“The time to organise resistance is now…”
It is time to organise a broad movement of active resistance to the Con-Dem government’s budget intentions. They plan the most savage spending cuts since the 1930s, which will wreck the lives of millions by devastating our jobs, pay, pensions, NHS, education, transport, postal and other services.
The government claims the cuts are unavoidable because the welfare state has been too generous. This is nonsense. Ordinary people are being forced to pay for the bankers’ profligacy.
The £11bn welfare cuts, rise in VAT to 20%, and 25% reductions across government departments target the most vulnerable – disabled people, single parents, those on housing benefit, black and other ethnic minority communities, students, migrant workers, LGBT people and pensioners.
Women are expected to bear 75% of the burden. The poorest will be hit six times harder than the richest. Internal Treasury documents estimate 1.3 million job losses in public and private sectors.
We reject this malicious vandalism and resolve to campaign for a radical alternative, with the level of determination shown by trade unionists and social movements in Greece and other European countries.
This government of millionaires says “we’re all in it together” and “there is no alternative”. But, for the wealthy, corporation tax is being cut, the bank levy is a pittance, and top salaries and bonuses have already been restored to pre-crash levels.
An alternative budget would place the banks under democratic control, and raise revenue by increasing tax for the rich, plugging tax loopholes, withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, abolishing the nuclear “deterrent” by cancelling the Trident replacement.
An alternative strategy could use these resources to: support welfare; develop homes, schools, and hospitals; and foster a green approach to public spending – investing in renewable energy and public transport, thereby creating a million jobs.
We commit ourselves to:
• Oppose cuts and privatisation in our workplaces, community and welfare services.
• Fight rising unemployment and support organisations of unemployed people.
• Develop and support an alternative programme for economic and social recovery.
• Oppose all proposals to “solve” the crisis through racism and other forms of scapegoating.
• Liaise closely with similar opposition movements in other countries.
• Organise information, meetings, conferences, marches and demonstrations.
• Support the development of a national co-ordinating coalition of resistance.
We urge those who support this statement to attend the Organising Conference on 27 November 2010 (10am-5pm), at Camden Centre, Town Hall, London, WC1H 9JE.
Signed:
Tony Benn
Caroline Lucas MP
John McDonnell MP
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Mark Serwotka, general secretary PCS
Bob Crow, general secretary RMT
Jeremy Dear, general secretary NUJ
Michelle Stanistreet, deputy general secretary, NUJ
Frank Cooper, president of the National Pensioners Convention
Dot Gibson, general secretary of the National Pensioners Convention
Ken Loach
John Pilger
John Hendy QC
Mark Steel
Kevin Courtney, deputy general secretary NUT
Cllr Salma Yaqoob
Lee Jasper, joint co-ordinator of Black Activists Rise Against Cuts (Barac)
Zita Holbourne, joint co-ordinator of Barac campaign and PCS national executive
Ashok Kumar, VP education and welfare, LSE student union
Hilary Wainwright, Red Pepper
Francis Beckett, author
David Weaver, chair, 1990 Trust
Viv Ahmun, director Equanomics UK
Paul Mackney, former general secretary NATFHE/UCU
Clare Solomon, president ULU student union
Lindsey German, convenor, Stop the War Coalition (personal capacity)
Andrew Burgin, archivist
John Rees, Counterfire
Romayne Phoenix, Green party
Joseph Healy, secretary Green Left
Fred Leplat, Islington Unison
Jane Shallice
Neil Faulkner, archaeologist and historian
Alf Filer, Socialist Resistance
Chris Nineham
James Meadway, economist
Cherry Sewell, UCU
Alan Thornett, Socialist Resistance
Peter Hallward, professor of modern European philosophy
Matteo Mandarini, Historical Materialism editorial board
John Nicholson, secretary Convention of the Left
Michael Chessum, UCL union education and campaigns officer
Mark Curtis, writer
Nick Broomfield
Sean Rillo Raczka, chair, Birkbeck College student union, and mature students’ representative, NUS national executive
Robyn Minogue, UoArts NUS officer
Prince Johnson, NUS president Institute of Education
Roy Bailey, Fuse Records
Doug Nicholls
Granville Williams
Gary Herman (CPBF national council member, in personal capacity)
Louis Hartnoll, president UoArts student union
Sarah Ruiz, former Respect councillor and community activist in Newham
Michael Gavan
Mary Pearson, National Union of Teachers, vice president Birmingham Trades Union Council
Joe Glenholmes, Unison, life member Birmingham Trades Union Council
Baljeet Ghale, NUT past president
Jane Holgate, chair of Hackney Unite and secretary of Hackney TUC
Marshajane Thompson, Labour Representation Committee NC
Richard Kuper
Chris Baugh, PCS assistant general secretary
Trevor Phillips, campaigner
Stathis Kouvelakis, UCU, King’s College London
Carole Regan
Bernard Regan
Roger Kline
Hugh Kerr, former MEP
Nina Power, senior lecturer in philosophy Roehampton University
Norman Jemmison, NATFHE past president, NPC
Kitty Fitzgerald, poet and novelist
Iain Banks, author
Arthur Smith, comedian
David Landau
Anne Orwin, actor
[...] Sign the online statement here. [...]
