish councils and other public service providers, such as NHS trusts and police authorities, seeking to inform opinion and stimulate debate on issues of policy or questions of public priority
  • politicians seeking to consult the public or test their own opinion on current or local affairs
  • practitioners, such as faith leaders or health workers, seeking to raise and discuss ethical issues
  • campaign groups promoting their views or engaging in debate with others on all manner of local, national or global causes
  • individual or membership organisations sharing their enthusiasms with a wider public
  • academics and others seeking to broaden the appeal of their subject
  • people simply wishing to explore ideas and exchange opinions for their own enlightenment, enjoyment or entertainment.

The central uniting principle in all these events is that they are accessible to all, strictly non-adversarial and non-partisan, welcome diversity and seek to engage, inform and enrich opinion.

Speakers’ Corners Committees
What is a fair level for our local taxes, how should they be spent and who should decide? Do we need more local housing and, if so, where should it be built and who should live in it?

The success of individual Speakers’ Corners will depend to a large extent on their local ownership and stewardship.

SCT will help establish, accredit and, subject to the availability of local sponsorship, part-fund a network of Speakers’ Corner Committees, in most cases covering a defined local authority area. Each Speakers’ Corner Committee will take responsibility for

  • maintaining a membership representative of the local community
  • developing the Speakers’ Corner format most appropriate to its own community
  • promoting the Speakers’ Corner objectives within its community
  • designing, organising and sustaining a balanced programme of events in every part of its area
  • funding at least the greater part of its activities
  • where necessary, creating localised sub committees
  • coordinating and supporting local networks for debate among existing organisations
  • monitoring and reporting activity and events in its area.

SCT is currently establishing a network of partnerships with national organisations and businesses which, through their local members or branches, could play a leading role in promoting proposals for local Speakers’ Corners and providing members and resources to local organising committees.

The RSA , with a membership of 26,000, has already undertaken to enlist the support of its local members for SCT initiatives. The UK’s largest firm of solicitors, Clifford Chance , has similarly pledged its support and SCT is discussing similar arrangements with other potential sponsors.

Each local Speakers’ Corner Committee, which might typically include representatives of the local authority, schools and colleges, faith groups, the political parties and the business and voluntary sectors, would work with SCT to establish its own initiative and, having done so, take overall responsibility for its programme.

In doing so it might delegate responsibility for specific neighbourhoods to local sub-groups and work with existing organisations, such as students unions, faith groups, trade unions, Rotary Clubs and Women’s Institutes, to stimulate and coordinate a network of events throughout its area.

In order to qualify for SCT’s accreditation and support, each Speakers’ Corner Committee would be required to submit an annual report of its activities providing evidence that

  • a minimum number of events had taken place overall
  • a minimum number of events had been organised for each local neighbourhood and community
  • a proper diversity of subjects had been covered
  • numbers participating were adequately monitored and programmes adjusted in order to improve participation where attendance was low
  • the measurable contribution of Speakers’ Corner events - for example to decision-making or as a feature of local or national consultation programmes - is recorded.

The committee would also be responsible for providing moderators of debates and for overseeing some basic rules of engagement, the Speakers’ Corner Principles .

There is no doubting the challenge which Speakers’ Corners and their organisers will face. Most people believe that they have better or more entertaining things to do than attend public meetings unless the issue under discussion directly affects their interests.

The task is to convince them otherwise - and that their views and opinions do after all matter. That will require sustained effort, imagination and ingenuity and SCT will draw on the experience of others, particularly in its pilot projects, to identify the most successful means of attracting and maintaining interest.

In organising events, particular thought should be given to

  • venues - should committees initially seek to stimulate debate within families and friends as a means of building confidence, before organising more public events?
  • formats - are informal discussions around small tables more likely to attract participation, at least initially, than ‘plenary’ sessions?
  • issues - are, in the first instance, local issues more likely to attract attention than broader or more theoretical topics?

Committees must be prepared to fail before they succeed. But it is precisely because the challenge is difficult that meeting it so important.

