Ania Skrzypek: Thank you very much for agreeing to contribute to this week’s dossier on the Next Left. We are delighted to have you with us, especially that the Labour Party is just after a very successful conference in Liverpool, is heading in the polls and under your leadership as a Chair has a new […]
Next Left: a search for hope and confidence in dire times
There is no shortage of challenges. The war in Ukraine continues to influence European economies when they are expected to perform and prevent shortages of goods. And while the apparent cost of living crisis makes citizens worry about persevering through the winter, and public systems have not recovered from the Covid era, some profit from the situation. For the latter, there has not been much of an obligation to share gains and help avoid another crash.
Against this backdrop, several EU member states have seen tectonic shifts taking place as a result of their respective elections. Voters’ anxieties have been skilfully used by the radical right, paving the way for neo-fascist movements not only into parliaments but also to the helm of governments. Therefore, the question is how to provide a viable alternative, which will reassure people that social justice is not just an abstract concept, and that security can be provided together with progressive programmatic terms. In a search for such a strategy, we asked Anneliese Dodds (Chair of the UK Labour Party), Krzysztof Gawkowski (Chair of the Parliamentary Group of Nowa Lewica/Poland) and Maria Maltschnig (Director of the Renner Institut and International Secretary of SPÖ, Austria) to draw up the proposals you will find in this dossier.
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All responsible political formations, which plan their actions in both the short- and long-term perspectives, encapsulate their strategies in certain time brackets which are marked by subsequent elections. Such momentum is also approaching in Poland, where in autumn 2023 there will be parliamentary elections. Lewica (the Left) aspires to play a key role. The compass […]
After a very long period of low inflation, the current cost-of-living crisis seems to have caught us just overnight. But has it really? Haven’t there been any early signs? How can we avoid having many people unable to heat their homes this winter, or even to pay their rent? And how is it possible to […]
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