Where do we go from here? - 16 comments
Update (4th August): I've made a few additions below...
Update (5th August): A couple more additions below...
Update (7th August): A few more additions below...
Update (8th August): One more addition...
I'm sure everyone's noticed the recent articles from all sides of the Labour blogosphere concerning what it means to be of the left/Left nowadays: whether the pursuit of democracy (militarily if need be) is a crucial factor; whether this is something the pro-war left only latched onto after the Iraq invasion; whether the divisions suggest some kind of realignment of the left; and whether indeed the left is really open to criticism/new ideas, or can only listen within its own boundaries. Or perhaps everything's just fine and we should just concentrate on beating the Tories, or (cough!) helping our voters and supporting our councillors.
What I've been trying to do is get some of these questions debated, albeit with limited success. Perhaps the subject is too amorphous for me to make a good case. But then, how can a small bunch of people with (similar but) different views, with readerships in the dozens or hundreds per day, and probably none too close to the levers of power, actually make progress? Comment boxes are handy, but they're reactive, and these discussions usually fizzle out on some tangent or other.
OK, let's try something different. An idea I've been mulling over for a while is a kind of "call for papers" type thing - a collection of articles (think: extended blog posts, well researched) on contemporary themes, submitted over the course of a couple of weeks or so, grouped together in one place (obviously bloggers would retain full rights over their work), and tackled by - well - any of us, or selected others. For example, we might invite a couple of established conservative bloggers, some left-of-Labour-ites, some foreign bloggers, with a view to giving their own angle, not merely a swipe at their political opponents.
All the same, this isn't Cambridge University Press - I don't want to scare people off having a go.
So what I'd like to know is: if I came up with some titles (and let you pick your own), who would fancy getting involved by submitting an article?
You wouldn't be committed yet, I'm just trying to work out whether there are enough people interested to make it worth me organising this properly. I think ten articles would make it interesting - I don't want to waste people's time.
Update: Several people have already volunteered. There's no rule to say that a topic/title must only be covered once (especially if you think you have a radical new take), so don't be put off if your preferred question has been nabbed, but I've indicated (below) who's pencilled themselves in for which.
Update: I think we've reached our target of 10, so I'll post something shortly about the next step.
OK, here are some potential titles. You can suggest others, but I'd prefer broad, and forward-looking. You can argue that there's a hell of a lot more to the left than being "progressive", but progressive is what I'd like to see here.
- Tackling poverty in Britain (Neil Harding)
- The Challenge for the Left
- What's Left? (James Hamilton)
- Key issues for Labour supporters
- Britain in 2010 (or 2020)
- The Next Health Service
- The conservative challenge
- After Capitalism?
- US Democrats: the next generation (Antonia Bance)
- A manifesto for world peace
- Can we trust the liberal interventionists?
- Fair taxation
- After Blair
- BBC II
- Empowering children (Antonia Bance and Dan Paskins)
- Who are the bloggers?
- Does voting matter? (Never Trust a Hippy)
- Unions in the market economy (Paul Nowak)
- Transport 2020
- A case for municipal socialism (Trees for Labour)
- Violence and Society
- Iraq - a three state solution?
- Myth-making and Politics (Talk Politics)
- Communities in a liberal society
- (+) Socialism and the State (Talk Politics)
- (?) What should a leftwing science policy look like? (Trees for Labour)
Well, those are the best I can come up with at the moment. Hopefully some of those are of interest.
Finally, if you think this is a decent idea, please spread the message, and maybe we'll be able to get something going.
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16 comments so far...
B4L, You are absolutely right, this is the way forward. I know I've been guilty of reactionary digs on a few targets recently.
That will now cease. I'm willing to have a go at one or two of the topics you mentioned. I am admittedly a massive amateur, which probably comes across in my posts, but what the hell, heh, it is all a learning process.
It is definitely easier to just pick on a topic somebody else has started and rubbish it, than to construct a well researched argument.
I'll have a go over the next few weeks on one of the topics and see if I can spread the message.
I will say in my defence that I'm not all negative, I did raise the subject of PR, which has got a few debates going. Not won many converts yet, but at least the subject has got down to some detailed discussions.
Anyway, I'm willing to have a go!
I'm mister willing and eager.
Chuffin' Nora ,no idea how I ended up being linked to 'bloggers4labour' even though I am a Labour activist.My blog is a politics free running site but I'll take all the publicity I can get.
I'll muse over the suggested topic list and see if I can come up with something.My participation in politics usually entails being landed with 1000 leaflets to deliver every 8 weeks and getting personal abuse on the doorstep every election.
