report on ukuncut budget protest at downing st
Published:
March 21, 2012 22:45
by
rikki
Neighbourhoods: westminster
up to 350 people formed a queue outside downing street this morning in a protest called by ukuncut revisiting and subverting the famous 'labour isn't working' poster that helped bring thatcher to power in 1979. as per the original ad, at the head of the queue was an "unemployment office". also at the front of the queue were some disabled activists from 'disabled people against cuts', who feel particularly targetted by changes to the national health service, new rules on disability benefit (policed by private company ATOS), and by cuts and privatisation of a whole swathe of support services.
see also report and pics on budget day parliament protest
front of the queue
some sobering figures
austerity isn't working
downing street
can't pay banner
taxing our patience
riding through the glen (tobin tax activists)
PCS banner
dole money
the chancellor's red case
trident protestors including bruce kent
crowd begins to move
click on image for larger version. 'some rights reserved' - free for credited non-commercial use, otherwise contact author for permission
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also in the queue were activists promoting the so-called robin hood tax (or tobin tax on financial transactions). across the road were bruce kent and other anti-trident protestors highlighting the cost of the nuclear deterrent against social spending.
after around 30 minutes, people were encouraged to pass under the 'unemployment office' banner and receive mock dole money, and then they made their way down to parliament square. there however, they were told they could not go on the grass, and were given such a small area to protest in that they decided to move on, first to victoria gardens and then spreading around the media village at college green (aka abingdon street gardens) - report on this later.
Contact email: rikkiindymedia(At)gmail[dot]com
Additions
More links and background
Published: March 22, 2012 10:17
by
rise up
Set of pics from TunbridgeWellsUncut:
http://imgur.com/a/9CDkY#0
More pics:
http://www.demotix.com/news/1117998/budget-day-protests-downing-street-london
http://www.demotix.com/news/1117249/austerity-isnt-working-queue-downing-street-budget-day
http://www.demotix.com/news/1118109/budget-day-media-protest-front-parliament-london
http://www.demotix.com/news/1117511/budget-protesters-gather-outside-10-downing-street-and-college-green
http://www.demotix.com/news/1117499/black-rod-confronts-austerity-protesters-college-green
Video of demo:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2012/mar/21/budget-protest-uk-uncut-dole-queue-video
UKUNCUT: Hundreds join UK Uncut's Downing Street Dole Queue to tell George Osborne that 'Austerity Isn't Working'
Nearly 400 UK Uncut protestors gathered to form a 'dole queue' outside Downing St today to highlight soaring unemployment under the government's austerity programme [1].
Unemployed people from across London came together with members of the anti-austerity direct action group UK Uncut to recreate the Tories' iconic 1979 election poster featuring a queue of jobseekers snaking into the distance [2]. 400 people joined the queue, which snaked up Whitehall towards Trafalgar Square.
After the queue finished, UK Uncut protestors made their way to the outdoor broadcast area on College Gardens where their chanting of 'Tax the rich, not the poor' forced the BBC to abandon an interview with Lib Dem president Tim Farron.
Jobseeker Rachel Goodwin said: "Osborne goes on about growth but the only the thing that's growing under his austerity programme is the number of people out of work. He claims this is a Budget for 'working people'. Well, there will continue to be fewer and fewer of those unless he halts his devastating public sector cuts and looks to the alternatives."
UK Uncut activist Joe Brooking said: "Austerity isn't just unfair and unnecessary - it isn't working. Instead of continuing with his slash-and-burn economics, George Osborne should use the £25bn/year avoided in tax by corporations and rich individuals to prevent further public sector job losses and start creating opportunities for young people. Osborne talks tough on tax avoidance, yet he's opening up a new tax loophole that will cost the UK nearly £1bn a year by the Treasury's own estimates."
Emily Heywood, who has recently taken part in the Government's controversial 'workfare' scheme, said: "Whilst George attempts to get us to focus on Britain's rosy relationship with the ratings agencies, he knows a million 16-24 year olds are out of work. As he bangs on about low borrowing costs, Britain's female unemployment rate has hit a 25 year high. Austerity may be working for the bond markets and the banks, but it isn't working for Britain."
[1] Details of event at http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/blog/austerity-isnt-working. The jobless total is at a 17-year high of 2.67m, with female unemployment at a 25 year high. Youth unemployment stands at 1.04m, a rate of 22.5%, the highest since records began in 1992.
[2] See http://gordonsrepublic.brandrepublic.com/2011/03/31/labour-isn-t-working-one-of-only-two-political-ads-to-make-hall-of-fame/ for original and http://dl.dropbox.com/u/136370/alternatives.png for subverted version reading 'Austerity Isn't Working'
http://ukuncut.org.uk/blog/hundreds-join-uk-uncut-to-form-dole-queue-outside-downing-street
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2nd report now published
my report and pics on later protests around parliament are now posted at
http://london.indymedia.org/articles/11928