The competition is here…
Looks like the conservatives are also getting organised.
CentreRight.com is a hub for the British conservative movement.
Like the National Review’s Corner in the US, it is essentially a high quality, multiple-authored blog written by some of the best conservative thinkers and commentators around. It replaces our Columnists section which just had seven people on set days of the week. Also like the Corner it doesn’t take comments from readers, although this will be subject to review.
hat/tip Leon.
A Question of Priorities
The climate change denial blog has an interesting post from Roman Krznaric entitled ‘Does The Left Really Believe in Climate Change’. Krznaric recounts his attendance at a leftist conference on Latin America that he attended last year in London. He recounts that not only did none of the speakers mention climate change as a factor to be considered in Latin American politics, but support for Chavez in Venezuela appears to condone his reliance on oil to fund the ‘Bolivarian revolution’.
Krznaric says that
I can’t help concluding that the Progressive Left doesn’t yet really believe in climate change.
He gives the following reasons for this:
One factor concerns hope. For the first time in years there is a sense of hope about Latin America amongst the Progressive Left. Neoliberalism is in retreat and left-leaning governments are being elected throughout the region. Chavez is challenging the US and the multinationals, and having an impact on poverty reduction. Bolivia has its first indigenous President. But none of this, I believe, is an excuse for ignoring climate change.
A second factor is that many activists and policy-makers continue to keep human development issues separate from what they think of as ‘environmental’ issues. If you are interested in tackling poverty in the favelas of Rio, it is quite normal not even to consider that climate change is a related issue. I think there is a real need for development agencies and activists on the one hand, and environmentally-oriented organisations and campaigners on the other, to merge their thinking to create a new Ecological Humanism, so that climate change and social justice are considered interdependent issues.
A third, possibly deeper factor, is psychological denial. As individuals, we have an extraordinary capacity to shut our minds to the realities of issues that we think are frightening or insurmountable. Climate change is one of them. The good news is that people in rich countries are starting to overcome their denial and accept that climate change is not only happening, but will change their own lives, and that they have to adapt to and embrace the changes. The bad news is that most of them remain in denial when it comes to the world’s poorest countries. As a recent Oxfam report points out, the rich world is sorely lagging behind in its response to the need for developing countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change link..
The time has come for us to take our struggle against denial a stage further, and recognise that climate change is a reality not only for ourselves, but for the world’s poorest people in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions.
This article is absolutely right that in many left wing and liberal circles, climate change is nowhere near higher enough up the agenda. It’s also right to skewer the neo-Bolivarians for their short-termist relianceon petrodollars. But I can’t help thinking that the source of the problem isn’t so much denial or the other reasons Krznaric gives, so much as a more intractable problem with politics itself.
Christmas holidays and our new year
Hello! As Christmas is nearly upon us and I will go AWOL from the weekend until the new year, I thought an update may be warranted. I’ve been in Los Angeles for the past week so maintaining the Conspiracy has been somewhat difficult.
So firstly, a happy Christmas and New Years to all of those of you who celebrate. I’m expecting a whole load of presents so of course I celebrate!
Secondly, I have somewhat ambitious plans to expand Liberal Conspiracy in the new year and thanks to all of you have emailed in their comments and suggestions. There are two off-shoot blogs planned – one covering right-wing bias in the media (incl the BBC) and another covering trade-union news (sadly neglected in our mainstream media). There will be more debates, campaigns and input from people not used to blogging too.
The Facebook campaign against extending the 28 days period has attracted an amazing 3,500 people so far, which is brilliant. We would still encourage people to join and sign the Amnesty petition. I am also looking for volunteers to help find out which Labour MPs oppose this legislation. Please get in touch if you can make a few calls as part of this campaign.
The new year will also bring more coverage of the US elections on LC. I’ll be here until after the Iowa Caucus anyway; plus Aaron and Garry are keen followers among others. This is also the theme adopted by the Fabians for their yearly conference and its secretary-general (and LC contributor) Sunder Katwala has started a blog exploring The World After Bush.
I’m sure there will be ongoing updates by other contributors over the next fortnight but Aaron and I are taking a well-deserved break. Have a good one!
The problem with liberalism
What do you think the word ‘liberal’ means?
Perhaps if you are American, you are thinking of what Europeans call social democrats. Maybe some Europeans think of it as some kind of wishy-washy centrism that can’t decide between left and right. In certain countries it may have something to do with a pro-business approach. If you’re Australian it probably means the same as conservative.