There is no way I am going to stand on the sidelines and watch our society ruined by millionaire members of the government.I have two children going to uni next September and despite the best efforts to stop the children of working class parents going to uni – they are determined to go. I am a single parent on minimum wage, doing a degree with Open University, but also a carer for my mother and father.
There is so much more I want to say I am so angry.
Good for you! I have just finished university and the first in my family to go. The working classes need to rally against these idiots and help make a fairer society!
I agree wholeheartedly with the above comment – our English culture and institutions that were set up to create a fairer society – for example libraries – are being undermined by a greedy minority; we shouldn’t let it happen. If we do, we are as much to blame as those we are condemning, in allowing this outrage to continue. The government and their rich cronies are dictating to us how we should live our lives, by taking away the very institutions that enrich and enhance our lives as human beings.
Good for you all. KEEP UP THE PRESSURE ON THIS GOVERNMENT & RESIST ITS ATTACKS ON WHAT ITS PEOPLE SEE AS PRECIOUS.
This government are transferring public expenses into personal, private debt for which people can be bankrupted for.
One does not raise a country up off its knees by burdening its people with debt, but by good management and investment.
We need government that remembers we the people are its taskmasters, and endows us the people with a sense of ownership and involvement in the governance of our own country.
Long live the Resistance Movement!
Students are easily (and unfairly) dismissed as ‘over-excited kids who don’t understand the economic position”. It is time for the adults to take to the streets in support of students and in resistance to the coalition measures.
50,000+ voting and spending adults visibly withdrawing their vote and their economic spending power – as in “if we have to spend more to send our children to university we will not spend money on anything we don’t need” would focus the government mind. Our greatest power is in the withdrawal of vote and pound.
Let us march and make our position very clear.
At last, I have been waiting for this organized resistance to violent and uprooting neo-liberalism for 30 years. I join my anger and determination to all those active in this resistance, of all the cruelties
we have encountered in the last 30 years, the uprooting from our traditional cultures, from our homes,
from our minds and from our relationships, the explicit abandonment of our collective humanity is the last straw. From now on the British State will encounter an internal movement the likes of which it has encountered rarely in its history.
There are two basic demands now, redistribute wealth (a 905 tax rate on incomes and Capital over £100000,
Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance tax, Tobin tax on financial transactions and a recovery of the Beveridge principles that underpinned the inauguration of the Welfare State in the New Deal of 1945.
This New Serfdom must now be brought to an end, and the consumerist fraud denied a future.
People are human beings linked to others through their intrinsic needs, we are all dependent on others, this is what constitutes our humanity. The Tories (and New Labour before them) bought and sold us all
making us slaves to Corporate power, they treat people as productive functionaries (or potential functionaries) who are valued solely for their usefulness to business. In this totalitarianism of
money we have become helpless spectators of our own ruin. It really is time now for the tidal wave of disaffection in this country to turn against the treacherous new elites. Let us never surrender our common humanity!
Peaceful and Eloquent protest as Tony Benn has always advocated.
