The Fightback Against Reform

A “deliberately provocative” assessment of the “much deeper malaise” beneath Reform’s rise: “a loss of faith in the future”, enabled by civil society’s failure to respond with a suitably uplifting vision. Evans lists four reasons for this failure: the “professionalisation of so much of civil society”; the Charity Commission’s insistence on funders being ‘apolitical’; funders themselves being risk-averse and short-term; and those civil society professionals’ disconnection from the majority. “We so often end up deepening divisions in a way that helps the populist right, instead of bridging divides and building the broader coalitions that we so urgently need.” This piece tees up a second part that will explore the “incredible points of light out there that we can learn from and build from,” which can help us all see “a positive, people-powered insurgency: one that brings us together instead of dividing us, that fires us up with a sense of possibility and purpose, and that enables us to build a brighter future together.”