Ken Livingstone - Being Red - A Politics for the Future

Sally Bavage writes:

Being Read at Headingley LitFest: Being Red: A Politics for the Future by Ken Livingstone

You usually introduce a famous national speaker with “Needs no introduction” ... but perhaps Ken Livingstone does, as in the flesh he is well-mannered, unflappable, polite and absolutely nothing like many in the (Tory) media would have you believe from their campaigns over the years of 'monstering' one of Britain's most successful and proudly left-wing pragmatic politicians. As he said, “Demonising people sells papers.” As it costs at least £100,000 to sue, the libel laws work only for the rich. He is not.

Coming up from London for the day, Ken treated a packed lunchtime audience in Leeds University Union to a tour de force, showing his encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of the Labour Party, his wide reading and his grasp of 'It's the economy, stupid' (Clinton campaign slogan, Bill not Hillary, in 1992). He has edited and produced the 'Socialist Economic Bulletin' since 1983. He really knows his stuff.

He answered questions on his early influences growing up in post-war London where going out to work after leaving school (to become a lab technician in a cancer hospital) was what you had to do to support the family. He became more and more involved in Labour politics just as many party members were leaving in disillusion with Harold Wilson. As he says, “Not many rats join a sinking ship.”

Promotion came rapidly and he ended up at the age of 35 in 1981 the youngest Leader of the Greater London Council, governing 8 million Londoners before also becoming the last Leader in 1986 as the democratic stratum of local government was ruthlessly abolished by Margaret Thatcher, principally to get rid of him!

He worked hard to become MP for Brent East and finally the first Mayor of London in 2000, famously only just beaten in 2008 by his nemesis Boris Johnson during the height of the unpopularity of the then Brown government that followed the Blair years and the Iraq war fallout. 

Ken Livingstone and Sally Bavage  Photo by Richard Wilcocks

He is modest about the extraordinary list of his achievements and much more keen to discuss with the audience his suggestions for how to rebuild the Labour party, based on his knowledge of history and theapplication of economics. He calls himself a 'numbers nerd' in his longer memoir 'You Can't Say That' but his sharp focus on using data not cant, economic theory not political sophistry, common senses not windbaggery are exactly what Jeremy Corbyn and the rejuvenated Labour Party need now. 

Despite a sore throat, he cheerfully kept the audience gripped with his answers on issues such as Trident, housing, inward investment, terrorist threats, the need for more regulation of landlord sharks and rip-off privatising companies, transport, tax avoidance, attacks on trade unionists (“The right to strike pre-dated the right to vote”), the EU referendum …. Add in many short asides on Boris (Johnson), Yanis Varoufakis, John McDonnell (his budget leader for the GLA who always balanced the books), religious nutty wings, TTIP trade agreement, local council cuts…and it is obvious that Ken has a very clear analysis on what we can collectively do to counteract these massive and accelerating attacks on the standards of living of ordinary people. Several times he raised spontaneous applause, not least when he cited the evidence for his statement that “The Public Sector does things better” where his examples included the NHS and the BBC.

Two key suggestions we could all take away:

• Work with and promote Momentum, the movement that supports Jeremy Corbyn in refuting some of the malicious nonsense thrown his way as well as spreading ideas and information;
• engage with issues that are supported by the Labour Party

The queue for signing his very readable book was long; what we all took away was a conviction that someone is talking sense, speaks our language and will fight to get the truth across despite what will be redoubled efforts to smear him, Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and anyone else who might claim to Being Red.

Thanks are due to Leeds University Union for our first partnership event with them as part of their Speak Up initiative, to Blackwell's bookshop for supporting our event, to the Left Book Club for publishing Ken's sensible words and not least to three lovely Leeds University volunteers who came along to help us manage such a large meeting: Antonia Panayotova, Helen Woodhouse and Megan di Luzio.

                            Photo by Antonia Panayotova

Antonia Panayotova writes:

The Core of Politics

On March 8 people in Leeds had the chance to attend an event in which Ken Livingstone was to present his book ‘Being Red: A Politics for the Future’ which proved to be very engaging.

As Sally Bavage emphasised, it was especially suitable to have him on the International Women’s Day considering his stance, once almost revolutionary, on women’s rights.

While the talk was very much linked to the book – a must-read for everyone interested in politics and especially in an insight of Labour’s history and future – it was in this broader question of what  the most crucial element of politics, its core, should be that the talk was to continue.