A pre-condition of liberalism might be the existence of free markets. Or maybe liberalism is to do with equality of some kind or another. Animal rights? Environmentalism? [insert trendy cause here]? Smith, Mill or Kant? Etc, etc. It seems to me that the word ‘liberal’ is about as useful as words like ‘that’ and ‘thingy’.
As such, it wasn’t really a surprise that Liberal Conspiracy provoked some debate about the nature of liberalism when it was launched a month or so back. “My liberalism is more liberal than yours” and that type of thing.
continue reading… »
Housekeeping
The Contact and Events sections are now working properly. I had a coding problem that came down to the version of PHP we were using (oh, the pain). If there are any relevant events you’d like to list, please use the form. Cheers.
Politics and the web
<shameless plug>on Sunday, Radio 4’s Westminster Hour had a special supplement on Power and the Web, presented by Spectator editor Matthew D’ancona. Though I briefly feature near the end, the programme is worth listening to despite the damage I may do to your ears. The second part goes out Sunday December 2 at 10.45pm and will mention Liberal Conspiracy.</shameless plug>
How can we be different?
Now I don’t mean to be rude, but would you liberals just shut up a minute? I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I believe a blog site really can help to bring together and reinvigorate the liberal-left in Britain. But only if it addresses what is not being addressed elsewhere. I, for one, do not need yet another bookmark leading me to yet another argument beginning with the letters L, I and B. Not on libertarianism, liberalism, liberal interventionism, liberties or Liberace.
It’s not that these things aren’t important – they are. It is just that they are well covered elsewhere. The ‘left’ side of the liberal-left equation meanwhile, is feeling a little less loved. I know this site isn’t into tight definitions, but ideological theory aside, I’d like to offer a very personal interpretation of what it means to be of the left. Leftism is about fighting injustice. It is about remembering those who are forgotten, and giving strength to those who are weak. It is about taking sides – and taking action – with the oppressed. It is about giving solidarity. I see very little of that on the blogosphere. It seems to me that the liberal-left online is very big on liberty, but – to borrow from our neighbours – not so big on equality and fraternity.
Is the prospect of tens of thousands of council workers facing devastating pay cuts and upheavals in conditions under the Single Status reforms not worth a thread or two? Not even when thousands of workers in Birmingham are about to walk out on strike? How about (with apologies to CiF readers) the sacking of Karen Reissmann or the impending and shameful deportation of Christian Mbianga. Just maybe, once in a while a despotic regime might think twice about hauling a returned deportee in for ‘questioning’ if they are aware that hundreds or thousands of media-savvy bloggers are on their case. Why not? The same principle has kept Amnesty going for 45 years while the recent case of the Iraqi interpreters showed that the spirit for this type of action is there.
Bloggers could be reporting the fate of the refugees still here but denied benefits; investigating companies and gangmasters that are daily endangering and exploiting vulnerable migrant workers. We’re quite capable of digging up and publishing invoices that refer to the killing of a political party, but not those that refer to the killing of workers.
Of course there are websites that cover most of these issues. For example: the Socialist Worker,Socialist Unity, Indymedia, SchNews and Libcom. However infuriating or amusing we normals might find the factionalism, sectarianism, syndicalism, dogmatism and utopianism of the Marxist and anarchist lefts, they do at least sometimes raise issues that the rest of us too often forget.
Kate Belgrave made a great start here last week but there is so much more bloggers could be doing. We need to look where others are not looking, think what others are not thinking. We shouldn’t just learn a lesson from those to the right of us. We can learn a lesson from those to the left of us, too. Of course as a liberal-left blogger, I am as guilty as anyone. I spend far too much time responding to the headlines in the mainstream media rather than seeking to change them.
I’ll make an effort to put that right. Will You?
Throwing down the gauntlet
The launch of Liberal Conspiracy has sparked an exciting debate in the British blogosphere this week. From philosophical questions over what it means to be liberal-left and confusing liberal with libertarian; an aversion to our comments policy; worrying we might not be left enough; tentative support; lots of outright support; and even wondering if this is a conspiracy against the Libdems!
