Tomorrow’s world

Do we have a feral youth? It’s a question that many have asked since riots erupted across the country over the summer. Images of young people destroying their own communities, presented a challenge to those of us who have long rejected the stereotype of the feral hooded youth. Yet, while no analysis can excuse such wanton violence, it would equally be wrong to reduce these events, as the Prime Minister has, to “criminality pure and simple.” Labour’s former Home Secretary Charles Clarke was right to rebut David Cameron’s over-simplified conclusions in an article for The Evening Standard. “Criminality”, he argued, “is neither ‘pure’ nor ‘simple’.”

This is surely correct. As IPPR Director, Nick Pearce, outlines in the essay in our Autumn edition of Anticipations, “unless you believe that the riots were simply random acts of criminal violence, then some attempt must be made to explain why they happened and what can be done to prevent them happening again.” Of course we need a robust response and should not shy away from punishing those who have broken the law. However, it is also important, as Pearce points out, not to ignore the fact that most of the areas affected had high rates of youth unemployment and low levels of educational attainment.

This is not an excuse for violence and it would be wrong to argue that the disorder occurred as a direct result of policies such as the scrapping of EMA. Many of the rioters were not young at all; many more already had criminal convictions. However, it must also be true that only people with no aspirations for, or connection to, their communities are willing to set them alight.

There are important lessons for Labour here.  While New Labour’s focus on modernisation was vital for reforming our public services, the party had too little to say about community itself. This is now starting to be rectified and it is crucial that Labour continues to avoid pandering, as the government has, to those who talk of ‘moral decline’. The party must focus instead on practical ways to strengthen civil society from the bottom up.

London Citizens community organiser, Emmanuel Gotoro, outlines a powerful example of how this can be achieved. The CitySafe Havens initiative, established following the murder of teenager Jimmy Mizen in 2008, successfully brings together young people, police and shopkeepers to tackle local violence and anti-social behaviour. It centres upon the reporting of 100% of incidents and on the idea that strong relationships are the bedrock of community. The CitySafe campaign serves as a pertinent reminder that, far from being feral, many of our most active and civic-minded citizens are young people.

That’s not to say that we should ignore the vital role that the police have to play in all this. Safety and security must always be the overriding priority for any government and Yvette Cooper is right to highlight in this edition’s interview that effective policing is crucial to maintaining this. Cooper offers a devastating critique of the coalition’s approach to law and order, pointing to the evident contradiction between spending well over £100 million on Police and Crime Commissions while at the same time cutting the policing budget by 20%. Strong communities need properly resourced police. Just ask the young people campaigning with London Citizens.

We do not have a feral youth. Most young people are hard working, socially-conscious and responsible individuals – just like the rest of society. The lesson of the riots is not that our young are out of control, but rather that in some parts of the country, in areas of low aspiration, society has grown weak. In our effort to reweave the fabric of these communities we could do worse than look again at the opportunities available to our young people.

Now is the time for a fundamental rethink of youth policy.

James Green is Anticipations Editor and a Fabian Society Executive member

• You can read our online taster edition of the Autumn 2011 edition of Anticipations here. The full edition of Anticipations is only available to Young Fabian members. Joining couldn’t be easier and six months membership costs just £5. Click here for more information on joining the Young Fabians

Forward, not back

The Greek debt crisis has thrown into stark relief the challenges that lie at the heart of European integration.

As the Eurozone countries decide whether to endorse a second Greek bailout, many are asking whether the European project has fallen into serial decline. Eurosceptics are rubbing their hands in glee, citing the Euro’s current plight as proof of their earlier predictions.

Yet there is another way of reading current events. As former Foreign Secretary David Miliband argues in the essay in the latest edition of Anticipations, the nature of the crash that sparked Greece’s collapse demonstrates that global problems require global solutions. As China and America increasingly focus on domestic concerns, faced with a leadership transition and election respectively, Europe has an opportunity to take a lead on the world stage.

Europe is well placed to do this.

It is after all the only part of the world that has embraced the idea of shared sovereignty. While integration has not been a cost-free process it has brought with it significant opportunities. In an increasingly interdependent world, dominated by a handful of superpowers, the benefits of economic and political cooperation are more evident now than ever.

