When the richest 20% of people vote to attack the poorest 20% – a crude but not unfair summary of what just happened in the election – then any talk of democratic mandates or majorities is redundant. What we are left with instead is human decency – do we want to live in a society where diabetics die because they cannot afford the electricity to chill their medicine? Or where children are socially cleansed away from their schools, friends and families because neither benefits or wages are enough to pay soaring rents?
Do we want to live in a country where strikes are virtually banned, or where dissidents can be targetted by the full force of the state even when they have committed no crime? And if anyone complains they will be smeared as thugs by the bullying right wing press and told they have no right to protest? Are these the so-called British values that created the welfare state, won votes for women and the working class, or defeated Fascism both in Europe and on our own streets?
If the answers to these questions is no then there is really little choice left. We need to fight these bastards like never before. Parliamentary democracy has failed to curb the most repugnant excesses of the rich. No political party is riding over the hill to save us, this went beyond labour vs tory a long time ago. The fight for the soul of this disunited kingdom will now take place in the streets and workplaces, or wherever we can wedge a spanner in the works. No-one can stand idly by now, not unless you want to see a country in which millions suffer poverty and those who object get a truncheon in the face. Or a bullet depending on the colour of your skin.
We are witnessing the emergence of a government that seems intent on combining the worst of Margaret Thatcher’s ideological greed with the petty control-freakery of Tony Blair. It is the worst of all political worlds, the ultimate neo-liberal triumph combined with an attempt to crush any last trace of dissent
But do not believe the fucking hype. Most people did not vote Tory. The working class vote for UKIP does not represent a significant rise in racism or bigotry – go to any working class area and see people of all races working and living together, fucking and loving each other. That’s not to deny there is work to be done. But you don’t see that in Surbiton or Chelsea.
For many who voted UKIP, and Green and SNP, their vote was for a plague on all their houses. A vote that we have had enough of the rich run rampant and politicians that either couldn’t give a fuck about us or outright despise us. This Government is as weak as any that has come before, they know it and they are terrified. That is why they are shouting so loud.
What is now needed to be done will not be easy. It will be frustrating and frightening, exhausting and even boring at times and we will need to keep coming back, over and over again. It will mean protests that don’t ask for permission in advance, civil disobedience on a scale not yet seen, real strikes not flimsy one day gestures and a movement that is prepared to defend itself. One that doesnt get drawn into lazy tabloid stereotypes of good and bad protesters, or distracted by careless graffiti, or even gives a flying fuck what the Daily Mail and the wealthy they serve thinks and says about us.
A diversity of tactics is vital, there is no pure method of achieving radical change. We should work together where we can and part as friends when we cannot. We are all on the same side, they made sure of that centuries ago. They started class war when they threw us off our land, forced our children into factories, sent our young to die in their wars and now want to strip away everything those returning heroes won for working class people. It’s time we fought back like never before. All of us, united, against the fucking rich.
There are upcoming protests in Glasgow, Peterborough, Manchester, Sheffield, Cardiff, Winchester, Newcastle, Leeds and many more to come – please feel free to leave details of upcoming events, protests or actions in the comments.
Class War and the National Coalition Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC) have both called a protest in Central London on the day of the state opening of Parliament, May 27th – keep it free.
UK Uncut have called a day of action on Saturday May 30th, which coincides with a protest against scrapping the Human Right’s Act.
A massive demonstration wil be taking place in the City of London on the 20th June.
Please help spread the word about all events and let’s make them huge.