Dear Friends and Comrades
I write, at this critical time, to urge you to:
- become an individual member of Coalition of Resistance (CoR) and affiliate your organisation to CoR ; and/or
- make a regular donation of £3 a month (more if you can);
- Download a standing order form here…
Tony Benn, President of Coalition of Resistance
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Why should I trust any politician? I am 65 years old and now retired because my IT skills are not needed. The previous government clouded with American big business to replace me and my colleagues with cheaper workers from India. I have no axe to grind with the people who replaced me, they just wanted a better standard of life for themselves and their families. We were both exploited by those who manipulated the system for their own gain. As a young man I asked my grandfather who should I vote for in elections, he a veteran of the first world war answered “Son they all piss in the same pot”!
Ihave great sympathy for what your grand father saysIbelive there is only ever a slight difference in emphasis or at least there used to be
once labour was for ordinary working people the tories are and always have been for big business and making the wealthy wealthier still.
now thw westminster village is a homogenised mess of right of centre parties all trying to out tough and tory the other backed by an 80% tory pressand media still pandering to the likes of murdoch and the barlay brothersmost of whom are in thehigher taxband for what they laughingly call’earnings as they prepare to add to those by scapping the 50p tax band the leader of the opposition is waking up about as quickly as bagpuss to the idea he is actually there to oppose the government and support the disenfranchised as for the record number of millionaires and eaton oldboys in the cabinet the vast majority are beneath contempt
the only decent potential leaders , if they are any are on the back benches, we could do worse than have a military coup!
one thging is certain there is nobody around with the standing or charisma to restore some fairness to our society.
Asociety should be judged on how it treats it’s least able physically or mentally as it is these people who have so far paid the greatest proportion toward the bankers bailout debt it is clear that judgement should be harsh when we flog off banks at massive losses it is not george osbourne, but as ever the tax payer who foots the bill£747million will pay the rising cost of unemployment for all of 5 minutes, it’s time decent tories( for rumour has it there are some), had the trouser furniture to stand up to the public school bullies and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, FAT CHANCE EH!
I would have to disagree that there is NOBODY around to challengr these Etonian bullyboys … there most certainly is …. Remember that they were NOT elected into office , they weaseled thier way into it by lying to the Elecortate and more signifigantly to Cleg ….. he believed he had made the right choice because Cameron convinced him that he would ‘work with’ the Liberal Democrats in Governing the Country ‘in the best interests of the people’ ….. We now know that Cameron lied about that and is behaving like a Dictator … and now Cleg is getting the blame … People are saying they would never vote Lib-dem again…. which further plays into Cameron’s game …. at the next election all those that voted lib-dem probably ‘wont trust any politician’ so will waste their vote …. that is how the Tory Dictatorship will get back in again! Perhaps need to forgive Cleg and work with the rest of the lib-dems and labour in order to form a new Governement coalition …. that is the only way we are going to get these swines out of Office … Who has the guts , the charisma or, more importantly, the moral social intelligence to chanllenge Cameron and his rich-boy mates? The People … WE are the Democracy and we will rise to defeat these socially immoral, rich-boy, right-wing Dictators… Once they are out, we will NEVER let them take power of our Nation again …. their goose is already being prepared for the spit!
Clegg could leave anytime, he could instruct his mps not to vote for the tories poverty creation machine, but at no time has he done this, only when it is in their own interests do they vote against the tory boys. and clegg is the same as them, just like milliband old school chums. we need a centre left party one that recognises those that have the ideas and work hard but also those that supports the disadvatanged but can give hope to the people.
I agree with your important point on the needs of this country “we need a Centre left party” that represents the people. “We the people” have in my opinion three options to consider
1. Taking back the Labour Party from the elitist group of self interested pirates. This would involve a difficult though not impossible task
1a. A well considered plan of methods & tactics 2b. A written constitution to replace the current Labour Party rule book & Constitution. As people must know what the new revised party is all about and stands for in some detail.
