Please answer the following SEVEN questions to apply to chair a project.
We're inviting members to take part in developing our One Nation ideas series.
With fewer than 600 days to go until the next general election, now is the time to flesh out our vision for 2015. This is the last chance to really impact the choices of the next Labour government, and we believe that it is important that Young Fabians make their voices heard.
The aim of this project is to explore Young Fabian perspectives on the 'isms' that matter to One Nation Labour.
Members are invited to apply to run a project that will look at what what their chosen 'ism' means to Young Fabians, and how this could influence Labour's thinking.
Successful applicants will act as project chair, leading and coordinating the work of their group (made up of Young Fabian members). Chairs will be expected to carry out a variety of research activities, including a minimum of three events, to inform the group's thinking. The output for each group will be a report of 2000 words that will feature as a chapter in a Young Fabian pamphlet that will bring together the whole ideas series.
Project chairs will have the full support of Young Fabian exec members, who will be available to offer guidance and practical help.
The questions are:
- Which 'isms' would you like to cover?
- Why would you like to run a project in this area?
- Please explain the main issues you think the project should consider
- Please give the main objectives of the project
- Please outline three possible events you would run as part of this
- What would you do to engage members across the UK?
- What would you do to make the project interactive for participants?
Showing 45 reactions
A: To bring feminism to the forefront of political debate. For me, this does not involve a radical feminism but one appreciating equality whilst realising there are material differences. It is about exploring plurality, individualism and collectivism. So to condense these points down to practical application;
1. To generate discussion of how feminism can be applied to far wider applications than is commonly thought
2. Invite those who have had few or no encounters with feminism to explore its possibilities
3. Show how feminism is at the core of leftist values that feed into a ‘One Nation’ vision
4. Engage a wide variety of partners beyond those already involved with politics
A: As a brief overview of some of the issues that I believe need addressing are;
– Gang culture: How can feminism provide new directions for liberating highly gendered groupings and help bring down barriers against crime?
– The gendered pay gap: This includes several features beyond what is now legal equality in pay. This can focus on wider issues of childcare, low-paid work for women, increasingly part-time work for men. How can feminism help with the ‘cost of living’ crisis?
– Poor white working class boys: Where is feminism’s call for these young men? How can liberating them from forms of patriarchy in areas where they live open up new opportunities for them to succeed?
Feminism together: How can working in a feminist world become – what sort of futures does it open up? Can we see a world of complete equality or does it need to be pluralistic, with differences among genders and so on?
A: Essentially, Feminism is for everyone, anyone who wants to pursue equality regardless of genders or sexual identities. This ‘ism’ is about opening up new possibilities and breaking down forms of patriarchy which act on all ‘bodies’ (which can be seen as men and women for simplicity). I am a very proud feminist as something which challenges the presumptions of our lives. It is inherently individualistic and collective due to its emphasis on the ‘body’ as unique yet tackling ingrained societal issues as a collective. I could not see a more essential part of what it is to be ‘One Nation’ without this ‘ism’. As to be ‘one’ is to be multiple.
A: This kind of project needs to go beyond event-based interactivity. I’d encourage communication over social media and online communication software, as well as editable online documents/forms (using Google Docs). A group share can be set up to explore and discuss research and ideas people have, perhaps on Google Docs, or preferably Facebook. I’d also encourage those from across the UK to get involved, with an emphasis on those in far-away or rural locations. Innovative software such as Prezi presentations could be utilised to actively and easily disseminate our latest project benchmarks and progress. Finally, a semi-regular newsletter to participants, asking for contributions on particular issues and informing people about what the core team have been up to.
A: The survey at the first event provides interactive opportunity, the “young concenus” itself will be a product of members interacting. Also the online focus of the campaign, centered on engagement, will have several interactive conponents. This will including topical discussion and research projects (pertaining to the impact of previous enviromental policies, arguments on environmentalism, ect). Ultimately interaction from participants is central to this project, engaging in discussion of values leads to formulating solutions and this can only come from our members playing an active role. The online forum to submits “solitons for environmentalism” will enable participant to interact with the project in a unique way, a way that shapes it’s direction and outcome. Not to forget that the events themselves provide an interactive element, not only will there be speakers but there will be the ability to meet other members, share experiences and invest in the project further.
A: Taking the project online is the best way to engage members from across the UK. Though establishing an online group we develop the ability to communicate not only the upcoming events but promote discussion amongst members about the topic itself. This will encourage a sense of ownership amongst members, when they are able to affect the project directly just from engaging in topical group discussion, requiring little effort to do so, they become more invested in it’s success. Also holding the planned events in different places could be considered to open up the events to members who cannot afford to travel to London constantly. However of this proved not to be the best way of engaging members then streaming the event online and establish a group chat for those not able to come to join the debte is a must and it provides for all regardless of situation. This culture of inclusivity would run thoughout the project, if award the chair one of the first actions I will take is to explore the best ways in which members can be engaged and inspired accross the UK. As participation from Young Fabians is the only way this project will succeed in it’s aim.
A: When I applied for the Under 20s role with the Young Fabians I developed a five-point plan for this very issue. Below are a range of ideas, which I would develop when I knew more about the resources available to me at the Young Fabians.
-Integration into a stall at events/conferences
-A dedicated column in Anticipations
-Work with the YF blog and online resources
-Working in schools and colleges to sign up new members, putting on events outside the traditional university bubbles they currently exist in
-Working with existing stakeholders in this area
-Utilising Skype and online facilities for outreach, encouraging an increased transition to internet-based activity on a society level
A: One event should be held to gather together Young Fabians to generate the “Young consensus”.
