This event is now in the past but we have left the page here so you can see how we do things. More leafleting drops will take place in more towns soon. We will be announcing where and when later in January…
To see how the day went take a look at our post about it here.
What’s Happening in Oxford?
Oxfordshire County Council have decided to divide the city of Oxford into six 15 minute neighbourhoods (15MNs). The Council’s cabinet member for travel and development strategy said “It’s going to happen definitely” which doesn’t say much for the democratic process.
We won’t bother explaining the significance of this here. If you’re reading this then you probably know already. Basically, it’s the thin end of the wedge towards the United Nations’ Agenda 30.
The actual concept of 15MNs isn’t necessarily bad by definition, especially if you have young children. There must be hundreds of 15MNs in the UK already by accident or design without residents even realising it. Many small towns already have everything most people need.
If Oxfordshire County Council really want to create 15 minute neighbourhoods they should do it in the right way. They should develop them with full public approval, over a long time, for the community to use. If the residents like them they will stay. That’s the free market at work.
We don’t support Oxfordshire County Council’s proposal but it’s important to separate 15MN’s from the proposed control grid that will be used to enforce them. It’s the coercion that’s the bad thing here. They will be happy for us to shout and complain about the actual 15MN’s and how they are inconvenient and hurt business, etc. What they don’t want is the discussion about the everlasting system of surveillance and control that it would create and could be used for other things and morphed with digital ID etc.
Some people have already complained that Not Our Future wants the 15MN’s to happen and must be controlled opposition. We DO NOT want forced 15MN’s brought in under the spurious excuse of traffic/climate emergencies. But if something happens naturally over 40 years with full consultation and permission and people like it and it’s 100% voluntary (no coercion) then that’s just normal life.
Don’t confuse a totalitarian control grid with traditional town planning.
Keep the focus on the control systems. That’s the enemy. The future of humanity revolving around continuous surveillance and threats forever? That doesn’t sound like progress. That’s not flourishing. That’s not our future!
What we’re going to do about it
Elsewhere you may have heard that Not Our Future is completely fed up with talk. Everyone is talking and very few are doing anything. Even people who do stuff are often just coasting.
On 8th January, Not Our Future will be doing something tangible on a significant scale that can be used as a model for the whole country and even the world. We will put a leaflet through every front door in the City of Oxford. We will give teams of volunteers a list of which streets in which wards they need to deliver to. We will coordinate who will have access to cars on the day and ensure all cars have two teams of two in each.
We need to have about 500 volunteers for the day. Any more would be a bonus. Any less and we will ask local volunteers to finish the leafleting during the following week or so. Being the first day of action, so soon after Christmas means we may get a lower than hoped turn-out but we’re very optomistic.
Not a protest!
Please Read
The Oxford event is NOT A PROTEST. Elsewhere on this website you will see that Not Our Future wants to help people see the truth without any conflict. We are not targeting entrenched people to change their minds. We’re sowing seeds to make people think about things they may not have been exposed to before so they may start to ask themselves questions. Hopefully this will lead them to mention it to a friend or family member who’s on our side and ready to help.
On 8th January, we will not be protesting and we will not be speaking to anyone. There is a protest on February 18th. Not Our Future is just getting the information out to the public. We don’t want the public to judge us before they see our leaflet. We don’t want lively protesters to hinder our registration process on the day either.
If you volunteer, we will send you details on how to act on the day but generally we are just putting leaflets in letterboxes. If anyone wants a debate, we just leave politely. The last thing we want are stories of “conspiracy theorists” causing havoc all over Oxford.
We are simply asking the public to decide whether forcing people to live in unproven 15MNs and where it can lead is how they see their future. We don’t want anyone walking around with a bullhorn or brandishing yellow boards or posting White Rose stickers on people’s front gates. That can all be done on 18th February if you want.
Hopefully, if we do this right, the people of Oxford will understand why we are so passionate about this and more will join the February protest, more will support it and fewer people will criticise it.
So, if you volunteer to help, please help us stick to our plan. On the day of the event we won’t let people take part officially who are trying to turn it into a protest. We won’t give t-shirts or leaflets or target streets to anyone we think will be protesting.
What is the plan?
We want to put a leaflet through every letterbox in Oxford city. The leaflet will be pitched at people who are unaware of the seriousness of 15 Minute Neighbourhoods but are willing to listen. We may not be able to deliver to some blocks of flats and other private buildings but we intend to do our best.
We plan for everyone to meet in central Oxford for a quick chat and maybe a couple of speeches. It will all be quite low key as it’s not a protest. The aim is to give everyone their leaflets and the ward/streets they need to deliver to.
There are 24 wards in the Oxford City Council area. Below is a graphic to show how Not Our Future breaks the UK down into bite-size pieces for “Local Teams” to cover easily. Here we use the Holywell Ward as an example.
Where & When?
We just want to confirm the details of where and when we’re meeting on Sunday.
We’re meeting at 11:00AM on Sunday.
We will be meeting at Seacourt Park & Ride near the Botley Interchange to the west of Oxford city.
For people in cars it’s obviously very easy to find. If you’re arriving in Oxford by train just get the bus from the station. They run every six minutes or so and it’s only a one mile journey.
We will start processing everyone with T-shirts, leaflets, maps at 11:00AM. Once we feel everyone has arrived we’ll have a group photo and a couple of short speeches. Then everyone will be set free to do their leafleting!
We may stay if we can for stragglers. If you are late, email us with an ETA as soon as you can and we’ll see if we can accommodate you.
The Leaflet
Click below for more details of our Oxford leaflet.