Taking advantage of this will not be easy.

Europe will first need to address the deep disconnect that currently exists between the process of greater integration and public support for the European project. This is the outcome of integration by stealth, as the public have grown weary of economic measures being used to promote a broader political goal. Few events more powerfully exemplify this phenomenon than the current crisis in Greece. We now have a single currency, which many in Europe saw as a route into federalism, undermined not only by the weakness of the Greek economy but also by widespread public antipathy towards the EU. Rarely has a strong multilateral Europe been more important or more difficult to sustain.

This has resulted in the widely held view that Europe is a distraction from more important national economic concerns.

However, as Nick Maxwell from Chatham House rightly argues in the latest Anticipations, domestic economic challenges and foreign policy priorities are far from mutually exclusive. Sound economics, just like effective politics, requires strong international cooperation.

In fact Maxwell goes a step further, arguing that the UK should be at the centre of efforts to build a more effective international framework for economic cooperation between nations. It is hard to argue with this position. As power increasingly shifts East, there is a closing window of opportunity for a country like the UK to take a global lead on such defining issues.

However, Britain’s ambitions should not be limited to economic concerns alone.

As Jim Murphy powerfully outlines in the latest edition of Anticipations, we also need to drive forward a coordinated approach to issues of defence. The Arab Spring has turned on its head established notions that non-democratic governments can be stable and sustainable. Security in the future will come not from bilateral relationships with autocratic rulers, but from strong multilateral alliances between democratic nations. This will require countries to facilitate peace abroad in order to protect their interests at home.

It is a challenging task, especially in tough economic times. However, it is one that we can rise to, especially if we are able to coordinate foreign policy at the European level.

As the crisis in Greece has shown, a more integrated Europe brings with it significant risks. However, in an interdependent world dominated by China and America surely these are risks worth taking. Now is the time for Europe to shed its image as a reluctant actor and assert its place on the international stage.

There is space in the world for another superpower. Europe must decide if it ready to become it.

James Green is Editor of Anticipations

• Read our online taster edition of the Summer 2011 edition of Anticipations here.
• The full edition of Anticipations is only available to Young Fabian members. Joining couldn’t be easier and six months membership costs just £5. Click here for more information regarding joining the Young Fabians.

Labour must ‘do God’

Reclaiming the Big Society – Winter Anticipations

One issue more than any other has dominated British politics since May. Cuts have been the order of the day, as the coalition has taken the axe to the public finances in its effort to bring down the deficit and shrink the state. In this tough political climate, Labour have played an important role in holding the coalition to account and opposing cuts, like those to housing benefit, that hit the poorest hardest. However, the party must be careful to avoid the temptation of riding the inevitable wave of public anger and opposing all cuts on matter of principle. The recently launched policy review provides a vital opportunity for Labour to develop a credible policy platform that is rooted in the political and economic reality of today.

That reality is a challenging one. Despite what the coalition may claim, the structural issues within the UK economy go far beyond financial services and alleged Labour profligacy. In fact the UK’s long-term debt has far more to do with our ageing demographic profile than with bankers bonuses and complex derivatives. Put simply, the taxes of those in work no longer cover the services and pensions of those who have retired. The problem is systemic and the only solution is a new conception of the state that reflects the complex realities of modern day Britain. Of course this must go beyond the rhetoric of Cameron’s ‘Big Society’. However, unless Labour understands its message – that the state needs to be reformed and that people want more power over the issues that affect their lives – the party will fail to offer the credible alternative that is so desperately needed.

This doesn’t require Labour to give up on its own political traditions. In the latest edition of the Young Fabians magazine, Anticipations newly ennobled Maurice Glasman makes a powerful case for Labour rediscovering its radical tradition of solidarity and cooperation. As he rightly argues, Labour has a rich history of grassroots activism and it is this that the party must tap into if it is to offer a new vision of government that goes beyond investment and centralised control. At a time when the public feel disempowered by an overbearing market and an often unresponsive state, now is the time for Labour to once again become the party of civil society. To win the next election, it is vital that Labour does not cede this ground to the coalition.

