Active Citizens Transform was founded in 2004 by Charles Secrett, former Executive Director of the environmental organization Friends of the Earth, and Ron Bailey as a new non-party political movement in the United Kingdom. It aims to mobilise citizens to transform the United Kingdom into a vibrant, participatory and sustainable society. It opposes the "first-past-the-post" electoral system.
ACT published an advertisement in 2005 criticizing Labour party members of parliament who promised to support environmental policies but, under pressure from the Labour party's leadership, voted against environmental measures opposed by the British government. The advertisement was criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority for making misleading claims.
One of ACT's main projects was Local Works the successful campaign for the Sustainable Communities Bill. ACT inherited this campaign from the New Economics Foundation.
In 2006, ACT formally merged with Charter88, which in turn merged with the New Politics Network in 2007 to form Unlock Democracy.
Famous quotes containing the words active, citizens and/or transform:
“You need not be proud of me.... I’m only being active till you can be again—it isn’t such a great desire on my part to serve the world and I’ll fall back into habits of sloth quite easily!”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)
“Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“Government ... thought [it] could transform the country through massive national programs, but often the programs did not work. Too often they only made things worse. In our rush to accomplish great deeds quickly, we trampled on sound principles of restraint and endangered the rights of individuals.”
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)