On 31 October 2018 Hilary Wainwright, editor of Red Pepper magazine and author of the book ‘A New Politics From The Left’, spoke at a STEPS/IDS seminar at the Institute of Development Studies.

The seminar linked to our work with the Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative on how people are responding and reacting to a new wave of authoritarian populism.

Watch video of Hilary’s talk

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAOpMurI510[/embedyt]

About the book ‘A New Politics From The Left’

Millions of people passionately desire a viable alternative to austerity, authoritarianism and fear. They reject both corporate capitalism and an elite political system over which they have no control, but they are sceptical of the traditional weapons of the left: seizing state power and devising top-down solutions. They are inventing a new politics based on principles of participatory democracy, cooperation and self-government.

In this urgent and original polemic, activist and academic Hilary Wainwright shows that this new politics must start from sharing the tacit knowledge and creativity of each individual.

Power should not be exercised as domination, the imposition of paternalistic rule by well-meaning experts, but as a collaborative exercise in nurturing and asserting the transformative capacity of the many.

Transformations: our theme for 2018

Faced with a series of social and environmental stresses and shocks, there are urgent calls for radical, systemic change. But, as past and present experience show, this can take many forms. What does it take to make sustainability transformations emancipatory (caring), rather than repressive (controlling)?

Find out more about our theme for 2018 on our Transformations theme page.