Well, let us pause in complete shock as the Tories institute more cutting of public services and benefits. You may have heard that Austerity is the new black in terms of doing shitty things to societies. Austerity has destroyed Greece and rightly the people of Britain are fighting back.
“Thousands of demonstrators staged an anti-austerity march in London on Saturday, in the first major public protest since Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron won a general election.
Opposition politicians, trade union bosses and celebrities were among the crowds marching through the capital’s financial district.
Protesters called for the halting and reversal of spending cuts imposed by the previous coalition government and further measures proposed by finance minister George Osborne.
“We have seen a huge impact on our work at primary school,” said Sian Bloor, 45, a teacher from Trafford near Manchester.
“I regularly bring clothes and shoes for children and biscuits for their breakfast, just so they get something to eat. You can see how children are being affected by the cuts.” Bloor said.”
The wealth from the Regan-Thatcher era STILL hasn’t trickled down. This must be some very sticky money as seems to be residing in the hands of the upperclass and corporations who have gerrymandered the British polity to benefit them and screw the rest of society.
“Placard-waving protesters marched from the Bank of England and filed past the nearby Royal Exchange, as the sound of drummers filled the air, creating a festival atmosphere.
Some of the placards read: “Austerity Doesn’t Work”, “No to Cuts”, “Get the Tories Out” and “Austerity is Class War”.
“It will be the start of a campaign of protest, strikes, direct action and civil disobedience up and down the country,” said Sam Fairbairn of organisers the People’s Assembly.
“We will not rest until austerity is history, our services are back in public hands and the needs of the majority are put first.” Fairbairn said.”
The message from the people is always the same – more equal distribution of wealth, reinstatement of public utilities and welfare. The stuff that makes society prosper and run well. Of course, given the current neo-liberal fetish the Western world is stuck in, all of these things are the darkest of evils.
“Cameron clinched an unexpected election victory on May 7 that gave his centre-right Conservative party an outright majority in parliament for the first time in nearly 20 years.
The victory was widely seen as an endorsement of the Conservatives’ austerity programme and is likely to see a continuation of cuts to public spending as they seeks to curb a budget deficit of nearly $140 billion.”
Let us hope for another election soon in Britain, perhaps people will get their priorities straight then.
5 comments
June 23, 2015 at 6:02 am
john zande
And the craziest part: we have hard examples of social-capitalism working in Scandinavian countries today, and examples where it had worked beautifully, but after being jettisoned has resulted in increasing inequality and a decrease in the quality of life, such as in Australia and Britain. Can’t speak for Canada, but I think your experience closely mirrors Australia’s.
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June 23, 2015 at 8:47 am
robert browning
This is a crazy and amazing scenario happening across Western capitalist societies. Scandinavia is always my example of a smarter alternative. And Iceland’s radical response to the financial “crisis” was beautifully successful, if they haven’t been undermined yet. Maybe the capitalist can pull this off because there IS trickle down: It appears that when just 10% or 20% have enough to be comfortable then the masses can be effectively marginalized. The Brits did it w 100,000 native supervisors to control India’s millions. Whether this works due to greed, survival instinct, racism, classism, I don’t know- maybe all of the above. Human nature may be uglier than I have assumed.
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June 23, 2015 at 8:50 am
The Arbourist
@JZ
It was a confluence of sorts for us. We in Alberta (blush) had a regional party go national called the Reform Party an ostensibly populist, right wing party. For 3 elections they split the vote on the right and allowed a centre-right party, the Liberals, to govern uninterrupted for 11 years. Of course, the Libs got too comfortable and scandaled themselves out of power. The Canadian populace voted in the recently unified right wingers, but in a minority government to keep the fascism in check. Last election they finally got their majority and things have been shite ever since.
The upcoming federal election is going to be quite interesting as the social democratic party the NDP is currently tied in the lead for forming the government – never happened until now. Provincially, the NDP recently pulled up a huge upset in the conservative fortress of Alberta, so I think there might be hope.
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June 23, 2015 at 10:40 am
syrbal-labrys
Oh, NOW they get it? ::::raspberry noise:::::
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June 23, 2015 at 4:30 pm
bleatmop
Hey, trickle down economics works. They get the ocean and we get a trickle. It’s all about perspective.
But seriously, the voters in Britian are getting what they deserve. They voted them in and now they get to pay the consequences. Just like us. We voted in Harper and now we get C-51 secret police and detainment. I guess the largest minority just wants to see the world burn.
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