3c Ensure that no Trade Union pays any money to supporting or funding any Labour Party MP ,MEP Councillor or coffers.Such a proposal can be made to every T/U meeting in the country and ratified by the TUC at their conference or by other means.
I leave this up for the consideration of others to before outlining my other two options signing out.
A registered disabled 72 year old pensioner who has seen this all before.i.e The destruction of the Socialist Labour dream WWW
Once they are out, we will NEVER let them take power of our Nation again …. their goose is already being prepared for the spit!
Ah, how well I remember those same words talked about Maggie. Clegg only has to walk across the floor and call an election tomorrow but, I would still not have them as partners in a coalition. They, like Cameron and Osborne, Miliband all CAREER politicians they will promise the electorate anything but, give nothing.We need a new system, a new party to run the new system. We also need to get back to the late seventies for the way we were governed, Common Law, we are being hounded by ‘officers’ pretending to be policemen! Policemen UPHOLD the law, they don’t go around looking for ways to issue a statute (FINE). Statutes should be fines for Common Law offences, not something they tell you that you’ve broken!
Michael, this type of complacency is precisely why the ConDem evil alliance keep getting into power. Don’t mistake the New Labour of Blair and Co with the Labour of Benn. This is the party that gave us our NHS,one price throughout the country for electicity, gas, telephone, train fares that have now been handed over to the private money grubbers by Thatcher and now managed by her arch evil apprentice Cameron.
I Despise Politicians Good to 100%
The Whole Party Political Circus Denies any Genuine Consultation or
Choice and is Based upon Divide and Rule whilst the Capitalist Slave
Trance Carries on in it’s Feckless and Evil Merry Go Around
All the ” Mainstream ” Political Parties have Denied the Oppressed Working
Class a Decent Standard of Living whilst MP’s Live the Life of Riley on
Either the Westminster or Brussels Gravy Train’s
Abolish Politicians Parliament and Political Parties and have Government
Based upon Common Sense and Social Justice
I have just affiliated due to Tony Benn’s appeal. I trust him, because he has always been true to his values even when it has made him unpopular, and he has never pandered to our corrupt media. This organisation is crucial when our democracy is under such threat, and it is reassuring to have Tony Benn as a leadership figure.
I agree ..Tony Benn is a ‘good man’ … we can trust him.
I too trust Tony Benn implicitly …..This man’s SINCERITY and HONESTY shines through! ….. He has the intelligence,integrity, empathy and compassion sadly lacking in the Numpties currently running this circus… I don’t envy him the task of sorting out the MONUMENTAL MESS the last few MUPPET CABINETS have made of this Country but I do know he is certainly MAN enough to take it on! … Those not too sure they know him well enough to judge there are several interviews available on Utube
I am Proud to Say I Do Not Subscribe to the ” Mainstream Media ” .
Trustworthy Leadership is What the Country Needs with Benevolence
and Compassion to the Poor Not Capitalist Meanness and Patronising of
the Poor
FREEMAN VERY WELL PUT TONY BENN FOR PM
hear hear! I am so happy that Tony Benn is not retiring when we the people need him the most.
I totally agree with you.
It Makes My Blood Boil with Rage and Anger when I Hear Arrogant Out of Touch Ivory Tower Department of Work and Pensions Politicians Patronising the Poor and Vulnerable
They Should be Out of Office Immediately as they are Out of Touch .
Get This Arrogant Regime Out of Office We Need Better We Deserve Better
Yes yes and yes to that!
The fire in Tony Benn’s belly will never go out.The best Prime Minister this country never had !
Hear hear. Gives me hope !
The Welfare State is an Embodiment of Social Justice and Protection
Capitalism is an Embodiment of Suffering Greed and Misery
As we are seeing now….off with their heads! Why not petition the Queen … she has the power to disolve parliment …. if we all marched peacefully and sang protest songs outside Buckingham Palace, whilst presenting her with the 600,000 strong petition from 38 Degrees (google them) to stop the NHS bill … she couldn’t fail to notice! Prince Charles is another ‘good-man’, he has a compassionate heart and a social conscience … We could appeal to them to use their Constitutional Powers to save the people from the ruination of our social equality by the current right-wing Dictators.
