Further Events at the Arise Festival of Left-Wing Ideas

I’ve already put up a piece about some of the events at this year’s Arise Festival. Yesterday I had a further email about their programme, which added these events to it.

‘

4) NHS @ 75 – How can we repair & restore it after 13 years of austerity?

Online. Wed. June 7, 18.30. Register here // Share & Invite here // Get Festival Ticket here // Retweet here

With: Nadia Whittome MP // John Lister (Keep Our NHS Public) // John Puntis (Doctors for the NHS.) // Chloe Brooks (North West. Rep, Labour Students.) July marks 75 years of our NHS. In light of Starmer and Streeting’s recent remarks, join the discussion on how we can end the current crisis, & secure its future as a universal publicly-owned, public service for all.

Hosted by the Labour Assembly Against Austerity at Arise 2023.
 

---

5) Sylvia Pankhurst: Suffragette, Socialist & Scourge of Empire.

Friday June 9, 1pm, Online. Register here // Share & Invite here // Retweet here // Get festival ticket here

With Katherine Connelly – author of ‘Sylvia Pankhurst: Suffragette, Socialist and Scourge of Empire.’ Sylvia Pankhurst dedicated her life to fighting oppression & injustice. This event will look at how this courageous & inspiring campaigner is of huge relevance  today. 

Register here to get a link to join live or watch back later. Part of the ‘Socialist Ideas’ series.
 

---

6) People & Planet on the Brink – Socialist Solutions to Climate Catastrophe

Online, Sunday, June 11, 5.00pm. Register here // Get festival ticket here // Retweet here.

With: Olivia Blake MP // Tess Woolfenden, Debt Justice // Sam Knight, Green New Deal Rising // Sam Mason, Climate Justice Coalition trade union officer // Fraser McGuire, Young Labour. The world is on brink of five ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points, threatening the very future of humanity. Yet our Government – like many others globally – are more interested in protecting the profits of the fossil fuel giants than urgent action to tackle the climate emergency.

A Socialist Sunday session at Arise 2023.
 

---

7) Free Palestine – Mustafa Barghouti briefing + Q&A

Monday June 12, Online, 6.30pm.
Register here // Share & Invite here // Retweet here // Get festival ticket here.

In-depth briefing + Q&A with Mustafa Barghouti, Palestinian National Initiative, on the latest developments in Palestine as Israel’s far-right government steps up its aggression. With supplementary contributions from Young Labour, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign & Labour & Palestine. Chair: Louise Regan, National Education Union & PSC.

Free event but solidarity tickets & donations essential for funding Webinar & streaming. Hosted by Labour & Palestine as part of Arise.
 

---

8) The Case for Labour Party Democracy – for Members’ Rights & the Union Link

Online, Wednesday June 14, 6.30pm. Register here // Share & invite here // Get festival ticket here // Retweet here.

With: Jon Trickett MP // Mick Whelan, ASLEF GS//Simon Fletcher // Rachel Garnham, CLPD // Nabeela Mowlana, Young Labour. Join a vital discussion to make the case for a democratic party & movement – & to map out next steps in campaigning for members’ rights & in defence of the union-link.
 

---

9) What would Marx & Engels say about today’s global capitalist crisis?

Online, Friday June 16, 1.00pm. Register here // Share & invite here // Get festival ticket here // Retweet here.

With Michael Roberts – economist & author, The Great Recession – a Marxist view.

Register here to get a link to join live or watch back later. Part of the ‘Socialist Ideas’ series.
 

---

10) The New Colonialism- resisting racism & exploitation of the global South

Online, Sunday June 18, 5.00pm. Register here // Share & invite here // Get festival ticket here // Retweet here.

With: Asad Rehman, Director, War on Want // Heidi Chow, Director, Debt Justice // Lubaba Khalid, Young Labour BAME Officer // Chair: Denis Fernando, Arise volunteer.

A Socialist Sunday session at Arise 2023.
 

---

11) No more Pinochets in Latin America – Stand with social progress, democracy & regional integration

Online, Monday June 19, 6.30pm. Register here // Share & invite here // Get festival ticket here // Retweet here.

With: Guillaume Long, former foreign Minister, Ecuador // Nathalia Urban, Brasil Wire // Claudia-Turbet Delof, Wiphalas Across the World, Bolivia, // Dave McKnight, UNISON NW // Gawain Little, GFTU.

Hosted by Labour Friends of Progressive Latin America at Arise 2023.
 

---

12) Socialist economic policies explained: the alternative to never-ending cuts

Online, Wednesday June 21, 6.30pm. Register here // Share & invite here // Get festival ticket here // Retweet here.