Joined Up Debate
What should we expect from our politicians? What part should we play in making our community a better place to live - and why should we bother?

The Speakers’ Corner project is intended to complement rather than compete with the internet. There is, for example, considerable potential for stimulating face to face engagement via the web and then encouraging and enabling participants to continue the debate across the internet.

Over time, SCT will develop this website to

  • provide guidance on the running of Speakers’ Corners
  • showcase best practice and local innovation
  • suggest topics for debate and provide balanced briefings on them
  • carry news of national and local Speakers’ Corner events
  • provide an archive of summaries of the principal issues raised or consensus reached in local debates, as submitted by the organisers
  • feature audio or audio-visual recordings of local debates
  • link the network of local Speakers’ Corners
  • host online discussions and debates on issues related to its objectives
  • provide a register of speakers prepared to lead or facilitate debate.

It will also offer opportunities for third parties to propose and facilitate debates and provide resources and links for participants both before and after the Speakers’ Corner event has taken place. A number of think tanks have already expressed interest in contributing to this programme.

Similarly, debate or consultation on topical issues could be stimulated simultaneously across the network of local Speakers’ Corners via the SCT website (or on their own) by a wide range of organisations, including governments, political parties or faith or interest groups.

Local Speakers’ Corner Committees will also be encouraged to host their own websites.

A Day for Debate
Is there a God and what is his/her religion? Can it ever be right to turn off a life support system and, if so, under what circumstances? What is art and what’s it for? How big is the universe and how do we know?

Speakers’ Corner Trust will discuss with a major broadcaster the possibility of promoting an annual debate on a major topical issue to be determined by SCT’s Advisory Council which might itself be guided by proposals submitted by the network of local Speakers’ Corners.

The national event, which could become a feature of the annual Local Democracy Week, would be used to activate similar debates throughout the network and the outcomes would be posted on SCT’s website.

Speakers’ Corner Principles
What are our duties to immigrants, and theirs to us? Does it matter that some are getting richer quicker if we’re all better off? What is a proper work/life balance and can we afford it? What should we do to make our neighbourhood a better place? What do young people want?

It will be important to allow as much autonomy as possible to local Speakers’ Corner Committees. However, SCT’s model set rules of engagement provide guidance on the conduct of debates according to a set of core principles , namely that they should

  • be promoted and organised to ensure that they are accessible and attractive to all
  • encourage the participation and contribution of political parties, faith communities and interest groups, but be independent of all of them
  • afford equal rights to all those expressing an opinion, so long as it is lawful
  • be conducted at all times calmly and without personal rancour or abuse
  • seek common ground and compromise rather than confrontation
  • celebrate diversity rather than conformity.

Model rules also offer guidance designed to ensure that all those wishing to participate in a debate have a fair opportunity to do so, including guidance on

  • the length of formal speeches and contributions from the floor
  • the way in which interventions should be made and accepted
  • circumstances in which votes should be taken and/or resolutions proposed or adopted.
Next Steps
What is the alternative to the nanny state? What would make us a happier society? Do we need a nuclear deterrent? Could genetic modification actually do us - or others - good? Does it matter what I think? Why should I be interested in what others think? Is there life after death? Were the Stones better than the Beatles?

SCT has undertaken a highly successful consultation which has revealed widespread and enthusiastic support for the Speakers’ Corner concept.

As suggested above, the response to SCT’s consultation has been universally positive. There is broad recognition that levels of participation in and commitment to civil life are dangerously low and that drawing citizens back into a relationship with each other and with their system of governance is a high, even an urgent priority.

There is acceptance too that while electronic communication presents extraordinary opportunities for accessing and exchanging information, ideas and opinions, the virtual relationships and conversations it facilitates should complement but not substitute for the interaction of real people in real places and in real time.

There is a strong consensus that engagement between citizens and their own neighbours in their own communities is a civilising, moderating and enriching experience and one which is essential to the restoration of a vibrant and healthy civil society.

That is what the Speakers’ Corner project seeks to achieve and is putting into practice in its pilot projects.

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