Why hasn't there been a peoples protest?

[Ryoko]

Thinking about this the other day, we have the TUC, NUT etc coming out in force to moan about the treatment they get from the government, often treated with disdain from the masses as "they get paid more then us", "they have pensions I don't" etc.

Where is the protest for the people?, the general all encompassing protest at the incessant increase in taxation and drop in living standards that is keeping the economy down by ensuring we all keep our cash in our pockets (what little we have left).

Just a thought.

Friends of dictators Wasabi are your mainstream politicians when they've cheap resources to buy or arms to sell. Saddam's besties were the "allies" til he got all uppity and decided to sell his oil in euros and not petrodollars.

I believe the Brits are at this very minute advising the Bahraini dictators on how best to suppress their ongoing revolution. Hey ho. Do keep trying.

Occupy London was a people's protest

glas - we can agree they are all pretty dreadful. i would like labour to be an effective opposition, particularly as the the LibDems are most likely to vanish at the next election, but i dont think they are at the moment.

& i dont think they have hit the bottom yet.

Wasabi I fear you are right

Labour are not Labour anymore , should rename themselves Tory lite, we have a grand choice of varying degrees of fascism, high, medium or light. what choice is that?

The continued convergence of all the main parties is a major worry, the protest vote could get someone like the BNP in power due to nothing more then a mammoth backlash against the same old shit 3.

Whispers www.tusc.org.uk/policy.php

"You'll get your chance to protest. It's called a General Election. Just don't be surprised if other lot get us all into an even bigger pickle."

Tories,Labour and Lib dem the general consencus is they are as bad as each other and their policies change after being elected. One form of protest could be, instead of Enjoyresponsibility's suggestion , not voting. Why not vote for someone completely different, UKIP for instance. I can't think of a better way of protesting peacefully. I have read their manifesto and kept in touch with their progress, so have some Labour MP's who have defected to UKIP. Radical suggestion maybe but could they really do any worse.

Is that UKIP whose MEP Godfrey Bloom said that employers shouldn't employ women of child bearing age? And commented on women cleaning behind the fridge?

Nah - UKIP aren't the answer, and nor is our George (a result of the latest people's revolt).

We've had a few public protests and there will be many more before this lot shuffle off to tend their gardens. We shouldn't let them get away with tricking us to vote for them and then trying to befuddle us into compliance while they sell all our hard-won assets - NHS, Education, etc.

It's really tempting to think of a huge shuffling of the cards - throw them up in the air and see where they land.

But be careful what you wish for. It could be so much worse ...

Sooo.... you admit voting for them do you? or is it just an April fool?.

I didn't vote for any of the fuckers so you can't blame me, I have a good excuse for not voting tho, I was having a C-section.

(I voted Green the time before).

NO - I did not vote for the Tories, although I very nearly voted Lib Dem. I also nearly voted SNP, because I agreed with a lot of their policies, but it's the Nationalist bit that sticks in my craw. In the end I voted Green for one and Labour for the other, because I thought that locally the Labour party would probably do a better job than any of the others, and there wasn't another Green candidate.

I think there are lots of people like me who don't know who to vote for, and who are just waiting for someone acceptable to come along and lead us out of the wilderness. Not St George Galloway but someone who hates what this government is doing and can do something about it.

I'd vote for Galloway I may not agree with him but at least he stands there and shouts for what he believes in regardless of what others think. unlike the lying, back stabbing rest who will say anything to get voted in.

OWS: 'The rich, don't be surprised we are angry!'

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=g5Yx2HLr2Dg

That just makes me think we need more unions with more power, how else are we to influence governments unless they are financed by our donations, rather then those of the rich individuals and companies.

ryoko you're right!

Have you seen www.tusc.org.uk/index.php?
You might like it

Just realised I already put TUSC on
Never mind

I like ttosca's youtube clip. Any fule no, I suppose, that the Tories, being the party of the posh, were never going to make life better for your average Joe. But it's the LibDems (anagram: biD smeLs) who really anger me. The LibDems are still kicking in the goolies, people who could really do without it. Their filthy betrayal of students STINKS to high heaven, and as for Danny Alexander on R4 this morning, defending the snatching away of working tax credit from part timers working more than sixteen but fewer than twenty hours a week...! This is serious stuff - taking significant amounts of money away from mostly hard up people by whom it's sorely needed. What's 'liberal' about that?

