The World Transformed

Why are your chances of dying of this virus much lower if you are rich or white? Who gets to decide what measures are taken to protect people and what counts as ‘healthy’? And why do some lives seem to matter more than others?

Living under Covid-19 and a lockdown has taught us many things about ourselves and the society we live in. But what has it taught us about capitalism, the system that underpins and dominates life across the globe?

Lockdown has seen millions of us withdrawn from our usual patterns of work, while the work of a few essential people has been widely recognised as crucial to modern civilisation. So why aren’t these ‘essential workers’ the most highly paid in our society? What is work for and who gets to decide? How much work should we really all have to do?

With UK politics gripped by a “culture war” - which the right is winning - how should the left understand and respond to these dynamics? This session will explore what is driving this “culture war”, how it impacts class struggle, whether it’s possible for the left to avoid it and, if not, what an effective strategy for engaging with it looks like.

With Joe Guinan, Lisa Nandy MP, Ash Sarkar, Alex Doherty & Kojo Koram.

At the 2019 General Election, the Conservative Party achieved 43.6% of the popular vote - the highest percentage of any party since 1979. This electoral coalition has been decades in the making. The Conservatives have increased their share of the vote in every election since 2005. In contrast, Labour’s vote share declined considerably between 1997 and 2015.

Although Labour’s surge at the 2017 General Election seemed to point to the possibility of building a social majority for radical socio-economic reforms, the result in December revealed the fragility of Labour’s electoral coalition. What groups does Labour need to win? What are the tensions between these different groups and what politics will it take to unite them?

With Paul Mason, Andrew Murray, Hazel Nolan & Sonali Bhattacharyya.

With recent defeats for the UK and US Left, it is vital we address how we build power post-Corbyn and Bernie. What can we learn from challenges of competing for state power and building movements? How can we maintain the energy and infrastructure built during that period? Are our organising methods still relevant in this new context and how can we innovate? Join activists from across the UK and US left for an exciting exchange of experiences and ideas.

With Becky Bond, Beth Foster-Ogg, Amy Ramirez, Chris Lazarre, Ilona Duverge, Jean Ross & Gaya Sriskanthan.

Decades of cuts and privatization in health care left us vulnerable to coronavirus. How can we ensure that health care workers have the protections they need and ensure that testing, treatments, and a future vaccine are available to all? Join us to hear how nurses and health justice activists around the world are fighting back to protect themselves, their patients, and their communities and discuss what it could mean to build meaningful international solidarity in response to this global pandemic.

With Vijay Prashad, Tobita Chow, Hermes Torres Font, Rachel Ambrose, Izzie Jani-Friend & Deborah Burger.

During the Labour leadership election, Keir Starmer warned against the party lurching to the right. Five months into his leadership and it remains unclear where he plans to take Labour policy. Polls show that a large majority of members want the party to continue supporting a radical economic agenda and progressive domestic and foreign policy reforms. What should Labour’s priorities be in the coming years and what can we do to ensure the party goes into the next election committed to transformative policies that address the multiple crises of our time?

With James Meadway, Deborah Hermanns, Nadia Whittome MP, Andrew Scattergood, Grace Blakeley & Hannah O'Rourke.

From chlorinated chicken to NHS drug prices, more and more people are discovering reasons to oppose the US trade deal. But this is hardly the first time that a neoliberal trade agenda has met with resistance. From the Seattle protests against the WTO, to the defeat of TTIP and the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the attempt to impose corporate trade deals has often created moments of crisis for the system. Join us to find out how we fit into this rich history of struggle.

With Nick Dearden & Luciana Ghiotto

The recent defeats of Corbyn and Sanders were undoubtedly setbacks for progressive forces and their hopes for a new and better world. But should we now cast aside bold visions of the future as a result?

The left arguably needs its utopianism more than ever: we’re facing an unprecedented recession, a global pandemic and imminent climate crisis. The stakes couldn’t be higher. Our utopian imaginations are a key battleground of politics, and the Left cannot afford to neglect a vision for the future in favour of short-termism.

In this session, prominent activists and intellectuals will make the case for the continued importance of utopian dreaming, deisiring and planning - from ambitious provocations through to concrete policy proposals. Let’s be bold: we can’t afford not to.

With Thea Riofrancos, Kathi Weeks & Rebecca Long-Bailey MP.

Labour Against Racism and Fascism (LARAF) and Socialists of Colour team up to explore four decades of the Labour Party and the trade union movement’s relationship with racism. We will hear from activists, academics and historians alongside the perspective of politicians involved in both long-standing and recent struggles against racism.

With Madge Dresser, Amrit Wilson & Diane Abbott MP.