This would require speakers, who can talk about the different views on the importance of the environment and its place in politics. It would also include a forum for debate and a survey to be conducted which gauges the issues that matter most to our members when it comes to the enviromentalism. Secondly an event with speakers should be held to highlight the approaches of previous governments, this would include members of the past labour government, current shadow cabinet and any other prominent people who can add insight to a defined topic of developments. Lastly an event should be held that enables contribution from Young Fabians to ideas that forge our future. This would require a platform to submit basic policy outlines online, these will be discussed and refined at the event itself. Furthermore at the last event there could be a speaker to talk about the “problems ahead” someone who can talk about what environmental challenges facing the Labour Party if we win in 2015. These event are inclusive, informative and affective in relation to the overal project.
A: Events should build upon the previous developments within the project.
Event 1: Participation Focus
An open event seeking to recruit members and other interested parties to the project, beginning to more precisely shape the project flow and allocate possible roles to individuals who are willing to get involved. This would be located in an easily accessible, non-intimidating location with maximum social media coverage to ensure that anyone who is even vaguely interested has the confidence and ability to find out more. The event would be supplemented with online materials and resources for those who could not attend.
Event 2: Breakout Groups
A little way down the line, this project would be held in a similar location to the anatomy final sessions e.g. Westminster. In it, breakout groups would each discuss a separate (of the three I have outlined) area of the project and share their pre-prepared research, building a consensus on possible policy suggestions and working out final analysis and exploration that needs to be undertaken for the project to come together successfully.
Event 3: Report Building
This would occur with the core team that had been developed over the project. The team would feed back their particular research areas, and begin to logically structure the report and subsequent policies. This would be an academic event, by this point highly focussed and streamlined.
A: My project would seek to develop realistic, agreed goals for Britain in an international context. In the spirit of Fabianism, these will be progressive and gently reformist, rather than revolutionary. As much as possible, the goals will mesh with current British positions on international affairs- guiding, rather than redirecting, unless opinion leads to the latter occurring.
In brief:
- Integrated Fabian solutions to international problems
- Using the aforementioned three key areas to explore and provide solutions for contemporary issues in internationalism
- Providing opportunities for Young Fabians (with collaboration from the Under 20s wing if possible) and opinion leaders to work together, originally, fostering new and innovative approaches
A: Our objectives should be to provide a voice to young people on issues which matter to them, something which the Young Fabians excel at. This voice should be supported by policy purpsoals that encourage the Labour Party to provide the nation with a different direction on the envriomental debate. We need to be redressing “environmentalism” to show what it means to young people, to show how these values can aid national progress and to show how the Labour Party is populated by progressive values which bare no difference to those shared by envriomentalists across the country. Be that though providing sustainable solutions to our housing crisis, stating our vison for the UKs energy market or how investing in infrastructure need not be at odds with envrioment values. These are the objectives of the project, a project to inspire action, support and belief for Labour Party envriomentalism.
A: From the brief, the project seems a fairly short one, even if pushed to its maximum capacities. I suggest that there are three main focus areas that the project should therefore be divided into, in order to get the most scope out of the resources available at the Young Fabians:
1. International Integration
This involves regionalism, our position in relation to the EU and how Britain can help foster international ties between other nation states.
2. Britain vs. The World
This involves immigration, tensions over i.e. the Falklands and resolving the issues concerning working with challenging countries
3. Conflict, Espionage and Warfare
This involves Britain’s future role in war and spying, and can be seen as an umbrella topic for recent interlinking events such as the personal data scandal, Syria, Afghanistan and military relations.
A: Our project on environmentalism should explore several main issue. Firstly, we need to open up a values based discussion amongst Young Fabians and young people as a whole. An issue lies in the popular conceptualisation of environmentalism, which has seen green concerns labeled as radical, seeking only to halt progress in favour of preservation, which enables political marginalisation. Thus this project should consider developing a detailed “young concesus” which encoprates our values in pragmatic way, shunning the notion of envriomentlism as strictly radical. Secondly, once we have estasblished a grounding, the main issue of the current approach to the enviroment should be considerd. By this I mean we should be exploring the impact of the current and passed governments. This can be done though analysing a variety of topical issue, including the reliance on a finite source of energy, how this relates to the perverted energy market. The attacks against green belting in the face of a housing crisis and the environmental cost of poorly planed infrastructure projects like HS2. Lastly, progressive polices for labour is an issue which this project should consider greatly. We need to generate a vison for a sustainable state that provides for future generations. By working on ideas that uphold the young consensus, learns from the actions of other governments and provides a better Britian for all not just those who seeking personal profit. These are main issue I believe this project should consider to be effective and worthwhile for the labor party.
A: Internationalism has always interested me, as evidenced by the fact that I am currently doing a degree at Durham in Geography and Politics. I feel that this somewhat contentious area of policy, touching on salient issues such as immigration and EU membership, has still failed to reach a popular resolution in the eyes of the British people. I’d like to run a project to answer some of the questions that politicians have been asking, in a participatory and research-led manner.
A: Environmentalism is often viewed as a “fringe” issue, confined to the peripheral of our party and only included in manifestos as a way of appeasing green minded voters. However in the 21st century one of the greatest threats we face is the ability to sustain our way of life and this will no doubt be an issue that possess our time in office. As we see energy prices skyrocket year on year, as debate around the utility of fracking heats up and as housing becomes a priority for our party there has seldom been a better time to assess the values of environmentalism and forge a vison that gives young people a voice. This is why I want to run a project that opens up the debate amongst Young Fabians, through events that are inclusive and informative, coupled with detailed research on the impact of the current government polices in this area. The goal, from my proposed direction on this project, would be to formulate possible Labour Party policies that enable us to present the public with a plan for better Britain, unpinned by a value of pragmatic sustainability that reflect the needs of young people.