Organisers of The World Transformed (TWT) have announced the programme for their annual festival in Liverpool. They’re claiming that activists in attendance will be ‘the real opposition’ to the Tories – as well as any future Labour Party government that continues their policies. Overall, the TWT says that one of the talks planned sums up the situation – because it’s called “No One is Coming to Save Us”.
The world transformed (again)
As the Canary previously reported:
Labour group Momentum and others launched The World Transformed (TWT) in 2016. It took place alongside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool. More than 5,000 people attended over 150 workshops, talks, gigs, and exhibitions. It was the largest fringe event at the 2016 conference.
Since then, the yearly programme of culture and politics continues to run alongside the Labour conference. However, it has come to contrast starkly with the party’s policy platform. Delegations from militant climate campaigners Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion – as well as from trade unions, including the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers (RMT) – are expected at the event.
The TWT festival will feature talks with titles like “The Coming Climate Insurrection” and “General Election 2024: No One is Coming to Save Us”. It will also include training sessions on how to stop an immigration raid and how to intervene in stop and search. Every session seems at odds with Starmer’s ‘authoritarian’ approach.
Labour Party Conference: “tricky” for Starmer
Conference season could be a tricky time for Starmer. He’s likely to find himself confronted by those he’s betrayed. The Labour leader has U-turned on almost all of the ‘ten pledges’. These formed the basis of his campaign to succeed Jeremy Corbyn. This includes backtracking on commitments on climate, an about-turn on migrants rights, and a shift away from support for public ownership.
Last year Starmer shifted from his 2020 promise that his Labour Party would:
work shoulder to shoulder with trade unions to stand up for working people.
He ordered his shadow ministers not to appear alongside workers on picket lines. More recently he has refused to support the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap. This is despite him having vowed to scrap it while standing to become leader.
Since Starmer’s election, the Labour Party has also blocked left-wingers from standing and even re-standing for election, including North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll and Corbyn himself.
Resisting the purge
A spokesperson from TWT said:
Those who dare to demand social and economic transformation are purged from political life.
Under the authoritarian leadership of Keir Starmer and his Blairite enforcers, the Labour Party has ceased to offer a genuine alternative to the Tories. Donations from working class people and trade unions have been replaced by billionaire cheques. Policies that championed economic and social reform have been replaced by a commitment to maintaining the status quo.
We must start by recognising that no one is coming to save us. If left to their own devices, the politicians will do nothing to solve the crises we face. If we want something we have to fight for it. As we approach the next General Election and the possibility of a status quo-defending Labour Government, it is vital that those who recognise the necessity of transforming our economy come together to discuss how we can fight together and win.
Featured image via TWT
