Vote for the socialist alternative
Lily Maffei, Camden and Haringey Socialist Party
We gathered outside Haringey Labour council, where our anti-cuts lobby united with protests over Palestine.
Gaza protesters were demanding that the council divest its pension fund from arms companies. During this lobby, I learnt that Haringey Council, amongst many others, are pumping money into companies that have links to the Israeli state. It is devastating to know that my council is funding a genocide, whilst letting the poorest go without.
We were demanding funding for housing repairs, as well as supporting school workers on strike to maintain agreements to cap class sizes and workload. Local teachers are on strike, classroom sizes are doubling, housing associations are underfunded, elderly people are unsupported.
I moved to London only very recently, and made it my mission to ensure I contribute to the community I’ve joined. I only recently joined the Socialist Party – a member of merely a month – but I have already learnt multitudes.
Haringey Council has been granted additional ‘exceptional’ funding of £37 million from the Labour government. But even with this, and after years of the Labour council passing on Tory cuts, it still has a projected funding gap of £121 million by 2029-30.
With a Labour councillor recently resigned, Socialist Party member Dave Kaplan has the opportunity to stand as a Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate in the by-election in St Ann’s Ward on 10 April.
Dave is a candidate of the people. He will demand that Haringey Council moves a needs-based budget.