Still,a change is as good as a rest.
OK, that's 2, maybe 3. Good start. Hopefully we'll get to 10 in a few days and I can start the ball rolling, so to speak.
I've been thinking along very similar lines and when a spare moment occurred had intended to do something about it.
Professionally I'm currently involved in PR Blog Week 2.0 which is a virtual online conference with new papers being submitted each day. It is a very similar concept to what you are talking about and I think the ideas, discussion etc could actually gain a lot of attention if we structured it this way. I've got lots of other ideas about how we could make it a high profile and successful event.
Hiya B4L,
Dan and I will do "empowering children" together - him the kids and me the teenagers. I'll also do "US Democrats: the next generation", but won't pretend to be authoritative! Probably won't get to do either until the weekend, though.
Thanks, Antonia and Dan - sounds interesting. Don't do anything yet, though, as I'd really like to get 10 'promises' before people start putting time into their work. I think we're round about 5 or 6 and I'll let people know when we get to 10. Hope that's OK.
I've already posted a bit of a start to mine, didn't realise we had to wait. I'll hold fire for a bit on the next instalment until I hear what your ideas are.
Count me in on this - there's two I'll take a shot at 'Myth-making and Politics' as this fits in with a piece I'm working on anyway on modern-day 'Sophism' and can I add a new subject, 'Socialism and the State' as I want to challenge the Tory idea that socialism and a 'big state' go together.
Picking up an Stuart's point, if people want to turn this in a collaborative project on a 'sister site' to B4L, I can offer hosting capacity up to 8-10GB a month free of charge and handle the techie stuff either as a group blog - using B2Evolution - or as a more convention CMS driven site with either blog capabilities or a forum - using Mambo Open Source - both of which could be leveraged into the kind of thing Stuart's talking about, which seems to be heading down the road of an online policy forum/collaborative think tank.
Will need ideas for a snappy name/domain name if going this latter route
Unity + Stuart,
Thanks for the ideas. I think I'll keep the current essay plan based here at B4L (timing it to coincide with our imminent 6 month anniversary, perhaps, and assuming it'll run for 2 or 3 weeks), but if the feedback and publicity is good, we could then spin off a new site for that purpose. Alternatively, we could just evolve B4L into a collaborative site, as per (perhaps) Harry's, DSTP4W, or Sharpener. I've always been keen for that to happen. Whether we stick to blog posts or aim to produce 'high quality', think-tank-style articles is another matter. It would be interesting, but would we, for example, ever be able to compete with the existing, non-cyberspace think-tanks, with their suits and champagne document-launches?
I think there's a big potential audience: the issues cover a lot of political terrain, and there's not much 'organisation' within the political blogosphere.
Regarding 'sister sites' I've always had in mind setting up B4L-style services for other friendly organisations (if we can agree who these are!): perhaps the US Democrats, Australian Labor, French PS, etc. Really, that could be done any time - we just need the right contacts and a small budget...
Interesting times - keep in touch, you two. Thanks.
Hey Andrew, I'd quite like to do something on women or LGBT equality - not sure yet, can feel something coming on these issues and whether, for example, being LGBT should or should not influence your politics - just finished Chance Witness by Matthew Parris so this has really got me thinking...
Wouldn't mind doing something on the 'Future of unions' or similar.
I'd be happy, indeed delighted (but not for a few weeks yet) to do "the case for municipal socialism", if you have no better offers! COuld do one instead on "What should a leftwing science policy look like" if you'd like.
Thanks all.
Jo: I couldn't think of any gender-related issues for my original list, but if you can think of a topic where you can find a range of issues, then great. Just off the top of my head: do you think the battle is over for gay recognition, with rich and up-and-coming gay Tories like Nick Boles apparently urging the party to be reasonable? On the other hand, perhaps "neocon" views will encourage people to put family/nation first and suppress equality politics? Perhaps this is the trend in the States...
Paul: Good; one interesting aspect might be how you think the unions would fare under a future Tory government that, say, tried to involve the courts more against strikes, strikers, and union officials (individually, or as a whole). That's an issue I've been thinking about recently, and which could be a big threat. Also, what about union popularity (membership, and public attitudes): is it cyclical, or can it be put on an upward trend?
Tamanou: Both of those sound fine. I don't intend all articles to come in at once, and perhaps this'll run for 2-3 weeks, so if you're busy at the moment, that's fine.
Could I do the one about 'does voting matter?'
Yes, thanks.
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