I think while all these debates are interesting, they are not the real focus of why I’m here. In an article for the Guardian published today, I challenge the liberal-left:
There are new projects in the pipeline from the Tory party itself. CampaignTogether, billed as the Conservative volunteer task force, is being used to galvanise activists online during elections; Stand Up Speak Up seeks to encourage voters to feed into the party manifesto.All this may so far have had little impact on the wider electorate, but it illustrates that the right is miles ahead in experimenting with the web to engage. And it is more than experimentation: the right is also marching together to shift the political agenda. Conservative bloggers constantly link to each other and promote editorials in publications such as the Spectator and the Telegraph. They are amplified by an online TV station – 18 Doughty Street – and fellow rightwing hacks; they disseminate online ads, videos and Tory views relentlessly. It is a formidable echo machine. And all this despite the enduring paranoia that the right is drowned out by a vast leftwing conspiracy on everything from abortion and climate change to immigration.
But this is about more than party politics. The liberal-left, broadly, risks making little headway on core issues because of a painful lack of coalition building. It is characterised by single-issue groups working in isolation, denouncing each other over spurious issues and with little cross-campaigning and exchange of ideas. They’ve become fixated with demanding more legislation rather than shifting minds and conversations. There are simple questions to be asked. What is the liberal-left agenda for tomorrow? How can we then push that forward and make politicians listen?
This is way more than simply party tribalism – this is about ideology. Are you on left or right? Are you liberal or conservative? If you’re the former on both then it’s time to get organised and work together to re-engage people and seize the political agenda. I’m sick of all the infighting, I want to challenge the conservative dominance on the web and the move away from an explicitly progressive agenda by a Labour government.
Are there wedge issues? Plenty. We need to challenge the Conservative assault on abortion rights, their continuing love for Enoch Powell, denial of global warming, paranoia over immigration and so on.
And here’s the annoying thing: this intellectual malaise affects not just the right but also the left, especially on immigration and race-politics.
Yes we want to have a robust intellectual debate within the liberal-left. But we also need to challenge the echo chamber of the Tories online. Not because they’re intellectual visionaries – Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes get media attention simply because they gossip about Westminster – but because they’re effective at packaging and echoing bad ideas.
The focus on campaigning will come soon enough. For now it’s important we nail our colours to the mast, get conversations going and talk about issues the MSM is ignoring. That liberal conspiracy they keep saying is all-powerful, we actually need to build one.
Labour v Libdem writers
Jonathan Calder sounds a bit miffed we don’t have any explicitly Libdem bloggers on our roster. James Graham picked this up too yesterday. I’ll happily put up my hands and admit we aren’t representing them well enough, primarily because I approached people on the basis of their liberal-left outlook rather than political affiliations. Even Natalie Bennett, who is a Green Party candidate, was approached on that basis.
Unlike some of our more partisan contributors, this collective as a whole does not have an explicit policy to support Labour, the Libdems or even the Conservatives (you never know, classic purge might be in order *grin*). That said, more representation may be necessary though our editorial policy should focus more on ideals and policies than being too obsessed by parties or just Westminister generally.
Here kitty kitty kitty…
The feline variety is a good analogy for bloggers it seems. Getting them to come together is either like trying to herd cats, or they will end up fighting like cats in a sack.
Some of the sceptics say that having a stringent comments policy and bringing together just liberal-lefties will quickly turn this place into an echo chamber with little dissent. On the other hand the left does have a reputation for violent in-fighting and sectarianism and many of our other readers have said this place won’t last long with all the in-fighting and arguments.
The answer lies somewhere in the middle. This project isn’t dedicated to a particular political party; it is focused on pushing broad liberal-left-progressive ideals.
Fellow conspirator Chris Dillow sums it up when he says:
The left, following Rawls, gives greater weight to its impact upon the worst-off than does the right. And this is one reason why leftism and liberalism go together. One reason why I oppose infringements of civil liberties – drug laws, control orders or stop & search powers – is that these bear most heavily upon the poor and powerless.
And that cuts to the heart of why this projects exists. Now we need to figure out where we go from here, given the basics are mostly in place. We need a progressive, forward-looking and positive vision for our country and our politicians are not only incapable of providing it but they don’t even seem bothered about that lack of vision.
To some extent I actually value disagreement here because we need a robust discussion on where and how this country goes from here. There isn’t a party line, there is only a shared narrative – that we broadly identify with shared values and want to figure out how to promote them.
Are we being tribalist? I think Dave Hill addressed that well yesterday.
Readers too young to have grown up in small town England in the Sixties and Seventies as I did – or most other parts of Britain in that era – may not appreciate how much they owe social liberalism and the best of the political left for nourishing these admirable changes. It won’t help that those changes are so vehemently resented in some quarters.
