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the full Convention brochure (1.5mb pdf) by clicking
the image above.
Click
above for details of meetings and events organised
since the publication of the timetable.
|
An
invitation to join the Convention
of The Left
This bold venture comes as a result of people from different
left and radical traditions – or none – getting
together in Greater Manchester to say that there IS an alternative
to Labour’s policies of war and privatisation.
We
are from green, left, internationalist, communist, socialist,
radical and anarchist backgrounds. We are involved in civil
liberties, anti-deportation, trade union, climate change,
peace and public service campaigns. What we have in common
is that we believe the wealth exists in society to pay for
our essential needs – but we do not believe that an
unbridled free market is sustainable.
We
cannot have socialism if the planet has been destroyed,
but we [probably?] can’t save the planet unless we
have socialism.
So
when New Labour comes to Manchester for its so-called “Conference”
(an event generally believed to be without debate or decisions),
we have decided that we want to host a “Convention
of The Left” – just a stone’s throw (or
a balloon’s flight) away from the security-surrounded
official event, we will be holding a day of action, a full
day conference, and three days of themed debates and discussions
(Saturday September 20th - Wednesday September 24th 2008).
Our
Convention will be both a protest at Labour’s war
and privatisation, racism and pollution, authoritarianism
and inequality, and a practical demonstration that there
is an alternative.
Our
Convention will be about an entirely different world –
one that can be built by working people for working people.
Our
Convention will be united in our determination to combine
our strengths and develop through open and participatory
debates the rebuilding of The Left today.
The
agenda is evolving, because we have been seeking the comments,
suggestions and involvements of many more people –
and we are going on doing so, between now and then. We don’t
just want a one-off conference (good though we hope the
debates in September will be). We want to encourage everyone
to start debating the topics and the possibilities across
the pages of the left press and the websites and blogs,
all the way from now till then.
So
our blog (www.conventionoftheleft.org.uk) has started with
a few contributions for debate – on Planet, Peace,
People not Profits, Politics: Power and Participation –
and hopes to encourage both responses to these and suggestions
on many more (including Prejudice and Oppression for example).
The topics don’t all have to start with “P”
– but, for the meanwhile, Give “P”s a
Chance… and we look forward to the comments that come
in.
Then,
as we get closer to the event itself, we hope we will have
a body of material already debated widely across the left
that can start the Convention off on a sound footing –
and encourage yet more participation and debate in the sessions
that follow – all of which may lead to the development
of “charters” or even a “manifesto”
of The Left, on which we can all agree to mobilise our forces
in unity so as to campaign more effectively.
The
Convention is currently organised by an Organising Group,
meeting in Manchester. All meetings have been open to others
to come and make suggestions. As a practical result of this,
we have agreed that we must take some action already –
anti-fascist work for example is not going to wait until
September, but is starting now.
Similarly
we have been looking for ways to involve the left around
the rest of the country, who cannot necessarily make meetings
in Manchester (and from our neighbours north and west of
the borders – in Scotland and Wales – and hopefully
from the European Left and beyond). Debate in hyperspace
is encouraged, but maybe people can also organise their
own meetings in their own localities; to which those of
us in Manchester would be pleased to come along and give
some information on the progress so far.
Confirmed
participants include Tony Benn, John McDonnell, Jeremy Corbyn,
Mark Serwotka, Colin Fox, Pam Currie, Frances Curran, Sue
Bond, Jeremy Dear, Matt Wrack, Maria Exall, Jane Loftus,
Carolyn Jones, Rahila Gupta, Tariq Ali, John Lister, Jonathan
Neale, Kate Hudson, Andrew Murray, Lindsey German, Bill
Greenshields, George Galloway, Abjol Miah , Ken Loach, Rob
Griffiths, and Derek Wall. Sponsoring organisations include
the Labour Representation Committee – and the Left
Women’s Network and Left Economics Advisory Panel;
Scottish Socialist Party; Communist Party of Britain; Green
Left; Respect; Morning Star, Socialist Workers Party, Greater
Manchester Association of Trades Union Councils, Manchester
Trades Council, Liverpool Trades Council and many others.
So
if you want to support actions ranging from stopping the
war(s), supporting the anti-nuclear blockades, fighting
racist deportations, stopping housing sell-offs, defending
the NHS – do feel free to get involved. If you want
to hear (or even to organise) debates and discussions on
Palestine, Iraq, Pakistan, or the break-up of the UK, climate
change, human rights (including the rights of migrants and
refugees), reclaiming health and (secular) education, and
the struggle for a fairer economic system – do make
suggestions and put your own contributions onto the blog.
We
want to start defining a new way of working (even to reclaim
that word “new”) so that we can work together
in practical campaigns, regardless of the organisations
we may belong to, and so that we can stop the war and nuclear
proliferation, the cuts and privatisation. Much more than
elections and individual campaigns, we want to develop a
critique of capitalism as we now know it and an alternative
strategy that is environmentally and socially just, inclusive
and peaceful, pluralist, tolerant, and doesn’t rely
on “top-table” speakers but on discussion from
us all – in pursuit of a bigger common objective that
benefits the many and not the few.
Diverse
but not divisive, we want participation in debate and unity
in action.
What
do you think?
|
INTERESTING READING
New Leaflet for June 2008 (pdf) CLICK
ABOVE
Download
our four page leaftlet here (pdf) CLICK ABOVE
Finacial
appeal (pdf) please CLICK ABOVE |
Sunday
25th January 2009 2pm -6pm
STOP
REPOSSESSIONS
Supporters
of the Convention of the Left leafleted the public
outside manchester's northern Rock branch on Satuday
1st November. We will be returning onSaturdays 15th
and 22nd November when the Xmas Market has begun
to take our no repossessions mesage to a wider audience.
Please join us.
PROTEST
OUTSIDE NORTHERN ROCK MANCHESTER
