Budget Day Protest in Bath

In response to George Osbourne's emergency budget on Wednesday, which will see £12bn in welfare cuts and a £20,000 benefit cap (£23,000 in London), Bath Against Cuts organised a demonstration against the elements of the budget that will affect the disabled, the poor, students and the low-waged.

After assembling at the Conservative Party HQ in Bathwick at 5.30pm, demonstrators marched to the council offices at the Guildhall where a meeting between Conservative councillors was being held. Around 100 people representing groups Bath Against Cuts, Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts, 38 Degrees Bath and the local Green and Labour parties, as well as other members of the public, attended the demonstration. Speakers, including Labour councillor Joe Rayment and representatives from University of Bath UCU and 38 Degrees, addressed the protest via a megaphone, condemning the budget.

Security guards at the Guildhall were heavy-handed, with one demonstrator pushed down the Guildhall steps and other being shoved around by security.

The demonstration in Bath was just one of many that took place throughout the UK, including protests in London, Bristol, Glasgow, Milton Keynes, Cardiff, Cornwall, Portsmouth, Nottingham, Birmingham, Northampton, Manchester, Edinburgh, Plymouth, Liverpool, Norwich, Oxford and many other towns and cities.

University of Bath UCU vice-president Chris Roche, who spoke at the demonstration, commented: "It should be no surprise that this Tory government have a programme of taking from the poorest and most vulnerable in society to pay the rich. The question is, what do we do about it? Nothing challenges the power of the ruling class like organised labour, so join a trade union and get active within it. There's too much at stake to sit back and watch the horror show - stand up and be part of the fight back"
 
38 Degrees Bath commented "Without a significant and sustained opposition to the worst of the Tory government's policies, the suffering of the most vulnerable in society will deepen and spread, and our welfare system and public services may be damaged beyond repair."

Earlier today, Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts released a statement on the budget, which reads:

"George Osbourne’s emergency budget announced a devastating attack on higher education and students in addition to £12 billion of cuts to welfare. 

Here’s our summary of how the budget may affect students :

- Maintenance grants for students with family incomes below £42,000 will be scrapped and replaced by loans from 2016-17. The maximum loan will be £8,200 a year. This will mean that students are forced into even more debt, leaving the poorest students with a debt of £51,000 after 3 years.

- Elite universities that can demonstrate excellent teaching will be allowed to increase tuition fees in line with inflation from 2017-18. In effect this will create a 2-tier higher education system with better teaching only available to those that can afford to pay more.

- George Osbourne’s “Living Wage” of £7.20 an hour is nothing of the sort - it has been condemned by the Living Wage Foundation, who calculate it to be £7.85 an hour (£9.15 for London). George Osbourne’s “Living Wage” is merely a higher minimum wage. Furthermore, it is not applicable to the under-25s. 18-20 year olds will earn £5.30/hr and those ages between 21-25 will get £6.70/hr.

- Under 21s will no longer be entitled to housing benefit. Not everyone has the option of living with their parents, and this will mean many will have to live with abusive parents/guardians or be forced onto the street. This will disproportionately affect those who identify as LGBTQ.

- The youth benefits scheme will be overhauled, with an obligation placed on 18-21 year olds to ‘earn or learn’.

- Cuts to Further Education also look likely to be announced as part of the spending review in autumn.

Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts opposes this vicious attack on higher education, which will mean those from the lowest income families will be left with £51,000 of debt by the end of a 3-year course if they take out the maximum loan - which many will need to in order to survive. Those from wealthier families who can afford to pay for their children to study and live while at university will leave without that debt hanging over their heads. While the maintenance grant system went some way to addressing economic inequality, relieving underprivileged students of some of the debt burden, those from poorer backgrounds will now be put at an immediate disadvantage.

Forcing students into even more debt promotes an individualistic, corporatised vision of higher education. Education must be free - We believe that education is a public good which benefits society. Join us at the national demonstration in November to fight for free education and the introduction of living grants for all in November: https://www.facebook.com/events/1449378505377525/"

 Bath Against Cuts has vowed to continue to fight the cuts being implemented by the majority Conservative administration. Get involved by attending their meetings on the first Tuesday of every month at The Ram, Widcombe at 8pm.

Bath Against Cuts website: https://bathagainstcuts.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bathagainstcuts
Twitter: @bathagainstcuts

If you are among the growing number of people affected or concerned by the impact this government is having on the people, the environment and on international affairs, get involved! Our directory of activist and campaign groups can be found here.

