Work with Clive Lewis MP - and Compass, the left-wing campaign group you've never heard of

Part 1 of Eco Emergency

Have you heard of the campaign group Compass?

Last month Clive Lewis, the Labour MP, said he was working with it “to hire a new Campaigns Assistant to work within and beyond Parliament to build democracy and fight the climate crisis.” How lovely!

Here’s Lewis advertising the opportunity on Instagram:

Compass elaborated on the set up in its own (now expired) advert:

The Campaigns Assistant position represents a rare opportunity to work both within and beyond Parliament to build power for greater democracy and a just transition to a post carbon, wellbeing-based society.

The CA will spend 3 days a week with Clive Lewis MP, supporting digital communications for his climate campaigns, and 2 days on climate and democracy campaigns at Compass.

This role was born from the recognition that the gap between parliamentary and civil society campaigns weakens our movements and undermines the alliances we need to build long term power.

Lewis has been involved with the group as far back as 2019:

Back then it associated itself with Extinction Rebellion:

You can also spot Labour MPs Nadia Whittome and Lisa Nandy above, next to Paul Mason. He, as well as Caroline Lucas and Naomi Smith, have spoken at its events over the years:

Plus, Anthony Barnett (Open Democracy) and Hire Khan Adeogun (Possible) - in collaboration with the European Cultural Foundation.

… and the IPPR, Electoral Reform and Unlock Democracy (bear with me on this extra detail. It may look a bit pointless - but will be relevant in future articles).

Compass regularly releases reports such as The New Settlement for a better society:

Indigo Rumbelow is cited as a contributor. You may remember the name:

She’s now in prison at HMP Styal.

The report proposes:

a shorter working week

Universal basic income

A green economy

Compass has also previously endorsed tactical voting, as this article by The Byline Times shows:

In more recent news…

Compass held an event at the Labour Party conference where Whittome and Jovan Owusu-Nepaul, who stood against Nigel Farage in Clacton, spoke:

Compass has previously worked with Unlock Democracy…

… which can also be linked to Extinction Rebellion (here’s footage, like Compass’s, also taken in 2019):

It also promotes Clive Lewis MP:

And Caroline Lucas:

… as well as Lime Bikes:

“Lime to the Polls”

Unlock Democracy also promoted the charity My Life My Say:

… which was run by Mete Coban (pictured with Nandy at an Unlock Democracy event in 2019):

… and ran a ‘GiveAnX’ campaign earlier this year to encourage people to vote in the General Election - spurred on by Lime Bike:

… as well as Ben and Jerrys - “Democracy never tasted so sweet”:

And Snapchat:

… and others (The Wildlife Trusts, for instance).

Interestingly, Coban was previously criticised for awarding a £2 million contract to Lime, which ran e-bikes in Hackney in early 2022 (more here):

“The process stank”

Coban is someone I have written about previously - namely the 40,000 air miles he clocked up while he was Hackney’s Cabinet Member for the Environment (and telling everyone else why LTNs are great):

Coban replied to criticisms by saying:

The majority of the flights relate to my role as the chief executive of a youth-led charity, and I make no apology for my advocacy on behalf of young people at some of the highest levels of decision-making, including at the United Nations and the White House.

I take a keen interest in how we can change the world for the better, and as such, I am invited to conferences and events around the world where I can learn and exchange best practices to take action on global issues.

I’m proud of the responsibilities that come with my roles, and travelling is an essential part of fulfilling my duties.

It’s interesting to note that his replacement has been in the US this week doing the same:

He has been speaking to UN Youth Affairs, which My Life My Say has partnered with:

The charity has also partnered with ‘When We All Vote’, a US initiative, and ‘Apathy is Boring’ (a campaign directed at “Global Citizens” - backed by the Body Shop):

Another person who’s been in the US recently is Sadiq Khan, who’s co-Chair of the C40 Global Cities group; one which calls for a Global Green New Deal:

Remind you of anyone?

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At the moment I have been in the thick of “net zero/ green research” - while maintaining Woke Waste at the same time. It’s all part of the same phenomenon (unknown forces in our democracy/ ideologies people didn’t vote for). I am trying to extricate all of this - but it’s a mammoth job, and essentially I need more paid subscriptions to keep going (although paid subscriptions have really been going up, so thank you so much!). I am keeping this content off paywall because I want as many people as possible to know about all this green stuff (lots more to come). But, without sounding like Oliver Twist, it means I take my eye off commercial work to give it my all - so am ever-more reliant on Substack moola. You will get bang for your buck in return. Thank you everyone for reading and supporting!

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