Ken went through his history from a working class man to politician mentioning the very idea that prompted his political involvement – that one should not wait around for things to change but rather go ahead and try to change them, i.e. as Gandhi said ‘You must be the change you wish to see in the world’.

Then the public was carried through critique of past and present politics, the role of media, social environment changes and so on. However, I would like to point out here two things: his notion of the essence of politics and the audience engagement in the last 15 minutes which turned out to be about 40 because of the audience’s never ending interest.

For Mr. Livingstone the essence of politics was the economy and especially infrastructure. And in his being the ‘change you wish to see in the world’ he implemented this essence. In his years as a mayor, an economist was a central figure in his politics – visiting him two or three times a week until he had a sufficient understanding to develop on. And the examples of the Olympics, public transport development, better housing opportunities and the jobs they created, provided a good argument that infrastructure is the backbone of economy and therefore it should be a central issue in politics.

And with the first audience question of what should the foundation of an economic reform be, it was not surprising that the answer was infrastructure investment. Then, when he was asked about how to best oppose Nuclear weapons and the Trident programme, he again linked his answer to economy, pointing out that if people realize how many other things can be tackled with the money that Trident will swallow (i.e. around £100 billion) they might see it in a different light. With this money people can be better protected by investment in police services or live in a more stable economy with the money being invested in infrastructure… or both.

Then, next emerged the central present-day issue of the EU referendum. Again his focus was on economy. According to his knowledge, which was incredibly extensive and up-to-date, Brexit can prove a devastating change for the UK economy. Therefore his stance was on staying in until someone can prove him ‘we will be better off with leaving’. He did agree that there is need for democratization and organizational changes within the EU, but while in the EU since being part of itis of crucial importance for the UK economy.

As far as I am concerned, there are other factors at play for each of the issues, but I do agree that economy is extremely important and should be central in politics. But how would you comment? Do you think it should be as central as it is for Ken Livingstone? Or do you think there are other things more important in politics?

Audience Comments

Clear, concise and honest. There's a simplicity in old Labour analysis that still holds true. Ken Livingstone is an honest politician in my view and gives us (particularly his own generation of which I am one) a rekindled enthusiasm that change can happen.

I travelled from Cornwall especially to attend this event. It was well worth the time and effort! A fascinating event that illuminated aspects of Ken's personality that were new to me. A well moderated and engaging event. Thank you and well done.

Great event, really interesting topics and great question and answer session that gave further insight.

Very enjoyable and insightful. Great Q&A session. Enjoyed and liked ...???... questioner format. Very motivational and hopeful.

Great speaker, well facilitated. As I work, early evening would be a better time and fixed time slot so can plan with certainty.

Good format - interview affective. Good range of questions. Chaired well. Ken v. clear, informative, open and hopeful.

Thank you. I have never been to anything remotely political. I really enjoyed the event. It was really well run, good questions and I learned a lot. Must attend something from 'the other side'

A very cordial welcome from Richard Wilcocks. Good work Headingley LitFest. Hope you are able to continue with your worthwhile projects. Very interesting, wonderful flow of thoughts by Ken Livingstone. Thank you. He should be a mentor for 'think-tanks'

Article didn't actually say where you could get tickets - had to google to find out! V. interesting talk.

Interesting talk, worth coming to. Would have liked to hear more about the present and future and less about the past. Fair price but event information on line was very poor - lack of times/format etc..

Excellent event - great to see a hero in real life!! Seriously, very well co-ordinated and organised so thank you very much

Really great to have a political speaker as part of the festival. More next time please, though larger venue next time please and advertise to 6th forms within Leeds/Headingley areas

A great opportunity to hear a great mind and dedicated lefty. Very well chaired.

Provocative, educational, thought provoking and inspiring. Thank you.

Great. Superb opportunity to hear Ken L

Very interesting, glad I came.

An excellent and straightforward speaker

Well organised and very interesting - more please!

Very interesting and worthwhile event.

Excellent, interesting, stimulating event.

Very interesting and down to earth. Glad I came

A great event. Thank you. Well chaired, Sally.

Very interesting and hope generating

Excellent event - very interesting and thought provoking

An interesting and thought provoking event. Excellent. Poor layout - would have been better if I could have seen the speaker.

Why were the mikes not used - both for speaker and chair and for questions? Good event though!

Very informative and inspiring. Thanks!

