Many people commenting on this site want a real\u00a0alternative\u00a0to neoliberalism.<\/p>\n
They'd like\u00a0Labour\u00a0to provide it, but so far it is not doing so. That, I am sure, is why the\u00a0People\u2019s Assembly Against Austerity <\/strong><\/a>has been launched.<\/p>\n The appeal from the Guardian is linked below. There are more\u00a0details\u00a0here. I share it because I think it appropriate to do so. We need change and Labour has to be told as much as anyone it seems. I am pleased that the Greens do not sem to need that reminder.<\/p>\n The People\u2019s Assembly Against Austerity was launched with a\u00a0letter to the\u00a0Guardian<\/a>\u00a0by the initial signatories below:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n This is a call to all those millions of people in Britain who face an impoverished and uncertain year as their wages, jobs, conditions and welfare provision come under renewed attack by the government. With some 80% of austerity measures still to come, and with the government lengthening the time they expect cuts to last, we are calling a People\u2019s Assembly Against Austerity to bring together campaigns against cuts and privatisation with trade unionists in a movement for social justice. We aim to develop a strategy for resistance to mobilise millions of people against the Con Dem government.<\/em><\/p>\n The assembly will provide a national forum for anti-austerity views which, while increasingly popular, are barely represented in parliament. A People\u2019s Assembly can play a key role in ensuring that this uncaring government faces a movement of opposition broad enough and powerful enough to generate successful co-ordinated action, including strike action. The assembly will be ready to support co-ordinated industrial action and national demonstrations against austerity, if possible synchronising with mobilisations across Europe. The People\u2019s Assembly Against Austerity will meet at Central Hall, Westminster,\u00a0on 22 June.<\/em><\/p>\n Tony Benn\u00a0<\/strong>President, Coalition of Resistance<\/em><\/p>\n Len McCluskey\u00a0<\/strong>General secretary, Unite the Union\u00a0<\/strong><\/em> Caroline Lucas MP<\/strong><\/em> Tariq Ali\u00a0<\/strong>Author<\/em> Dot Gibson\u00a0<\/strong>National Pensioners Convention\u00a0Keep our NHS Public<\/em> Lindsey German\u00a0<\/strong>Convenor, Stop the War Coalition<\/em> Mark Steel\u00a0<\/strong>Comedian John Rees\u00a0<\/strong>Counterfire editorial board<\/em> \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Many people commenting on this site want a real\u00a0alternative\u00a0to neoliberalism. They’d like\u00a0Labour\u00a0to provide it, but so far it is not doing so. That, I am
\nMark Serwotka\u00a0<\/strong>General secretary, PCS\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>
\nChristine Blower\u00a0<\/strong>General secretary, NUT<\/em>
\nMichelle Stanistreet\u00a0<\/strong>General secretary, NUJ<\/em>
\nManuel Cortez\u00a0<\/strong>General secretary, TSSA<\/em>
\nBilly Hayes\u00a0<\/strong>General secretary, CWU<\/em>
\nBob Crow\u00a0<\/strong>General secretary, RMT<\/em>
\nMick Whelan\u00a0<\/strong>General secretary, Aslef<\/em>
\nKevin Courtney\u00a0<\/strong>Deputy general secretary, NUT<\/em>
\nPaul Mackney\u00a0<\/strong>Former general secretary Natfhe (now UCU)<\/em>
\nVicky Baars\u00a0<\/strong>NUS union development<\/em>
\nKevin Donnelly\u00a0<\/strong>Trade Union Council JCC<\/em><\/p>\n
\nKaty Clark MP<\/strong><\/em>
\nJeremy Corbyn MP<\/strong><\/em>
\nJohn McDonnell MP<\/strong><\/em>
\nMurad Qureshi\u00a0<\/strong>London assembly member<\/em>
\nDawn Butler\u00a0<\/strong>Former Labour minister for young citizens and youth engagement<\/em><\/p>\n
\nJohn Pilger\u00a0<\/strong>Journalist<\/em>
\nKen Loach\u00a0<\/strong>Filmmaker<\/em>
\nOwen Jones\u00a0<\/strong>Writer<\/em>
\nJames Meadway\u00a0<\/strong>Senior economist, New Economics Foundation<\/em><\/p>\n
\nMerry Cross\u00a0<\/strong>Disabled People Against the Cuts<\/em>
\nJohn Hendy QC\u00a0<\/strong>Co-chair, People\u2019s Charter<\/em>
\nJohn Hilary\u00a0<\/strong>Director, War on Want<\/em>
\nSam Fairbairn\u00a0<\/strong>National secretary, Coalition of Resistance<\/em>
\nImran Khan\u00a0<\/strong>Solicitor, co-chair, People\u2019s Charter<\/em>
\nRachael Newton\u00a0<\/strong>People\u2019s Charter<\/em>
\nRomayne Phoenix\u00a0<\/strong>Chair, Coalition of Resistance<\/em>
\nZita Holbourne\u00a0<\/strong>Co-chair, Black activists rising against the cuts<\/em>
\nClare Solomon\u00a0<\/strong>Vice-chair, Coalition of Resistance<\/em>
\nAndrew Burgin\u00a0<\/strong>Vice-chair, Coalition of Resistance<\/em>
\nColin Hampton\u00a0<\/strong>Co-ordinator, National Unemployed Workers Centres Combine<\/em>
\nAnita Wright\u00a0<\/strong>Secretary, National Association of Women<\/em>
\nJoginder Bains\u00a0<\/strong>Association of Indian Women<\/em>
\nShang Gahonia\u00a0<\/strong>Indian Workers Association<\/em>
\nCarolyn Jones\u00a0<\/strong>Director, Institute of Employment Rights<\/em><\/p>\n
\nKate Hudson\u00a0<\/strong>General secretary, CND<\/em>
\nBruce Kent\u00a0<\/strong>Peace campaigner<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Lee Hall<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Playwright<\/em>
\nRoger Lloyd Pack\u00a0<\/strong>Actor<\/em>
\nJosie Long\u00a0<\/strong>Comedian<\/em>
\nIain Banks\u00a0<\/strong>Author<\/em>
\nArthur Smith\u00a0<\/strong>Comedian<\/em>
\nRoy Bailey\u00a0<\/strong>Folk singer<\/em>
\nFrancesca Martinez\u00a0<\/strong>Comedian
\nRichard Wilson\u00a0<\/strong>Actor<\/em><\/p>\n
\nNatalie Bennett\u00a0<\/strong>Leader of the Green Party England and Wales<\/em>
\nFred Leplat\u00a0<\/strong>Socialist Resistance<\/em>
\nRobert Griffiths\u00a0<\/strong>General secretary, Communist Party of Britain<\/em>
\nBill Greenshields\u00a0<\/strong>Chair, Communist Party of Britain<\/em>
\nRichard Bagley\u00a0<\/strong>Editor, Morning Star<\/em><\/p>\n
Read the full article…<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}