tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30598467.post6977072247109515744..comments2023-08-16T12:07:22.995+00:00Comments on The Daily (Maybe): Progressive London: power, democracy and the leftJim Jeppshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17410387006098326671noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30598467.post-50508924556604317462009-01-29T13:30:00.000+00:002009-01-29T13:30:00.000+00:00Precisely!Precisely!Barkingside 21https://www.blogger.com/profile/05115211284179569480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30598467.post-74198839102874218402009-01-29T07:15:00.000+00:002009-01-29T07:15:00.000+00:00Taking part in improving ones area means turning o...Taking part in improving ones area means turning off the TV, putting on ones coat and getting out to meetings that are set up to engage with neighbourhood issues.<BR/><BR/>I do this for our local SNT ward panel. The police consult twice a year with the public to find out what 3 or 4 crime issues they want the police to deal with. The panel requests action, stats, feedback, updates from the police at each meeting and we can report concerns on specific problems we've noted in our neighbourhood. As far as local democracy goes this works quite well.<BR/><BR/>I agree that grass roots action can work, as long as pressure is constantly put on the council to listen and better still, provide needed resources. Councillors will unfortunately normally only listen if they (a). know you (b). like you or see you as a pit bull that won't go away till listened to (c). in a marginal seat. All three can almost guarantee success. <BR/><BR/>I've been working to have our local park spruced up/transformed for years. It looks like funding might be about to fall into place. The process has taught me a lot about local engagement; never let councillors off the hook, the journey is important, getting to know lots of other people in your neighbourhood is important as a network establishes itself (keeping a watch on the council etc), doing something for ones own area rather than bloody moaning!<BR/><BR/>The day of talks here in London sounded like another talk shop but I hope I'm wrong. There's plenty out there already to get on with; doing is better than talking I'm sure you'll all agree!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30598467.post-91411817401120182012009-01-27T21:22:00.000+00:002009-01-27T21:22:00.000+00:00It seemed from the conference that there are alter...It seemed from the conference that there are alternative narratives - moving from the “what worked” under Ken (living wage, congestion charge, etc) to the “what matters” (fairness, care & solidarity) which…well really matters lot in how we frame our responses to the recession to Londoners out there who are really feeling the bite.<BR/><BR/>But is it enough to bring together politicians from across the “progressive spectrum” to show our solidarity on issues like Heathrow or the living wage which portray that alternative narrative to the government? Is it enough to congratulate ourselves on getting such a massive turnout at the conference? People will be fairly interested in a range of issues but there’ll be one issues that really drives them - whether it’s Gaza or civil liberties - these wedge issues were all represented…but there was no mechanism for people to take these forward from the grassroots…like "transition towns"!<BR/><BR/>It slightly astonished me when Ken talked about all the networking to get this conference off the ground, but surely this should be the start of something not just the ultimate hangover cure from the elections?<BR/><BR/>At our “young london” workshop, the room was packed out - with people but mainly with ideas - mentoring scheme for young people to get into green jobs, youth mayor for London with a capacity building budget, making CRB checks portable, a virtual youth club and cooperative schools. To be honest, with an hour an half and with four exciting speakers that we were keen to listen to as well, as well as competing against other heavweight sessions at the same time, we were scared that either no-one would turn up or not many people would want to put forward, let alone work out together what campaigns we should take forward for young Londoners.<BR/><BR/>To be even more honest, the winning idea, making CRB checks portable to enable more people (young or old!) to take part in volunteering, isn’t something that we may have thought of on our NEC, but we committed to campaign on idea that won most votes and that’s what we’ll do. In fact, we’ll support people who want to take forward the other campaigns put forward.<BR/><BR/>Why? Because if you give people an inch, they’ll give you a mile…oh, and because we enabled people to give us their email addresses so we can get in touch with them in doing this. It’s pretty basic, but if you ain’t got their contact details, how are you going to build a progressive coalition?noelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06368396871382750581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30598467.post-28291597277347311872009-01-26T08:59:00.000+00:002009-01-26T08:59:00.000+00:00You are right of course that a government with mor...You are right of course that a government with more equitable policy helps many people who don't like it ideologically, and on the left we hope that those opportunities we have to make a difference will win people to us as well as improving the state of the world.<BR/><BR/>But I think part of the debate around politicians being out of touch is about whether they do things that many people don't agree with. (Even if EH didn't mean it this way)<BR/><BR/>Actually a better example that I should have used was squaring the interests of racists and immigrants, but there's also the fact affordable housing is good for the poor but it isn't good for slum landlords - you can't represent both... and I'd argue we shouldn't try.<BR/><BR/>Anyway - that was a bit of a ramble - not had enough coffee yet...Jim Jeppshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17410387006098326671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30598467.post-31002673305843278832009-01-26T04:27:00.000+00:002009-01-26T04:27:00.000+00:00I don't think Hobsbawm meant representation of opi...I don't think Hobsbawm meant representation of opinion socio-economic interests. It's possible "represent" both the racist and the anti-racist as a politician by working for affordable housing, environmental protection, workers' rights, etc.Charlie Markshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12770820928636046622noreply@blogger.com