I will be donating today…if there was ever a fight worth fighting this is it. If we all try and do the right thing then maybe the world will be a safer place for the kids of today and their kids. If we lose this fight then god only knows what their future will become.
For a Better Present and Future this Issue is About
A Land of Social Justice and Human Rights with Resources used for
the Benefit of the Many Not the Few
Welfare Before Warfare
For a Better Present and Future that is what this Issue is About
A Land of Social Justice and Human Rights
Welfare before Warfare
I Might as well Add a Land where Billions are Not Wasted upon Nuclear
Weapons
@Freeman: Whilst I agree with most of your points could you please, for the love of written English, stop capitalising everything? Some of us have OCD and your disregard for the correct usage of capital letters in English is making me twitch.
Well said Tiberious, some of us don’t have OCD and are twitching!
I can no longer continue my membership of the Labour Party. I feel utterly betrayed. Can you tell me, will CoR be looking to stand candidates in elections? It is a suuceesful and growing movement representing the people, and we are left with no one to vote for.
Any chance of CoR candidates standing in elections? We need a new party!
http://abetternhs.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/3-things-you-can-do-to-stop-the-health-bill/
I’ve been advocating for setting up a new political party (The Peoples’s Party?) for some time. There are now millions of voices raised in anger and frustration at our current political leader’s inability to understand that most of us in the UK don’t want US style private services, healthcare, police, water, power. All have been privatised, by stealth in some cases, by tired and naive indifference in others, but now there is the largest groundswell of anger throughout the land since Thatcher’s era. If we don’t stand up and fight now, when will we? We have to start a new party uniting the forces of opposition to the public school mafia’s that have taken over our major parties. My suggestion is to join Twitter and work with the hashtag #anewparty to try and get people to coalesce around this idea.
Almos,
Not another party! Two new ones were created in the last 12 months or so (Young People Party and Democracy2015).
What we need is a new electorate that is informed enough to select a new kind of representative (not ones in it as a career move).
The new electorate will also have enough economic literacy so that it will not be deceived by establishment economists.
**There is no need for austerity**: Collect all taxes due + stop asking the banks to **create** our money then **lend** it with interest to the government.
Almos, there’s no need for a new ‘people’s party’. It already exists and it’s called The Green Party. Let’s not continue the curse of the Left and fragment again.
NO, the Greens want us to spend to much money on stupid wind farms, already proven a financial failure. Plus £10 a gallon for petrol?
Global Warming DOES NOT EXIST. why charge us the earth for something that isn’t there?
Tony Benn, you are my hero, I’m delighted to hear your voice again leading an opposition
Again, totally agree. A hero if ever there was one.
All Political Parties do is Divide on one Hand and Offer No Choice on
the Other hence the Modern UK a Politician Ruled Cuckooland of Poverty
Paperwork and Bureaucracy
LABOUR HAVE SOLD OUT TO THE RICH WEARE ON OUR OWN AGAIN AND THAT CAN ONLY BE GOOD
I am so very worried that despite the best efforts of the Coalition of Resistance, this government is actually going to dismantle the welfare state. I don’t understand how they have got away with all of the “austerity” measures they have already brought in, and they are bringing in still more. It seems as though there is nobody to stop them, and even the Labour party will not pledge to reverse the cuts. Is there nobody to speak out for the disabled, the elderly, single parents, and ordinary people who are unemployed through no fault of their own? I am astounded also at the bias of the BBC, who endorse the “we can’t afford it any more” rubbish all the time. I am sick of Britain helping USA to be the bullies of the world, that our taxes are used to murder people with bombs but there is no money for the important things like the NHS. I am so angry with the Liberals who could withdraw their support tomorrow and get this government out. The Condems have done so much damage in such a short time. Will nobody save us from them???
