Why are you marching?

Today we are facing the same questions concerning jobs and living standards as they did 75 years ago. The difference is we have more to lose now. The Con-Dem government wants to blot out the gains made in the decades since the original march. The student movement at the end of last year showed that young people are not prepared to see our futures torn to shreds. We now need unemployed youth and young workers to come into that struggle.

Paul Callanan, Youth Fight for Jobs national organiser

The Jarrow March is something my family members have talked about since I was a child – my great grandfather was one of those men who marched from Jarrow to London. My nan used to tell me stories of her life in Jarrow in the 1930s where she would run around with no shoes on because no one had money for their kids’ shoes.

And here I am almost 75 years later living in Britain with nearly one million young people without a job or the slightest hope of getting one.

Dylan Hussey, college student, Hertfordshire

This march is in the finest traditions of the workers’ movement in the UK. This government has set an agenda which destroys the lives of a whole generation and forces many more into misery, poverty and fear, not by accident but by design.

We will be fighting back! I will be marching in solidarity with those young people this and previous governments have attempted to scapegoat and throw on the scrap heap, to draw attention to the power of trade unions and the organised workers’ movement to fight and to win!

Leah Maughan, library worker, London

I have struggled to find a job since leaving college a year ago, and many of my friends are in the same situation. Growing up I was fed the lies in school that by working hard at school and sixth form there would be the opportunity to then go on to university and get a good job with prospects. These bold claims of yesteryear have been proved false for all but the most privileged with the cutting of EMA and the rising of tuition fees.

In Hull we’ve got the second worst youth unemployment in the country and up to 83 people applying for every job, and this is before the Con-Dems’ brutal slashing of public services has really started!

Matt Whale, unemployed, Hull

Youth unemployment is at a disgraceful high. Young people should be encouraged to fight back and realise this is not their fault, they are not lazy and they deserve a good job with good pay and reasonable hours.

Stephanie Maston, unemployed, Leeds

This government has thrown young people on the scrap heap. One million of us can’t find work and I’m very worried for my future. I think the government should be investing in a programme of job creation for the unemployed, especially young people.

Jethro Waldron, student, Coventry

I am going to express my anger at the lack of jobs for young people and to show there is a fightback that can grow and can succeed.

Nick Parker, civil servant, Lincoln

I’m marching because I think everyone should have the right to a decent job. If this system can’t afford jobs for young people, we can’t afford this system.

Rob Challinor, GMB member, Nottingham