Cut Trident: Welfare NOT Warfare Sat February 27th

 From the People's Assembly Against Austerity

The day for action against Trident is nearly here. CND has called the Stop Trident National Demonstration Sat 27 Feb. Assemble: 12:00PM Marble Arch.

The People's Assembly Against Austerity is please to support the event and say Welfare not Warfare!

Please follow the Facebook Event and share and invite as widely as you can!

CND's Kate Hudson has written this article in which she makes the case for spending money on building a fairer safer society, not on weapons of mass destruction.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY

There are a whole series of events in the run up to the demonstration which will be vital in building for the day. If you're in London tomorrow please join us at The Stop Trident Mobilising Rally, Friends House London Euston, Friday 19 Feb, 6:30PM

 
Speakers include: Tariq Ali • Kate Hudson CND general secretary • Richard Norton Taylor The Guardian • Lindsey German Stop the War • Brian Eno • Shelly Asquith NUS • Bruce Kent, CND vice president • Amelia Womack, Green Party deputy leader

Spread the word and see you on the streets!

The People's Assembly Against Austerity
http://www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/

The People United Against Austerity Today in London

Thousands marched today in London against the Coalition's austerity policies and for an alternative. Romayne Phoenix of the Coalition of Resistance and the Green Party was on the platform as the MC and Caroline Lucas received  great applause for her speech.

Here are some images from the day:

Christine Blower (General Secretary NUT) and Kevin Courtney (Deputy General Secretary) review the Green Party's Reclaim Our Schools flyer, 

Protesters light Bonfire of Austerity on Westminster Bridge

In a demonstration organised by the People's Assembly Against Austerity several hundred people marched across Westminster Bridge this evening, stopping to light a symbolic bonfire, burning an effigy of David Cameron (or a Big 6 energy boss - it wasn't clear)  and dozens of  energy bills.

People's Assembly generates hope but this must result in action

It was always going to be hard to enable as many voices as possible to be heard in a gathering of more than 4,000 people but yesterday's People's Assembly got close. Central Hall, marquees outside and the Emmanuel Centre down the road were buzzing with ideas and viewpoints, as well as simply heaving with people.

Much more united us than separated us, this included a deep dislike of the Coalition and the Conservatives (there was laughter when the caption maker misheard a quote and described Tories as 'worse than Birmingham' instead of vermin)and there was a determination to not only describe what was wrong but to provide hope that together we could bring about change.

Although many wanted to see trade unions take a lead, and there were calls for a general strike, there was also an emphasis on community organisation and resistance, and providers and users of services such as health, social work and education working together.

I attended the sessions on 'climate change and jobs' at which Caroline Lucas spoke (clip above), 'protecting public education'; and 'democracy and decision-making-fixing our broken political system' at which Natalie Bennett ran a workshop.

Caroline Lucas's call for renationalisation of the railways received enthusiastic applause as did her statement that capitalism was incompatible with solving the climate crisis.

In the education workshop speeches from the platform were interspersed with batches of one minute contributions from the floor. I managed to get a rather incoherent one minute plug in for a 'Reclaim Our Schools' movement made up of teachers, parents, governors and school students and that seemed in line with Christine Blower's (NUT) suggestion of a Reclaim Education campaign. It was important to resist and challenge efforts at divide and rule.

Throughout there was a thread of argument about the crisis in democracy, representation and accountability and this came together in the sometimes chaotic democracy workshop where issues of electoral reform, community organising, local people's assemblies came together and many were introduced to 'jazz hands' for the first time. (Hands are waved in the air silently to express approval rather than clapping).

Discussions and debate continued in the nearby cafes, pubs and restaurants afterwards and are due to continue at local people's assemblies in the future as well as a student assembly in November. It will be important not to lose the momentum, enthusiasm and hope as well as to refine and spread the emerging ideas.

Dawn Butler backs General Strike at People's Assembly

Poster for the General Strike in Oakland, California 2011

I understand Dawn Butler, former Brent South MP,  surprised Brent Labour Party members at today's People's Assembly by appearing to back a General Strike against the Coalition's anti-welfare and austerity measures.

Intervening in the workshop on 'The economics of anti-austerity, jobs, investment and tax justice', at which former Brent East MP Ken Livingstone was one of the speakers, she apparently asked the audience for a show of hands for a General  Strike, and despite catcalls from the audience,continued to press her case and state categorically that she was justified in disagreeing with the Labour leadership.

This swerve to the left by one of the candidates for the Brent Central Labour nomination surprised many present. One of her potential opponents for the  candidancy is Kate Osamore, Tottenham activist and member of Unite, who is said to be backed by Livingstone and, if she agrees to stand, likely to be the candidate of the left in Brent.

Osamore was present at the Assembly chairing the workshop 'Immigration is not to blame - countering racism, Islamophobia and the far right'.