I feel the same. Will nobody save us? What about those who are responsible, like (for e.g) the leader of the Labour Party, the party that’s supposed to represent the people exploited by the rich and powerful capitalists who get wealthy by extracting surplus value from the hard work, the labour, of working people (and who discard those that cannot produce, that surplus value cannot be extracted from, the old, the sick etc). I am appalled at the weakness of Ed Milliband; he surely has a responsibility to uphold, no? He is well educated in Marxist politics, he is intelligent enough to recognise the field of play, to clearly see how the majority are being smashed and broken, and yet he does nothing. He can’t even explain himself (remember squeezed middle?) and he seems unwilling to commit fully to decent wholesome socialist principles of fairness for society. What is he afraid of? I just don’t get it. The opportunity now is tremendous; so ripe for a straight talking politician to win regular people over, why doesn’t Milliband grab it with both hands? Why does he get sucked into playing the Tories game? Why does he even engage with Cameron, why does he try to operate on his level? He’ll only ever end up chasing. Time is so right for making a stand, doing politics differently, plainer, clearer, with principles that are uncompromising, clear to understand, that chime with everyday folks lives.
The danger is its the far right that get there first and please god lets hope not. And so please please let this be the part of the sum that enables the change, that swings politics back to socialist principles and embraces humanity above profit and greed and the exploitation of the needy and vulnerable.
Very well said. I honestly don’t understand why Labour are so toothless given such a great opportunity to campaign for a shared future. Some commentators believe it is because Labour have accepted the ‘status quo’ of a mixed economy with increased privatisation, where the role of the state is restricted to a purely supervisory role. Why accept this when it clearly leaves so many worse off?
please sign this petition from steve walker.http://skwalker1964.wordpress.com/
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/petition-for-a-motion-of-no-confidence-in-the-uk-coalit.html?fb_action_ids=104229193076506&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582
Petitions are “pleadings” they just get ignored.
Plan to do what is necessary even if it seems impossible at first.
The time has come, before too many people die from starvation in this country to stop the cuts at the bottom of society and raise the taxes of anyone earning over £1000 a week. Oh, that will never happen, it includes MPs
Cuts can not be stopped unless they are shown to be unnecessary.
Amplify the voice of whistle-blowers in economics like Steve Keen and **dozens of others** (of course, that asks for some effort to acquire a degree of economic literacy).
Cuts are justified by lying establishment economists. Expose lying economics.
Tony IS THE MAN !
Now IS THE TIME !
Heroes can not do what the people have to do for themselves.
Tony Benn could not make his party into the champion of the people’s interests.
Voters get the government they deserve. Politicians are corrupt because they are the ones we vote into power.
Pure evil !!! The 18th/19th century is about to return, the erosion(not the reform) of our country and everything we hold dear is about to take hold,cameron and his arrogant right wing public schoolboy dictatorship are doing what thatcher didn’t complete, where is the real labour party now we need them who pushed for the rights of the ordinary working man and woman and who put an end to poverty and illness by giving us the NHS, our welfair state,housing and fair labour law, what happend to the freedom that our older generation fought to protect…..Don’t lay down and let Cameron get away with turning britain into a cold heartless society that is devided and driven by increasing profit for the rich and spitting venum at the poor
i was on incapacity benefit. after an atos assessment it was stopped. i used to be a builder, loved working, loved earning money. i now have a degenerative form of arthiritis in my spine which causes great pain and restriction of movement. ive been deemed fit for work and all benefit has been stopped. it was stopped in november 2012. im still waiting for the appeal result and have received no money at all since november. i had to leave my home and move back in with my mother aged 45, if it wasnt for her i would have faced homelessness and starvation.
