It was on a mild winter Saturday afternoon in February 2015 in front of a locked door in Delancy Street NW1 that the members of what was to become Democafé-Camden first met. Their coming together was the combination of two timely initiatives: one by the 38 Degrees Movement that had convened local meetings of its membership all over the country to prepare for the forthcoming elections, the other by Camden members of the 2015 UK Constitutionalist Movement who had decided to act as hosts. Having identified ourselves to each other with an “Are you from 38 degrees?” – our first, successful as it turned out, shot at self-organisation – we repaired to the Forge Café a few steps away where to our surprise we found our Constitutionalist friends waiting for us.

Our first meeting was attended by some twenty-five persons, all manifestly angry, deeply frustrated by the political state of Britain, suspicious of the politicians elected to represent us, alarmed at Westminster’s growing unwillingness and impotence to resist mounting pressure from unelected entities. Many voiced concerns about specific issues (the Housing crisis, for example, and the plight of our National Health Service). Others, hungry for a new way forward both nationally and globally, came with more general concerns about increasing inequality and our disrupted environment. All expressed a resolve to do something about the critical democratic deficit* that currently afflicts our system of government.

A smaller number of people have continued to meet at the same time and venue each week, to continue the process, and we have set up this web-space in order to co-ordinate discussions.  If you cannot attend due to location, but would like to receive reports of our meetings and have the chance of meeting up with others local to you if a group emerges, please get in touch via Contact Us on the sidebar.