I am furious at the fee increases. As a single mum I have worked really hard to save up, as the government suggested, the £10,000 needed to pay my sons university fees. This has taken many years. Now with only one year to go I am told I will need nearer £30,000. How can this be fair in any ones eyes. No one can be in any doubt who these increases will affect most and who it will affect little. To single out some subjects for support and others none is also outrageous. The notion that Arts and Culture are less important than science and maths has always been a non starter. For good or bad products related to Aesthetics are surly the biggest money makers? I only need 1 calculator but I have numerous pairs of shoes!!! A simple analogy maybe but try to think of any man made items that are not designed in some way?
I’m a teacher and I’m terrified about what budget cuts in education will result in for our young people.
I’m a disabled single mother of twins about to go to Uni in Sept/Oct, and I’m due to retire before then. I absolutely can’t stomach the endless news of millionaire MPs, big corporations reporting ‘better than expected profits’ and the bankers being back on ludicrous bonuses, whilst the rest of us are watching our hopes and dreams being eaten away. I always remember a postcard I used to have in my study, which said ‘To get the rich to work harder, you pay them more; to get the poor to work harder, you pay them less’. It seems more relevant now than ever.
Dear all,
I have begun a Coalition of Resistance – AZ Solidarity! branch here in Tucson, AZ. We attended the Derechos Humanos protest Friday, which is primarily involved in resisting the horrific new batch of anti-Latino, anti-migrant AZ laws, including an attempt to bar undocumented migrants from all hospitals, schools, banks and driving. This they intend to accomplish by turning all teachers, health care workers and police into immigration agents or have them face felonies. This demo was attended by peace & union folks as well, and had about 200 ppl,100 police, 10 cameras. On the university campus, about 20 students and union reps met together in a Wisconsin solidarity rally, no police. On Saturday we had over 1000 people at the moveon.org-called Wisconsin solidarity demo, 2 police, 1 camera. We hope to orgnz students, unions, to join latino activists and vice versa weekend of May 1 at state capital building in Phx. The right wing here has coordinated blitzkrieg legislative attacks on schools, hospitals, Latinos, women, unions, and LGBT in AZ but other statehouses as well last 2 weeks. Arizona on frontline, so all AZ progressive forces need to unite in the face of this unprecedented threat.
as a disabled person who has worked from age 15 – has served my community as a firefighter and payed my taxes etc **- never claiming a days benifits in all that time , untill struck down with a stroke , I am outraged at this governments intention to religate us to the status of “untermench” – its just a pity that the level of apathy down here in the south west is so bad and that some of our MP’S will not seemingly fight for disabled peoples rights ( too afraid of rocking the boat and loosing their nice little earner ?? ) – BUT now the IB reassesments have started – may be – just maybe more will wake up to this evil coalitions nazi policies – to strong a comment ?? – go read your history – the disabled and sick where targeted in the 30′s before attentioned turned to the jews – its all there if you hve eyes to see – but the biggest enemy is the apathy and “i’m all right jack ” attitude of many in this country
** ( i still pay all taxes BTW – and they call me a “scrounger ” ?????? )
[...] street stalls where we hand out leaflets, collect signatures on the Statement of Resistance, and sign people up to the 27 November CoR National [...]
if the dwp allow me to escape their clutches in crewe on the 20th i shall try to get a train down to the demo
[...] Iain Banks is a signatory of the Coalition of Resistance Statement [...]
THe cuts will hit most those who are at the moment the most disadvantaged.THe Tories can discard them because most of them never voted Conservative.We in the Green party stand for reducing disadvantage not making it worse.I am a pensioner and borrowing from the great French demonstrations against cutsa in benefits I say.’Strike until you retire and then protest’
Paul Philo Green party council candidate Brighton and Hove
Only together.
They’ll try to divide us.
We have to gain the trust of the people.
Too many have fallen for the TINA agenda, but we’re beginning to turn the corner.
Only together.
I’m ready to march.
As E.P.Thompson said in a different context: ‘Protest and Survive’!
I am ready to march!