There is a lot of great work already being done in this area. As new MP Stella Creasy discusses in this edition’s interview many Labour activists are applying the principles of grassroots activism to their own constituencies, supporting local people to take power and influence the decision making process. As a participant of Citizens UK’s national community organising training – I share my experiences in Anticipations – I have seen for myself how effective these methods can be.

However, organising is only a small part of this agenda. Steve Reed, leader of Lambeth Council, writes in Anticipations about the groundbreaking work he is leading on to make Lambeth the country’s first cooperative council. Big ideas are vital, but implementation is equally as important and Lambeth are showing how Labour’s cooperative and mutual tradition – of which Greg Rosen provides a fascinating overview in the magazine – can be applied to the challenges of the modern world.

During the times of plenty, Labour’s instinct was to invest rather than to empower. Despite its shortcomings, this approach had a huge impact of which all on the Left should be proud. However, in today’s economic climate and with the long-term challenge of an ageing population, a new approach is required. Now is the time for Labour to rediscover its history as a grassroots movement and place community empowerment at the heart of a radical new approach to government. Cooperation, mutualism and community organising; these are old ideas whose time has come.

James Green is Editor of the Young Fabians magazine, Anticipations

An online taster edition of the winter edition of Anticipations is now available on the Young Fabians website here.

To full edition of Anticipations is only available to Young Fabian members. However, along with the online taster edition for all our supporters, we are offering a special rate of membership to celebrate our 50th year – £5 for six months membership. For further information and to join visit www.youngfabians.org.uk.

Democracy in action

Young Fabian Executive member James Green reflects on his experiences learning about community organising on Citizens UK’s national five day training.

“The habit of action must be just that – a habit. It cannot be a precious, isolated, rare, and over-freighted moment that we approach gingerly… No, it must be, at its core, what meaningful action is: the collective equivalent of relating. Through action, we relate to the other powers in the public world. We collectively tell or act out our story – who we are and what we want and why we deserve recognition and respect – and we listen to the stories of others. We leave our seats in the rear of the theatre and step onto the wider stage.”

The first time I heard that quote was on a drizzly day in Chigwell. Karen, a vicar from Nottingham, had been given the unenviable task of stepping into the shoes of Johnny Ray Youngblood, a charismatic Brooklyn pastor who had become a driving force behind community organising in the United States. Over the course of twenty years Youngblood had turned a small dwindling church into a dynamic congregation of thousands and had transformed New York in the process. As Karen spoke it struck me that Youngblood must have experienced that same moment of discovery that I was feeling then – the realisation that organising offered the power to affect real change in local communities and transform society from the bottom up. As Karen finished speaking you could have heard a pin drop. It was four days into the training and something profound was happening to us all.

In these days of X-Factor and instant celebrity it has almost become cliché to talk about life changing experiences. But I couldn’t think of a more apt description of those five days in Chigwell. I had become interested in community organising during my time on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and I had kept abreast of London Citizens’ many successes following my return to the UK. The training offered me the opportunity to learn more about organising and how I could apply its lessons to my work within the Labour movement and the Jewish community. But most of all I met incredible people who taught me that the most inspiring thing about organising is the communities that get involved in it and their near boundless potential to change society for the better.

There were thirty five of us on the training and in many ways it could not have been a more diverse group. We had people of all ages, backgrounds and faiths from atheist political activists to charismatic Christian pastors. There were Muslims, Jews and Christians. Some had been involved in community organising for years, while others were taking their first tentative steps into that world. Yet despite, and perhaps because of that diversity, we built strong relationships with each other from the outset. In a room full of leaders, everyone was given space and everyone got on. In any other part of life, that in itself would have been enough of an achievement.

