How British politics is changing – for the better

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Many of us with pro-environmental and liberal values have been feeling battered and under threat over the last three or four years as we’ve watched the rise of right-wing populism in our own country, in the US and around Europe.

The evidence suggests however that this is not the whole picture – and in fact, there are other trends taking place that provide hope to the liberal world view.

For example, as campaigner and values expert Chris Rose notes, “Since July 2017 a majority of the country have swung (increasingly) to be pro-Remain (analysis by the UK’s leading pollster here).”

In fact, there continues to be an underlying increase in the number of ‘Pioneers’ – essentially people with liberal, progressive values – and this is being driven by the emergence of a younger generation with a greater tendency towards these values. So, there is perhaps hope for the future.

There is also a change emerging in the historically binary nature of UK politics, as a new ‘values’ dimension is arising in our system, acting as a new ‘top-down’ axis cutting down the middle of the current horizontal ‘left-right’ axis. At the top of this new axis are values like gender equality and environmental sustainability (essentially ‘Pioneer’ traits) and at the bottom are values like stopping immigration (common ‘Settler’ traits).

This change is causing fractures in the main two political parties, built as they were many years ago on the basis of social class politics. In the last week we have seen departures from both the Conservative and Labour parties of politicians who found their parties weren’t able to adequately represent their progressive values. We have seen the same thing at the other end of the values spectrum, with the ERG wing of the Conservatives straining at the edges of the party and just managing to remain within its outer lining rather than tearing out of it. Sadly for progressives, these pro-Brexit traditional values still seem to be holding sway over the leadership of the two main political parties, even if they do not represent the majority of their MPs, or indeed the population as a whole now.

As Chris Rose argues, “the slow but powerful current of values change will sooner or later prove an irresistible force. The most dynamic expression of this in the UK right now is support for the school and student strikes over climate change, led almost entirely by young women, most too young to vote.”

But we need to make the most of this underlying trend towards progressivism – and do so now. Rather than feeling ashamed that young people have proved more dynamic than anyone else in taking action on these issues, the rest of us need to take immediate action too, and show the establishment parties that we want policies and country that reflects our values.  This applies to a range of issues, including climate change, but in the next few days and weeks it should start with progressive political action to seek a second referendum or a more measured approach to Brexit. There is an opportunity – and we need to take it.

It’s important for anyone seeking progressive change to understand how these forces are working to shape the political landscape, and to consider how they can be harnessed more effectively for campaigns and social change.

To read more about this fascinating issue, read Chris Rose’s blog.

 

The event that changed my world

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I’ve been thinking recently about my emotional reaction to a particular event in human history. I’ve felt it chipping away at me in recent years as I’ve continued to research it, and realised recently that it has had a profound effect on the way I see the world. I’d like to share it here – not, I hope, out of self-indulgence, but to show where it has led me.

Throughout history there have been countless examples of human beings being cruel or unkind to each other. Some have been at a small scale, such as the minor, everyday ways that people can overlook each other’s needs, and others have been at an industrial scale of pre-planned cruelty.

The event that affected me for life and changed my thinking was The Holocaust.

This event has broken my heart about human beings. It shows that the worst things you can ever imagine (or, worse than you can ever imagine) do happen and have happened. The emotional hammer blow is not just the fear that it’s within the capacity of human beings for it to happen again, but also the fact that it happened at all.

The possibility that human beings could do this to each other – in broad daylight, in a planned, sustained way and in front of each other – just shattered my trust in human beings and society. It’s changed my view of the world, life and human beings.

All the stuff above is simply my emotional reaction of course, and in itself may not seem particularly useful.

I’m well aware in theoretical terms about the factors that led to The Holocaust and other human tragedies – including how we think and behave as human beings, how circumstances and power can influence behaviour and how societies can change. But an emotional reaction can be a useful spark to set someone into action or down a different path in life, and I think it’s done that for me.

My emotional reaction to The Holocaust doesn’t reduce my love and concern for human beings, or my desire to help and look after other people. In fact, it strengthens my resolve to protect people and ensure things like this do not happen again. I feel as if my life should be devoted to this, in whatever ways I can achieve it.

The Holocaust Survivor Elie Wiesel put it far better than I ever could in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in 1986, explaining how after his experience:

“…I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human being endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered and when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must – at that moment – become the centre of the universe.”

My initial effort at taking some action on this was in the Life Squared publication ‘How to be civilised’ – available to download here for free. But I must – and we all must – do so much more, not just as projects we work on, but as a commitment on how to live our daily lives. I am determined that there will be more work and action from me on this in the years ahead.