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Budget Day Demonstration Outside Bath Tory HQ - Wednesday, 5.30pm

From Bath Against Cuts

On Wednesday, the first Tory-majority government for eighteen years will announce its first budget. All the signs show that it will be everything we feared: massive cuts to essential social welfare coupled with tax cuts to benefit those with more wealth - a budget that takes from the poor to pay the rich. We could expect nothing else from the Conservative Party, but the question is, how do we respond? National demonstrations are great, but we need to bring the opposition to Tory attacks on public services and welfare into our own cities, towns and villages.

At 17:30 on Wednesday, after the budget is announced, we will be meeting outside Bath Tory Party HQ to make our voices heard and to demonstrate to our new Tory MP that he will not be met with resigned indifference in Bath for the choices he makes in the voting lobbies of Westminster. We will also be discussing how to move forward and where to focus our energies in what will be a very tough but crucial five years.
Without a significant and sustained opposition to the worst of the Tory government's policies, the suffering of the most vulnerable in society will deepen and spread, and our welfare system and public services may be damaged beyond repair.

The Tory Council cabinet are meeting from 16:00 on Wednesday at the Guildhall, so we're aimimg to be there when they arrive.

This is a budget that will take from the many to give to the rich few.

The NHS, Education, Jobs, Welfare & public services will all be targeted.

It's important that we stand up and say NO MORE!

Make placards, bring music, bring your voice.

We say:
NO to 'austerity'
NO to the destruction of our public services
NO to cuts to social welfare
NO to more tax cuts for the rich
NO to the victimisation and marginalisation of migrants, disabled, poor and unemployed people.
YES to a fair, just, democratic and equal society.
Please come along, get involved, show that there is such a thing as society, and we will not let it be cut, divided and sold to the highest bidder.

COME & JOIN US!

Facebook event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/864328026955753/

Tory HQ can be found at 96A Sydney Mews, Bath BA2 4ED Bathwick (behind the Church at the bottom of Bathwick Hill)

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Bath Against Cuts - Join Your Local Anti-Cuts Group

An important message from a member of Bath Against Cuts - Bath's number one opponents to cuts and austerity.

I expect you are all gutted by the election result but five years ago some of set up a anti-cuts campaign to fight the coalition's attacks on the poor and vulnerable. We together have done good work over the last five years. With a majority Tory government we are now needed more than ever. This new government will continue to attack the NHS, people on benefits and trade union activists. If you feel as I do please come to the anti-cuts organising meeting on Tuesday 12th May at the Ram Widcombe at 8 pm. 

The fight back starts now.

Bath Against Cuts usually meets on the first Tuesday of every month (it's the second Tuesday this month due to the election) at 8pm in The Ram.

For more info, follow @bathagainstcuts and check their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/bathagainstcuts

Read our post-election commentary here

Contact details of Bath and Bristol activist groups here - get involved

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September Date for Public Toilet Council Debate

Following the occupation of Twerton Public Toilets and a lot of petition signatures, here is an update from the Save Our Public Toilets campaign:

Following the hand-in of the 2400 odd signature petition  on Friday 9th, the B&NES Democratic Services are counting the number of B&NES post codes to ensure there are 1000 to trigger a council debate.  

 

Assuming that a full council debate will be triggered, possibly on Thursday Sept 12th, we are researching other aspects, legal and financial, to raise with various councillors and to include in a statement to that meeting.  The meeting starts at the unusually late time of 7:30pm, preceded by another full council meeting to do with approving aldermen, which starts at 6:30pm. 

 

Unfortunately, John Bull, leader of the Labour group in the council, whose support would be necessary to reverse any entrenched policy, (along with the Independent "group"), is saying, "The Labour Group will be discussing it (prior to the Council debate in September).  But, in the light of our difficulty in suggesting where else the axe should fall, I think that a paying system is maybe worth looking at, certainly for Larkhall."  

 

So far the Independents, led by Bryan Chalker, are of the same mind, and although we are awaiting further communication, nothing in their previous ones engenders hope of change.  Which is why it is necessary to pursue other lines of research.

 

Another organisation, Bath Against the Cuts, is holding a demonstration between 5 - 5:30pm on Sept 12th outside the Guildhall, and is planning to make a registered statement to the council, as we will for the Save Our Public Toilets campaign.

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Visions for Change 2013 - Full Details Announced

Here's the latest press release from Bath People's Assembly on this Saturday's Visions for Change event - NOT TO BE MISSED!!!