Patrick Vernon who is actively campaigning for the nomination managed to combine attendance at the People's Assembly with an appearance elsewhere to press the case for June 22nd to become a public holiday,Windrush Day, to celebrate multicultural Britain.

People' Assembly schedule - June 22nd 2013

I will be joining  more than 4,000 others at the People's Assembly at Central Hall, Westminster, tomorrow. I hope that this will mark a watershed in the fightback against austerity in the UK.

This is the schedule:

 

Registration

10:00 - 10:45

Location: Great Hall

Opening plenaryFeaturing: Owen Jones, Frances O'Grady, Mark Steel, Stephen Morrision-Burke
Chairs: Sam Fairbairn, Romayne Phoenix

11:00 - 12:15

Location: Great Hall

Tactics for the anti-austerity movement

Featuring: Andrew Murray (Unite, Stop the War), Rosa Curling (Leigh Day), Danni Paffard (No Dash for Gas, UK Uncut), Anita Halpin (NUJ)
Chairs: Rachel Newton (People’s Charter), Stephen Reid (The Intruders, UK Uncut)

Location: Lecture Hall

Tackling the housing crisis

Featuring: Cllr Liz Wakefield (Brighton and Hove Council, Green Party), Liz Davies (Housing Barrister and Chair of the Haldane Society), Carole Vincent (Waltham Forest Bedroom Tax Campaign), Jacob Wills (DIGS, Hackney private renters group), Eviction Resistance Network, SQUASH
Chair: Pilgrim Tucker (Unite Community)

Location: Library

Mobilising millions: Re-unionising the UK

Featuring: Faiza Shaheen (nef), John Hendy QC (Institute of Employment Rights), Luke Hildyard (High Pay Centre), Kelly Tomlinson (Unite), Frank Morris (blacklisted construction worker)
Chair: Nick McCarthy (PCS)

Location: Marquee 1

What cuts are doing to emergency services, local government and the communities they serve

Featuring: Heather Wakefield (UNISON), Matt Wrack (FBU), Barbara Jacobson (Barnet Alliance), Murad Qureshi (GLA member), Debbie Wilkingson (Yorkshire Ambulance Service)
Chair: Andy Richards (Brighton & Hove UNISON)

Location: Marquee 2

The climate change threat and one million climate jobs

Featuring: Jeremy Corbyn MP (Labour), Salma Yaqoob, Lindsey German (Stop the War), Tariq Ali
Chair: Kate Hudson (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament)

Location: Library

Immigration is not to blame - countering racism, Islamophobia and the far right

Featuring: Diane Abbott MP, Guy Taylor (Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants), Mohammed Kozbar (British Muslim Initiative), Sabby Dhalu (Unite Against Fascism)
Chair: Kate Osamor (Unite)

Location: Emmanuel Centre

Democracy and decision-making: fixing our broken political system

. Featuring: Mark Barrett (Peoples' Assembly Network), Natalie Bennett (Green Party), Loz Kaye (Pirate Party UK), Richard Bagley (Morning Star), Naomi Colvin (City Reform Group), Corinna Lotz (Agreement of the People, Campaign for a 21st Century Constitution), Bill Greenshields (People's Charter)

Location: Marquee

Stand up against the cuts: comedy and performance

Featuring: Robin & Partridge, Kate Smurthwaite, Sir Ian Bowler MP, Chris Coltrane, Stephen Morrison-Burke, Roger Lloyd Pack

2:15 - 3:30

Location: Great Hall

The next step: creating local People's Assemblies

Featuring: Sam Fairbairn (People's Assembly co-ordinator)

Location: Lecture Hall

Protecting public education

Featuring: Christine Blower (NUT), Adriano Merola Marotta (Sussex Occupation), Aaron Kiely (NUS), Alex Claxton-Mayer (school student)
Chairs: Vicki Baars (NUS), Alex Kenny (NUT)

Location: Library

The economics of anti-austerity: jobs, investment and tax justice

Featuring: Ken Livingstone, James Meadway (nef), Ozlem Onaram (University of Greenwich)
Chair: Heather Wakefield (UNISON)

Location: Emmanuel Centre

Defending our welfare state

Featuring: Ken Loach, Dot Gibson (National Pensioners Convention), Eve Turner (Health and Welfare Campaigner), Young Legal Aid Lawyers
Chair: Fred Leplat (Coalition of Resistance)

Location: Marquee

At the sharp end.

Featuring: Ellen Clifford (DPAC), Hector Wesley (BARAC), Colin Wilson (Queers Against the Cuts), Anita Wright (National Assembly of Women), Mark Serwotka (PCS), War on Welfare Petition
Chair: John McInally (PCS)

3:45 - 5:00

Location: Great Hall

Closing plenaryFeaturing: Mark Serwotka, Len McClusky, Francesca Martinez, Rania Khan, Christine Blower, Tony Benn, John Rees, Zita Holbourne
Chairs: Steve Turner (Unite), Vicki Baars (NUS)