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Solidarity protest with Greek people demanding an alternative to austerit

6pm Radcliffe Square, Oxford.   Thursday 2nd July

The strength of the mood for a fight back against continuing austerity was reflected in the 250,000 strong demonstration in London on  20th June.  There will be protests in towns and cities across the UK against Osborne's budget to slash another £13 billion of welfare spending.  Demonstrate in Oxford - 8th July  - assemble 6 pm Carfax Tower 7th July facebook event

The European Union (EU), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are demanding brutal austerity in exchange for extending Greece’s bailout programme, which expired on Tuesday of this week.

The programme amounts to lending the Greek government money for it to give back straight away as debt repayments.

After previous governments agreed to do the institutions’ dirty work, people elected Tsipras’ left wing Syriza party in January to break the cycle.

But it has made compromise after compromise. Last week Syriza agreed to deep cuts, privatisations and tax hikes worth £5.7 billion a year.

Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis described it as “austerian”—but the institutions demanded more.  

IMF boss Christine Lagarde called for benefit cuts that would slash 60 percent off the poorest pensioners’ incomes. This would be particularly devastating as unemployment left whole families reliant on pensioners’ incomes.

Under pressure the Syriza government has called a referendum pitting the people against the banks and the poltiics of austerity.  A rejection by the Greek people opens the door to a rejection of austerity across the whole of Europe.  The austerity institutions and politicians will pile on the pressure to make sure this does not happen.  The Greek people need to see they have our support in demanding a system that doesn't require the destruction of jobs, wages, pensions and public services.

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1 week to go "End Austerity Now" national demonstration London 20th June

Book seats on Oxfordshire transport here or call 07890081211. Book now as seats are running out.

Transport is running from Banbury, Bicester, Didcot, Abingdon, and Oxford.  Seats are free to union members otherwise £12 waged and £6 concessions. 

 

Slasher Tory chancellor George Osborne unveiled £3 billion more cuts last week - on top of the £13 billion cuts already planned.

The cuts will hit public services including education, transport and local government. They will make it even harder for councils to deliver key services such as social care.

Together with the sell-off of the government's remaining shares in Royal Mail, Osborne hopes to make a total of £4.5 billion in "savings".

The cuts are three times higher than Osborne's Office for Budget Responsibility predicted. 

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the Tories were "misleading" over the scale of the cuts in their manifesto.

It said the Tories would need to slash £33 billion a year to meet their promise to cut the deficit - not the £13 billion previously claimed.

Osborne's budget on 8 July could unveil even more. The Tories hope to drive through savage cuts fast.

They have raised the stakes. We need to do the same.

 

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END AUSTERITY NOW - demonstrate June 20

PA June 20 flyer side 1 web versionMany will be shocked at the prospect of another 5 years of cuts, attacks on the workers and the poor, and an escalation of racism to divert anger away from the government.  We can't afford to sit back and wait for another general election - Cameron and co have made it clear they intend to go on the rampage in the next 100 days.  July will set a budget with £12 billion of cuts.  We need to build resistance now.

The People's Assembly is organising a major national demonstration to tell the new government:

Assemble: 12pm, Saturday 20 June 
Bank of England (Queen Victoria Street) 
London (Tube: Bank)

With the Tories going it alone in government we know exactly what to expect. More nasty, destructive cuts to the things ordinary people care about- the NHS, the welfare state, education and public services.

We'll be assembling the demonstration in the heart of the City of London right on the doorstep of the very people who created the crisis in the first place, the banks and their friends in Westminster. We demand that the bankers and elite should pay for the crisis and not the vast majority who had nothing to do with it.

Now is the time to get organizing, to mobilize our communities, to prepare transport and spread the word. We need to do all that we can to make this demonstration bigger and bolder than ever we have done before.

Transport from Oxford is being arranged, details to follow.

 
 
Oxford mobilising committee for J20 demonstration
 
7pm Thursay 21st May, Oxford town HAll - all welcome
 
Oxford People's Assembly have called a mobilising committee meeting to build the national People's Assembly End Austerity Now demonstration. The demo is shaping up to be a massive show of resistance to the new government's £12 billion cuts programme, attacks on the right to strike and human rights, anti-migrant and anti-Muslim racism.

This is a fantastic opportunity to unite the left in coordinating efforts for the biggest possible Oxfordshire wide mobilisation for what will be a massive show of anti-austerity unity in the face of Tory attacks.

Already union branches are sending delegates representing thousands of workers in Oxfordshire, and students. Support is also anticipated from a range of social justice campaigns. 

Please talk to your union branch, friends and campaign groups about coming along to the meeting to help build the biggest turn out possible from across Oxfordshire.
 

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Oxfordshire housing graphic
 
 
Printed materials available on request - mail back for supplies and if you would like to help with stalls to build the march.
 
Urgent action is needed to address the housing crisis in Oxfordshire. More and more people cannot afford to live and work in Oxford. According to Affordable Oxford you need an income of £70,000 a year to afford a mortgage on a mid-price semi-detached house in Oxford. For many low paid workers buying a house is simply not an option, and are people forced to pay exorbitant rents and extortionate fees, unless you are one of the few to secure social housing - but that is now under attack. Homelessness is on the rise.
 
As well undermining living standards as people pour a greater proportion of wages into housing, the housing crisis is undermining our public services and local economy. Local hospitals cannot recruit and retain staff.
 
Many Oxford based workers have to commute with all the additional costs and environmental impact. We are expected to pay London prices but few places offer wages to reflect this. That is why health workers in Thames Valley are demanding parity with London NHS workers who get up to £5,000 a year to help with housing costs.
 
Underpinning the exorbitant rents and house prices is the shortage of council housing, thanks to Tory right to buy, and their preventing councils replacing houses bought by tenants. Many ex-council houses have ended up in the hands of buy to let landlords. There is no commitment to build the amount of social housing needed to provide affordable rents.
 
The result is a housing shortage that has forced up house prices, rents and homelessness. The new Housing Act is set to make the situation worse, with councils forced to sell off property, tenants forced to pay market rents, and an end to secure tenancies.
Wage rises are needed to help workers to continue to live in Oxford and to support public services, we need to stop the attack on council housing and demand the building of secure social housing to stop wages being eaten up by more rent and house price rises, and to ensure there is enough housing to prevent homelessness.
 
Supported by Oxfordshire UNISON Health Branch; Oxford City UNISON; Ruskin UCU; Oxfordshire NASUWT; Oxon and Bucks PCS; Oxford peoples Assembly; Oxford Momentum; Oxford Housing Intitaive