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PROTEST WORKS We stopped a war,now let’s break austerity, writes Lindsey German
David Cameron recalled Parliament in August to try to win support for another military intervention. There was no issue about money. He was prepared to spend hundreds of millions backing another set of air strikes. This time, MPs did what they should have done 10 years ago over Iraq and refused to vote for a war. This was a victory for the anti-war movement, which has helped to influence public opinion in opposition to constant wars. War and austerity have gone hand in hand in recent years. The people who took us to war in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, and who threatened it in Syria, are the same people who demand the cutting of services, the privatisation of the NHS, education and the Royal Mail, and the slashing of benefits for the poorest and most vulnerable. They say there is no money for public services, but have endless money for wars which have wreaked death and destruction across the Middle
East, south Asia and Africa. They are willing to spend billions on these wars and on the deadly Trident nuclear submarine system.
THE NOVEMBER 5 DAY OF DIRECT ACTION WILL MAKE BONFIRES OF AUSTERITY ACROSS THE COUNTRY They plead the case of humanitarian aid, but little money goes to benefit the victims of war in countries such as Syria. The cost of solving the refugee crisis there, an estimated £2 billion, is the equivalent of a few days of firing cruise missiles. When it comes to humanitarian concerns at home, they are happy to slash and burn our public services, worsening health care and forcing many families into choosing between heating or eating.
We didn’t stop the war ten years ago, but we have stopped this one – at least for now. Cameron is much weakened by the vote, but the arrogance of the Tories knows no bounds. They are facing growing opposition to their bedroom tax and other benefit cuts, to privatisation and to the growing inequality in Britain, which has left the vast majority of us worse off while the rich get richer.
That’s why the movement against austerity is so important and why the People’s Assembly has an important role to play. We will be marching in Manchester in our tens of thousands, but this is only the beginning. The day of direct action on November 5th will make bonfires of austerity across the country. We need to build a mass movement that can bring together all those who oppose these vicious policies to stop the government. This requires demonstrations, direct action, meetings, protests, debates – we need to make it absolutely obvious to all those defending these policies that we are going to campaign until we defeat them.
Cuts, war democ 2
War: who is it good for? BY JOHN REES
When governments go to war they need the support of the population. They have to convince us that the enemy is worth fighting. In the Afghan war we were told that the Taliban were uniquely evil practitioners of a reactionary religion and persecutors of women. In Iraq Saddam Hussein was a ‘new Hitler’ who gassed his own people and possessed weapons of mass destruction. For ease, when the government tried to convince us to attack Syria they used similar arguments about Bashar Al Assad, with David Cameron making comparisons between the regime’s murders and the holocaust. All the power of government propaganda and the work of a tame media are geared to convincing us of all this. Some government arguments are true. The Taliban are a socially conservative force, Saddam and Assad are tyrants. But if we take a look at our own governments the case for war rings hollow. If the US and the UK were really committed to challenging religious conservatism, the oppression of women and tyranny, would they sell arms worth millions of pounds to
the most socially reactionary authoritarian states in the Middle East like Saudi Arabia?
If the West is opposed to chemical weapons why did the US use napalm and agent orange in Vietnam, or depleted uranium and white phosphorus in Iraq? Why did the UK sell Assad materials to make chemical weapons in the first place? If the US wishes to get rid of weapons of mass destruction why does it say nothing of Israel’s possession of illegal nuclear weapons? And, of course, the US is the only state to have actually used nuclear weapons. The US and the UK are the most heavily a r m e d states in the world, and they have a record of war and colonial occupation second to none. © Carlos Latuff Polls show that only a minority of people in this country trust politicians to take the right decisions about this country. Why trust them to run someone else’s country? The truth is that war is waged to make the rich richer. But they send working people to do the fighting and dying for them. When it comes to war the main enemy of working people is not on the other side of the globe. It is right here at home.
BY ALEX SNOWDON
Polls reveal widespread public opposition to austerity, yet this finds little reflection in mainstream politics
Around 30 percent of people believe cuts are simply not necessary, despite such a ‘No Cuts’ stance rarely getting an airing in either Parliament or mainstream media. Still larger numbers think that cuts are unfair, that austerity is making the economy worse, or that the implementation of cuts is too fast or deep. The Tories lag behind Labour in the polls, while their Lib Dem junior partners remain thoroughly unpopular.