This resentment lies behind the right’s successful insinuation into everyday conversation – even into the mouths of BBC reporters – of the term “political correctness” and conservative commentariat’s repeated bleating that “the feminists” and multiculturalism (whatever they think it means) have “gone too far” and that “we” are “not allowed” to have “an honest debate” about immigration because of – you guessed! – “political correctness”.
The “militant” comments policy is there to ensure we can actually have a civilised discussion as opposed to being plagued by drive-by commenters only interested in throwing out sarcastic remarks and de-railing perfectly good discussions. I don’t make any apologies for it, you are welcome to scream at us on your own blog.
Saying all that, I am very gratified that so many of you thought this was a long-overdue project.
Thanks to: OurKingdom, bagrec, Mike Ion, Cabalamat, Chris Brooke, Jimjay, Westmonster, Simon Dickson, Jockcoats, Tampon teabag, Insomniac, Tim Ireland, Andrew Brown, Matt Wardman, Clive Davis, Septicisle and Leon Green. Mike Power even has a button, and James Graham has a good perspective.
Media coverage:
I was interviewed on Radio 4’s PM programme yesterday evening, which you can listen to from here along with a response from Guido Fawkes.
I was also interviewed for Five Live’s Pods and Blogs, which should go up later tonight.
I’ve written an article for the Guardian which should be published later this week.
On 18 Doughty Street’s Blogger TV yesterday evening, which I was invited on to, the Tories were surprisingly supportive of the project. They pointed out quite reasonably that Conservatives also went through a similar painful period before some learnt the painful art of coalition building and forged ahead. Interesting times lie ahead.
Regular blogging begins tomorrow.
We need our own space
I’m a little bit tired. I’m a little bit tired of arguing about why equality is important. Why human rights matter. Why poverty is not ok.
I’m a little bit tired of spending so much of my time defending the most basic principles of what I stand for. It serves to distract. What I need is a safer space where I don’t lose so much energy justifying why social and environmental justice are worth spending a lot of society’s money on.
What I want is a space where these ideas are a given and the debate is about how best to actualize them. Where a frank discussion about the nature of power and who gains and who loses by not changing things is as necessary as air. I want to be challenged to be the most radical humanitarian in the room. Instead of rolling around in a fog that dangerously confuses the over-policing of some with ‘freedom’ and where indifference is rewarded. I want to be inspired by the good and the great to imagine what is possible – in that place where all life prospers.
I want to have conversations with people that are constructive, compassionate and rigorous. Conversations that are both logical and passionate, because they are focussed on how best to make the world a better place so that no one is left behind.
I want to learn from anyone or any movement that has something useful to share on this. This includes single-issue based campaigns though they are none of them sufficient on their own. It is in the spaces between them, where there are links that connect them, that I would like to spend some time building a movement.
It’s time to take on the right
I hate to tempt fate but, fingers crossed, touching wood and stroking a rabbit’s foot, this blog could turn out to be a rarity: a place where liberals and lefties gather to debate that I don’t feel an immediate urge to leave.
I doubt I’m alone in feeling that way. No need here to recap the British left’s long and turgid history of ideological introversion and sectarian scrapping. No need either, I hope, to lament the space periodically wasted on this-or-that recanting hack proclaiming their overdue escape from some state of supposed liberal denial.
I can’t be arsed with that stuff. Never have been. That’s because beyond the narrow battlegrounds and hillsides of media straw men there lies a larger landscape inhabited by people with broad minds and real lives who nowadays hold in common the sorts of values that have improved life in Britain for so many who live here over the past fifty-odd years, and of which they and the nation should be proud.
It’s a far more fulfilling place to be: a pluralist Britain where it is taken as read that there is a collective responsibility to see that the sick are cared for, children educated, the poor not left to starve and prosperity worked for and spread around. It is a place, too, where citizens respect each other’s right to do and believe what they like so long as others aren’t hurt by it. That principle has more recently extended to people’s intimate lives, weakening harmful taboos around sexuality and relationships.
We want to be the hub
There is no denying that Liberal Conspiracy is partly born out of the frustration that many organisations who champion liberal-left ideals do not cooperate much with each other.
