Dear Supporters,
We have some news about our planned fringe event at the time of the the Labour Conference in Brighton in September. Chris Williamson MP was due to be a supporting speaker at our educational seminar sharing the platform with Bill Mitchell. However, due to an unknown individual contacting the Minister of the Methodist Church venue to bring to their attention what we know are false allegations against him, we are very sorry to inform you that this is no longer the case and Chris Williamson will not be speaking at the event.
Despite appealing to the Church to reconsider their decision not to allow Chris to speak, we felt we had no other option but to make a choice. Having searched without success for an alternative venue at such short notice and following a great deal of discussion and personal distress we have taken the difficult decision to go ahead. We are painfully aware that this may cause some unease amongst our supporters however we hope that you will understand our reasons. GIMMS was set up primarily as an educational organisation aiming to raise awareness of modern monetary realities in the UK with a view to challenging the economic narratives which have done so much damage. However, whilst we share left-wing values, we also took the decision at the organisation’s inception to remain politically non-aligned. We also wished to honour our invitation to Bill Mitchell to speak at our event and make the best use of his short time in the UK.
Whilst we are indeed very disappointed and upset by this turn of events there are plans afoot for Bill to join Chris, a much valued MMT advocate in the UK, on a fringe platform elsewhere on the same day. We are, however, not in a position to give any details at the moment as the logistics are currently being worked out.
We hope that this will not be too much of a disappointment to those of you who were looking forward to hearing Chris speak. However, the event will still take place at the Dorset Gardens Methodist Church and Bill Mitchell will be our keynote speaker discussing the macroeconomics behind a Green New Deal and the Job Guarantee in the context of the climate crisis, the restructuring of the global economy onto a green path to ensure our survival. The event is open to both Labour members and the general public and tickets are available here.
We sincerely hope that you will join us for what we are sure will be a very informative event which will play a part in achieving GIMMS’ objectives.
With our very best wishes,
Prue, Sara and Claire
The GIMMS Team