But it wouldn’t have been a problem had that not been the case. In the world of community organising I quickly learnt that tension is actively encouraged. In fact it is often a vital part of the influencing process. I’ll never forget the story we were told of Abdul Durrant. As a cleaner at HSBC, he struggled to survive on the national minimum wage for years. Change was needed, and cleaners, working with London Citizens, took action to make that change happen. They bought shares in the company and at the bank’s AGM Abdul interrupted the meeting and asked HSBC’s chairman, Sir John Bond, whether, in view of the bank’s profits, he was prepared to pay him and his colleagues a ‘living wage’. You must have been able to cut the tension with a knife. Shortly after, HSBC became a living wage employer and many more followed. Abdul’s was one of countless stories we heard about the power of community organising to change lives.

And that is what community organising is all about; power. The power to shape your own life, transform your community and hold those in authority to account. At its heart lies the insight that by building a broad alliance of institutions, civil society to can wrestle power back from the market and state and affect real change on the ground. That’s no mean feat. In an increasingly atomised society in which the market now reaches into all aspects of our lives, civil society has become increasingly weak. Community organising aims to redress that balance and put civic institutions firmly back in the driving seat. That requires more than good intentions and inspiring speeches. It requires organised money and, crucially, organised communities.

Over the five days we found out how we could apply these lessons to our own communities. We learnt about the gritty realities of politics and the tried and tested techniques used by organisers to move from the ‘world as it is’ to the ‘world as it should be’. We heard about the vital importance of the one to one and understanding self-interest, how to analyse institutional power and strengthen our own churches, synagogues and mosques and why a ‘habit of action’ is crucial to driving through real change. We were told countless stories from the front line, listened to personal experiences of community life and shared our own hopes and fears about the future. Every session offered a new insight and could have lasted a day rather than a few hours. I always found myself wanting more.

Yet however important the theory may have been, it paled in comparison to seeing organising in practice. On the third day we were invited to an accountability assembly, my first time at a London Citizens action. Coordinated by the East London Citizens Organisation (TELCO), the candidates for Tower Hamlets’ first elected mayor were pressed by TELCO members on a number of issues from affordable housing and safer streets to fair pay and opportunities for young people. It was a slick operation to say the least and I was impressed most of all by the dignity and respect with which the meeting was conducted. It was a far cry from the yah-boo politics that so often characterizes British political life. And unlike hustings, the meeting was not about pitting politician against politician. It was about the issues themselves and the opportunity for communities to hold their representatives to account.

The most moving moment for me was when a local cleaner addressed the meeting and described the day-to-day challenges of supporting a family on the minimum wage. We had learnt about the importance of testimony during the training, but nothing could have prepared me for how powerful it would be in practice. I quickly realised that this was about far more than influencing the decision making process. Rather, it was about ordinary people standing tall and demanding fairness in their communities. The contrast between that speech and the bitter infighting and recriminations that had come to define the mayoral race couldn’t have been starker. I left with a strong sense that this was politics as it should be. Perhaps that is what community organising is at its core – power in the hands of the people and democracy in action.

Power to the young people

In this guest post, Young Fabian Rhasan Brunner makes the case for greater support for young people

One of the best things about Britain is that young people have freedom of speech and have many opportunities to engage with people who have influence.

Young people today have a powerful voice and many are now prepared to play a part in tackling the issues we face. They are doing this through groups such as the UK Youth Parliament, through which the voice of young people is represented on a national level. Organisations like the Young Fabians are providing young people with opportunities to meet politicians and key opinion formers.

It is vitally important in today’s tough times that young people are able to take matters into their own hands and tackle them, head on. Not only does this have an impact today, it provides the foundations for a positive future for the country.

This is truly inspiring. Young people are following the footsteps of great historical figures such as Mary Wollinstincroft and Martin Luther King.

However, more must be done to give young people greater power and influence. For more information about how this can be done you can visit these websites and find out more about what young people are doing:

The British Youth Council http

www.byc.org.uk

UK Youth Parliament

www.ukyouthparliament.org.uk

Children’s Rights Alliance for England

www.crae.org.uk

We need common sense not ideology in education

In this guest post, Young Fabian Martin Edobor challenges the Tories’ flagship schools policy.

Official figures have revealed that only 153 schools have actually signed up to Michael Gove’s academy plan, despite the Education Secretary claiming last month that 1,114 schools across England had applied to become academies.

