People Power Sessions: GREEN DREAMS: Localism, Popular Power & the Green Left

Hello all! They're saying a "political earthquake" is coming to London this May 7th. Nationally, the latest polls have the Greens well ahead of Labour and only 2 points off Reform - more or less a rounding error for often-sloppy British pollsters.

Closer to home, according to some measures, here's how things are looking for the old ruling party in London, exposed on its left flank thanks to years of doubling-down on neoliberalism and genocide:

"A new technique, which builds on MRP modelling and correctly predicted the Gorton and Denton byelection result, forecasts that Labour, which holds 21 boroughs in London, could lose flagship authorities such as Hackney and Lambeth to the Greens. ... Labour could be left with an outright majority in just Newham and Redbridge councils, if forecasts are correct. The Greens, if they were to run candidates in every ward, could also take Lewisham, Waltham Forest and Greenwich, as well as Wandsworth, Hammersmith & Fulham, Hounslow and Brent ... Labour could lose more than half of its council seats across the capital – 741 – according to the model. The Greens would pick up 530, the Tories 77 and the Liberal Democrats 72, as Labour is squeezed on four fronts. The party could also face challenges from pro-Gaza independents."

In East London, Labour could indeed see some total wipeouts. Control of Hackney Council and even the Hackney Mayor's office is likely to fall to the Green insurgents.

And it's not just Labour voters turning Green. Some of the turquoise might be changing colour too:

"Last summer, if you polled non-voters who said they were certain to vote at the next election, almost half would plump for Reform. Now it’s more like one in three. According to the latest Find Out Now survey, 16 per cent would now vote Green, up 12 points on last year. Yet the number of previous non-voters who say they are sure to vote has not changed. This raises the question: might the Greens be taking Reform votes?"

Meanwhile, "Your Party" continues to piss away any promise of future success in the aftermath of its farcical "CEC" elections. Based on reports made available detailing the proceedings, your humble host can report that the first meeting of the newly-elected central executive of "Your Party" went off exactly as one might have expected: silencing of dissenting voices through 30- second limits to speaking time, utilisation of rules and procedures to keep debate off the agenda, and stringent bloc voting. Corbyn and Sultana's project is all but dead. We can expect a few Corbyn loyalists to make half-hearted appearances come election day, but there probably won't be very many of them, especially here in London where the pressure to step aside for the Green wave will be strong.

In a word, when it comes to left politics, it's the Greens by default. Groups like Greens Organise (GO) have been trying to put a more participatory, ecosocialist stamp on what would otherwise be fairly technocratic green politics of the kind seen elsewhere in Europe, notwithstanding Zack Polanski's clear shift of the party's rhetoric to the left and his wavering but not insubstantial commitment to taking Britain out of NATO. Is GO a go-er? What else can be done, or ought to be done, in the fight to push England's overton window back to the left, ecosocialism style?

Join us for this public meeting and discussion where we'll be talking about what's going on with the Greens, what the future may hold, and what role if any the grassroots left can play in the Greens' future.

Check back here shortly for our location - probably LARC or somewhere else East!