Beyond Politics is the UK’s newest political party, and it is very different from any other party. They have only one political policy, to establish direct deliberative democracy in the form of Citizens Assemblies, and with no forthcoming election in this country, they want to “bring down the government” through non-violent direct action, handing democratic power directly to people through a representative assembly that changes every few months. (We’ll be investigating Citizens Assemblies more in the coming weeks, but Real Media produced a short primer last year.)
The plan may sound crazy and/or impossible, but one of their co-founders is Roger Hallam, who honed the theories of mass mobilisation that underpinned Extinction Rebellion, so he certainly has a track record of pushing ideas into public consciousness. XR got the national and international media discussing the climate emergency in ways that would have been unthinkable just months before, and now he wants the public and the media to consider whether our government serves our needs and if not, how the people can in reality bring it down.
Some of his tactics and public utterances have caused controversy and alienated some people along the way, and he openly admits he has made mistakes but he appears dedicated to changing history and averting climate catastrophe, and Beyond Politics is his latest project to attempt this.
This filmed conversation took place recently between Hallam and Beyond Politics co-founder Valerie Brown, who will be standing as London mayoral candidate for the party.
They talk about their respective backgrounds, and discuss politics, the climate, bringing down the government, and the ways in which ordinary people can become heroes.
This morning, members of Beyond Politics carried out controversial actions at the offices of various NGOs to highlight their lack of radical response to the crisis, and on Saturday (25th July) they will be holding a public launch event in Trafalgar Square at midday.
