The Sydney Alliance

By Maria and Richard Maguire

The Sydney Alliance, initiated in 2007, is a coalition of over 50 civil society organisations of diverse religious, political and ethnic affiliations. It has banded together for the common good with principles and practices that echo ICA’s local-global wisdom. The following are three recent events we took part in.

Discernment Assembly
In an inner-city public hall, there is a buzz of excitement as people meet. They have large name tags and are seated theatre style under three labels in an alternating sequence: community organisations, unions and faith groups. On the walls are large sheets of paper with writing, diagrams and post-it notes. There are two podiums on either side. As the room fills, the doors close. The music stops and two attractive MCs, male and female, young and old, take turns to welcome people and lay out the agenda. They ask each person to talk to someone from a different sector seated next to them and tell them about their organisation and why they are here. The conversations are hard to stop as connections are made.

The result of 6,500 meetings held by over 40 organisations that had asked Sydney-siders about their concerns in a “listening campaign” are announced. A team has distilled the data into 13 groups and posted them on the walls. Yes, these are the issues we face, says the audience. Then work begins to narrow them into a few that people can act on together. People go up to the walls to mark their priorities, choosing issues their organisation would be the most willing to act on. The painful yet liberating process comes up with three issues: Transport, Social Inclusion and Health & Community Support!

The Construction Union and Arab Council training event
We seldom get to meet and talk with unionists. Now we are with them in a big union building for a two-day event. They are as far apart on many issues as you could imagine: Palestinians and defenders of Israel’s policies; school principals and cleaners; shop keepers, academics and all those in between. We are learning to create our story. Who were the people and what were the events that shaped us? How did we respond to challenges? Where do our private and public stories intersect? What is our self-interest and that of our organisation on important matters?  How do we listen long enough and how do we lead? How do we find common ground amid overwhelming differences and strengthen our commitment to serve the common good? We explore these and try to work towards agreements.

The Transport Assembly
A mixed group of colleagues and others meet at a train station. We pick up forms for interviewing passengers while travelling to the assembly. We get on the train. Some are eager to approach passengers, others shy or reluctant. We ask: “For what purpose are you using the train?” “How often?” “What are the benefits?” “What are the major issues?” “What is needed to improve the situation?”

At our final stop, we meet many others, including state parliamentarians. A banner and a bagpipe player in full costume welcome us. We walk to the venue and hand in our report forms to the transport “research action team”. After sandwiches for supper, we enter the large theatre. Over 40 representatives in colourful multi-ethnic clothing are on stage. They give a one-minute witness on why their group is working with the “Alliance” or tell a story highlighting the need for improved public transport where they live or work We too are asked to share a personal transport issue with others at the event whom we have not met before.

Researchers who studied the best transport systems around the world summarise their findings for us in a simple formula: 400-15-1 SCA2. This stands for 400 m from home or office, departures once every 15 minutes, 1 unified ticket for all metropolitan services (bus train, tram etc.), which are kept “ safe, clean, affordable and accessible”. By now, the results of the train surveys have been compiled. Presented on a metropolitan map, they indicate the huge difference in transport provision between rich and poor suburbs. The invited politicians all express willingness to act on public transport improvements and meet a couple of times with the Alliance in the coming year. It is a solemn moment when a resident holds each of them individually accountable for their commitment.

The Alliance
Richard and I, along with a few other ICA veterans, are involved with the Sydney Alliance. We are amazed at how it integrates intents and approaches dear to us as ICA and adds a few other dimensions as well. Many of its ideas are from the Industrial Areas Foundation in Chicago and community organiser Saul Alinsky. Richard had encountered them in his youth when they were working on housing and civil rights issues in segregated Chicago neighbourhoods. They have affiliate organisations in various cities and countries and share their learnings in leadership development and community organising.

The Sydney Alliance is out to help civil society gain power and liberate itself from the squeeze of the marketplace and government. It builds partnerships or coalitions based on relationships. The “relational meeting” is the cornerstone of its work: meeting one on one and sharing private-public stories. This is an element at almost every meeting, sometimes for just five minutes, sometimes for 40.

This attention to relationship, which ICA has in common, is intriguing. It pushes people beyond their comfort zone to open up to other people’s lives and thinking. It also pushes for clarity, ownership and further development of one’s story, thinking and behaviour. It is related to the challenge of listening, paying attention to what is said without letting your experience and judgment interfere. It is about giving up assumptions and the desire to control or even to recruit others to your cause.

On the group level, this requires working with unusual bedfellows such as people on the opposite sides of the socio-economic, religious or political spectrum. The vision is to rebalance the unequal relationship between the game setting marketplace, the co-dependent government and the civil society, something that will be familiar to those who have worked with ICA’s Social Process triangles and other analytical and foundational screens.

Like the ICA, the Alliance affirms principles like self-sustenance, self-reliance and self-confidence. Money for operations comes from members. Resources are limited but shared. There are only three paid community organisers for all of Sydney with its 4-½ million people. Almost all the work is done by volunteers, people who see the need and act “in their own self-interest”. Thus self-interest does not get locked into small and materialistic confines but is all inclusive of the larger “self”.

Decision-making is inclusive. The “Action Council” decides on common actions. It is open to all members but each organisation has only one vote, whether it is large or small. Actions must be in the interest of all members. That means an issue members find controversial will not be supported, yet it is astonishing how much common ground can be found on issues. Members also act with others on common concerns.

The Sydney Alliance’s path of relational coalition building and action is energising, challenging and fulfilling - just like ICA engagements around the world. The work is never complete and is fragile, yet achievements and learnings encourage trust and hope. They point to the urgent and big changes needed to ensure our planet’s survival. It is human development at its depth.

Maria and Richard Maguire are members of ICA Australia and Unfolding Futures Sydney. They can be contacted at  mariaandrichard@unfoldingfutures.net, 61-2- 9896 3839

For more information on The Sydney Alliance, visit www.sydneyalliance.org.au or www.citizensuk.org; The Industrial Areas Foundation - www.industrialareasfoundation.org