Contemplating the Block

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Contemplating the block

Malcolm McDonell I was listening briefly to an ABC television current affairs program in which there was alot of discussion of the role of the community. One spoke of the community waking upand ‘saying something’. Another mentioned the impact of communications where thecontacts made by internet and the like give access to friends who may be anywhere – notlikely to be near by. Another conservative politician was heard speaking of theimportance of community and wishing that an active community might solve social problems. But the old sense of community that our grandparents knew has withered.These became a stimulus to me to put some thoughts down.The word community is used very widely, very loosely and with enormous differences inmeaning. At one time it is all of Australia or even all of the world. At another time it isthe people in your street, or the people in your suburb, or part of it, or beyond it. My perspective is shaped by the philosophy of Prout which sees communities being redefinedin a far reaching way. I will not discuss Prout in its breadth but look at one aspect of itsnotion of community.The world has a collective existence and more ordinarily we relate to nations as havingexistence that we share in. In Australia states are a subset and council areas smaller again – then suburb, ‘street’, and household. The nation operates with a welfare net which isrun by a bureaucracy. I am picturing another construction of society – my take on themeaning (in part) of Prout.Prout is a spiritual ideal with the aim of working with all people as members of a family.Have you ever noticed the way you are treated by someone who knows you already – asopposed to someone who does not know you? The bureaucratic contact is cold andunforgiving, while the contact from a known entity is usually more friendly. Thecenterpiece of community in prout’s design is the ‘block’. The block is a communitywhich has some cultural identity, and is thought of (though not defined in Prout) as beingabout 100 000 to 200 000 people. The scope within the block is extensive.But what is so good about this number of people? As a person with many years behind me I reflect on how many people I have known or could recognize from the past. In my early childhood I went to primary school and was part of a class of about 30 students. As well as them there were numerous teachers andauthorities. In my play around home territory I knew perhaps 100 people. I had as manyas 100 relatives that I knew well and other known by name and reputation. As I went into‘big school’ – grade 3- I met a new bunch of student in my class, other teachers, andmany parents, and in the yard I got to know more students across the school. I probablyknew half of the school’s 600 students. And each year there were more teachers andauthorities and parents.

I was meeting people perhaps 300 even 500 per year. And in my high school years I became more mobile and my school contacts were a lesser part of my group of contacts.Traveling to sports and parties and outings I knew most of the students of my school andmany from many other schools. And I started new endeavours which took me into newsocial mixes. In those years I was meeting 1000 people per year. By the time I was 15years old I believe I would have known 10 000 individuals. Then in my late teens – off touniversity – a social romp on a mighty scale. I was mightily distracted from my studies by my social life. I met people far and wide. And my stay at university was prolonged – There were about 10 000 students at my campus and then staff as well. I am sure thatwhen I left there I at least recognized half the people on the campus – at least 5000 people! Since then I have lived in 4 cities and traveled and stayed in other places – meeting people to the tune of perhaps 1000 per year. And in my sixty odd years I believeI have met – and would still be capable of recognizing most of those people. Over 50years – 1000 per year that is 50 000 people!I am capable of having a personal relationship with all of those 50 000 people. And of course I am not claiming to be unusual in that. I believe we are all like that. Somegarrulous types would easily know twice as many even ten times as many.With those numbers in mind think again of the look of your “block level’ community. Ihave a social situation which has a fairly clear geographic outline. I can think of thedistrict outside my door which is about 100 000 people making up the southern outskirtsand hinterland of Adelaide.Of course in the modern way I have not focused my attention on the people of this area. Ihave involvement with people interstate and overseas, on the other side of town and beyond. And over time I have not been a local local. But I can well imagine that if I waslocally focused I would be familiar with most of those people. If there are 100 000 peoplein my ‘community’ I might not know all of them – not the really old, nor the very youngunless personally connected. As a male I might know more of the males. And I mightknow half of this community. The other half are going to be close relations to these people. So anyone I deal with is either known to me or known by people I know. Thissecond degree would be the maximum social distance in my community relations.In prout’s concept of the block the economy should be planned. The economy isagriculturally centred with small and large scale industries interacting within or beyondthe block. But the block should be well defined on rational grounds – and that meanslargely on ecological grounds. Typically any region will be oriented around water – andthat means a valley system. A block can then be demarcated and planning in its myriadforms can be applied to that area. Now how does community look from this block perspective? People in this district are interacting daily in the mechanics of this economy. People fromother areas will be in another block and the connections between blocks will not be asnumerous as those within it. Blocks will interact for instance where there is heavy

industry, and not each block will have this sort of industry within it. Unlike present dayarrangements most social institutions will be organized on the basis of the block.I can imagine that my local block will have a number of market place towns. It will havea connecting public transport system (at present the public transport in my block is almostnonexistent). It will have a local administration. It will have a number of schools – perhaps 30 or 40. Of them there would be about 8 -10 high schools. There would be 2 or 3 tertiary institutions.There would be medical clinics – perhaps just like at present. The block would need onemajor hospital as well as the numerous peripheral heath services. (In SA at the momentthere is a plan to cut some country hospitals and focus on a few. It is not clear just whichareas should have them. In conventional current decentralization there is no logic towhich places have the main hospitals, or educational institutions.) In a block level set upit would be clear that each and every block would have them at least to a minimumstandard.The economic activity of the block would depend on the potentiality of the area. Soil andclimate would be the primary shapers of the economy. A tropical area might have lots of bananas, and a Mediterranean area might have olives. If possible there should be timber forests and dairy, and vegetables and fruit as well as some clothing manufacturing,whether it be based on cotton, flax, hemp, silk or synthetics. And there should be buildingconstruction capabilities, perhaps brick making, cement manufacture (although in timesof global warming we might prefer mud brick style architecture in the main). And eacharea has its special local specialty due to its unique situation. With this picture of community I think it is easy to see that the problems we come acrosslike those in the current affairs analysis would never be so out of control in this block level plan. I think that this sort of analysis of block level organization would show manysignificant advantages for decent living in the 21st century. At present our regions are not well defined and in fact have a limited role to play. Councilareas are of a similar size to blocks. But administration of many economic functions donot conform to the council boundaries – in recognition of their lack of relevance. A block would have the most significant impact through its role as planning body for the localeconomy. So the block level administration would deal with all council activities as wellas many state and federal government functions such as:- water, ecology, conservation,energy, economy, commerce, industry, housing, land, employment, welfare, health,transport, education etc.And the administration of these functions would be greatly enhanced by the familiarityamongst the population due to the manageable numbers referred to before. Many of thematters of social breakdown would be reduced significantly within this framework. Therewould not be the same series of problems around youth homelessness, drugs, graffiti, andthe culture of vandalism. With the positive impact of meaningful work through thereshaping of the economy it is easy to imagine a more unified social situation.

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