Terrific opportunity to hear from a passionate individual. Candid succinct and sincere.

Really  good to hear Ken. Well done on getting such a high profile speaker.

Good well organised. The room could have been filled twice if there was more advertising about the event. But it was a great small venue, people were able to hear clearly and ask questions. Ken is very knowledgeable.

It's been worthy experience to listen to ex-politician 'live' lecture. Question time was more interesting ...?... his book was written?) Thank you.

Well worth coming enjoyable and interesting event. But the event is advertised at £8 but you can only book on line with a 50p surcharge - just charge £8.50

PA system a bit disappointing. I could hear Ken okay but there was a distracting background noise. Overall - fab! Great to see Ken.

Thank you for organising this.

Very informative.

Fascinating and refreshing.

Quality!

VERY GOOD!

Excellent, enlightening event. Thanks.

Really good event - thanks.

A very interesting conversation with Ken with Sally Bavage interviewing him about the current state of politics

A very interesting and lively thought-through presentation from the chair and the author. Rare to get such an opportunity here in Leeds.

Eat With Adonis - Mint Café

Richard Wilcocks writes:

Richard Wilcocks, Marcos, Ian Harker   Photo by Xavier

Mint Café is not exactly the most capacious of venues, and is split into a front and back section, but it holds up well: the acoustics are good, making it possible to project to both sides from a position in between, the Lebanese food is delicious and an ambiance can be created which is appropriate for the appreciation of poetry from the Arabic world. This evening I shared a reading in English with the poet Ian Harker of just a few of the poems of the great Ali Ahmad Said Esber, who for most of his long career has used the pen-name Adonis, because his muses are pre-Islamic and pan-Mediterranean. There was an introduction before we started, of course. Here is a summary of it.

Born in the region of Latakia in what was then French-controlled Syria, he currently lives in Paris, is eighty-six, fragile, and still productive: one of his fairly recent (2002) achievements was to publish the first complete translation into Arabic of Ovid's seminal narrative poem Metamorphoses. That's fifteen books and two hundred and fifty myths covering the period from the creation of the world to the deification of Julius Caesar, which took place just before Ovid was born. Adonis has played an important role in the evolution of free verse in Arabic, has been influenced by the likes of T. S. Eliot, has been nominated regularly for the Nobel Prize for Literature, was imprisoned in the Fifties for belonging to a party which advocated the creation of a progressive society governed by consensus and with equal rights for all, has advocated a view that culture should be dynamic rather than imitative and is an expert calligrapher. Predictably, a poet and intellectual like that has received plenty of death threats, for example from an Egyptian member of the Muslim Brotherhood for being outrageously non-religious and from members of the Syrian opposition (the ones supported by the Saudis) for having the audacity to have been born amongst the Alawites.

Adonis   أدونيس

I read A Time of Ashes and Roses, The Beginning of Speech, Desert and The Wound (all translated by Khaled Mattawa) and Ian Harker read The New Noah (translated by Shawkat M. Toorawa) and Celebrating Childhood (translated by Khaled Mattawa). We finished with a reminder that we had been reading translations, which are always  flawed mirrors. Marcos (who originates from Lebanon) read I Have a Seat in the Abandoned Theatre, by the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish in the original Arabic, followed by the version in English.

Audience Comments

Food was fantastic!!! Venue is good! Acoustics good. Presenters clear and audible. 

Interesting background information and poetry.

Poems are elusive on first hearing, especially with little distractions (Mint Cafe's interesting bric - a - brac, and people eating). I would have got more from the reading if one or two poems had been announced in advance, so I could read them before the performance.

Food - delicious. What a pity there was so little Arabic, and no Arabs reading the translations.

Great food. Intriguing poetry.

Very moving poetry.

Thank you.

How independent is Ireland? - Bernard Purcell in the New Headingley Club

Audience Comments

I thought some people found it hard to get their questions in! It provoked thought – and maybe controversy? Great! “Ye cannae eat a flag” I loved that! More of such speakers please!

Very interesting talk about close links between Ireland and Uk – analysis and examples. Could have been longer!

An informative and, at times, witty overview of the history of Ireland – and Irish in Britain!

Very interesting talk on the people and culture of Ireland. I also thought it was very nice to have people playing Irish music before the event began as people were arriving.

I found it really interesting. Much of what was said reflected my experience of being a 2^nd generation Irish in England.

Wonderful! I learnt a lot – a great speaker – eloquent, knowledgeable and enthusiastic.

