The World Transformed unveils programme for 2021 festival

The World Transformed has this morning unveiled the programme of events for its sixth annual four-day festival to take place in Brighton between September 25th and 28th, running alongside the official Labour Party conference.

The organisation has invited people to attend more than 100 sessions with speakers including Zarah Sultana MP, UCU general secretary Jo Grady, Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Shami Chakrabarti and Ash Sarkar.

Titled ‘Building Power from the Ground Up’, organisers said the festival will be a “welcoming space for a new generation of young activists who supported Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership” but feel “increasingly alienated” by Labour under Keir Starmer.

“Whether it’s deepening inequalities, racial injustice or climate breakdown – the major issues facing our society and our world today require nothing less than bold, transformative solutions,” Labour MP for Coventry South Zarah Sultana said.

“Every year The World Transformed provides a crucial space for activists from across the UK and beyond to discuss and debate socialist ideas, learn new skills and collectively shape the future of our movement. I’m looking forward to being part of the conversation at this year’s festival.”

With COP26 set to take place in Glasgow later this year, the festival will have a strong focus on the climate emergency with debates on degrowth vs the green new deal, eco-fascism and the role trade unions can play in a just transition.

“The British left has been facing no shortage of challenges since 2019. With Covid exacerbating the very injustices we have been fighting against, we must re-emerge stronger than ever,” TWT staff member Amardeep Singh Dhillon said.

“From Black Lives Matter to the climate crisis, there is an appetite for radical politics that is honest about the change required. This is what we’re building, while others focus on attacking the unions and activists that make up our movement.”

The organisation has also said the festival will be an opportunity for activists to engage with “key strategic debates such as ‘do socialists need their own party?’ and ‘how should the left engage with the Labour leadership?’”.

TWT volunteer Mark Montegriffo said: “Many on the left voted for Starmer after the 2019 election defeat due to a narrative of electability, and his ten pledges.

“Since then, his leadership has declined in the polls, he’s reneged on the policies many elected him for, and he’s launched attacks on socialists. At Labour Party conference in September, Starmer will be in Brighton to attempt yet another ‘rebranding’. We will be in Brighton to organise the future of British politics.”

TWT is offering standard tickets for £50, a “pay it forward” option for £100 (to subsidise the cost of another person’s ticket) and low-wage tickets for £35. The organisation is accepting donations for online content passes.

Unite the Union, Young Labour and the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs will for the first time formally support this year’s annual festival, billed by organisers as a “rallying point for a new left within the Labour Party”.

The groups join longer-standing official sponsors Momentum and CWU to support the annual gathering, run alongside the official party conference, that organisers said will “act as space for the UK left to plan its next moves”.

The TWT festival was held online last year, as was the Labour Party conference, due to the pandemic. This year’s TWT gathering retains an increased online programme for those who are unable to come to Brighton but still want to participate.

Confirmed speakers are listed below, with more expected to be announced.

Jeremy Corbyn MP
John McDonnell MP
Jon Trickett MP
Zarah Sultana MP
Nadia Whittome MP
Beth Winter MP
Clive Lewis MP
Richard Burgon MP
Mark Drakeford, first minister of Wales
Jo Grady, UCU general secretary
Dave Ward, CWU general secretary
Zakia Sewell, DJ, radio producer and host of BBC Sounds recent series My Albion
Paul Mason, author
Larissa Kennedy, NUS president
Paolo Gerbaudo, political theorist
Owen Hatherley, author
Juliet Jacques, journalist
Jeremy Gilbert, author
Keir Milburn, author
Asad Rehman, executive director, War on Want
James Meadway, economist