With the death of Pope Francis, the world loses not only a church leader but also a moral compass that spoke out against inequality, discrimination, war, and climate destruction, writes MARC VANDEPITTE
Latest editorial
See you at Southampton Transformed
Southampton Transformed
LYNNE WALSH previews the Bristol Radical History Conference this weekend
Keir Starmer’s £120 million to Sudan cannot cover the government’s complicity in the RSF genocide or atone for the long shadow of British colonialism and imperialism, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE
Join the traditional march from Clerkenwell Green, which will bring together countless international workers’ organisations in a statement against the far right
Ecuador’s election wasn’t free — and its people will pay the price under President Noboa
Mountains of research show that hardcore material harms children, yet there are still no simple measures in place
We face austerity, privatisation, and toxic influence. But we are growing, and cannot be beaten
CORBYNISM started as a movement from below, when a pretty mixed group of left wingers at the base of the Labour Party turned Corbyn’s run for Labour leadership from a symbolic gesture into a winning movement.
Corbynism is still strongest when it has energy from the grassroots. Which is why I want to draw attention to an event related to the national “The World Transformed” conference, that has been giving an educational and intellectual edge to Corbynism since 2016.
On Saturday (June 8) Southampton will host a local version of the conference, Southampton Transformed: southamptontransformed.co.uk.
Some of the best speakers on the left will be coming to the event, including John McDonnell, Dawn Foster and Grace Blakeley. It’s a festival of ideas, not just a rally – I’m personally keen on author Owen Hatherley’s walking tour of Southampton’s brutalist architecture (we’ve got loads).
However, as Southampton Transformed organiser Tom Williams argues, in a thoughtful essay for the New Socialist, the importance of conferences like this is not the “stars” on the platform – even though these are a strong bunch — it’s about the rank and file educating themselves, so the can “build new solidarities” and “repair old ones.”
The most important people are those not on the platform. If we want a movement from below, we have to exercise our minds in a collaborative way, rather than compete to be sound the most “clever.”
Tickets are pretty cheap, and Southampton has good rail links throughout south-east England, so I’d recommend this event to anyone and everyone. Southampton Transformed takes place at “The 1865,” a new venue which is also bringing some pretty good shows to Southampton — so if you want to see the future Chancellor of the Exchequer on the same stage that is also hosting the Fat White Family, Fontaines DC and John Cooper Clarke, now’s your chance.
The 1865 venue is in fact the old Southampton Dockers Club, revived with a generous application of white paint and a new audience, which also seems an appropriate venue for a new socialist conference.
More from this author
Why is the Labour government so addicted to giving government jobs to Tories when it spent so long trying to oust them? In the hope the favour is returned the next time the Tories return to power, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
Israel’s number one death dealer supplying the IDF in its murderous campaigns against the Palestinians is now actively wining and dining our military top brass, looking to flog its blood-soaked wares, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES
Health Secretary Wes Streeting taking £53k from Tory-linked recruiter and outsourcer Peter Hearn’s OPD Group is a great example of how Labour’s rich donors shape policies targeting the poor – not their wealth, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
A new book shows the group’s close links to Labour Together, which hoodwinked the party membership into voting for Starmer on fake left promises. SOLOMON HUGHES attempts to get some answers about what ‘Blue Labour’ actually stands for