It’s in the Tories political DNA to attack the public sector and to deliberately wreck public services and welfare in favour of privatisation. The Lib dems have simply become an appendage to this Tory philosophy and are slavishly following their lead. When you add to that the pernicious doctrine of individualism (not the same as individuality which points to creativity)where we are expected to become atomised consumers of goods and services for profit-hungry companies it’s no wonder that we have the nightmare Hobbesian future of the ‘war of all against all’. The rule of law won’t break down the alienation that the scramble for status and property this will bring about.
Let’s knock all this rubbish on the head and build a great movement of social solidarity. Not just as a defensive movement but also as an offensive one that will stand shoudler to shoulder with all those who have been and will be put down by capitalism. A movement that will show the way to a better society than the one in which a tiney minority of rich people get richer and the rest of us get dumped.
This is a battle that we , the majority cannot afford to lose and it is a battle that we can win , but we must do more than win we need to also create changes that will ensure that we never arrive in this position again . and to do that we need an electoral system that will produce representatives that actually reflect our comunities or workplaces , the majority of the present cabinet are millionaires , there are no millionaires in my community or workplace this must change .
One might find many reasons to condemn the violent minority at the two recent London demonstrations – however if the demos had merely been nice polite marches the press would not have raised them to the levels of first steps in a revolt, and I suggest that the current focus and momentum of protest would not be so great. Perhaps – and sorry to say – it was necessary for school children to be cruelly kettled for us all to see the true hand of the police and its crude attempt to frighten people away from engaging in future legitimate protests. There is too much being lost through the cuts and the ideologically driven destruction of the state for nice manners around protest to be maintained. If there was any justice, Canary Wharf would be burning!
United we stand
UK students have made their voice heard ,following in the footsteps of the always vocal& visible protests of our neighbouring french students.
Education./.University.. is a right NOT a privilege…these students are looking after the dwindling remnants of Britains welfare state;where the motto of Education for all may soon be a distant reality?As Tariq Ali so clearly stated in his video message 1/12/10 to soas students;It was was Blair & Browns New Labour ;that 1st introduced Tuition fees;& no one objected..!! Even Ex Tory PM John Major OPPOSED the tuition fees;in rememberance that he missed out on university due to his familys lack of finances…
NOW;Britains students are waking the country up;SHAKING Britain awake from its Comatosed state & voicing the nations protest at UNACCEPTABLE tuition fees…!!
I am proud of you all & will support however I can…!!
Among the many nasty consequences of this marketisation of H.E. is that it doesn’t take into account the many, mostly mature students who find out that they are clever and able whilst they are on courses that they often tentatively signed up for. The weaselly concessions to the bright but poor (which is so 50′s revival – I was one of them) means that schoolchildren are under even more compulsion to do well in exams at very youthful ages. As no one is going to pay for a University degree just to see what its like being a student, everyone is going to have to prove their appropriate exam smarts from very early on and make premature decisions about what to study – no late developers, no second chances. Its an educational system conceived by those who wafted through it as wealthy ‘achievers’.
I work for the NHS at a children’s hospital and we are seeing the effects already, parents of disabled kids not getting respite, local child mental health posts being cut by a third, pescriptions for kids being questioned by GPs all ready, we can afford it, we must not forget what the tories did last time, we have to regulate the financial sector and force them to show some restraint…
I voted libdem because I could not bring myself to vote labour… is the coalition my fault? there has to be an alternative….please have some marches at the weekends so we can all go, also need to make this reach across the generations, have pensioners and support the most vulnerable to march too…
For a long time as a graduate I have been sick of the hearing the lie that only those that can afford to pay back student loans have to pay them, this is blatantly not the case. Graduates are frequently bullied and pressured into paying back the loans even when they cant really afford to do so. The whole notion of sending youngsters into their careers burdened with debt is repugnant and discraceful. Lets not teach our brightest to become debtors,fully supporting the resistance comrades.
I am angry at the way that Students and the disabled and sick are being treated.
All these cuts are slowly destroying our society. How can we call ourselves a civilisation when culture, education and compassion for those who are unemployed, homeless, disabled or sick is being erroded by wealthy politcians ?
