Tell the Truth Sheffield

Natalie Bennett, Baroness of Manor Castle has written a book, called Change Everything. It is not mistitled, she really does want to Change Everything and it is an excellent introduction to what it means to be Green today. As Natalie writes in the introduction, the book is about “ innovation in the way our societies work, how we care for each other, relate to each other and the natural world and meet our most basic needs. And most crucially, how we think about our lives.” 

“We are living in a social, political, economic and environmental emergency. The status quo is profoundly unstable; change is inevitable. It’s time to build a healthier and more balanced world. The decades-old political orthodoxy, that greed is good, inequality doesn’t matter and we can keep treating the planet as a mine and a dumping ground, has been a recipe for disaster. Our world needs a new vision, the Green vision”. 

She begins with Active Freedom, looking at themes such as the Univeral Basic Income,  Democracy, Education (for all, for free, for life) and DIY Politics. Then she moves on to True Prosperity where she examines Restoring the Earth, The People’s Economy and Controlling the Money. In Healthy Life she discusses Enabling Wellbeing, Unleashing Culture and Recovering Space (reversing privatisation). The Shared Resilience section covers Repairing the Broken (prisons/drug policy/refugees), Rebalancing the World (international relations and nuclear weapons) and Making Reparations (colonialism, loss and damage). She concludes by describing Greenism (we need a better name for this!) as a complete political philosophy, an alternative to Marxism or Capitalism.  

There are many references to Sheffield in the book, Some you might expect, like the tree dispute. I have fond memories of marching with Natalie back and forth across the entrance of Olive Grove Depot, to prevent the tree fellers from leaving to cut down yet more healthy trees!  Also mentioned are Sheffield University Archaeology and Politics departments, the Theatre Deli, the South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group, the South Yorkshire Mayor and the Old Town Hall. 

Great speakers often become popular with the aid of a great catchphrase.  Natalie has a variety of these. My favourite is “Politics should not be something that is done to you. It should be something you do!” This book is very refreshing, offering hopeful alternatives to the business as usual offered by the main political parties. Hopefully, readers of this book will be inspired to get involved and help with the massive project of Changing Everything. As we approach both local and national elections this book will help you see more clearly the possibilities offered at the ballot box. Just because “it’s always been like this” does not mean we shouldn’t change it! 

I fired a few questions at Natalie and got some interesting answers. 

How are the sales of the book doing?

Early days, since it only launched on March 21, but very happy with the level of enthusiasm and sales so far. Pleased to see it doing well on hive.co.uk, a website supporting local independent bookshops. I’m filling up the calendar with events around the country, from Leigh-on-Sea to Durham to Barnstaple. And had a great Oxford launch with Kate Raworth. (One of the things I want to do is get to as many places, not just bigger centres, as possible, and into as many independent bookshops as I can.) And delighted to be doing Sheffield’s own Festival of Debate on April 26: https://festivalofdebate.com/2024/natalie-bennett-change-everything

I can’t think of any changes that you suggest that might appear in the Labour or Tory manifesto for the next election. Which of your suggested changes do you think will happen first?

Two areas where the next government is going to be forced into at least some action are the structure of the economy and the state of public health. 

On the economy, as the Canadian academic Jennifer Clapp, who I heard speaking at the University of Sheffield, pointed out, not only are most sectors of the economy being increasingly dominated by a handful of giant multinational companies, they are increasingly predominantly owned by the same handful of hedge funds and investment firms. There is no real competition, and the quality of goods and services they are providing are increasingly terrible. That’s becoming impossible to ignore, And they are imposing massive costs on all of us through their operations, what the economists call “externalised costs”. Amazon uses vast amounts of packaging material; we all (and the planet) pay the costs of production and disposal. The current government pays lip service to “polluter pays” as a principle; in my mind now is a picture of Minister Lord Benyon at the despatch box in the House of Lords almost chanting that phrase like a mantra. But we still don’t even have a bottle deposit scheme, promised by Michael Gove in 2018.

On public health, the level of people prevented from paid work by ill health is forcing attention on the deteriorating state of the nation’s health, with healthy life expectancy deteriorating in many areas. When Labour and Tory hear the word health, they will immediately start talking about the NHS, but we need to focus on saving people from becoming ill, which means addressing the terrible diet pushed on us by the supermarkets and fast food companies, the awful state of so much housing, with cold and mould major health issues, and our levels of stress, starting with our exam-dominated schools. There is no alternative but to start thinking about well-being rather than focusing on economic growth, which has got us into this terrible state. 