BROKEN BRITAIN UNDER TORIES – NEW JUSTICE & SECURITY BILL SNEAKING IN
Whilst Cameron/Clegg and Miliband are grieving or celebrating over the Eastleigh Bye election on face ,the new Justice & Security Bill is weaving its way through Parliament very quietly .The Bill will enshrine in Law CMP’s Closed Material Procedures ,it challenges two main principles of the rule of Law – Open Justice & Natural Justice .Under the Terrorism Act you can be detained for up to 28 days and when this act becomes Law you can be detained ‘Tried’ and convicted without Public Knowledge
Cameron obviously favours this Bill because Privatisation issues will no doubt be held under a CMP -Similar to Blair repealing the Treason Act to cover his back over Iraq ,Cameron will sew everything up with CMP’s for Stealth Privatisation of NHS,Police and other National Bodies without Public Knowledge .But where is our Opposition – we haven’t one ,because papers emanating from Iraq and Libya implicate both Governments complicity in deals in exchange for dubious practices .www.brokenbritainundertories.com
While I agree with every comment about Tony Benn – who has been my hero for all of my 50+ years of membership of the Labour Party – I am fearful of calls for a new party. Remember what happened with the SDP! The left fragmented letting the Tories rule for far too long. What we all must do is stay inside the tent and piss out. We must all work to persuade the Labour leadership of the need to address all the above concerns and get a clear message out to the electorate.
I entirely agree with the objectives of the Coalition of Resistance but these are about resisting current goverment policies not setting an agenda for what a future Labour Government will do. Labour must position itself as the defender of the NHS, the Welfare State and state education but it must also address wealth inequality.
Have you seen this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM&feature=player_embedded
It is about wealth inequality in the US but I suspect things are not really much different here.
As a lifelong member and supporter of the Labour Party I would love to hear my party speaking out much more strongly against this obscenity. I feel sure that if the Party managed to persuade the public:-
a) how bad the inequalities are – by producing an argument similar to the one in this video based on UK stats
b) that the Labour Party is dedicated to addressing them – through a set of clearly stated policies
then we should have massive public support.
There seem to me to be 5 key things we should promise for a future Labour government. We should:
1) Clamp down heavily on all of the loopholes rich people and big corporations use to avoid paying tax – and explain to the voters how such a clampdown can be achieved.
2) Increase the number of tax brackets so that anything earned over £60k is taxed at 50%, anything over £100k is taxed at 60%.
3) Increase the minimum wage so it is always above the living wage.
4) Ensure people don’t have to pay any tax at all on the first £12k they earn.
5) Tax property wealth by re-banding properties for Council Tax with several new top bands added. (The Mansion Tax is an alternative here.)
Even the left wing press (I read the Guardian daily) remain unconvinced that the Labour Party has a clear unequivocal message about what we stand for. There is so much evidence that gross wealth inequalities have grown dramatically in the last 15 years and are seriously damaging to society. I am convinced that if our key message focussed on addressing these we might be able to persuade some of those who have become disenchanted with politics that there is a point to it.
After the First World War the troops were promised a return to a country fit for heroes. They actually returned to a land of poverty and inequality These Lions that gave their all were led by aristocratic donkeys and they were lied to. They were whipped up into a fever of patriotism and empire. My own grandfather had the distinction of being the youngest sergeant in the British Army in 1915 at the tender age of 17; he had already joined once but had to leave because he was too young.
Twenty years later it all starts again, my father joins up becomes a dispatch rider in the British Eighth Army Monty’s lot, did Africa Italy etc. The Lions rose again and kept the Nazis from the door for six years. Now imagine if the Nazis had invaded and with the help of their fifth columnists managed to conquer Britain, Churchill and his like would have been eliminated, maybe the royalty kept as a puppet monarchy who knows. All our power companies owned by the Nazis their English friends, and probably Vichy France, imagine Rolls Royce owned by, let’s say the Bavarian Motor Works, all our industry owned by some European super power and the British people nothing more than slaves worked to death for the enrichment of the few. The parliament made up of English who sell Britain off in exchange for a fat bank account and a grand house much like many of the Nazis and their collaborators did with Poland, Czechoslovakia and anywhere else they could get their criminally insane hands upon.