Enjoyable, informative, wish it was longer

This event was excellent, informative and very enlightening.

Excellent. Very interesting.

Interesting and positive.

A stimulating and informative talk on a subject little discussed!

Greatly informative speaker.

A very interesting topic but sadly it was too difficult to hear the speaker as the acoustics in the New Headingley Club are so poor and, as the audience was seated in a semi circle, the soft voice could not carry. A microphone would have helped – also if the speaker has slowed down his delivery. A text book example of how not to give an otherwise fascinating talk.

I found the lecture very interesting, and one of real significance for the Irish in Leeds, as well as a general audience.  I thought it was rather short, however and that was disappointing (20 minutes) as the speaker was clearly very knowledgeable.  But I just discovered that there was a problem with trains

Very interesting, especially liked the GAA anecdote and the Terry Wogan ref and the list of people of Irish extraction. Also would like more discussion about … ??

House Event - Sankakei - On An Eastern Breeze

Richard Wilcocks writes:

Oz Hardwick and Michael Graham

Our house this afternoon became the setting for a beautiful dream journey very soon after Sankakei began: Michael Graham sat in the middle, hands dancing over the strings on a pair of kotos, while Oz Hardwick and Amina Alyal stood on either side as poetic punctuators. The palaces and gardens of Old Japan floated above, cranes lifted off from their own reflections in sacred lakes and saffron-robed Zen monks meditated in mountain retreats. It was an intimate experience, with the captivated audience just a few feet from the performers, practically 'on stage' with them. Michael was a centre of attention after the three quarters of an hour set, answering questions about Japan, where he lived for seven years, and on his rare and wonderful instruments: he must be the north of England's number one expert on them, describing the samisen (or shamisen) as "a kind of banjo" played with an enormous equivalent of a plectrum, and the koto as a descendant of a Chinese instrument (the guzheng) which was first played no less than two thousand five hundred years ago. "It's a kind of zither," he told us. Some zither! The carefully chosen and composed poetry fitted well into a performance which spanned more than two millennia of oriental culture.

It had been advertised that there would be an appeal for money at the (free) event, and Sandra Derler, who has just returned from meeting and helping refugee children on the flimsy boats arriving on Lesvos, brought a laptop with a looped slideshow of recent photographs taken there. I read from a Facebook account of a young volunteer on the island, followed by People Run by Michael Rosen. The collecting bowl was on the table next to the cake and the baklava. The eighty pounds in it at the end of the afternoon will be for NGOs on the actual beaches.

There was poetry in the second session: Hannah Stone read poems which included some from her recently-launched collection, I read a new one by myself entitled In Nunhead Cemetery and Becky Cherriman read a selection from her new pamphlet Echolocation.


Audience Comments

What a lovely intimate event, that gave evidence of a lively literary community. The other readers were outstanding (Oz Hardwick)

Nice intimate atmosphere and range of performances

Samisen and Koto   Photos by Richard Wilcocks

The most interesting musical instruments I have ever seen or heard. A fascinating afternoon!

My first ever HOME EVENT. It was very homely and everybody was talking to each other, it wasn't formal at all. The music was good and interesting, there were some good poems. Very Good.

Particularly enjoyed the poetry readings in the second half. I also loved the idea that donations were given for refugees. Lovely informal event.

The mixture of poetry + music was wonderful, harmonic. I loved the looping words and musical themes and the two voices. So rich in imagery!

Lovely afternoon! Poetry and music were wonderful. Also enjoyed tea and cake.

Intriguing programme, beguiling performance.

Quite interesting poetry along with the playing of quite unusual musical instruments. I particularly enjoyed listening to the music and thought that the poetry fitted in nicely. I liked the other poetry readings as well.

Friendly hospitable setting - an interesting mix - oriental and western - original and creative work of a high standard. Amazing Japanese instruments (that I can't spell or pronounce). Excellent!

It was like a performance in an art gallery - perfect - I loved it.