Richard Burgon MP // Laura Smith, Labour Councillor & co-author of the No Holding Back report // Professor Özlem Onaran, University of Greenwich // Cat Hobbs, Director of We Own It.

Ask your questions & make your contributions on socialist alternatives to ‘Austerity 2.0.’
 

---

13) The Paris Commune – “Glorious harbinger of a new society”

Online, Friday June 23, 1.00pm. Register here // Share & invite here // Get festival ticket here // Retweet here.

With Sandra Bloodworth. Australian labour historian & contributor to The Paris Commune, An Ode To Emancipation. The Paris Commune is still studied throughout the world as one of the first working-class attempts at emancipation, direct democracy & social change – why?

Register here to get a link to join live or watch back later. Part of the ‘Socialist Ideas’ series.
 

---

14) Push for peace – No to forever wars

Online, Sunday June 25, 5.00pm. Register here // Share & invite here // Get festival ticket here // Retweet here.

With: Kate Hudson (CND) // Steve Howell (author, ‘Game Changer’ & former advisor to Jeremy Corbyn) // Shadia Edwards-Dashti (Stop the War Coalition) // Chair: Logan Williiams, Arise volunteer.

A Socialist Sunday session at Arise 2023.
 

---

Forthcoming Events at the Arise Festival of Left-Wing Ideas

‘It’s nearly here! 🎉

Hello David

Arise 2023 kicks off with a bang Wednesday, as a vital Our Right to Resist rally (info below, register here), brings together 15+ campaigns & groups on the fight for our civil liberties & rights.

If you aren’t one of those who has got a ticket for the whole online festival yet – please grab one here today – a better world is possible, let’s keep fighting together for it.

Yours in solidarity,
The Arise – A Festival of Left Ideas Volunteers (via the Labour Assembly.)

Coming up at Arise Festival

1) RALLY: Our Right to Resist

Online, THIS Wednesday May 31, 6.30pm. Register here // Get festival ticket here // Retweet here & spread the word.

John McDonnell MP // Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP // Kate Osborne MP // Kim Johnson MP // Lord John Hendy KC // Zita Holbourne, BARAC // Myriam Kane, Black Liberation Alliance // Chantelle Lunt, Black Lives Matter & Kill the Bill // Ellen Fearon, GND Rising // Mish Rahman, Labour NEC (pc) & Momentum NCG // Rob Poole, Strikemap // Chris Peace, Orgreave Truth & Justice Campaign // Hasan Patel, Young Labour // Daniel Kebede, NEU next General Secretary// Fran Heathcote, PCS President // Alex Gordon, RMT President // Video message from Shami Chakrabarti // Christine Blower (Chair)

Opening Arise – An Online Festival of Left Ideas 2023. 

2) What can Gramsci teach us about the crisis today & what we can do about it?

Friday June 2, 1pm, Online. Register here // Share & Invite here // Retweet here // Get festival ticket here

With James Schneider, author of “Our Bloc: How We Win” & former advisor to Jeremy Corbyn.

This event will look out how the Italian socialist Antonio Gramsci’s concepts of hegemony & organic crisis can help us understand what is going on today.

Register here to get a link to join live or watch back later. Part of the ‘Socialist Ideas’ series.
 

3) Celebrating Solidarity: Crucial role of art & music in the miners’ strike

Sunday June 4, 5pm, Online. Register here // Share & Invite here // Retweet here // Get festival ticket here

With: Mike Jackson, LGSM; Kate Flannery & Chris Peace, Orgreave Truth & Justice Campaign.

Fighting oppression & injustice has inspired many artists & musicians to connect with political struggles. As well as the support for the miners’ strike that came from many groups who were experiencing the same oppression & hostility from the establishment of the day, many artists were proactive about their support for the miners, We need bread but we can have roses too!

A Socialist Sunday session, hosted by the Orgreave Truth & Justice Campaign as part of Arise. Register here to get a link to join live or watch back later. 

4) The Good Friday Agreement at 25: Time for Irish Unity?

BE PART OF THE DEBATE: Register here // share & invite here // RT here // get festival ticket here.

Monday June 5, 18.30. Part of Arise 2023 – An Online Festival of Left Ideas.

Michelle Gildernew MP, Sinn Fein // John McDonnell MP // Geoff Bell, author of ‘The Twilight of Unionism’ // Chair: Rachel Garnham, Campaign for Labour Party Democracy.

Join us for a vital discussion on Ireland’s future &  prospects for real change.

5) NHS @ 75 – How can we repair & restore it after 13 years of austerity?

