MORE than 2,000 people took a stand against the current parliamentary system at the We Demand Change: Summit of Resistance festival in east London on Saturday.
The event was organised by a coalition of groups including Assemble, which is supporting the launch of grassroots democratic assemblies.
Speakers included former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Greek ex-finance minister Yanis Varoufakis and anti-apartheid campaigner Andrew Feinstein.
“Welfare not warfare: mobilising against austerity and benefits cuts” and “Party time? A discussion of left strategy” were among the topics of workshops held at the event.
Many of the sessions were co-designed with Assemble to deliver an element of deliberative democracy. Contributions will feed into a parallel parliament assembly called the “house of the people,” which will meet for three days this summer and compile a people’s charter: “a new national mandate for government.”
Assemble spokesman Bertie Coyle said: “We’re supporting grassroots democratic assemblies across the country and we’re going to turbocharge them on a national scale with the House of the People in July.
“It’s going to be 10 times more representative than the House of Commons and a million times more than the House of Lords.
“Join at houseofthepeople.uk,” he urged.
ANYA COOK reports from the Newcastle citizens’ assembly, where over 240 people gathered to create a people’s manifesto ahead of next year’s local elections – part of former mayor Jamie Driscoll’s Majority movement
