First community assembly

What it was about

Community Action Portsmouth's first assembly. People sat in small groups at tables, each looking at one big problem, and worked out what a fairer way of making decisions about it would look like.

CAP is supported by Our House, a national democracy-reform organisation. About 100 assemblies like this one are running across the UK, and their demands feed into a new national People's Charter. The evening opened with the story of the Chartists, whose original People's Charter set out demands such as the secret ballot, and most of which later became law.

After the assembly

Themes discussed

Each table took one big problem and talked about how decisions about it should be made:

• The climate crisis
• Employment rights
• Public transport
• Housing
• The cost of living

More to follow

We'll publish what the assembly agreed once it's been checked with the people who were there. Join the email list to hear when it's up, and about the next assembly.

The agenda

1. Welcome, and what Community Action Portsmouth is
2. The story of the Chartists and the first People's Charter
3. What's broken: an open discussion
4. Agreeing table rules: equal speaking time, respect, listening, no interrupting
5. Dreadocracy: the worst way to make decisions about a problem
6. Dreamocracy: the best way to make them
7. Drafting demands for the People's Charter
8. Voting on the demands with sticky dots