This panel brings together scholar/advocates from the UK and US to discuss the power and potential of public ownership. The rise of political stars like the US left’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the UK Labour party’s Jeremy Corbyn, signify a new wave of momentum confronting the prevailing political and economic paradigm. Now, as the center of gravity in politics shifts, there is potential to renew public action and ownership for the good of the people after decades of neoliberal and austerity measures.

In the United States, advocates for a Green New Deal are promoting massive government mobilization against climate change, heralding an expansion of the public sector unprecedented in recent history. The Labour Party’s Manifesto promises to bring energy, water, mail, and rail back into public services. Panelists will dive deep into how we rebuild public ownership for our public services and provide examples where campaigns across both countries are tapping into deep histories of public ownership in the face of corporate power.

The panelists are:

• Thomas Hanna, author of “Our Common Wealth: the return of public ownership in the United States” and research director at The Democracy Collaborative [US]
• Andrew Cumbers, political economist at the University of Glasgow [UK]
• Cat Hobbs, Founder and Director of We Own It [UK]
• Ashik Siddique, Institute for Policy Studies/ MDC DSA [US]

Moderator: Johanna Bozuwa,Next System Project/350 [DC]

If you can’t make it to the event, tune into a livestream during or afterward at the Institute for Policy Studies Facebook page!
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