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Recovering the GLC: preliminary meeting (closed)
September 7, 2015 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm BST
The project as we’ve imagined it so far aims to provide an educational resource for the public, to create connections between different generations of Londoners, and to inspire campaigners to re-imagine what city level democracy could look like. We hope to retell the story of the GLC through a number of methods, such as:
* a digital archive of GLC-related materials
* an online collaborative map of events/projects
* podcast interviews with key members
* connecting these materials with current campaigns via social media
Alongside we would hope to run series of events inviting people to share their memories and stories about the GLC, enabling participants to contribute to the project through a digital skill-share, and then engaging a wide audience through a public launch. Obviously how much of this actually happens will depend on resources and energy, it could
be done quite simply or expand into a much bigger project. Ultimately, it would be great to replicate it in other cities and tell more of a national story about municipal socialism, but it makes sense to start with London because of the elections next year, as well as being the 30th anniversary of its abolition.
The Thatcherite narrative that There Is No Alternative to neoliberal capitalism has always relied on destroying those alternatives when they arise, as we’re seeing in Greece at the moment. Thatcher knew what she was doing when she abolished the GLC, reducing it to a plaque on the wall of an aquarium so that future generations of Londoners wouldn’t
even know it had existed. Recovering the memory of the GLC seems like an important step in challenging that narrative.