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Labour’s resistance - LRC conference 2011

Sarah Evans Andover
3rd November 2011 at 12:07
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Speakers from Britain’s sharpest front-line campaigns, including OccupyLSX, the UNITE electricians’ dispute and the defence of Dale Farm, will lead debates at the Labour Representation Committee’s annual conference, Labour’s Resistance, in London on November 19.

They will be joined by firefighters’ leader Matt Wrack, pensioners’ convention general secretary Dot Gibson, leading left MPs Katy Clark, Jeremy Corbyn and LRC chair John McDonnell MP, and by Haringey community and youth worker Symeon Brown.

The conference comes as people across the globe are making the link between corporate greed and joblessness, poverty and homelessness, and are increasingly prepared to take direct action – giving rise to one of the most inspirational movements seen for years.

The line-up of speakers reflects the growing resistance in Britain, where it is increasingly apparent that the global economic crisis is being used as a smoke-screen for the destruction of public services, jobs, and welfare.

With the most vulnerable in society being targeted and criminalised while the Tories’ wealthy chums have their corporate noses in the trough of privatisation and patronage, never has there been a more important time to build Labour’s resistance.

LRC chair John McDonnell MP said: “The government’s brutal and ideological attack on everything we hold dear marks a turning point for the movement – a turning point that could, if we all stand together, see the reversal of three decades of neo-liberal policies.

“Not in many of our life-times have we seen so many working people taking a stand against capitalism in the way that we are now – the student protests, the occupy protests, the anti-war protests and trade unionists’ action in June and on November 30.

“This is the final battle for our welfare state, our NHS and everything that Labour fought for in 1945: it is vital that Labour takes its place at the helm and provides the movement’s political voice to demand and win a society based on need, not greed.

“There has never been a more important time for maximum unity.”

The speakers:
Symeon Brown, Haringey community and youth worker has played a leading role in campaigning against cuts to youth services.
Symeon is an outspoken critic of the government’s failure to fund community infrastructure properly, and played a leading role in standing up for young people in the aftermath of the summer riots.
He will speak about his experiences and explain the issues facing young people in inner city London.

Dale Farm campaigners will share their experiences of the brutal attack on their rights by Essex County Council and the police, which has made their community homeless.
Travellers are vilified in the media, their rights frequently ignored and their way of life mis-represented.

Unite electricians will share their inspirational stand alongside UCATT workers against attacks to pay, terms and conditions by greedy building contractors intending to pull out of the Joint Industry Board (JIB) and impose a 35 per cent pay cut.
Despite heavy-handed police tactics the sparks have succeeded in marching along Oxford Street and demonstrating in London to call on the contractors to return to the JIB.

OccupyLSX campaigners who have been camped outside St Pauls Cathedral, Finsbury Square and across the UK will share their demands for an end to global greed, and for a more democratic and sustainable system which represents people’s needs instead of big-business greed.

Dot Gibson, general secretary of the National Pensioners Convention, will outline the NPC’s campaign against the government’s attack on pensioners and its demands for an end to fuel poverty, a decent pension and better care services for the elderly.

Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack will outline how public sector workers are fighting back against government cuts and in defence of pensions and jobs.

The details
The LRC conference is on Saturday, November 19, from 10am to 4.30pm at the University of London Union, Malet Street, London (see map)
Please register online for the conference. http://l-r-c.org.uk/shop/#conference Or to register by post, download the individual member’s form http://l-r-c.org.uk/files/ind_form.pdf or the affiliate delegate form http://l-r-c.org.uk/files/affil_form.pdf. Please register in advance to save time on the day.
A free crèche will be provided, but please email (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to register.

Tags: dale farm (1) | fbu (1) | labour's resistance (1) | lrc (3) | npc (1) | occupylsx (1) | unite (2)