The Labour Together network is launching a new project in partnership with Compass looking at how power in our society is changing and how the left can respond.
They argue that our era of rapid technological change is profoundly affecting how we live, work and communicate, and that the left must transform its politics to adapt.
“From the QAnon movement fuelling Trump to the #MeToo online protests to the rebuilding of civil society in communities, these shifts are fundamentally changing the nature of power in our society,” say the organisers.
‘New Power: Updating our governance systems for 21st century’ will be launched on 16 March, with Jeremy Heimans, co-author of New Power among the speakers. The event will also hear from Steve Reed MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and Dr Sue Goss, writer, political scientist and system enabler.
Questions to be discussed include:
- How can we renegotiate the relationship between power and people?
- What principles should this renegotiation rest upon?
- What are the challenges of these new forms of power?
- Where can it go wrong?
- How can we update our institutions for a new age?
- How might we create new ones?
- What do we need from a future Labour government to make this work?
“This is a vital question for Labour,” say the organisers. “As more people become disillusioned with politics and trust declines in political parties we need to understand how we can rebuild support for our party.
“Labour has a long tradition of building power; from the cooperatives to trade unions to community organising, our movement has historically developed many long-established forms and practices which help groups to build and share power.
“Yet in Labour’s recent history, particularly in government, we have too often neglected this ‘power building’ part of our movement. Too often we have prioritised the need to purely redistribute resources to mitigate the worst harms of our system rather than to challenge the underlying power structures that perpetuate that inequality.
“When so many injustices come back to an inherent inequality of power in our workplaces, our economy and in our politics; it is a subject that we can no longer ignore.”
More details of the launch can be found here.
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