Despite the clear lack of support, Gove used emergency parliamentary procedures to rush through the Academies Bill during the final days before Parliament broke up for recess. MPs from both the Labour and Conservative parties have attacked Gove for using these measures, as the Bill has not yet been fully scrutinised. Due to the small number of schools which have actually applied to become academies, Michael Gove should not have used emergency procedures. Instead this Bill should have been, reviewed and scrutinised in parliament.

Ed Balls, the Shadow Education Secretary, has demanded an explanation from Gove on why he misleadingly claimed that over 1,000 schools had applied for the academies programme. It is time for Gove to apologise to Parliament for his misleading figures.

The government is rushing through educational reform, which has not been properly thought out. Gove is trying to introduce a free market model of education in a time of austerity. Clearly ideology is overriding commonsense.

My speech to conference

Reflecting on my experience as Cheltenham’s Parliamentary Candidate at the last General Election I wrote this speech to be delivered on the conference floor.

James Green. I was Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate in Cheltenham at the last election.

There are thousands of people in Cheltenham right now who feel let down.

The Liberal Democrats won the seat on the back Labour supporters who voted tactically to keep the Tories out. Throughout the campaign they pitched themselves as the only real left wing opposition to the Conservatives in the town.

Conference, how times have changed.

The Liberals are now the face of coalition cuts that will see departmental budgets reduced by 25%, of a VAT rise that will hit the poorest hardest, and, most fundamentally of all, of a Tory ideological drive to shrink the state.

We have become the only opposition in Cheltenham and across the country. The only home for those who oppose the Tory-Lib Dem coalition.

In opposing of course we must expose the Liberals. And that could pay dividends.

At the General Election I held my deposit by 0.1% of the vote but I’m confident that if there was a by-election today Labour would win Cheltenham by a landslide.

But on a serious note, exposing the Liberals will never be enough in itself. It’s vital that we avoid falling into the trap of attacking the Lib Dems while allowing Cameron to rise above the fray.

Conference, we must focus our fire on the driving force of this coalition, the Tories, and on exposing the impact of their regressive and ideologically driven cuts.

But at the same time our history tells us that we can’t rely on the unpopularity of the government alone to win. The public demand and deserve an alternative progressive vision for the country.

This must be credible.

Our approach to tackling the deficit will be seen by the public as the test of our credibility. Of course we should oppose cuts where they are wrong but we must face up to the structural issues within the UK economy which come not only from the bank bailout but also from an ageing population.

It must be ideological.

Conference, we know that that Tories want to shrink the state but you can’t fight ideology with policy alone. We must offer the public a powerful set of ideas rooted in the political and economic realities of today.

And finally it must be authentic.

Nye Bevan put it best when he said, “the first duty of the progressive representative is to reflect the views of those he represents authentically. Because then people know that you are seeking to represent them because they are your inspiration.”

Conference, the quality of life, the public services, the support offered to those who inspired us all to get involved in politics are under threat.

I’m relishing the fightback.

James Green, Anticipations Editor and former Parliamentary Candidate for Cheltenham

Carwyn Jones – my political hero

In a guest post to mark the election of Labour’s new leader, Carwyn Jones, Leader of Labour in Wales and Welsh First Minister shares his political hero, Nelson Mandela.

My political hero is without question, Nelson Mandela.

Mandela has dedicated his life to bringing peace, equality and freedom for his people – a vision that even twenty seven years in prison could not diminish.

In his quest to make South Africa the equal society it is today, Mandela never waivered from his principles. Even when offered his own personal freedom – a whole five years before actual release from prison – he declined the offer, as it would have meant the ANC would have remained a banned organisation under the apartheid regime. In his own powerful and inimitable words, he told the South African government, “only free men can negotiate.”

During the five years he served as President of South Africa, he remained committed to reconciliation within his country and building the multi-racial democracy we see today.

Mandela has showed all of us that hope will eventually triumph.

A new political economy

In this guest post, Young Fabian James Silverwood makes the case for a new political economy.

Any contribution to the ideals and values that will shape the 21^st century must inevitably deal with the economic and political fallout of the global financial crisis. We have just witnessed the greatest economic crisis since the 1930s. The coalition government have responded with a vision of political economy that resonates more firmly with Thatcherite laissez-faire policy than the progressive mantle they claim to hold.

