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| In the Left Field, a glimmer of hope behind the Brexit doom In the Left Field, a glimmer of hope behind the Brexit doom | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| On Friday morning, I stood ankle-deep in the mud, held out a microphone, and asked the people walking away from the Pyramid stage to sum up their feelings about the EU referendum result in one word. I was after gut feelings rather than eloquence, and out they came: “Crap”, “Bollocks”, “Shocking”. Only one passerby went the other way: “Great – I’ve woke up English,” he said, and with a look of deep joy, went on his way. | On Friday morning, I stood ankle-deep in the mud, held out a microphone, and asked the people walking away from the Pyramid stage to sum up their feelings about the EU referendum result in one word. I was after gut feelings rather than eloquence, and out they came: “Crap”, “Bollocks”, “Shocking”. Only one passerby went the other way: “Great – I’ve woke up English,” he said, and with a look of deep joy, went on his way. |
| Glasto was self-evidently a majority-for-remain kind of place, and there was one place people’s post-referendum feelings were soothed and shared: the Left Field, the big top curated by that great English institution, Billy Bragg. It has been part of the festival furniture since 2002. During the day, it hosts debates and discussions – chaired by me, for the past couple of years. At night, there is music, usually with a political tilt. And this year, just about everything that happened under the canvas was inevitably coloured by what had happened in the real world just as the festival had got going. | Glasto was self-evidently a majority-for-remain kind of place, and there was one place people’s post-referendum feelings were soothed and shared: the Left Field, the big top curated by that great English institution, Billy Bragg. It has been part of the festival furniture since 2002. During the day, it hosts debates and discussions – chaired by me, for the past couple of years. At night, there is music, usually with a political tilt. And this year, just about everything that happened under the canvas was inevitably coloured by what had happened in the real world just as the festival had got going. |
| Jeremy Corbyn was meant to be the star turn, scheduled to appear on Sunday, but as he fought for his survival as Labour leader, he pulled out. Still, the mood was far more about the people who came to the Left Field than anyone on the platform: in the words of that old Labour cliche, it was all about the many, rather than the few. | Jeremy Corbyn was meant to be the star turn, scheduled to appear on Sunday, but as he fought for his survival as Labour leader, he pulled out. Still, the mood was far more about the people who came to the Left Field than anyone on the platform: in the words of that old Labour cliche, it was all about the many, rather than the few. |
| After joining a tribute to Jo Cox on Thursday, Bragg played a solo set the next day. It left him without a voice, but feeling as if he had just led something profound. “The cheer I got when I went on was like the one I usually get when I come off,” he said. When he played his moving 1980s hit Between The Wars – with its mournful-sounding closing lines, “Sweet moderation/Heart of this nation” – it felt as if scores of people were collectively welling up. What was going on was pretty pretty clear: people who had voted remain had come for a dose of what lefties used to call fellowship, and what psychiatrists know as group therapy. | After joining a tribute to Jo Cox on Thursday, Bragg played a solo set the next day. It left him without a voice, but feeling as if he had just led something profound. “The cheer I got when I went on was like the one I usually get when I come off,” he said. When he played his moving 1980s hit Between The Wars – with its mournful-sounding closing lines, “Sweet moderation/Heart of this nation” – it felt as if scores of people were collectively welling up. What was going on was pretty pretty clear: people who had voted remain had come for a dose of what lefties used to call fellowship, and what psychiatrists know as group therapy. |
| In the daytime debate sessions, the mood was sometimes angry and defiant. In a session about immigration (titled, ironically enough, “A world without borders”), people involved in campaigns about refugees and migrants’ rights repeatedly pledged to fight on, whatever turn the country took. | In the daytime debate sessions, the mood was sometimes angry and defiant. In a session about immigration (titled, ironically enough, “A world without borders”), people involved in campaigns about refugees and migrants’ rights repeatedly pledged to fight on, whatever turn the country took. |
| In the crowd at another discussion, a young French woman put up her hand, and asked if she should pack up her stuff on Monday morning and go back across the channel. “Please stay,” said the activist and writer Neal Lawson. “We’ll look after you. You can stay at my house.” He got a huge roar of approval: again, you could sense another welling-up moment. | In the crowd at another discussion, a young French woman put up her hand, and asked if she should pack up her stuff on Monday morning and go back across the channel. “Please stay,” said the activist and writer Neal Lawson. “We’ll look after you. You can stay at my house.” He got a huge roar of approval: again, you could sense another welling-up moment. |
| In the first of two sessions dedicated to Brexit, a young leave voter mentioned how left-behind large swathes of Britain have become, and asked: “What else were people meant to do?” When the conversation threatened to get a bit too defiant and self-righteous, a woman reminded everyone of a simple point: “The vast majority of people who voted leave were not racists or xenophobes, and we have to understand that.” She got a round of applause, and triggered another round of open, honest discussion. | In the first of two sessions dedicated to Brexit, a young leave voter mentioned how left-behind large swathes of Britain have become, and asked: “What else were people meant to do?” When the conversation threatened to get a bit too defiant and self-righteous, a woman reminded everyone of a simple point: “The vast majority of people who voted leave were not racists or xenophobes, and we have to understand that.” She got a round of applause, and triggered another round of open, honest discussion. |
| It wasn’t all about Brexit. But even in a rich, inspiring session led by two junior doctors discussing their tussle with the government, the conversation repeatedly came back to the febrile state of politics, and what the referendum signified. Many contributors to that session pointed to a possible silver lining to the doomy Brexit cloud: the idea that in a new politics, in which anything can happen, there might be more chances for the good guys than some people think. One of the Left Field’s perennial slogans is “Recharge your activism”: notwithstanding the tears, 2016 felt like a year when it had done that job beautifully well. | It wasn’t all about Brexit. But even in a rich, inspiring session led by two junior doctors discussing their tussle with the government, the conversation repeatedly came back to the febrile state of politics, and what the referendum signified. Many contributors to that session pointed to a possible silver lining to the doomy Brexit cloud: the idea that in a new politics, in which anything can happen, there might be more chances for the good guys than some people think. One of the Left Field’s perennial slogans is “Recharge your activism”: notwithstanding the tears, 2016 felt like a year when it had done that job beautifully well. |