Regardless of who wins, we won’t stop building grassroots power. Here’s why, and how.

Labour have sold their soul to get into power. The new government will continue to work for billionaires and multinational corporations. Rachel Reeves, the Labour shadow chancellor, worked for decades in the finance sector. Her plan to fix the economy depends on attracting billions in private investment from hedgefunds like Blackrock (Google them, they’re super evil). This money will not go to struggling frontline services. The Health Foundation predict a £38 billion funding shortfall for the NHS regardless of which party wins.

Our political system is fundamentally broken. The people of this country are crying out for radical change. We know because we spend every day talking to real people, not focus groups. The options on offer are fascism, or real democracy.

Fascists like Farage and Le Pen speak to people's genuine concerns — homeless veterans, economic globalisation, a failed immigration system, violent crime. Fascists offer simplistic solutions, scapegoats to blame, and the promise of a strong leader on the side of the people. They thrive on hatred and fear. When in power, they strip the people of their rights, enrich the elites they claimed to oppose, and crack down on any opposition.

The alternative is real democracy. Cooperation Hull set up people's assemblies across our city. We invite people to discuss their shared problems over a free meal and find solutions we can implement together. People's assemblies do not provide simple answers. Making decisions together is hard, and putting them into practise is harder. But it's worth it to be free.

People's assemblies are just one part of the puzzle. We also need a new economy. Capitalism has one rule: make as much money as possible, by any means necessary, then use that money to make more money. The result? The enslavement of people and the devastation of the Earth. Labour are promising to be a pro-growth government. That means a growth in pollution, a growth in exploitation, and a growth in climate disasters.

The alternative is a solidarity economy: growing our own food, time banking, mutual aid, workers’ cooperatives, local businesses helping to implement assembly outcomes. We are building networks of production and exchange across our regions that benefit us all — and extending solidarity to people living in the Global South who have been exploited by our economy for centuries.

We've been sold a lie about who we are as a nation. We are taught to be loyal subjects of the state that robbed us of our common land and sent us off to die in the King's foreign wars. We are taught a twisted history, with all the ugly bits left out: the Enclosure Acts, colonialism, the Peterloo Massacre. No wonder so many of us are tired, confused, and angry.

The alternative is a people's history. We believe that real change is impossible until we reclaim our history: the Peasants’ Revolts, the untold stories of women and workers, the Battle of Cable Street, the Windrush generation. We need to remember that we are all descended from immigrants to these islands. These are roots we can be proud of. They help us understand the mess we are in today, and remind us that our ancestors — wherever they lived — have always been radicals.

We've stopped demanding that politicians fix problems they caused in the first place, and started to build a new system that makes them redundant. You can read more in our exclusive article for Real Media.

Want to get involved, or start a Cooperation Town near you? Sign up at cooperationhull.co.uk.

03 July 2024

By Cooperation Hull