Saturday, 18 July 2015

Public event

Birmingham – What’s our story? Developing a progressive narrative

Blue Orange Theatre 118 Great Hampton Street B18 6AD Birmingham

Progressives don’t have a credible, persuasive story – what’s often called a narrative – to tell people. 
 
Please join us for a participatory workshop on developing a prgressive narrative
 
When: 18 July, 10am – 3pm  – 
Where: Blue Orange Theatre  118 Great Hampton Street  B18 6AD Birmingham
The Conservatives say ‘Labour overspent when in government so austerity is needed to balance the books and welfare goes to scroungers anyway’. UKIP say ‘migrants are the cause of problems and leaving the EU and stopping immigration is the answer’. 
As progressives we totally reject these narratives but we don’t have an equally short and easily understandable story of our own. The need for a progressive narrative is recognised by political parties, think tanks, media commentators and academics but they are failing to provide one.

The West Midlands has a long and proud tradition of innovation and progressive thought so why shouldn’t we be the ones to identify the narrative that is so greatly needed?

On 18 July we’ll be holding a Workshop in Birmingham from 10am to 3pm to see if we can start to develop a progressive narrative fit for the 21st century. 

Booking is required for this event. For full details and to book a place click here

To cover the cost of room hire this is a ‘pay what you can’ event. 
If what you can contribute is your time and commitment but not money that is great and don’t hesitate to book your place.  But if you are able to help with the room cost that’s good too. The cost of room hire is £100 and it is estimated 20 people will attend. Because Eventbrite charge for payments – an average contribution would need to be £6 per person. As some people will not be able to make a financial contribution, if you are in position of being able to afford a bit more then  £10, £15 or even £20 will go a long way in paying for the room. If there is any surplus it will simply go towards the cost of future events (previous events have relied on a room collection but this has not raised enough). You can make a donation when you book your place.

The narrative workshop follows feedback from May’s ‘Radical Hope: where next?’ event at which interest in a narrative workshop was expressed. The three other most popular themes were: 

– Community based politics/activism, tying with sub-themes of voter registration, political engagement and those who will be hit even harder by further cuts  

– PR/constitutional reform with a sub-theme of decentralisation/localisation 
– Alternatives to austerity with sub-themes of taxation, basic income and social security 

These themes will shape our activity in the coming months. We’ll take a break in August, then on Tuesday 15 September we’ll have an evening event: ‘Community organising: from words to action’. More details nearer the time.

There’s a great blog about May’s Radical Hope – click here to read.

 
Hope to see you on July 18th!

Michael Orton – Compass West Midlands Organiser
Tom Pratt – Equality West Midlands Chair 

A West Midlands Politics of Networks event organised by Compass and Equality WM

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