After months of planning, Visions for Change 2013 will open its doors to the public at 11am Saturday 27^th April. More than just groups with stalls, this year’s event features talks and short films, as well as the opportunity to engage with various groups active in the Bath area, find out what they are doing to make the world a better place and to get involved.

Organised by Bath People’s Assembly, the independent democratic forum that all residents of Bath are welcome to attend the meetings of, the event promises to be an exciting one, with a diverse range of groups and speakers, from environmental groups such as Greenpeace and Green Vision, groups concerned with business and economics such as Avon Co-operative Development Agency, the Bath Oliver and Bath LETS, groups campaigning for peace and an end to poverty such as Bath StopWar Coalition, Bath Amnesty and Bath Oxfam, groups opposing government cuts and the current handling of the economy including Bath Against Cuts, Occupy Bath, 38 Degrees and BARF, and many others, including Bath Foodcycle, New Hope and directors of radical films.

Last year’s event was a huge success – the event was packed out and many groups met each other for the first time and have since worked together more closely. It also inspired a similar event in Norwich, and an organiser from Visions for Change Norwich will be speaking at the Bath event. This year the event will be held on two floors – on the ground floor will be stalls and a café run by South West Food Not Bombs, and in the basement will be talks, short films and a radical photography exhibition.

The event is free and is open to the public between 11am and 3pm,and is in the Friends’ Meeting House, York St., Bath, BA1 1NG. Up to date information can be found on the Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/158627290953876/?fref=ts

The full list of groups attending this year is as follows:

Greenpeace
Bath Oxfam
Bath Against Cuts
Bath Amnesty
Energy Efficient Widcombe
38 Degrees
BARF (Bath Anarchists)
The Zeitgeist Movement
Occupy Bath
South West Against Nuclear
Bath Stop War Coalition
Bath Foodcycle
Frack Free Somerset
Bath People's Assembly
New Hope
Secret City
Bath Quakers
Bath Friends of Palestine
Bath Against the Badger Cull
Green Vision: The Bath Youth Climate Movement
Clevelands Pool Trust
Bath Green Drinks
Visions for Change Norwich
Forum Bath
Bath LETS
Bath Oliver
South West Food Not Bombs
Avon Co-operative Development Agency

UPDATE: Film director Ken Loach has now been confirmed as the guest speaker, between 11:30 and 12:00

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Bath Bedroom Tax Demo

Bath Bedroom tax demo

The ConDem government's much-despised Bedroom Tax got a thrashing in around 60 cities today with protests in opposition to the tax taking place across the country.

In two weeks the Bedroom Tax will be implemented unless we stop it. This tax could hit half a million or more of the most hard-up in society. Essentially, anyone in social housing with a spare room will be hit by this tax - under which benefits could be slashed by up to 14%. This is yet another example of getting the poor to pay for the mess made by the rich.

The Bath demonstration was attended by around 150 people, with banners, placards and megaphones. Many were not affiliated to any particular party or group, and those groups with members in attendance included BARF, SolFed, Bath Against Cuts, the Socialist Worker's Party, Occupy Bath, the Green Party and the Quakers. Lin Patterson from the Quakers said about the demonstration: "This is an unfair discriminatory tax that's being challenged in the courts and will be revealed as a wrong turn by court decisions and people's activism". Celia from the SWP was appalled at the Bedroom Tax: "I think it's fantastic to see so many organisations united against this disgusting attack on the poor and vulnerable in society. This attack is an attempt to divide us, to encourage people to blame a neighbour with a spare room, rather than unite against this vicious Tory government".

Demonstrations were planned by a wide range of groups across Britain, however one Eoin Clarke of the Labour party decided to co-ordinate the day of action by creating Facebook event pages. Eoin has a large social media following, and writes the blog "The Green Benches" (on which he has apologised for making false claims), and is the founder of Labour Left, a relatively small faction of the Labour party with more left-wing ideals than the main party. While Eoin may have co-ordinated these demonstrations, there have been accusations of failing to contact existing campaigns, including tenants' groups who will be directly affected by the tax. While the mainstream Labour Party has attacked the Tories over the tax, there has been some division within the party, with an MP claiming that the Labour Party would enforce the tax in cases where people turned down smaller accommodation. The Labour Party also introduced the bedroom tax to the private rented sector back in 2008. What is more, I have personally witnessed the removal of several posts making this point on Bedroom Tax demonstration Facebook event pages and there have been reports of several more instances. Simon Jilley was one such person who had a post removed from the Bath page: "I was absolutely shocked to find myself being blocked from the Bath Bedroom Tax Facebook page after I had put a post on it at about 5pm on Friday afternoon regarding the corruption within the British Labour Party in its stance towards the Bedroom Tax. This is a deeply repressive action from a political party that, inherently, should not be leading demonstrations if they are going to act like this. We, the people, are much stronger than their party, and we will continue to prove this in our future force that we show". Rather than discussing these points in an open forum, they were simply deleted and the users were blocked. There were also reports on Twitter today of the Labour Party in Liverpool protecting the National Front during the demonstration there who were also photographing anti-fascists.

