150+ people attended the ‘5 Demands to build a real alternative’ conference in London on Saturday 13 May 2024, organised by the Peace and Justice Project (PJP).

The PJP was founded by Jeremy Corbyn in 2021 to great fanfare. At the time, it seemed to give a home to those supporters of Corbyn who were horrified at his treatment by the right wing faction of the Labour Party and who may have been persecuted themselves for expressing progressive politics. Patrons include notables such as Noam Chomsky, Yanis Varoufakis, Ken Loach and Lowkey. There isn’t a paid up membership – although trades unions branches are welcomed to affiliate – but it is estimated that there is perhaps over 500,000 individuals who have signed up as supporters. A lot.

The conference aimed to set out in considerable depth the importance and detail behind the five core demands of the Peace and Justice Project:

• Payrise for the Many
• Green New Deal with Public Ownership
• Housing for All
• Tax the Rich to Save the NHS
• Welcome Refugees and A World Free from War

Over the six hours of the conference and over 25+ speakers (including trades unionists, politicians, community activists, academics, strategists), there was lot to learn:

• The fact that the government has potentially a large surfeit of money to if only it had the political will to find it – Lord Prem Sikka (Emeritus Professor of Accounting)
• The fact that over 1 million children are currently living – not in poverty – but in destitution – effectively starving. (Andrew Fisher, former policy advisor & commentator)
• The fact that protesters have successfully turned the political dial on Palestine from arguments about a ceasefire to ending arms sales to Israel. (John Rees, Stop the War)
• The fact that grassroots organisations like Acorn have made effective changes to the lives of ordinary people without any recourse to political representatives. Fredi Gentz, ACORN)

As would be expected, the conference covered issues that would move anyone to tears, the horrific situation Sudan being one (Ameena Al-Rasheed, Sudanese journalist & activist). Another was the testimony of a disabled activist (David Rollins, DPAC) who spoke about his suicide attempts in response to his treatment by benefit agencies – one attempt actually resulted in his arrest as it took place in a job centre. Both speakers received emotional standing ovations. But nobody received a bigger ovation than Corbyn himself who closed the conference. I felt quite upset to hear that familiar tone, the message of socialism, the simple logic and morally that underpins it– the knowledge that these words were coming from something with proven integrity and honesty. I realised how much I have missed that voice.

There were a lot of socialist questions raised. I was interested to hear that the idea of a universal basic income as a socialist measure was being questioned – some saw as measure that could be misused in the hands of neoliberals. A socialist councillor asked what she should be actually doing in her role to advance the demands. But the main question that was put to the conference from the floor was simply what socialists could do right now (yes reader, I was that in that number!). With over 25+ speakers, I was a bit dismayed that not one of them used their platform to advocate a political way forward to advance these 5 demands, even though there were at least 4 independent socialist candidates for the general election I could spot (Pamela Fitzpatrick, Leanne Mohamed,  and potentially Jeremy Corbyn) who were obviously very engaged in doing exactly that. There was massive applause for people who announced that they had left the Labour Party and loud boos in particular whenever Wes Streeting’s name came up (yes, guilty as charged). This is an election year! Nobody mentioned it.

For Transform supporters, it was good to hear continual calls to ‘transform society’ or ‘transform social care’ or ‘transform our political system’. Yes, it wasn’t meant as a reference to our party, but at least we Transform supporters can use this as a call to action.