This article by Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales
The march for "a future that works" organised by the trade union movement on October 20th is vital to the movement against austerity.
We
need to be looking to a new economic model rather than these tired,
heartless false economies that hit the most vulnerable the hardest.
We should be investing in the future, creating jobs and stabilising the economy. Instead we see more of the same privatisation, casualisation and demonisation of the poor, disabled and public sector workers.
Deficit in thinking
Even in the government's own terms massive cuts to public services made no sense - and the fact that government borrowing is at a record high only underlines how economically illiterate this "deficit reduction" project has been.
Instead of hitting the target of a 4.6% reduction in the deficit in fact the deficit has grown by 22% between April and August.
You cannot put an economy back on its feet by throwing people out of work and undermining the public services that keep society ticking.
If the Coalition government was serious about tackling the gap between government spending and income it would be ruthlessly tackling tax avoidance on the part of the rich and large corporations. It would cut spending on nuclear weapons and unnescesary road building - but these cuts are ideologically motivated and are really about the privatisation and carving up of public services, we cannot allow that to happen.
Marching makes a difference
I firmly believe we need to help build a movement for a more sustainable economic system. A movement that reins in the banking and financial sector while investing in the real economy, giving us a solid foundation with which to face the critical challenges of the twenty first century.
We shouldn't simply go back to Labour's 2006 spending priorities - their love affair with the casino capitalism of international finance and growth for its own sake helped bring us to this point. We should though build alliances across the trade union movement, political organisations and campaign groups to take this government head on.
I'll be marching on October 20th, I hope you'll join me.
The march for "a future that works" organised by the trade union movement on October 20th is vital to the movement against austerity.
We
need to be looking to a new economic model rather than these tired,
heartless false economies that hit the most vulnerable the hardest.We should be investing in the future, creating jobs and stabilising the economy. Instead we see more of the same privatisation, casualisation and demonisation of the poor, disabled and public sector workers.
Deficit in thinking
Even in the government's own terms massive cuts to public services made no sense - and the fact that government borrowing is at a record high only underlines how economically illiterate this "deficit reduction" project has been.
Instead of hitting the target of a 4.6% reduction in the deficit in fact the deficit has grown by 22% between April and August.
You cannot put an economy back on its feet by throwing people out of work and undermining the public services that keep society ticking.
If the Coalition government was serious about tackling the gap between government spending and income it would be ruthlessly tackling tax avoidance on the part of the rich and large corporations. It would cut spending on nuclear weapons and unnescesary road building - but these cuts are ideologically motivated and are really about the privatisation and carving up of public services, we cannot allow that to happen.
Marching makes a difference
I firmly believe we need to help build a movement for a more sustainable economic system. A movement that reins in the banking and financial sector while investing in the real economy, giving us a solid foundation with which to face the critical challenges of the twenty first century.
We shouldn't simply go back to Labour's 2006 spending priorities - their love affair with the casino capitalism of international finance and growth for its own sake helped bring us to this point. We should though build alliances across the trade union movement, political organisations and campaign groups to take this government head on.
I'll be marching on October 20th, I hope you'll join me.
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