Sound Company - Friendly Fire

Richard Wilcocks writes:

Sound Company      Photo by Richard Wilcocks

It was not only a most appropriate and timely reminder of the catastrophe of the First World War and a few of the individual soldiers caught up in it, but also a kind of tribute to the early days of the Theatre in Education movement: Friendly Fire is a pruned-down and tweaked version of a play for secondary school students created by the Coventry TIE Company in 1970 which had the slightly cumbersome title of Killed July 17th 1916. The story of this was fictitious, but based on real researched events. Some members of the Lawnswood School Community Choir decided to tell a cut-down version of this story, making it locally specific, with references to the Leeds Pals, which formed one of the more ill-fated sections of Kitchener's Army fighting on the Somme in 1916. On the first day of the battle - 1 July - when the Pals and their comrades were advancing towards the village of Serre, hundreds getting machine-gunned or blasted to death in the process, it was inevitable that some of them would get confused or lost.

 One of these was Billy Dean, a character who represents a real-life victim of the brutal army disciplinary process of the time: he was condemned to death for desertion, one of three hundred and fifty others similarly condemned before 1918. He was executed by a firing squad of soldiers who knew him well. It was thought to be good for military morale, somehow. As Voltaire wrote, it was "pour encourager les autres".

Sound Company gave the story some of the feel of a requiem, singing a cappella Spring 1919, with its well-known first line 'In Flanders Field the poppies grow' as they entered St Michael's Church Hall. This short piece with its simple counterpoint was placed at the end of the show as well. Unlike all the other short pieces throughout, some of them from Joan Littlewood's Oh What A Lovely War, this one was specially composed after the hostilities. Some had unfamiliar tunes - We are Fred Karno's Army was, for a change, not sung to the hymn tune The Church's One Foundation. All of them became chorale-like in between the dramatic scenes, which had cinematographic brevity.

The company had its audience completely engaged within about five minutes. "You could tell from the faces," a cast member told me afterwards. "At first they were sizing us up. Then they were definitely with us." We were shocked when the platoon sergeant (a frightening Dick Downing) gave the order to "scare the shit out of Fritzi" during bayonet training, adding that "the only good Boche is a dead Boche", and when the hesitating Billy Dean (a truly professional performance from Derek Holt) did not stab the sandbag representing a human body with sufficient viciousness. We were appalled at the way the court martial was rigged against the defendant. We were also impressed by the sheer quality of the singing: none of these choir members had been unwillingly conscripted (of course) into an unusual situation: they were as deeply involved with the issues and the pity of war as the audience, and well-rehearsed.

Some of the issues came out in the discussion which followed, TIE - style. Dick Downing fielded the questions and the statements, and it soon became obvious that we already knew a fair amount about the Great War which changed the world a hundred years ago, which is a good reason for Sound Company to take this play into schools for the benefit of those who know less.

We owe our thanks to St Michael's/Headingley Hall for allowing us to use their venue at short notice and opening up especially for us.

Audience Comments

Very well performed – words and unaccompanied singing, a good mix of each. The end discussion was so good. Some, with grandfathers who had even been soldiers in WW1 had not heard of some of the harrowing detail of what had happened.

A very complete piece that built to a climax with the Dean/Sergeant Major dialogue. The end discussion was valuable too.

Very affecting! Combination of songs and story was very moving, and an important story to be told. Thank you!

This was a very moving and thought-provoking event, with information I didn't know before and it made me THINK. Very good discussion.

Excellent. Beautiful singing.

Fab! Thoroughly enjoyed it. Have seen it before and loved it!

Excellent, the subject matter goes without saying, and the educational importance came up during the discussion. It's a great medium to describe it in. The framing device was also new to me; at first I was sceptical but it was extremely effective.

This was wonderful – introduced me to several aspects of the war that I'd never though about before, and will certainly think about further! The 'script-in-hand' approach worked surprisingly well, and the songs make such a powerful atmosphere.

Very vivid and thought-provoking. I'm so pleased to hear you are taking the performance to Lawnswood School as it is essential that young people hear the raw story.

Really excellent, moving experience. Should be taken into secondary schools.

Very moving and thoughtful i.e thought-provoking. Read the line from Henri Barbuse: “Not two armies fighting each other. It's one huge army committing suicide.” Keep passing on the message!

Thank you - very moving event. Particularly enjoyed the singing – brilliant!

Very moving, especially the songs. Couldn't hear some of the spoken stuff: some performers need to speak more slowly and project. These things need to be done, lest we forget

Very moving and intimate performance. Thank you for putting this on.

Very poignant story of ordinary men in an extraordinary situation. The singing captured the spirit of the time brilliantly.

Very powerful and very moving. Loved the singing. Relevant to events in the world today, sadly.

Good performance, on time, good organisation. Venue just about adequate but not a problem