LEAP held a session at the Convention of the Left on Monday lunchtime 'The Economic Crisis - how we got there and how to get out' . . . or at least we were due to.
We had a room that seated about 60 allocated to us, but by the start time there were already people standing and more trying to get in . . . meanwhile in the main hall, a meeting on globalisation was questioning why the two meetings could not merge as neither topic could be discussed without reference to the other.
After some swift negotiations, shuffling of papers, scraping of chairs and about 10 minutes, we were all sat in the main hall - about 150 of us to discuss globalisation and the economic crisis. There were contributions from a number of LEAP regulars: Prem Sikka, Gerry Gold, Rosamund Stock and Graham Turner who had articles published in both the Morning Star and the Guardian that day! I also said a few words about why LEAP was setup, what it is and what it is trying to do.
Raphie de Santos from the SSP also spoke from the (informal) platform, as did John Hilary of War on Want - from the session on globalisation. Like the LEAP speakers they explained the complexities of the economic system that had led to the current economic crisis, how that crisis would develop and what the effects have been and might be in the future. The contributions from around the packed hall proved that there is a real appetite to discuss economics at the moment.
The meeting was also attended by Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn, Kelvin Hopkins, John McDonnell and Austin Mitchell. Former MP Alice Mahon also attended and spoke about the corruption of former Ministers taking up lucrative positions with companies to which they had awarded contracts while in office.
The debate went on for over three hours, time which despite my burgeoning cold actually seemed to fly past - as the level of debate was so high, with a range of perspectives and prescriptions being aired. Both the Convention of the Left and LEAP will be taking forward some of the ideas raised in the debate.
We had a room that seated about 60 allocated to us, but by the start time there were already people standing and more trying to get in . . . meanwhile in the main hall, a meeting on globalisation was questioning why the two meetings could not merge as neither topic could be discussed without reference to the other.
After some swift negotiations, shuffling of papers, scraping of chairs and about 10 minutes, we were all sat in the main hall - about 150 of us to discuss globalisation and the economic crisis. There were contributions from a number of LEAP regulars: Prem Sikka, Gerry Gold, Rosamund Stock and Graham Turner who had articles published in both the Morning Star and the Guardian that day! I also said a few words about why LEAP was setup, what it is and what it is trying to do.
Raphie de Santos from the SSP also spoke from the (informal) platform, as did John Hilary of War on Want - from the session on globalisation. Like the LEAP speakers they explained the complexities of the economic system that had led to the current economic crisis, how that crisis would develop and what the effects have been and might be in the future. The contributions from around the packed hall proved that there is a real appetite to discuss economics at the moment.
The meeting was also attended by Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn, Kelvin Hopkins, John McDonnell and Austin Mitchell. Former MP Alice Mahon also attended and spoke about the corruption of former Ministers taking up lucrative positions with companies to which they had awarded contracts while in office.
The debate went on for over three hours, time which despite my burgeoning cold actually seemed to fly past - as the level of debate was so high, with a range of perspectives and prescriptions being aired. Both the Convention of the Left and LEAP will be taking forward some of the ideas raised in the debate.
If you were there, what do you think should be a campaign to come out of that meeting? And even if you weren't what areas do you think LEAP should focus on in the coming months?
