Socialism with a Sparkle
Alongside the Labour Party Conference this year, another political event has been taking place. In various unassuming warehouses and community centres across Liverpool, Britain’s most prominent socialist thinkers have gathered to discuss the great challenges of our time and to create viable alternatives. The World Transformed festival has been a model for how a progressive society should be managed and organised; a place of civilised debate, creativity and community emancipation.
From public ownership schemes to community-owned renewable energy, those attending the political festival are generating up a multitude of sensible and achievable progressive policy ideas that meet the demands of the 21st century. In modern times it has become customary to wait for politicians to come up with the answers, yet we understand that democracy is not merely coming out to vote every four years. If we want our politics to function properly, we must become more actively involved in decision making processes and that is exactly what The World Transformed is about.
As a spectator to these discussions over the course of the past few days, I have been impressed by a couple of important aspects of the festival. Firstly, has been the breath and openness of the debate. Mainstream media would have you believe the parameters of political discourse, otherwise known as the Overton Window, are fairly narrow. Take energy policy as an example; the ongoing proposal of market intervention to freeze energy prices has been compared to Marxist economics by many Conservatives. Not only is this comparison fundamentally wrong but is also misleading, in the sense that this particular policy now sets the limit for change. In this context, nobody would dare go any further than freezing energy prices. In reality however, these proposals aren’t extreme at all, therefore narrowing the overall field of debate. A truly radical transformation in our energy structure would be to empower local communities and give them the opportunity to produce and manage their own energy sources through renewable energy.
Secondly, has been the wonderful creativity of ideas, particularly from young people. Anyone who suggests the Left has run out of ideas just isn’t looking hard enough. Near enough every meeting at The World Transformed has brought up interesting and robust policy ideas. What’s more, those influential delegates and MP’s attending are not only listening but taking ideas back to Conference. The question of how Royal Mail should be renationalised was put to the audience and a young man explained his vision of postal workers carrying out other community roles besides delivering post, including social care and delivering prescriptions. Empowering the postal worker in their communities whilst also dealing with the growing problem of social care underfunding. Utterly brilliant. With political apathy and polarisation sweeping a divided nation, such an altruistic and community-based policy should be front and centre of the kind of society we want to live in.
As Cat Hobbs coined the phrase, we need ‘socialism with a sparkle’ — a politics that engages and brings power closer to ordinary people. Regardless of political party, one must recognise the importance of an event such as The World Transformed. This is democracy in action that advocates the very best of British values; community, freedom of speech and egalitarianism.