It isn’t just the sectarianism that has traditionally been the preserve of hard-left socialists. As our politics splits up into single-issue groups concerned about the environment, civil liberties, feminism, anti-racism, social justice, alleviating poverty etc – there isn’t much dialogue taking place between them and there is certainly a lack of broad coalition-building to push for political aims together. We want to be the network hub where other organisations sharing our ideals are promoted and their campaigns highlighted.
It’s all part of building a vast liberal-left conspiracy of course.
The bulk of our contributers are bloggers and writers. So far, they are:
Aaron Heath, Alan T, Chris Dillow, Daniel Davies, Dave Hill, Dave Osler, Davide Simonetti, David T, Donald Strachan, Garry Smith, Henry Midgley, Jamie K, Jess McCabe, Justin McKeating, Kate Belgrave, Natalie Bennett, Olivia Skinner, Padraig Reidy, Paul Linford, Robert Sharp, Unity and myself.
You’ll notice most of the well-known political left-of-centre bloggers are here.
Plus, there is the activist Cath Elliott, aid worker Conor Foley, online campaigner Paul Hilder, aspiring politician Kerron Cross, policy officer Zohra Moosa and academic Keith Kahn-Harris.
Liberal Conspiracy will also feature contributions from and work with: The Guardian, New Statesman magazine and ourKindom (openDemocracy).
We will also feature contributions from think-tanks including: Demos, Fabian Society, Runnymede Trust, Ekklesia and New Generation Network.
The extended line-up will soon be revealed as they start writing.
Our aim is to engage with liberal-left blogs, national media, think-tanks, writers, academics, analysts and researchers to discuss ideas and spread the conspiracy. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
Standing up for liberal-left ideals
As times change, so does the nature of politics. New generations grow up, global conflicts come and go, the world keeps evolving and technology turns everything topsy-turvy. But if there’s one thing remarkable about our generation in Britain, it’s how badly Politics has become a dirty word.
People are less interested in political parties than they have ever been. As old loyalties start to fray, people are becoming more passionate about issues rather than being on the left or the right. And as the world gets smaller and more accessible, they demand more from their politicians. And even if party affiliations don’t matter as much – values, ideas and beliefs continue to be popular.
And so a new Liberal Conspiracy for a new era is born today. We plan to do things slightly differently here.
We want to discuss and promote traditional liberal-left ideas and values than political parties. We want to challenge the old order, discuss where Britain needs to go from here and make it happen. We want to campaign and push for our values: more equality, a better democracy, better standards of living, social justice, eradicating poverty, promoting non-violence etc, to be higher up the political agenda.
And this is where the internet comes in – we want you to get involved in this Conspiracy. We want to pioneer a new de-centralised approach to discussion and campaigning for these liberal-left ideals. We want to take advantage of everything from blogs, Facebook and YouTube to grass-roots mobilisation and campaigning to change Britain for the better.
The title of the site is obviously a mischievous take on the constantly promoted idea that there is a vast liberal conspiracy running Britain. Of course there isn’t. But while we’re here, we might as well create one.
Why I’m joining the Conspiracy
A Labour government in its tenth year of office is reduced to nicking ideas off the Tories. The leading contender for the Liberal Democrat leadership is a pro-market “Orange Booker.” And the political blogosphere has degenerated into an increasingly shrill right-wing mutual admiration society.
“What’s Left?” you may well ask yourself. It’s as good a summary as any of the state of British politics – and British blogging – today.
Different people will have different interpretations as to how we got here. From where I’m standing, the responsibility lies very clearly with the last Prime Minister who, though armed with two majorities of 160 plus at a time when the opposition couldn’t run a whelk stall, failed to build that progressive consensus of which he so often spoke.
Damaged irreparably by the Iraq War and its grisly aftermath, he also failed to stand down soon enough to give his successor a similar opportunity to capitalise on the Tories’ weakness, waiting instead until they had revived under a new and charismatic young leader before finally departing the scene earlier this year.
You can read articles through the front page, via Twitter or rss feeds.
» How bad is the feline obesity crisis?
» Why don’t MPs pay back tuition fees instead of increasing ours?
» Obama is right to slam BP – and why capitalists should too
» Why does Phillip Blond see civic cohesion as a security issue?
» So what if the Labour candidates went to Oxbridge?
» Last night’s Labour hustings: will it get interesting or turn to torture?
» It’s now down to Ken to win London for Labour
» The Labour people need
» Blog Nation: what would you like to see discussed?
» The Labour leadership’s token contender.. and it’s not Diane Abbott
» In defence of these fraternal nominations
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