The recent British Soc an annual survey of peo range of issues – indicates of attitudes to welfare cla years. This degree of host of many years of consens politics: that the poor are poverty, welfare must be approach is needed towar
However, there was a attitudes compared to the 34 percent backed extra s from 28 percent a year ea surveyed said unemploy high – down from 62 perc effort from the Tories an all too often by Labour m benefit claimants and tur against each other. But working class people’s l Great Squeeze, as livin working life becomes mo
There is clearly a large arguments, yet Labour le and Ed Balls support au modifications). Labour picked a fight not with big business, but with t supporters. The attacks and the undermining of threaten to break the between the Labour Part movement.
There has for a long out of democracy. The W become more and more concerns of millions o scandal in 2011 revea politicians had become media empire. The MPs already generated cynici shock – it merely reinforc of the political class.
and cracy
cial Attitudes Survey – ople’s attitudes to a wide s a long-term hardening aimants over the last 30 stility reflects the impact nsus at the top of British e to blame for their own reduced, and a punitive rds those out of work.
a marked fall in such e previous year’s survey. spending on benefits, up arlier. 51 percent of those yment benefits are too cent. There is a relentless nd their media – echoed ministers – to demonise rn working class people this often clashes with lived experience of the ng standards fall and ore insecure.
e audience for anti-cuts eaders like Ed Miliband usterity (just with a few leaders have recently the Tories, bankers or their own trade union s on Unite the Union f the Labour-union link organised relationship ty and the working class
time been a hollowing Westminster bubble has a world apart from the of people. The hacking aled how subservient e to Rupert Murdoch’s s expenses scandal had ism, but there was little ced the view people had
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Sylvia Pankhurst: Suffragette, Socialist and Scourge of Empire By Katherine Connelly “This is an important book. Packed with new information, it is a fascinating and very readable biography which does much to explain my mother’s political evolution from suffragette to anti-fascist.” Professor Richard Pankhurst Buy online at www.counterfire.org
There was popular contempt for bankers when they continued to award themselves ludicrously large bonuses despite the disaster of the financial crash. But the contempt was extended to politicians who failed to regulate the casino economy that had led to a new era of recession and rising unemployment.
Join the Student Assembly Against Austerity
The issue of war has been integral to the growing gulf between Westminster and the wider country. When MPs opposed David Cameron’s drive to war in Syria they were mindful of the legacy of Iraq. Parliament had backed the invasion of Iraq despite massive anti-war demonstrations and majority opposition in opinion polls. It had exposed what some have called a democratic deficit: the gap between elected representatives and those they supposedly represent.
On 2 November University College London will host the first Student Assembly to reunite the student movement and launch a coordinated campaign against cuts and privatisation in education. Hundreds have already signed up. Make sure there is a big delegation of students from your college. Register your places at www.studentassembly.eventbrite.co.uk
After over a decade of wars and occupations, public attitudes have shifted. Stop the War Coalition’s long-term campaigning record, from Iraq and Afghanistan to Syria, has been a major factor in that shift. The long-term public and campaigning pressure was, in the recent Syria vote, finally enough to tip the balance. The result is a serious fracture in the slavish allegiance of this country to the dictates of US power, but Cameron’s government is determined to return to ‘business as usual’. We will need to keep mobilising. In domestic politics, too, large sections of society are unconvinced by Tory arguments. The People’s Assembly is a crucial vehicle for co-ordinating resistance to cuts. It has another function too: creating a collective, democratic space for discussion, at a time when our democracy is thoroughly hollowed out and the official Opposition offers little real opposition. Mass activity outside parliament – marches, strikes, direct action – is the way to give a voice to people’s opposition to government attacks. The People’s Assembly can amplify that voice.
For more on the People’s Assemblies go to www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk
Building on the nationwide success of the People’s Assembly, it’s time for students to get organised and link with the wider fight-back against austerity.
We need to grow Counterfire members have played a defining role in the People’s Assemblies around the country, working with a range of other activists to build a formidable coalition. We are proud of our contribution to a mass movement that can tackle the Tories’ austerity addiction. Our members have also played a big part in mobilising to stop war in Syria. The victory against Cameron’s war plans was a historic moment. It shows how important such campaigning activity can be.
that leads to poverty, racism and war. Counterfire’s website and publications aim to be resources for the movement, providing news, analysis and ideas for activists. We welcome your input to all our publications. We need a dialogue with the widest possible number of activists to guide the struggles for a better world.
