Scottish Rural Parliament is a Thing

Seven weeks ago I spent a chilly but fascinating afternoon at Thingvellir in Iceland where the Althing general assembly, the parliament of the Icelandic Commonwealth period, was first held in 930 AD. It was one of many northern European governing assemblies known as Things, which were created as a means of reducing tribal feuds and social disorder. The first Althing was preceded by a period of preparation during which a man called Ulfjotur travelled to Norway to learn about their laws and customs, and his brother Grimur Geitskor trekked round Iceland’s scattered communities building support for the idea of a national gathering. At the assembly, it was open to anyone to step forward and make speeches and proposals about matters of importance to them. The Law Speaker, who was the only paid employee of the Commonwealth, had the task of memorising all the laws of the land and, each summer, had to recite the procedural rules of the assembly. The Althing continued to meet for 850 years, until 1798. A couple of weeks ago, I spent three days in Oban, attending the first ever Scottish Rural Parliament. That event was the culmination of several years of preparation, including visits to see how Rural Parliaments in other European countries work. The organising team also travelled all over Scotland and convened dozens of online and offline events to build support for the idea of a great rural gathering. At the Rural Parliament itself, participation was not only encouraged but actively engineered through the use of powerful facilitation techniques that allowed everyone to contribute to and get what they wanted out of the event in the way that best suited them. Comparisons with the Althing probably don’t go much further, as the new Rural Parliament sits in a context where social disorder is rare and tribal feuds are contained within a lively and multi-faceted democracy. But the willingness of 400 people from across rural Scotland to gather under the banner of ‘rural’ and the tentative steps towards a new kind of participatory democracy feel historic in their own way. Everyone I know who attended the Rural Parliament found it stimulating, inspiring and hugely valuable. As an event, it was fantastic but if it is to aspire to the longevity of its Icelandic predecessor, the Rural Parliament must grow into much more than a series of one-off gatherings. We came away from Oban with broad agreement on a policy agenda for rural Scotland. The challenge will be to take that forward in a way that helps to build a rural movement that involves, engages and works for that great tribe of people who live and work in rural Scotland. You can get links to videos of speeches and presentations, draft reports from workshops and open space sessions on the Scottish Rural Parliament website.