We all want to feel that we belong, to be part of something bigger than ourselves, connected to the people around us.
But across the country, more and more people are feeling isolated, excluded, or under threat.
In this second session of our Winter Assembly Series, we’ll explore what belonging really means in our communities today, and why it’s being undermined by division and fear. We’ll hear from people who’ve experienced racial violence, from organisers working to build solidarity across difference, and from researchers who can help us understand the political and economic forces fuelling the rise of the far right.
Then, we’ll deliberate together:
- Sharing stories of when we’ve witnessed or experienced division or hostility and how it’s affected our sense of belonging.
- Connecting the dots between those experiences and the wider systems that profit when we are set against one another.
- Imagining alternatives and developing concrete actions, asking what it would look like to strengthen solidarity and mutual care where we live, and nationally?
This session builds on a series of webinars where organisers across the country examined the roots of everyday hardship. Starting from visible issues, such as foodbank use, unaffordability of essentials, grassroots climate action, and misinformation fuelling division, participants mapped the chains of causes and effects that shape people’s lives.
Now, we’ll look honestly at how these dynamics play out and begin to chart a path towards a politics of unity, care, and belonging.
Together, we’ll ask: how can we build communities strong enough to resist division - and create a country where everyone truly belongs?
