Verso and Compass present: Our London
A series of conversations in the run-up to the London Mayoral elections
London is the space where people from across the globe make their lives, histories and communities, creating one of the world’s great cultural hubs. But while our capital is one of the most exciting places to live, it’s also one of the most divided.
Life in London is getting harder, with unaffordable rents, widening inequality and dangerous levels of pollution. On every level it is getting harder for us to live, move, work and play in this great city we call home – from the price of housing to the toll it takes on our mental health. We face a crisis for the future of our city as it is pulled apart by tensions of financial capital, policing and the enclosure of public spaces.
In the run-up to the Mayoral and Assembly elections in May, Compass and Verso Books host a series of conversations looking at how we can turn this around. Themed around power, living, working and moving in London, the series asks: how could we organise our communities and our city differently?
Working – 16th March
Engaging in paid work comes at a high price, studies show, and Londoners are feeling the pressure. Waged labour – or the lack of it – defines a lot of our lives, regardless of the kind of labour we do, or whether we are in full-time or precarious work. It also defines a lot of our lives if we do not engage in paid labour. Technological advances threaten to make much human labour redundant. Phenomenons like gentrification are pushing sex workers out of Soho at the same time that austerity is pushing more women into sex work. It’s obvious that we need to rethink work.
How should we respond politically? Is Universal Basic Income the way for us to all enjoy the gains made by automation? How can we move towards a future premised less on work?
Join us for a discussion with Joanna Biggs, author of All Day Long: A Portrait of Britain at Work discusses how we identify with our working lives; Will Davies, author of The Happiness Industry, explodes myths of well-being and workplace happiness; journalist Frankie Mullin discusses the impact of gentrification on sex workers, and Nick Srnicek, co-author of Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work, maps a route to a post-work future. Emma Dowling, academic and author of the forthcoming Care – a book about care and emotion work – will chair the event.
Tickets: £8 full price, concession £5 (students & unemployed)
Booking is now open from Foyles for ‘Working‘ and ‘Living‘. The final two events in the series, ‘Moving’ and ‘Power’, will be announced soon.