The central hall in the Dolphin in Darlington wasn’t just a venue on Friday evening, it was an anomaly.

In this tiny, post-industrial town in the north, the population has been lost for a long time, reeling from the fall of the ‘Red Wall,’ and desperate for change. Years of lack of funding, being ignored by the vast majority of political parties, has meant that the populist far-right have found a home in the crumbling streets of the town, where Reform UK are expected to surge in the polls.

Yet it was here, in the last bastion of community in Darlington, that the Green Party hosted a sold-out public meeting. Three hundred and fifty people packed into the hall, a huge number for a town of this size, every eye shimmering with excitement and hope as they jostled for seats.

Zack Polanski, the new Green Party leader, took to the stage, and fucking hell, he did not mince his words.

Opening with a winning smile, he greeted the crowd in a way that I haven’t seen in years. His openness, humour, and caring demeanor seemed to saturate his every word, showing that the purpose of the meeting was not to dwell on the fact that “the county’s future is on the edge,” but to light a fire of hope. The night was a beautiful demonstration that a politics of hope is the answer to the creeping national despair:

The engine of hope, powered by local people

Zack Polanski’s approach, a brilliant mixture of charisma and enthusiasm, immediately set the tone, one that contrasted sharply with the caution of the mainstream. Emphasising that, under his leadership, the massive increase in membership was not a cult of personality, but a genuine grassroots phenomenon.

With open arms, he declared:

Hope is not about a charismatic leader on a stage, hope is about a movement.

At that point, I felt a prickle of hope in the pit of my stomach.

The powerful message seemed to ripple through the audience, reminding us all that we are not passive consumers of politics, but the engine that we powered to facilitate change. Not since Jeremy Corbyn had I felt this prickle, with Polanski’s leadership style embracing the messiness of real democracy. He seems unafraid to acknowledge the rifts that haunt the left, recognising that a healthy party needs a broad church of members.

Our unified struggle and reframing the blame

The commitment to internal democracy in the Green Party shone through in the words “parties should have disagreements,” and assured people that it would be the members who would be deciding the future of the party.

The most compelling part of the evening was how Zack Polanski dismantled the divide-and-rule tactics of the establishment. For the leader of the Greens, although he openly stated the environment remains a primary issue, he highlighted how social and racist injustices are not a separate issue. You cannot tackle one without tackling them all.

This philosophy led him to confront the politics of hate and division. Polanski himself is proudly gay and Jewish, clearly showing that the Green Party would stand for all minoritised people, and he highlighted this by talking about the plight of the trans community and the relentless attacks they are facing as the media tries to mask the real issues society faces.

Polanski did not shy away from calling the rise of far-right figures exactly what it is: fascism, which he proudly and loudly called Nigel Farage, to the smiling approval of the crowd:

The real politics of hope from Zack Polanski and the Greens

Yet Zack Polanski immediately pivoted, drowning the politics of fear with his own politics of hope.

His strategy to win hearts in tiny towns like Darlington was powerful and made me pause and think.

Stating that the people running into the open arms of far-right organisations are “not racist, they are scared,” and face exactly the same fears as we do. They cannot afford their homes, their bills, and cannot feed their kids. We are one and the same, but these lost people just need to realise that, rather than punching downwards and attacking the vulnerable, they need to turn their eyes upwards towards the true enemy.

The Green Party’s role, he argued, is that our struggles are the same and the only enemy we share is the system of orchestrated inequality.

That prickle of hope became a little flame, as I realised what he said was true, and it dawned on me I had to change my ways as well and open myself up to speaking to these people, not just shout at them. It is time to open those dialogues and embrace those who suffer like we do, but have not quite realised the real reasons why.

“We don’t have to stop the small boats, we have to stop the yachts”

That little flame of hope flickering in my stomach suddenly became a furnace with what Zack Polanski then went on to say. He unapologetically laid out the economic blueprint for hope, emphasising that wealth redistribution was the key to going forward and that the means of production should be squarely in the control of the workers.

Honestly, I could have cried.

Who was this man standing before us, smiling at the crowd and speaking the most sense I’d heard since the Corbyn years?

Going on to announce a wealth tax, a policy supported by 75% of the population, was met with ear-shattering applause, as he unapologetically and confidently smashed an issue that every single other leader didn’t have the balls to address. With that winning smile, he promised the revenue it would raise would balance the country’s battered books and would fund the essential services austerity had destroyed.

A £15 minimum wage was also met with rippling excitement from the crowd, a momentum I didn’t think could be beaten until the mention of a MAXIMUM WAGE left Polanski’s lips. Ensuring the crowd that bosses would “no longer be able to take the piss,” the people in the room met this with cacophonous cheers, the promise to shatter the current status quo giving us all the hope we have been missing for so long.

Pledge after pledge from Zack Polanski

Our crumbling NHS, he stated, would no longer incorporate private healthcare, declaring it was run by nothing but leeches. Connecting the health crisis directly to immigration, he highlighted the over 150,000 vacancies within our healthcare system, with the anti-immigration rhetoric of the right pushing away essential workers that we need to keep the nation healthy.

Oh, and social housing? Don’t worry, Zack Polanski has it covered. With over 1.2 million people on the waiting list, he pledged to build social housing, safe from the predatory ownership of career landlords.

Putting the nail in the coffin for the Reform UK party, Polanski smashed the key issue that the entire crowd’s beliefs echoed: The migration issue isn’t one of scarcity, but of greed. The Greens were going after those who truly drained our wrecked country’s resources.

The Rich.

And I almost lost my shit when he said:

We don’t have to stop the small boats, we have to stop the yachts.

A final, hope-filled pledge

The Green Party’s strategy has already been bearing fruit in Darlington, where six Green councillors have been championing local people’s issues. They have tirelessly worked for their community, fighting incredibly hard against the Skerningham Development and working with local Fix-It Cafes.

Zack Polanski promised to turn the current momentum of the party into a force capable of winning 30 to 40 seats in the next government.

He drew a very rare line in the sand as well, which shocked me. I have seen Polanski speak with Zarah Sultana previously, and all he ever did was offer his hand and ways to work together. But this red line was spot on. He refused to ever consider a coalition with Labour, citing the original pledges Starmer had pissed on to get into power, Polanski saying that he “could not be trusted.”

The meeting ended not with a policy debate, but with a massively overwhelming feeling of hope.

A hope none of us have felt for years.

A hope that we, as the trodden-down working class, need to bring to those who are lost and scared:

The Green Party has another new member – thanks to Zack Polanski

The entire evening was a testament to the fact that, even in a little run-down town like Darlington, which is deemed ‘jaded,’ people are hungry for the politics of change. They need a politics that speaks to their needs and offers a genuine alternative to community, that will fight the rising tide of fascism and bring the real power of politics to the people. We need a politics run by us, not politicians in the hands of their corporate masters and shareholders.

For me, sitting in that crowd and feeling the shared conviction in Zack Polanski’s voice and the cheers of those around me, the furnace of hope burning in my chest, I came to a realisation.

It was time I stopped watching from the sideline and actually became part of the change.

That night, I decided to join the Greens.

Featured image and additional images via the Canary

By Antifabot

This post was originally published on Canary.