Now today, we have on TV every day, a history channel with a program entitled, The Nazis A WARNING From History it’s not called a warning for nothing. Remember what these animals did, even to their own children, let alone the indigenous population of the countries they invaded. In this country today we are governed by a megalomaniac egotistical self absorbed Nazi, and a cabinet full of the same. For the last forty years almost, we have been governed by the very same. There is not one of them worth a British vote. The British public has been constantly lied to and judging by the results of the recent Eastleigh by-election the Great British Public is as thick as ever. Either that or the results were rigged. Just remember how the German people were hoodwinked by the rhetoric of the Nazis, if these people can’t see the truth of what is actually happening in this country, maybe they are not intelligent enough to vote. The politicians of today are morally bankrupt, they are corrupt, they lie, they steal from the public purse, and they have stolen publicly owned companies and sold them to their corrupt allies, there is not one Honorable politician in parliament, if the so called good ones sit back tight lipped and do not speak out, they are just as bad. I do apologize to the very very few who have a conscience and a moral compass you know who you are. We should take a leaf out of Iceland’s book, throw all the corrupt financiers and politicians in jail for a very long time, they are committing fraud on a massive scale their proceeds are from criminal activity and as such can be seized by law. It’s about time the police did their job and went after the true criminals. It’s not the sick and or disabled, or the low paid, or the unemployed, or the poor, or the police, army, nurses, doctors’ teachers, care workers, and everyone else being made unemployed by this corrupt cabal that are responsible for the mess we are in. It’s the Eaton thicko’s and their corrupt banking friends. If these animals were not in parliament they would be in jail now, after all they are just the criminal upper class ordinary citizens just like everyone else and should not be beyond the law. By the way I suggest people take a look at U.K.I.Ps Welfare policy it reads like a Nazi handbook.
Tony Benn the best Prime Minister this country never had agree 100%, will always be with me just like my copy of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. Sorry if this all just seems like babble but my mind is full of anger and the Morphine I have to take sometimes confuses me and my thoughts become entangled But I know right from wrong and the difference between good and bad and the establishment in this country is utterly corrupt and bad..
“…the Great British Public is as thick as ever…” due to the compulsory state indoctrination of every new generation.
A remedy to debate: Free adult self re-education financed from the job-seekers’ allowance fund.
Don’t fall for the lie that we can not have enough of everything we need unless everyone is at “work”.
Recessions *are*, because every ten, or so years goods pile up in “the market” and remain unsold.
How can you end a recession by forcing people to make more stuff when the problems is caused by too much stuff and not enough buyers?
This is “rough and ready” as stands here; but the full story is competent, comprehensive and based on facts of real-life economics—not on theoretical constructs cobbled together in ivory tower economics.
remember what neil kinnock said in a speech 1982 dont get old dont get ill dont get poor, etc, if maggie thatcher comes to power well lo and behold they same policies are being forced on these people today, wake up people before its to late get this cabal of unelected camorons out
I suggest that the those with ideas for an alternative policy to this government that truly takes into account the needs of we the people get
together and put a sustainable policy together and then broadcast it across the country.Once this is done then everyone who supports it could write to their local MP and tell them that unless they are prepared to support it then they will not be getting their vote at the next election.
We need to throw off the corrupt, unrepresentative authority of careerist M.P’s. A true parliament of peoples representatives is needed with no perks, second home mortgages covered and food bills payed. The time is now to get rid of these arrogant conniving louts and replace them with decent folk who are concerned about the well-being of their communities. We must all become ‘independents’ as it’s all over with the big three parties. We must find our voice and stop being intimidated by the rich who we still arse-lick! In short, just like the Quakers did in the 1650′s we need to stop bowing and scraping, and grovelling in the face of power and influence. They will oppress us but we will have each other!
*20 per cent* of effort into resistance + *80 percent* into demonstrating why austerity is unnecessary as well as counter-productive.