Protests don't work. Whitehall The last Government ensured they became ineffective, with the complicity of the media. Two million one million 500,000 200,000 a couple of thousand people descended on London in a huge demonstration saying that the British people did not want to go into an illegal war with Iraq, but it went ahead anyway.

Whitehall The government like us to think we have some power and some method of ensuring that our wishes are heard, but the truth is that they are not, and that we as a nation are impotent. Mostly we have been manipulated into apathy, or the intelligensia, into believing that they actually still have some form of legitimate protest route.

Written before mass media, but oh so telling in how we are controlled

'People's protest' in Ireland:

Ten thousand people took part in todays anti austerity march in dublin, Ireland. They represent over 3 million people that are taking part in a boycott of government imposed taxes on homes. More than 1 million homes have not registered for this tax, and that more 60 percent of the total number of homes, which in reality means more than 3 million people are taking part in the boycott, as the official government figures per household is 3 people per home on average.

Todays march to the National convention centre where FineGael were having their 2012 Ard Fheis (annual conference). The marchers are protesting against the Irish governments austerity policies. 10,000 people took part. There are more videos to follow. These videos are unedited and what you see is what you get. I hope to edit them all into one short video of the highlights.

Where is the "Like" button? we need that shit here.

Yup.

Please join Post 16 plus school transport group on facebook paying £1000 to get our 16 year old to school is Disgraceful! (south Bucks)

Call for support for TUC demonstration and Europe Against Austerity Action Conference ? 20/21 October

On Saturday October 20th the British Trades Union Congress is holding a march against austerity ?For a future that works?. Hundreds of thousands of people will take to the streets of London to oppose the cuts being forced upon them. The Coalition of Resistance will be at the heart of this demonstration with its message of ?No Cuts?. The participation of delegations from across

Europe will hugely strengthen the significance of what will be a massive mobilisation.
In 2011 our organisation initiated the Europe Against Austerity conference which issued a call for joint action against austerity throughout Europe. More than 600 people attended the conference in October 2011, with 150 coming from other parts of Europe.

Since that conference we have seen big struggles in Greece where there have been many days of general strike action and in Spain where the Asturian miners have inspired the support of millions throughout Europe. The nature of the onslaught on the peoples of Europe means that such actions will continue and escalate. Further solidarity work and coordination is now urgently needed.

We appeal for anti-austerity organisations throughout Europe to come to London on 20th and 21st October to participate both in the London demonstration and to meet the following day to discuss common action to turn back the tide of austerity. We must build co-ordinated action to enable victories against a common enemy.
There will be an open preparatory meeting in early September to prepare for the October 21st conference and all those who wish to be involved are welcome, whether or not they attended last year?s event. The date and venue will be notified shortly. Please contact us if you plan to attend.

We urge organisations and organisations from across Europe to come to London in October ? to show that the strength of the working class movement is in its unity and solidarity.

Let?s make October 20/21st the next step in our common struggle against austerity.

For transport to the TUC Protest see the False Economy website

Andrew Burgin
Secretary, Coalition of Resistance
[email protected]

www.coalitionofresistance.org.uk/2012/07/london-actions-2021-october-2012-call-for-support/

We do live in a democracy, as well as voting we can write to MPs/ the press, join pressure groups etc etc.Why don't people get involved in this process? Partly it is being tired and having no time but there is also a sense that people don't know where to begin combined with a sense that this is the norm, rich people are getting richer, poor people are getting poorer and that's just how the world works, there is nothing you can do about it unless you win the lottery.

One of the reasons for this could be a lack of a useful education. As we have seen from events this summer, education is about jumping through GCSE hoops and targets rather than deep learning. Many people have no idea how the political system works or the history of social justice and our current position in this history. From what I can tell, a vast majority do not have the advanced reading skills/ knowledge necessary to be able to detect bias/ manipulation/ propaganda in the media and a significant amount do not possess the basic reading skilsl necessary to engage with the media on any level. As a result when protest/disatisfaction does errupt, it it is the shape of rioting and looting rather than any useful action.

I think education is our key problem.

I think most people are aware that cuts were necessary, and that public spending under Labour got ridiculous, plenty of people said that to me even during the boom years. "Anti-austerity" is bullshit, argue where the cuts should be made by all means but to argue that they don't have to be made is ridiculous. We are still spending billions more than we should be doing.