| Author | Message | ||
     Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
The TUC has called a national demonstration against the ConDem government's vicious attack on public sector jobs and services. More than a million people are expected to attend, though (for the first time ever) the police have said that no coaches will be allowed into London. If you can, join this demo and send a message to the millionaire cabinet that their bankers' budget won't wash with the people. The demo is assembling on the Embankment at 11am. If this weak government – a Tory minority government propped up by LibDems who are violating the whole of their manifesto – gets away with it, the next three years will see the annihilation of our public services. This is effectively the complete reversal of the post-war social changes brought about by the Attlee government and relied upon by every generation since. This is the privatisation of the NHS and the scrapping of social services, care facilities, libraries and many other public services that form the core of our society. This 'revolution' will take us right back to the poverty, deprivation and rampant inequality of the Victorian era. Don't believe the bullshit about 'economic imperatives'. This government has scrapped the tax on bonuses in the finance sector and reduced corporation tax to its lowest level ever. It has cut staffing levels in the Inland Revenue when, according to the IR itself, we lose £20 billion each year in uncollected taxes and another £40 billion through tax evasion. This government has declared war against the people on behalf of the millionaires. If we don't fight back, we will lose everything. Now or never. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
11am on what day? | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Sorry, it's this Saturday (26th March). | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
Bollocks. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.56 |
No cash for petrol or train fair till Thursday next week. I've got no way of getting there. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Weber, ask your union to help. They will have coaches going to the demo, and may have a fund to assist members in need. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 82.210.134.81 |
Would be there, Joel, if I was in the country. | ||
| Mbfg (Mbfg) Username: Mbfg Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 92.4.171.151 |
As a college lecturer and member of the UCU, I was on strike today, pay and pension cuts. I did stint on the picket line and felt that in a very small way I'd made some stand against being punished for someone else's greed and incompetence. The last time I was on strike was in 1987, the thre week BT strike. Cheers Terry | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Would be there, Joel, if I was in the country. Ditto. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Media-driven bland acceptance of this politically motivated transformation of our society has resulted in millions of people thinking that what is happening is somehow inevitable. People tend not to protest about something until it happens – so, for example, the anti-Poll Tax campaign didn't really get under way until low-earning households found they were paying out two or three times as much as before. But of course, in this case, once the hospitals and residential care homes and day-care centres and community centres and Citizens' Advice Bureaus and libraries are all gone, there will be no way to bring them back for this generation or the next. Tomorrow is likely to be a frustrating day, with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators unable to get anywhere near the march route. So much for democratic rights. A national demonstration is important to make a public impact, but it's the campaigns within communities to fight the closure and privatisation of essential public services that will count over the coming months. Find out about your local anti-cuts campaigns and get involved. Lobby your MP – don't let New Labour, let alone the Lib Dems, decide what representations communities deserve, tell them you want their opposition to all cuts. When meaningful taxes are being charged and the bankers and company directors actually pay them, we can start talking about what our society can 'afford'. What it can't afford is to have the very rich sucking the blood out of everyone else. The next stage is to organise for a one-day general strike of all public sector workers. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.79.239.63 |
"Media-driven bland acceptance of this politically motivated transformation of our society has resulted in millions of people thinking that what is happening is somehow inevitable." Joel's right, I think. It's happening in my country too. "Never waste a crisis" is how our governments are thinking. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.242.119 |
Well, it was a good day. At least a quarter of a million people (by all acounts) marched to protest against the politically motivated destruction of public services and their infrastructure. Trade unions provided free coach seats for many thousands of people (85 coaches from Birmingham alone). The police reversed their decision about not letting coaches into London and nobody was prevented from marching – I really hope my earlier worries didn't put anyone off. In general the policing of the event was moderate and reflected the police's awareness that their own jobs are under threat from the cuts. A few small groups of radical situationists went on to stage attacks (with varying degrees of violence, but I think mostly using paintballs and the like) on banks, department stores and branches of major retail chains. Their appearance and strategy was derived from a mix of internet-spawned dramatics and comic books. These adolescent stunts are likely, of course, to be the only images of the demonstration that tomorrow's papers carry. The next stage needs to be a one-day general strike of all public sector workers. Let's see if the TUC supports that. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
'These adolescent stunts are likely, of course, to be the only images of the demonstration that tomorrow's papers carry.' Which was what a friend of mine said after she came back. She said take no notice of the media. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 61.216.44.193 |
I think it's a real shame that the violent aspect might be taking away from the fact that a quarter of a million people held a peaceful rally in the middle of London to show their anger and disagreement at the government's planned cuts. I watched the news on BBC just before going to bed and the main focus was on the event itself: it stressed that the violence was only representative of a tiny proportion. Then I switched to CNN, whose typically sensational and vague headline stated: 'London demonstration turns violent', giving the impression (I thought) that the main body of the rally itself had degenerated into violence. Good for you for participating, Joel. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.175.31 |
No more than 200 people were involved in any degree of violence. So fewer than one protester in every thousand. You get shorter odds on a night out in Birmingham. | ||
| Mbfg (Mbfg) Username: Mbfg Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 212.219.63.204 |
Dear Joel You were absolutely right. I noticed that the front pages of the Tory press were all screamibg about the end of civilisation as we know it The labour press in the form of the unday Mirror carried a very sharp headline. The News of the World reminded us of the importance of Jordan and Alex's relaionship problems. Regards Terry |