A wealth of academic literature has arisen over the previous thirteen years assessing the policy implications of the New Labour project. Three main hypotheses have generally arisen. Firstly, that New Labour was a modernised version of social democracy in line with the sort of revisionism that has always been central to the social democratic project. Secondly, that New Labour was an abject capitulation to the political legacy of Thatcherism and Neo-Liberalism. And finally that New Labour had become a hybrid of both ideological positions.

Space won’t allow further exploration of this theme but the legacy of New Labour will shape the Labour Party’s response to the most pressing issue to shape the first few decades of the 21^st century: political economy. Whilst not adhering to the argument that New Labour was merely a continuation of Thatcherism, despite huge and much needed fiscal expansion in public services, events suggest that New Labour especially on economic matters was hugely influenced by the preceding years of Thatcherism and neo-liberal theories of the market. Gordon Brown’s much vaunted emphasis on monetary stability and fiscal responsibility was placed before the altar of the City of London and financial services. The risk-based approach to regulation of the financial services industry and the belief that they could be made to work in the public interest was repaid with economic instability, social injustice and electoral defeat.

In his book, the Spectre at the Feast, Andrew Gamble notes that the politics of recession often leads to the questioning of current orthodoxies and a ruthless reassessment of former beliefs and assumptions. If the crisis that unfolds is deep and long enough then it can result in major political turbulence. As Gamble notes, this happened in response to the Great Depression of the 1930s, leading to the New Deal and eventually the Keynesian Welfare State. Similarly, the crisis of the 1970s lead to the re-emergence of neo-liberalism as the dominant political ideology.

An interesting facet of the global financial crisis is the speed with which neo-liberalism has reasserted itself. The right have successfully dominated the narrative that has emerged from this recession. What should be considered as a failure of neo-liberalism and markets has been re-written as a crisis of over-extended government and fiscal irresponsibility. To beat the crisis and rebuild our economy, the right argue, we need to roll back the state and in so doing liberate the private sector. Yet this view isn’t borne our by the facts. In an economy of corporate and consumer indebtedness and a financial sector that is still paralysed by its own speculative activities it is a fanciful proposition to say the least.

However, Gamble notes that while recessions lead to the questioning of orthodoxy that does not necessarily mean that prevailing economic policy will be replaced. He is worth quoting at length,

“Forces arrayed against neo-liberal order look comparatively weak, and there is as yet no compelling alternative vision of how the global economy might be ordered, what the steps might be, and what an alternative political economy to neo-liberalism might look like”

Constructing an alternative vision of political economy is the most important task facing the Labour Party. To achieve this Labour must address the following issues:

• Labour must challenge the market excess, especially in providing a more thorough critique of how markets fail.
• We must reappraise the priorities of UK financial institutions, working to support a new era of economic growth built on investment in higher value added manufacturing and green and creative industries.
• We should make the case for new forms of public and private ownership models and redress the deficits in corporate governance regimes to focus on long-term growth potential, product and technical capabilities. This will lay the foundations for an increase in UK exports.
• We must increase UK exports by moving into higher value added production. This will not automatically lead to a fairer or more equal society and appropriate steps must be taken to distribute both resources and opportunity evenly as possible.
• We must press for the unilateral implementation of a financial transactions tax on the City of London whilst using influence abroad to extend the scheme internationally. Funds could be split 50-50 between domestic needs and those of developing countries. Domestically the funds raised could be used to provide capital to the new banking system, fund vital infrastructure investment and launch a sustained and concerted effort to eradicate poverty in the UK.

As Will Hutton noted in the summer of 2009 the £1.3 trillion Labour invested to support the banking system, “creates a once-in-a-generation political opportunity to challenge the terms on which Britain approaches both the structures of capitalism and its management.”

The political and economic impact of the global financial crisis will shape the 21^st century. The way we respond will define the future of the Left. Get it right and it could provide electoral success, economic renaissance and a more equal society. Get it wrong and it could be eighteen more long years of Thatcherite politics.