Online. Wed. June 7, 18.30. Register here // Share & Invite here // Get Festival Ticket here // Retweet here

Nadia Whittome MP, John Lister (Keep Our NHS Public & co-author, NHS Under Siege), John Puntis (Doctors for the NHS.) Chair: Chloe Brooks (North West. Rep, Labour Students.)

July marks 75 years of our NHS. In light of Starmer and Streeting’s recent remarks, join the discussion on how we can end the current crisis, & secure its future as a universal publicly-owned, public service for all.

Hosted by the Labour Assembly Against Austerity at Arise 2023.

6) Sylvia Pankhurst: Suffragette, Socialist & Scourge of Empire.

Friday June 9, 1pm, Online. Register here // Share & Invite here // Retweet here // Get festival ticket here

With Katherine Connelly – author of Sylvia Pankhurst: Suffragette, Socialist and Scourge of Empire.

Sylvia Pankhurst dedicated her life to fighting oppression & injustice. This event will look at how this courageous & inspiring campaigner is of huge relevance  today. 

Register here to get a link to join live or watch back later. Part of the ‘Socialist Ideas’ series.
 

7) People & Planet on the Brink – Socialist Solutions to Climate Catastrophe

Online, Sunday, June 11, 5.00pm. Register here // Get festival ticket here // Retweet here.

Olivia Blake MP // Tess Woolfenden, Debt Justice // Sam Knight, Green New Deal Rising // Sam Mason, Climate Justice Coalition trade union officer // Fraser McGuire, Young Labour.

The world is on brink of five ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points, threatening the very future of humanity. Yet our Government – like many others globally – are more interested in protecting the profits of the fossil fuel giants than urgent action to tackle the climate emergency.

A Socialist Sunday session at Arise 2023.

8) Free Palestine – Mustafa Barghouti briefing + Q&A

Monday June 12, Online, 6.30pm.
Register here // Share & Invite here // Retweet here // Get festival ticket here.

In-depth briefing + Q&A with Mustafa Barghouti, Palestinian National Initiative, on the latest developments in Palestine as Israel’s far-right government steps up its aggression.

With supplementary contributions from Young Labour, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign & Labour & Palestine. Chair: Louise Regan, National Education Union & PSC.

Free event but solidarity tickets & donations essential for funding Webinar & streaming. Hosted by Labour & Palestine as part of Arise.
 

9) The Case for Labour Party Democracy – for Members’ Rights & the Union Link

Online, Wednesday June 14, 6.30pm. Register here // Share & invite here // Get festival ticket here // Retweet here.

With: Jon Trickett MP // Mick Whelan, ASLEF GS//Simon Fletcher // Rachel Garnham, CLPD // Nabeela Mowlana, Young Labour.

Join us for a vital discussion to make the case for a democratic party & movement – & to map out next steps in campaigning for members’ rights & in defence of the union-link.

Part of Arise 2023. ‘

We Own It Online Event to Support Nationalised Energy Company

‘Dear David,

Are you worried about your energy bill rising next month? Do you think the UK isn’t making the most of its wind power? Would you like to see the government cutting your bills AND tackling the climate crisis by investing much more in green energy?

Us too!

On Monday 24th April, 7pm-8pm, we’re holding an online event about Labour’s plans for Great British Energy, a new publicly owned renewable energy generation company, to talk about how this could help.

We’re independent of any political party but if Great British Energy happens, in public ownership, we want it to be a HUGE success.

Sign up now

We would love to see you at this event ‘How to make Great British Energy a huge success?’

We Own It helped to make this policy happen by pointing out that 9 out of 10 leading green countries already have this kind of national champion (and by telling Labour in the Guardian not to be cautious about public ownership).

Now it’s YOUR chance to help make sure the new publicly owned company Great British Energy will cut your bills and make life better for you and your family, friends and community, into the future.

We’ll be releasing new polling about what people want Great British Energy’s profits to be spent on and calling on Labour to invest enough money to make it successful.

The event will include speakers from the TUC, Common Wealth, Green New Deal Rising and Green Alliance and we’re inviting ALL politicians to listen to what people say.

Setting up Great British Energy in public hands *isn’t the same thing* as nationalising the whole energy system (and yes, that’s frustrating) – but it’s a huge step in the right direction of a greener, better future.

A new, highly successful publicly owned company will also prove that public ownership works!

You can show politicians you want this to happen, and you want it to be big.

Sign up now

The government’s energy bills support scheme ends at the start of April. If you’re worried about the impact this will have on you, you can also submit your story to the Guardian (and why not mention the arguments for public ownership in your response!)

You need a net zero energy system that also keeps you warm and cosy. It’s not rocket science, and we can copy other countries like Norway to get there.

