SEWN Life Member Katherine Peet gave a fascinating review of the past 40 years in Christchurch and Aotearoa NZ at our recent anniversary celebrations. Here’s a summary of her korero.

40 years ago there were many social movements, a lot of which had historical roots in Christchurch:

• United Women’s Convention in 1973 and all that (NCW, SROW...Kate Sheppard)
  
• Domestic Violence (Ada Wells and the Temperance Movement)
  
• Nuclear Free (Elsie Lock, Mary Woodward 1950s ,Lincoln Efford 1960s, Larry Ross 1970s)
  
• The Suburban Peace Groups, and Peace and Disarmament Centre (Kate Dewes)
  
• Parents’ Centre (Nancy Sutherland)
  
• Patients Rights (Helen Chambers and Denny Anker)
  
• Campaign Against Foreign Control (Murray Horton)
  

People in ChCh were integral to many nationwide movements too:

• Responses to THINK BIG – small is beautiful – need not greed
  
• Rainbow movement and gender rights
  
• Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific – links to this country as a Pacific nation
  
• Womens’ International League for Peace and Freedom
  
• Ethics of overseas development eg: CORSO - lost its Charitable status
  
• Halt All Racist Tours HART, Citizens Association for Racial Equality CARE
  
• The Land March
  
• Opposition to the Springbok tour
  

The PEOPLES’ REPUBLIC OF CHRISTCHURCH indeed!

I want to highlight four legislative milestones around the time COSS was established which have made a seminal difference. These are the Domestic Purposes Benefit, Abortion Law Reform, Nuclear Weapons Free and the and the Waitangi Tribunal (with all its serious constraints e.g. not permitted to consider evidence relating to claims prior to 1975 when first established) .....with these the truth began to be told.

In addition the 1976 UNESCO conference in Nairobi with Julius Nyerere was a breakthrough — for the first time education was seen to be in the two-fold perspective of personal and social development. The discipline of Community Development arose, and adult education outside institutions was promoted as an alternative to violent solutions.

These had a real influence on the work of the Sector of which COSS/ SEWN is a part – that NFP/ NP/ CBO/ NGO sector. I will refer it as the Third Sector - though it was here before the other two, Government and Commerce were even thought of. There are around 114,000 Third Sector Organisations (TSOs) in this country and only 10% have any paid staff.

The success of COSS getting going 40 years ago was due in no small measure to the people such as John Fry of Christchurch City Council involved in its inaugural meeting. He was an early “Community Development” worker (though he trained as a social worker). He encouraged TSOs to get involved alongside and independent of the statutory and commercial approach, enabling communication through a City Council funded newsletter LINK. It was a happy and challenging period with respect and recognition of many players. John Fry was one unusual social worker - so was John Rangihau, (another long story for another time!) Also many academics were involved and saw themselves as guests of the process, not just as experts.

Community Development was born internationally and in-country. People were perceived as being able to set their own agenda and learn to take control over their lives. As Myles Horton of Highlander College in Tennessee (where We Shall Overcomewas written) concluded – you know when you have democracy because the people involved feel they are setting the agenda.

Then in the 1980s, after Muldoon was returned as Prime Minister following the Springbok tour, Marilyn Waring triggered a snap election and we got a Labour Government. David Lange came head to head with Roger Douglas and we experienced the influence of the government workers needing to be Minister-facing. We lost the capacity of the statutory body representatives to be part of grown-up conversations around the COSS table.

COSS had neoliberal management explained to us as a necessity. When we did not agree with this requirement we were perceived as failing to understand, so were given further explanation! Hon Ruth Richardson referred to this as a battle for the hearts and minds of New Zealanders. Indeed it was. Personally I was constantly told I must be realistic and it was a huge relief when I realised I did not like that so-called reality! There were other realities..... The 1986 Royal Commission on Social Policy was a major response from society at large and was against the fundamentals of neo-liberalism — it became a doorstop almost immediately. The Commission for the Future suffered the same fate.

People around us responded by organising socio-structural analysis workshops, supported by the churches. Paulo Freire from Chile and Phillippe Fanchette from Mauritius came to Christchurch and Christchurch’s Father John Curnow played a key role. Bishops Alan Pyatt and Brian Ashby officially took an Ecumenical approach. This was unusual for some Church people, reminding us all of the root of the word Ecumenical Oikos - meaning the whole - everyone mattered. This led to a better understanding of Who controls?, Who wins?, Who loses? and Who makes decisions on whose behalf? TSOs worked on programmes like Building Our Own Future (BOOF).

Treaty workshop processes were devised. Our work began to become no longer monocultural. That’s another long story for which there is no time.

Links between people and planet were brought into focus at the Earth Summit in 1992 and these led to environmental movements making connections. The first Environment Centre in NZ however, was established in Christchurch in 1976 by Janet Holm. That is another long story currently being fronted by ECO Canterbury.

COSS operated alongside these developments, and recently rebranded as Social Equity and Wellbeing Network (SEWN), focussing on Social Equity in the Wellbeing context. Ambulances at the bottom of the cliff are important and so are fences at the top – the acronym SEWN is great. More Power to our SEWN / COSS Elbow as we continue to connect with others and help address the big picture, identify priority actions and enter into collaborative preparation for a Wellbeing Budget.

At John Fry’s recent funeral his daughter spoke of his favourite expression — Making us the best we can be! I am sure SEWN will oblige — rest in peace, John.