‘A huge dollop of hope’ in a landscape of division

Against the backdrop of an increasingly hostile environment for migrants and disabled people, and a social security system that is about to get yet more punitive, hope isn’t always easy to find in our current political landscape. We’re told we’re becoming an ​“island of strangers”, and some argue that the answer to our struggles is curbing migration and cutting our welfare state. We’re dissuaded from looking upwards towards those accruing ever increasing wealth, and instead encouraged to lay blame at the feet of the most vulnerable, marginalised and impoverished.

Yet, in our organising around the Greater Manchester (GM) Living Income campaign, it’s become clear that there are three main issues actually making life hard for so many of us:

1. People don’t have enough money in their pockets
2. The social security system is not fit for purpose
3. People are seeing their public services crumble around them.

In Greater Manchester we are bucking the national trend. We’re organising with communities who are often told they are too different to work together and have nothing in common. And in doing so, we are showing what hope can do in times of division. Our campaign has been built by Mancunians — no matter whether we were born and raised in Manchester, or decided to make the city our home — and we are organising around a common cause.

The GM Living Income campaign seeks to transform the social security system so that it works for all of us, whenever we need it. We are campaigning for a two-year pilot whereby 200 households will be guaranteed enough money to afford life’s essentials, and have access, where needed, to genuine and compassionate employment support. We want life to be about thriving, not just surviving. And that’s why we’re campaigning for a Living Income pilot in Greater Manchester.

We know this transformation is needed urgently, particularly in Greater Manchester where over a third of children live in poverty. Since starting the campaign we’ve heard stories of people working day and night shifts to keep a roof over their head, and parents going hungry to feed their children. And it’s clear that our social security is not helping people, but rather hindering them, with around five in six low-income households on universal credit going without essentials.

People in our communities are not just forced to live through financial hardship, they are also subject to dehumanising treatment everyday. Our members have shared countless stories of being punished by the current universal credit system. Whether it be sanctions for volunteering, being forced into insecure and poorly paid zero-hour contract jobs, or disabled people forced into work. It’s because of these stories we know we need to do something fundamentally different. History shows us that tinkering around the edges of the existing broken systems does not work. We need a radical intervention that will transform people’s lives, we need a Living Income.

This is why, in mid-May, on a hot, sunny day in the heart of the city centre, 280 of us packed the room to launch the Greater Manchester Living Income campaign. It felt like we were building on the city’s radical traditions that have inspired social change for over 200 years.

We have a saying in the group: ​“Why have a meeting when you can have a party?” And we certainly brought the party. We laughed together. We sang together. We danced together. We cried together. We showed we care — and we showed we are powerful.

“What a celebration, what passion, what heart, what a call to action.” (Jenny)

“The first time we see such a multicultural space that shows the importance of our community to be working together.” (Chinar)

And Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham joined the celebrations, committing to the campaign, saying:

“At the earliest possibility, I would want us to bring forward the country’s first Living Income pilot… Let’s go that stage further and then see what happens if you set people up to succeed with a Living Income.”

Our launch party reminded me why I organise, and why hopeful campaigns such as GM Living Income are not just important, but essential. As some political forces try to divide us, I witnessed a community coming together to celebrate a better future. It reminded me that when we come together, we are powerful. The love, energy and hope that buzzed through the room at our launch party showed that we are far from an ​“island of strangers”, but instead an island of neighbours. And at a time of increasing division in society, we all need one another more than ever.

Our next step is to secure funding for a Living Income pilot in Greater Manchester. And we know we need to build more support and power to do this. To keep up with the campaign, please sign up here. And to find out more about the Greater Manchester Living Income campaign, head to our website.

Image: Alice Kanako Reid