The time has come to stand up and be counted. I will not see the ingnorant few destroy my country and it’s people. We shall overcome…..
For too long we have waited for the so called leaders of the trade union movement to back up their words with actions, Now the next generation have taken the lead and have given great inspiration and hope to us all. We can fight back and must for the sake of all future generations.Time to roll back the decades of the greed and fear, the future can be ours.
“Most liberties have been won by people who broke the law” Micheal Foot 1980
EDUCATION IS A RIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE
This might be one of the last opportunities to send a message to this government and successive governments that they work for us and not the other way around. If we allow the cuts to roll out unopposed the most vulnerable in our society will suffer extreme privations and we will be shamed for years to come. We must act now.
I grew up as an ordinary working class kid on a council estate; my parents wanted me to have more choice than to follow them into factory work. My 3 siblings and I have achieved many things in our lives because we had parents who valued education and encouraged us to find and fulfill our potential. We all contribute to society and without access to free Higher Education, I doubt I would be where I am today, encouraging other people as my parents did me. It enrages me that the ideological cuts to arts, education and welfare are being presented as the only answer to the fiscal deficit. I am saddened to think that poorer students will once more begin to make choices about their future based on their ability to pay to be educated. Educating the masses benefits us all, educating only the rich impoverishes society and wastes huge potential.
Protest and keep on protesting until the government recognise the legitimate concerns of the majority!
Step up action to spotlight those who choose to avoid/evade taxes – if they aren’t willing to contribute through taxation to the wellbeing of UK make them hand back the (publics) money they have pocketed, relieve them of the citizenship in which they clearly don’t wish to participate, take back their passports and let them take their chances elsewhere.
I think signing the affidavit denouncing your allegiance to the queen is a musy and a must in numbers. check out the magna carta section 39. They are committing treason in more ways than one, selling us off to the germans, sorry European whatever they self title themselves now.
Government are there to serve the people not big business, they need ousting by whatever means!!!
Traitors!!!
By the way George Osborn avoids paying 1.odd million tax a year through a loop hole yet claims we are in it together. But please don’t be fooled by the labour/conservative/libdem mask, it’s all one and the same, the whole stinking system needs ripping out from the core. They are a cancer to society!
I have just bought my rail ticket to be on the march. In order to afford it I will have to leave in the middle of the night but I am determined to be there. I also believe that Mr Camerons state troopers will force a problem and create trouble and that thought scares me but unless we show that we wont accept being treated this way to pay for the bankers and the rich scums mistakes we are always going to be down trodden my children and grandchildren after me. A nation of sheep begets government by wolves.
I believe that those of us in our 50s should wake up and protest. We’ve been rather quiet over the years, put up with successive governments moving the goal posts over our pensions, financing our children’s further education, and many, many other issues – and now they’re dismantling the welfare state we have relied upon and believed in – and contributed to – for so long. Interesting that “public servants” have become “public sector workers” – I and my colleagues who will either take voluntary redundancy or face compulsory transfer within local authorities will now be very lucky indeed to find work. We will be another financial burden on our kids’ generation through inadequate pension provision (this applies mostly to women) and have to watch while the goodwill and hardwork put in by all of us over so many years is derided by terms like “gold-plated pensions” and “soft jobs”….it’s time those of us who are fed up and over fifty started to stir things up a little for the sake of our children, and their children.
Protest with Dignity
Get up stand up, stand up for your rights!
The Tory media are pedalling their lies that there is no alternative and cuts are inevitable – and everything can be blamed on the previous government. We need to nail these lies – and the best way to do this is to support the demo on the 26th March – let’s put hundreds of thousands of ordinary, peaceful people on to the streets of London. Make the government realise that we will not stand idly by whilst they destroy our jobs, our communities and our public services!
Every day and yet another dismantling of our welfare state is brought forward – education, health what next?
If we don’t fight to save what is ours by right, we may never get them back.
we have to oppose the cuts in welfare,nhs,pensions,and defend human rights before this loads of toffs ruin our country, 1980′s all over again
I hope we are seeing the final crises of toxic capitalism, the collapse of the old to allow the arising of new people-driven societies.