It is these kinds of popular movements that can break the government.
But Counterfire needs to grow. Where we have activists, organised in local groups, it makes a big difference. With more members and more local groups - we can have an even bigger impact.
Such campaigns are not spontaneous. To strengthen them we need to develop a stronger anticapitalist left. We need socialist organisation to confront a system
If you agree with Counterfire’s politics and approach, please join us today. Please fill in and return the form overleaf or go to www.counterfire.org/join
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Strikes can strengthen the movement BY PETER STAUBER Alongside growing opposition to welfare cuts and People’s Assemblies springing up around the country, a number of important strikes have been organised. This is a crucial development in the resistance to government attacks on working people. Among the most important are planned strikes against Royal Mail privatisation, which is opposed by three-quarters of the British public. Among postal workers, opposition is a staggering 96 percent – in spite of the government’s Thatcher-style plan to give employees free shares of the newly floated company. Privatisation is not about improving service: it puts jobs at risk and is likely to lead to higher prices for customers. As CWU general secretary Billy Hayes says, the public offering is “about vested
interests of government ministers’ mates in the City.” Business Secretary Vince Cable wants to push the stock market flotation through as quickly as possible, aware of the fact that strike action by the CWU in October
is almost certain. Similarly, the teaching unions NUT and NASUWT have announced two regional rolling strikes in October, with a national walkout planned before Christmas. The main reason is that education secretary Michael Gove is unwilling to discuss pay and pensions with teachers, who are strongly opposed to the pay freeze and his plans to introduce performance-related pay – a measure at least partly motivated by his desire to weaken the teaching unions. Unlike in England and Scotland, the Welsh government has agreed to engage with the unions to resolve the dispute, and the two-day strike was called off. The Fire Brigades Union has already had a four-hour walkout at the end of September, in protest against the government’s pensions plan. The government wants
firefighters to receive their full pension at the age of 60, whereas the FBU says – reasonably enough – that it’s ludicrous to have somebody in their late 50s fighting fires. Amost 80 percent of FBU members supported the strike. In addition to the pensions dispute, firefighters in London are campaigning to stop the planned closure of 10 fire stations, which would have serious consequences for the safety of people living and working in the capital. Weeks of strikes by Hovis workers have forced their employer to scrap zero-hours contracts. The strikers plan to stay out until all workers receive contracts and equal pay. There is clearly a growing mood for strike action, amidst mass meetings and protests against the cuts. The task now is to link protests, mass meetings and strikes into a nationwide movement against austerity.
Public Forums: How to End War and Austerity BRISTOL Mon 28 Oct, 7pm Arthouse Cafe, 108A Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3RU With John Rees
LUTON Weds 23 Oct, 6.30pm Room G004, University of Bedfordshire at Luton Park Square, LU1 3JU With Sanum Ghafoor and Chris Nineham
KINGS LYNN Weds 13 Nov, 7.30pm Friends Meeting House MANCHESTER 38 Bridge Street, King’s Lynn Sat 26 Oct, 2pm PE30 5AB People’s History Museum, Left Bank Spinningfields, LONDON Manchester, M3 3ER Tues 15 Oct, 7pm Launch of Sylvia Pankhurst: Firebox, 106-108 Cromer St Suffragette, Socialist and London, WC1H 8BZ Scourge of Empire With Lindsey German and With Katherine Connelly James Meadway
NEWCASTLE Tues 1 Oct, 6pm 2nd Floor, Bar Loco, 22 Leazes Park Rd, NE1 4PG With Chris Nineham
SHEFFIELD Weds 9 Oct, 6pm The Boardroom, HUBS, Hallam University With John Rees
NORWICH Tues 1 Oct, 7pm Room 1.31, Union House, University of East Anglia With Elaine Graham-Leigh
YORK Tues 15 Oct, 7pm Friends Meeting House Friargate, York, YO1 9RL With John Rees
NOTTINGHAM Weds 9 Oct, 7pm Lee Rosy’s Tea, 17 Broad St NG1 With Lindsey German
For a full list of Counterfire meetings visit: www. counterfire.org/events
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