See you on Monday 24th April to talk about what this looks like!

Cat, Johnbosco, Matthew, Kate and Imogen – the We Own It team’

This is an excellent idea, and deserves support. Even in America, some states have their own publicly-owned power companies that provide energy more cheaply than their commercial competitors. Thatcherism has failed in the energy sector, and it’s long past time the policy was reversed.

Starmer Runs Away from Green New Deal Campaigners – Anyone Surprised?

Mike today posted a tweet containing a video from a young woman and man from the campaign group, Green New Deal Rising, On Wednesday, the pair had attempted to confront Starmer about his policies towards the Green New Deal and the climate crisis. According to them, Starmer ran away protesting that he was too busy to talk about it. So they tackled him today about his refusal to take an action and failure to back the Green New Deal. The video shows Starmer running away from them faster than Boris Johnson searching for a fridge to hide in. He does speak to the pair eventually from behind a line of railings, talking about tackling climate through international negotiations at the forthcoming conference. They’re not impressed with him, neither is Mike and frankly, I’m not either. The group end their tweet with “Words mean nothing Keir. We need urgent action. We need you to #BackTheBill” Mike notes that Starmer was right behind the bill when it was one of Corbyn’s policies, but now has utterly reversed his position. Noting that the Labour leader is actually avoiding campaigners against climate change, Mike asks ‘How does he think this is acceptable?’

I’m not remotely surprised by this. Starmer has broken every one of Corbyn’s policies, and has shown just how right-wing he is by writing his despicable piece in the Financial Times about how he wishes to return the party to the glory days, as he seems to see it, of Blair. This is the Tony Blair who accelerated and expanded the Tories’ privatisation of the NHS, the destruction of the welfare state, the wholesale implementation of the Private Finance Initiative as a general governmental principle and the further impoverishment of Britain’s great working people. And this is apart from his international crimes – the illegal invasion of Iraq and the bombing of Libya to overthrow Colonel Gaddafy. The result has been the descent of those relatively secular societies with welfare states into sectarian violence and chaos. Half of Libya has been overrun by Islamist fanatics, who have opened slave markets selling Black migrants travelling through the country in the hope of reaching Europe. The western occupation of Iraq and the neo-Cons attempts to turn the country into a low-tax, free trade capitalist utopia has utterly wrecked their economy. But western multinationals have done extremely well for themselves, looting and taking over the country’s state-owned enterprises as the spoils of war. And Aramco, the American-Saudi oil company, has stolen Iraq’s oil industry and its reserves. Indeed, they’ve actually written into the country’s new constitution a clause stating that the Iraqis may not renationalise it.

This was the real aim of the invasion all along.

As was the invasion of Afghanistan. Like Iraq, it had nothing to do with liberating the country from the murderous rule of a brutal regime. Quite the contrary. George Dubya Bush’s administration had been in talks with the Taliban about opening up an oil pipeline there. It was only when the Taliban started stalling and looked ready to turn down the proposal, that Bush’s bunch of bandits then drew up plans to invade the country if an opportunity presented itself. Which it did with 9/11.

For further information about this, read any of William Blum’s critiques of American imperialism and Greg Palast’s Armed Madhouse.

Blair himself was a corporatist. He gave positions in government to senior figures from private industry, often on the very bodies that were supposed to regulate those industries, in return for their generous donations. This included the NHS, where he took in various advisors from private healthcare companies. See George Monbiot’s Captive State. I’ve seen absolutely no evidence that Blair was ever worried about saving the planet. Not when he was determined to reward the same businesses that are wrecking it. One of the horrors left over from the Iraq invasion is the pollution from the armaments coated with depleted uranium, which have been responsible for a massive increase in birth defects among the Iraqi population.

I don’t see Starmer as being remotely different. He’s already shown his contempt for the Labour party’s rank and file, whom he’s ignoring in order to try to recruit prospective MPs and officials from outside the party. Just as Blair was far more welcoming to Tory politicos who had crossed the floor to join him, like Chris Patten, than his own party and particularly its left-wing. My guess Starmer is probably hoping for more corporate donations, including from the fracking companies wishing to start operating over here.

Right now, he looks exactly the same as David Cameron. Cameron boasted that his would be the greenest government ever. He even put a little windmill on his roof to show how serious he was. But when he finally slithered his way into No. 10, that windmill came down and it was full steam ahead for fracking and hang anyone worried about its damage to the environment and their drinking water.

Starmer’s going to be no different. Which is why he’s turned his back on the Green New Deal and run away from its campaigners. He doesn’t want to hear them, just as he doesn’t want to hear from ordinary working people and Labour supporters and members.