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Crowdfunded campaign to shock politicians into systems change
A new crowdfunded campaign by the Social Economy Alliance will give politicians a shock to the system as they return to Westminster following the summer break.
The campaign involves billboards, posters and wraps on London underground station ticket gates, featuring the merged faces of high profile political figures, past and present. It aims to challenge political parties to ditch 'left-right' notions and to instead jointly support community-focused policy and business such as community energy schemes, social enterprises and cooperative housing.
Celia Richardson, director of the Social Economy Alliance – a 400 strong campaign group – said: "Across the globe the race is on to build socially-productive businesses and democratise markets.
The UK is ahead in many ways, but our old-fashioned left-right notions often mean our economic policies get in the way, where state ‘vs’ market thinking makes it tougher for social economy alternatives to thrive."
The poster campaign launched the Social Economy Alliance's 2015 election manifesto which sets out 25 recommendations of how to build a 'pro-social economy' in the UK.
The recommendations include new 'Right-to-Buy options for communities to enable citizens to have genuine ownership of local infrastructure and services on which they rely and measures to strengthen social value laws that would ensure taxpayers' money is spent with companies that provide the greatest social value, pay a living wage and are open about their tax arrangements.
One of the most well-known Conservative Party figures Margaret Thatcher is merged with the Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara.
London Mayor Boris Johnson, who recently announced he plans to stand as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, is given the beard of Karl Marx.
Former deputy Prime Minister in the Labour Party John Prescott has also been given an image revamp, being merged into an image of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Images courtesy of the Social Economy Alliance