Having spoken to one of the Bath Labour Party organisers, I am satisfied that they are personally opposed to this tax, and are genuinely outside of the mainstream Labour Party - and this is not a personal attack on them, and I know that - in Bath at least - some attempt was made to engage with other groups. However, I believe in seeking alternatives to the outdated party political system, and Labour are certainly not a party that I, and many others opposed to the coalition's assault on the 99%, have any respect left for.

Bearing the above in mind, many felt that Labour were in no position to claim the demonstration as their own, and many took it upon themselves to continue the demonstration by having a march around town, passing through Southgate, Milsom Street, the Abbey Church Yard and ending up in Queen Square, a site of special for significance for many radicals, having been previously home to first Occupy Bath encampment. Approximately 80 people joined this impromptu march, fronted by a large number of anarchist banners, with much chanting against all three main political parties as well as the Bedroom Tax, the rich and government cuts. The police were not numerous enough to stop it, and instead gave in and flanked the march - and even stopped traffic to allow us to progress. Many of those left behind at the Guildhall were either Labour organisers (who had signed a contract with the police that this would be a static demo) or were too ill to march.

Bath Bedroom Tax march through Southgate.

Bath Bedroom Tax demo in Queen Square

The march enabled us to reach a wider number of people, and we were cheered on and joined by passers by. Following the march, Jon from SolFed commented: "The day of protest was great, but up and down the country people are organising to refuse to pay the Bedroom Tax and resist bailiffs. Direct action can beat the Bedroom Tax". An Occupy Bath and BARF supporter said: "I think the genuine anger people feel with the ConDem government is evident in the spontaneous but vibrant march through the city centre."

The government has the choice to listen or to ignore us. And if they ignore us, we'll be there out in force once more, and will support those affected by the tax by any means possible. With so many attacks on the poor, the vulnerable, the students, the unemployed and the normal hard-working people of Britain, the time to start fighting back - more than ever - is now. Today showed that more and more people are paying attention to what is happening to this country, and they don't like what they see.

Today, the people have spoken. This is what democracy looks like.

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Bath Against Cuts - NHS Flyer

Here is the new leaflet produced by Bath Against Cuts to tie in with Ken Loach's new film, Spirit of '45, about the creation of the NHS. Of course, as we all know, the NHS was created under Clement Attlee's Labour government. However, this is not an endorsement of the Labour party, who over the intervening decades have grown increasingly right wing and barely resemble the party they were back when the NHS was created.

Trailer for the film: 

There will be a showing of the at the independent Little Theatre in Bath at 3pm on Sunday 17 March with a satellite link-up with director Ken Loach, however tickets are now sold out. The flyer will be handed out following the showing. There are, however, other showings of the film at the Little Theatre - see their website for times http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/The_Little/

Front of flyer:

 

Reverse of flyer:

 

For more information contact: bathagainstcuts@yahoo.co.uk

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Workfare Demonstration Outside WH Smith in Bath City Centre

Anti-workfare demonstration outside WH Smith in Bath city centre (Standing Stone)

On Saturday 7 July 2012, an anti-workfare demonstration took place outside WH Smith in Union Street, Bath. Members of BARF, Bath Against Cuts and Occupy Bath set up outside the shop at 11.30am with a large "Workfare is Slavery" banner and handed out leaflets and engaged with passers by. Despite continuous rain, the demonstration went on until 13.00 and hundreds of leaflets were handed out. No staff members from WH Smith approached the demonstration and the response from the public was overwhelmingly positive.

Originally, the demonstration was planned to target Holland and Barrett, however the day before the demonstration they announced that they were leaving the workfare scheme. More on Holland and Barrett here, and a previous workfare article on Standing Stone's Blog can be found here.

Next Saturday is the "We Are Bristol" march against the EDL - stay tuned for updates.

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