Earlier this month we sent out a survey to all of you, asking for your thoughts and feelings about campaigning for public ownership in 2020.
We were blown away by the 3000 responses we received! A huge THANK YOU to everyone who participated. We read every single one, including all your fantastic ideas about how we can keep growing our voice and getting the message out as far and wide as possible. As many of you pointed out, we are stronger together. We Own It has grown over the years, from one person in their bedroom to a campaign of more than 50,000 people, providing a powerful, collective call for public ownership. Thank you for being part of it!
The overwhelming majority of you told us that you feel sad, scared and angry about politics at the moment. But whether you’re feeling alienated or hopeful, powerless or motivated, we’re really glad you’re here with us! Together we will fight harder than ever to defend our public services from privatisation, and to keep winning for public ownership. And with the help of your responses, we have put together our strategy for how we’re going to go about it...
Here are four key areas We Own It will campaign on with you this year:
1. We will campaign to protect the NHS from a US trade deal
You spoke loud and clear: over 80% of you chose this as one of your top three campaign priorities.Brexit has only just happened, but we have already heard that Trump plans to ensure the NHS pays more for drugs in a trade deal. We cannot sit back and allow our health service, already suffering the chaos of privatisation, to be handed over. In the Autumn you took action with Keep Our NHS Public to ensure that Boris Johnson had to repeatedly promise publicly that the NHS will not be on the table in a trade deal. Our next job is to work closely with experienced trade campaigners (such as the Trade Justice Movement) to keep a close eye on trade deal negotiations, ensuring that Johnson knows that we, in our millions, will not allow him to go back on his promise.
2. We will defend our democracy by campaigning for the BBC
Many of us feel let down by the BBC, many feel that it's losing its impartiality. We received many comments from you asking WOI to appear more in the mainstream media. To ensure that we can continue reaching audiences at scale, we need a broadcasting service that doesn’t have to jump through hoops for the government of the day. Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings are currently attacking the BBC and there is evidence they want to dismantle it. We can’t let it slowly die, leaving us with nothing but a Fox News style media that damages our democracy even more. The solution? Let's campaign to make our BBC more accountable, so we can all be proud to defend it. We are talking to lots of experts and exploring this idea right now.
3. We will keep public ownership on the agenda
Public ownership is more popular than ever. Over the past years you’ve made it the new political consensus, with opinion polls showing that the majority of UK voters support public ownership of post, water, energy, rail and buses, not to mention the NHS. This support spans all age groups, regions, class, income, gender and ethnicity. You have opened an incredible window, and it’s not going to close any time soon! Our first step in ensuring that we build upon this popularity is to make sure Labour maintains its positive position on public ownership across the board. 1 in 3 of you asked us to influence the Labour leadership contest as a priority. We have listened, and have asked all leadership candidates to sign up to key pledges that will demonstrate their position on public ownership across sectors. Take a look when we launch the results this week.
4. We will take opportunities for public ownership WINS Over 60% of you want us to campaign to bring rail franchises back into public ownership. With Northern Rail taken into public control this week, we’ve jumped into gear: reaching millions on the news, calling for public ownership of the whole railway. If you haven’t yet taken action, sign the petition, and contact your MP. Let's keep pushing the government for common sense public ownership where the opportunity arises, and continue to work on a regional level to see local wins through our expanding Better Buses campaign.
In addition to sharing your priorities and thoughts for our next steps, you also shared useful and important feedback, which we will use to continue improving as a campaign. We read every individual response, and from those, we’ve picked out some things that came up again and again:
You like our independence and our collaborative approach to campaigning.
You like our clarity, and that we back up what we say with evidence and facts.
You’d like us to work with more popular economists, to ensure that no-one can get away with arguing that public ownership isn’t common sense.
You want us to shout louder that public ownership is a crucial part of the solution to the climate crisis.
You’d like to see a wide range of people represented in our videos, sharing how public ownership could change their lives.
We loved reading through what you think of We Own It: both the constructive feedback and the positive responses are really valuable for us as an organisation. Here’s just a handful of inspiring quotes (from supporters who gave permission to share!) that came out of the survey:
‘Even as a busy person I have the time to offer support and to add my voice… one individual has taken a risk, and now we have grown to over 50,000 people. A real achievement that should be celebrated.’ - Susan Higgins
‘I think you're doing a terrific job, punching way above your weight - I feel every penny of the small amount I contribute is being used well’ - Penny Ormerod
‘a great campaigning organisation, promoting awareness of the need for greater public say in and ownership of public services, at a time when our services are needed more than ever, especially by women, but are increasingly being run down and shifted out of public control…’ - Sally Baden
‘I feel passionate about protecting our services. We need to look at other ways of funding our services because clearly market-led models do not work; our railways are a good example of this failure. We Own It gives me a voice in this debate, so thank you.’ - Deborah Clarke
‘I can quote WOI to people...who say they are 'not interested in politics'. The focus is actually personally relevant to everyone's life.’ - Rukshana Afia
‘It’s a great movement and really well organised by a tiny team. Proud to stand with you. Your efforts inspire me and others to step up, to try harder and to stand with others who feel the same. We have to unite. You’re showing us how.’ - Julian Bond
We were really honoured and moved by many of your quotes! Thank you for the encouragement, it means a lot.
Finally, here are the top three reasons you gave for caring about public ownership. We must not lose sight of them. These values are at the heart of We Own It: they’re who we are, why we do what we do, and what unites so many thousands of us in taking action and so many millions of us across the country.
‘I don't believe public services should be run for profit’ ‘Our money shouldn’t be lining shareholder pockets’ ‘Everyone should have access to public services’
Thank you.
In solidarity,
Cat, Alice, Chris, Ellen and Pascale - the We Own It team
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