Community Groups at the Crossroads

Now, more than ever, we are standing at a crossroads.

We're standing at a crossroads looking at the tree shriveling up on the nature strip, waiting for the light to go green and the government to go green and the country to go green. We're watching old landmarks dissolve into the cloud without anyone having asked our permission. We're looking at gridlock, consulting our smartphone to find a way round.

We're waiting for other people to join us. Or we're turning off to join them. Or we're turning back to find them. Or we're watching as they disappear into the distance.

We're remaking the old maps. We look at the world as if it wasn't fixed in concrete, as if it could be made to work the way we were told it should, the way people want it to.

We're a movement, not a mob; we're not screaming at our rulers anymore, we're talking to each other. With or without them, we're ready to start moving.

Communities in Control 2012 brought together a diverse cross-section of people with two things in common - a belief in the power of community, and the courage to take action to defend it.