Hackney against the cuts
Published:
March 03, 2011 16:06
by
y
Neighbourhoods: hackney
Wednesday 2nd March and Thursday 3rd March have seen some resistance against the cuts in Hackney. On wednesday, the Hackney Alliance to Defend Public Services called for a lobby outside the Hackney Town hall while the council was voting the cuts budget. Then today, a group of people invaded the town hall for a quick anti-cuts banner drop.
See The call out | video 1 | video 2 | pics 1 | pics 2 | tumblewire | Cuts newswire
Sod austerity!
Protest at the Town Hall
On Wednesday 2nd of March, around 300 people gathered outside Hackney Town hall to protest against the Labour council voting devastating cuts. After endless speeches, a thinned down crowd started marching around the Town Hall, blockading the road and scuffling about with the barriers on the Town Hall steps. For a full report see here.
On that night, the councilors showed whose interests they really represent. They try to scapegoat the government saying they had no choice because the budget was imposed on them from central government. But they had a choice, they could have voted for a needs budget, they didn't even try! See there for a more detailed account from the Gallery during the council meeting.
Then on thursday morning, a group of "concerned Hackney residents" paid a quick visit to the CYPS (Young People Services) on Mare st next to the town hall, to express their concern over the cuts relating to youth services. Hackney youth service is being shut down and merged with the Youth Offending Team to create "Young Hackney Service". This means that one department will have to do the work of two, while 95 jobs are being cut. In poor areas like hackney, where there are many vulnerable disadvantaged young people, youth services are absolutely essential. Not that we were expecting much from them, but shame on labour council for abandoning the most vulnerable!
After this visit, the same group invaded the town hall and the upstairs room to drop a couple of anticuts banners from the balcony. They entered and quickly invaded the first floor balcony, dropping a first banner saying simply "Stop the cuts". This was taken quite violently by the security guards and couldn't be photographed :( Then a second one was dropped "Against the cuts and the state". Probably reminding us that the state is not part of the solution to save us from capitalism and its crisis, but part of the problem!
Join the resistance against the cuts!
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Hackney Town Hall resembles a war zone as budget passed
Published: March 04, 2011 13:27
by
rtw
Up to 500 anti-cuts protesters gathered outside Hackney Town Hall while 50 more crammed into the viewers gallery inside on the evening of Wednesday, 2nd March as Hackney’s Labour council met to pass their 2011/12 budget.
Hackney Town Hall itself resembled a war zone ringed as it was with crash barriers, police and security staff.
The Con-dems have forced spending cuts of £44million on Hackney – one of the poorest boroughs in the UK never mind London. 51 of the 57 council seats in Hackney are held by Labour. They were not elected to implement the Con-dem cuts. But instead of fighting the cuts, the Labour council announced it would set a cuts budget insisting that they would “not be making any cuts to front line services in the borough.”
An atmosphere of smug self-satisfaction characterised the Labour group as councillor after councillor rose to congratulate Mayor Jules Pipe and the budget he was proposing.
Pipe is arguing that it’s ‘better’ that Tory cuts are carried out by Labour than by the Tories. Pipe repeatedly argued in the run up to Wednesday’s meeting that he’s against the cuts but will abide by them and set a budget within the framework of the cuts. This is known as the ‘dented shield’ strategy – and it’s one Labour council’s across the UK adopted when Thatcher was in power. It didn’t work then either.
Hackney’s budget document itself is a masterpiece of confusion and obscuration concealing cuts behind a wall of figures and graphs and positive spin.
But while the council carried out the Tories dirty work and congratulated themselves on doing it, the protesters in the gallery made their feelings known. The meeting was held against a constant and angry barrage of outrage from Hackney residents. The speaker was forced to suspended the meeting and clear the council chamber for half-an-hour before the budget ‘debate’ could resume. Heckles included “So much courage in the Middle-East, So little in Hackney Town Hall”, “No if’s, no buts, No public sector cuts”, “Tax the Rich”, “How can you stand up without a back-bone?”, “Pipe’s is delusional” and “Shove your ‘dented shield’ where the sun don’t shine.”
The councillors, in turn, made their contempt for the protesters all too obvious.
We were dismissed as ‘chimps’ in the twitters (made from the council chamber during the budget ‘debate’) sent out by Labour councillor Luke Akehurst.
Meanwhile protestors outside the Town Hall made their feelings know by holding up Mare Street for half-an-hour.
The vote for the budget, when it came, was passed overwhelmingly.
Unfortunately the 6 Labour councillors who had raised concerns about the budget (see link below) voted for it. Had they voted agaisnt they would have helped build the movement against the cuts.
Hackney’s Labour council voted for their cuts budget to the deafening chant of “Shame on you for turning Blue!” After the vote was taken the speaker was forced to clear the chamber again.
Pipe and his fellow Labour councillors might be deluding themselves that they can implement Tory cuts without damaging services but no-one else shares their fantasy. As the local paper, The Hackney Gazette, puts it this morning (03/03/11) : “…the council cannot absorb funding cuts of such magnitude without significant job losses and the quality of services people rely on suffering.”
The fight goes on.
http://righttowork.org.uk/2011/03/hackney-town-hall-resembles-a-war-zone-as-budget-passed/
http://righttowork.org.uk/2011/02/six-hackney-councillors-sign-joint-statement-against-cuts/
ReelNews video from feb 19th
Published: March 04, 2011 13:31
by
reels
Kensington protest same night
Published: March 05, 2011 10:16
by
fight the cuts
Council agrees 'blood bath' budget cuts
Protesters filled Kensington Town Hall as the council passed budget plans which will see hundreds of job cuts including in children's and social services.
As councillors debated the spending cuts, dubbed a 'blood bath' by one member, people shouted from the public gallery: "These are people's lives, not a joke."
But the plans were voted through, meaning that the council will be clawing back £50m in grant cuts in a number of ways, but controversially, not by touching the £169m it has in reserves.
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Fantastic!
Nice one people :)
Strike, Occupy, Resist!