Is there a quicker way to make these changes happen than work to enable the first Green Party Government?

People often ask me how to get into politics, and I say the best approach is to “do” politics. Organising a litter pick on your street, turning a patch of “waste” ground into a community garden, campaigning for less plastic in the school canteen, these are all political actions, and they help everyone see that they can, themselves, make a difference. Our biggest issue with politics today is that people have lost faith that it can change anything for the better, in the direction that they want. Restoring that confidence with practical action provides a foundation for the extensive, systemic changes we have to make to live within the physical limits of this fragile planet, caring for nature while meeting the needs of all humans. But that’s not to say that the first Green government can’t be quickly elected! The two approaches fit together. 

Bearing in mind accelerating climate change, the insect apocalypse and decline in biodiversity, what gives you hope and encouragement that we can avoid societal collapse?

Where we are now – economically, socially, environmentally, educationally and politically –  is profoundly unstable, and that’s good news. The one certainty about the future is that things cannot stay the same as they are now. 

Political change – which has to be the foundation of social and environmental change – does not happen slowly and gradually, but in big jumps. The last real change in British politics was the election of Margaret Thatcher; Blair was the child of Thatcher, and Cameron was the child of Blair. As for Boris Johnson and co, they’re perhaps best considered as signs of the old system breaking down. 

Most of us can only remember neoliberal times, but we’re clearly at the end of those now. I don’t know what happens next – history is not prewritten, but made by the actions of people – but I can see the potential for creating a new kind of society built on local democratic decision-making, strong local economies, and, through policies such as universal basic income and the four-day week with no loss of pay, giving people time to work together to build it. 

If you look around Sheffield, there are so many great community initiatives and projects tackling the enormous social gaps left by more than a decade of austerity and decades of neoliberal thinking. What they need are the resources and time for people to build and develop them, alongside the restoration of public services. 

Is there a possibility of any new Green peers in the near future?

As we have been reminded again and again lately, peerages are entirely within the gift of the prime minister. (Yes, democracy would be a good idea, but we do not have one.) The Green Party was offered the place I was elected into by the party in 2019 by Theresa May. I’ve got no doubt the May local elections will take our number of councillors continuing on the path of exponential growth we’ve enjoyed over recent years, towards four figures, and the next general election, whenever it is, will provide the next generation of Green MPs. Those will be powerful arguments for more Green peers. And in many polls now we’re level with the Liberal Democrats, yet they have about 80 peers and we have two. But all Jenny Jones, my fellow Green peer, and I can do is continue to represent our entire political philosophy across as broad a range of subjects as we can, and demonstrate that the House of Lords, like the rest of the UK, badly needs more Greens. 

Is there anything you would like to say to the Telegraph readers about your time in Sheffield or about Change Everything?

A friend recently gave me a copy of Shirley Baxter and Jean Lees’ book A Woman’s Place: Stories of Sheffield’s Victorian Women, a reminder that the city was home to the country’s first women’s suffrage society, the Sheffield Women’s Political Association. For two centuries, Sheffield has been a leading centre for campaigning for social and economic justice, from being a supportive home for Edward Carpenter, a “green” before the political category had been invented, to pioneering low-cost bus fares in the days when it was known as part of the “People’s Republic of South Yorkshire”, and more recently as a leader in the City of Sanctuary movement.  Rebuilding the confidence, the capacity, and the energy of those times – when Sheffield politics has been scarred by failed promises and dreadful decision-making, such as in the street tree debacle, has to be a priority. The energy has always been there – as demonstrated by the Save Sheffield Trees movement and the subsequent democratic push led by It’s Our City, but it needs to reach out beyond the city’s boundaries and onto the national stage. In Westminster, Sheffield gets a lot less attention and focus than it should.

And, as everywhere, there is a need to think hard about restoring the environment in which we live. How do we grow far more vegetables and fruit within the city, which could improve access to healthier diets and also be great for nature? We need to campaign for a better future for the Peak District, such a valuable part of so many Shieffielders’ lives. At the moment it is a ryegrass and heather desert, starved of the diversity of life that could flourish in it. The Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust has been a national leader in “green prescribing”, supporting people to interact with nature for the good of their health; we need much more of that. 

You can buy Change Everything here. Or you could order it from your local library!