Notes from NOC 2026

“We’re not people,” he said. “We’re the stories that people tell each other about us. Belters are crazy terrorists. Earthers are lazy gluttons. Martians are cogs in a great big machine.” “Men are fighters,” Naomi said, and then, her voice growing bleak. “Women are nurturing and sweet and they stay home with the kids. It’s always been like that. We always react to the stories about people, not who they really are.” “And look where it got us,” Holden said. James S.A. Corey, Babylon’s Ashes

I spent the bank holiday weekend at New Organising Conference, an event that brought together union and community organisers from all over to share questions, ideas, and things learned. This year, the theme was resisting the rise of the far right. There were so many sessions, attendees and activities which was honestly rather intense! But I came away filled with so many ideas and, well, more questions. I guess you never really run out of those.

I’m completely new to organising. I’ve been a member of my union for years, but only really started getting properly involved with building and growing our movement at the start of this year. Sheer inequality and stress across workplaces, the rise of the far right, and a mental health crisis led me to realise that things just cannot go on as they are. They need to change, and fast. The rise of AI companies is another key part of this breaking point. Companies rely on this sub-standard technology to try and take away the products of labour workers, and they play a major role in technofascism. Even if they’ll never replicate what a worker does, capital doesn’t care and will happily take slop over well-made product if they believe it to be cheaper.

This meant that there was so much for me to learn, a lot of concepts around class and leftist theory were brand new to me (I haven’t really read a lot!). There were so many experienced organisers and trade union leaders; this meant that I could learn through the osmosis that comes from joining conversations and asking a lot of questions. However I spent a lot of the lead-up and the conference itself incredibly anxious. I felt like maybe I was immature, a faker, that I was simply cosplaying as a union activist rather than actually a proper part of the movement.

A lot of this is my own self doubt. Imposter syndrome is often a big part of the system that crushes us all. We unconsciously internalise and mirror this behaviour! I had to spend a lot of the weekend reminding myself that this is what happening and to try and part from it. If I spend all day wallowing, then I won’t spend any time learning or asking questions. But a lot of the time meeting people, they were kind and gracious and offered me space to learn and grow. When I shared thoughts, people often were actively listening as if my opinions were valid. This was absolutely wild, and while it didn’t fix the imposter syndrome, it was still nice to notice. So, a lot of complicated feelings that I’ve been working through, but so many positive things I’ve taken away.

The world is a much more adversarial place for workers, especially those who are trying to build collective power, than ever before. There’s a sharp rise in technology to control and stifle dissent. Companies like Cambridge Analytica (now defunct), Palantir, and now Campaign Nucleus have all been working on using social media and big data for many awful purposes; including voter suppression and targeting political enemies. There’s a need to really step up what we’re doing as community and workplace organisers to counter that.

We often forget about the importance of continued education in our organising efforts and campaigns, and it’s something I definitely recognise as a weak area in our union. I attended an insightful workshop about developing a movement’s awareness of pedagogy (the study of learning, yeah I had to look this one up). It’s given me a lot of ideas to bring to the movement I’m a part of, but means I might need to read Pedagogy Of The Oppressed by Paulo Friere…?

I also attended a fascinating workshop on burnout in organisers and how it had a reflective relationship in creating feelings of exclusion amongst those outside of the core organising group. It was honestly quite humbling, and left me reflecting on a lot of my own actions. There was a talk run about organising Amazon and the stories, wins and issues along the way so far, and this really emphasised how far companies will go to bust labour organising movements. And finally, an introduction to the idea of “wargaming” and how this can be used to try to simulate and react to union busting behaviour. This is an exercise that has been underused within community groups when facing a difficult campaign against groups that don’t want us to win and it’s fascinating.

But, importantly, the weekend was a great place to spend time with people from my union who I either hadn’t met in person or hadn’t seen in a long time. It brought together people from other unions and campaigns, and we just wouldn’t have the opportunity or space to meet otherwise. That socialising and mingling was the special, bonus part of the weekend that made me feel so much more galvanised and inspired than ever before.

Am I anxious? Yes. Do I have imposter syndrome? Constantly! Do I know stuff? Maybe! But I am taking this weekend and using it to just ask more and more questions about everything. It gives me so much hope that the world can be better than how it currently is. We can counter fascist rhetoric and improve conditions for workers everywhere. Maybe it’s naive. Maybe that doesn’t matter. Maybe you don’t get anywhere without at least hoping a bit.