The 2010s were a decade of foodbanks, riots, and the

rebirth of political alternatives. Looking to escape a future of rising debt, falling living standards and climate meltdown, a set of movements were born across the globe, led by students, workers and the tent cities of Occupy. A new wave of optimistic, radical young people built mass movements outside the political bubble, rejecting the neo-liberal consensus and the enrichment of the 1%,  laying the foundations of a new left. Eight years later, Bernie Sanders was favourite to clinch the Democratic Party nomination, and Jeremy Corbyn and Momentum had taken over the Labour Party in Britain, promising ‘a new kind of politics’.

But as the new left poured into Labour, it was overwhelmed by older, institutional forces on both left and right. Four years after Corbyn became leader, after bitter-infighting and a Brexit-fuelled strategic crisis, it all fell apart.

Michael Chessum will be in discussion with Nadia Whittome, MP for Nottingham East, about how this movement was built, why it failed, and what it needs to do now. Will new movements be needed, will Labour’s commitment to Proportional Representation mean new opportunities for the left?

Tickets: £4.00, including refreshments and a fiver off Michael Chessum’s new book.

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