Trafalgar Sq, 27.5.15, protesting against the Tory government’s austerity onslaught , photo Oktay Sahbaz (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)
Determination to fight back on a new scale
Claire Laker Mansfield
“Tory scum, here we come”. This chant, that echoed through Westminster’s streets on 27 May, was a declaration of war. The Queen’s Speech announced an onslaught to be waged on behalf of the rich against young and working class people. But, as the thousands who gathered outside Downing Street and around the country made clear, workers and youth are ready to respond in kind.
This fresh, youthful and – above all – angry protest demonstrated the huge appetite for struggle. If we want to beat austerity, we’ll need a fight back on a scale not seen for decades. As parliament re-opened and Tory savagery recommenced with viciously renewed zeal, London’s protest, part of a national day of action, showed there is huge energy and determination for the challenge ahead.
Youth Fight for Jobs, as well as other campaigns and groups, had put out a call for protesters to gather in central London. Organised at relatively short notice, the protest was mainly built through word-of-mouth and social media. By around 5.30pm up to 2,000 mostly young people were marching (and sometimes running) around Westminster.
Marching
The protest passed Downing Street, marched through Parliament Square, and snaked past Buckingham palace and Scotland Yard before returning to Trafalgar Square. It was here that protesters semi-spontaneously gathered on the steps outside the National Gallery. Youth Fight for Jobs then led a short rally.
The crowd listened to speeches from different campaigns and organisations, as well as from individuals who wanted to share why they had come to protest. Paul Callanan, speaking for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) was cheered and clapped when he attacked the so-called ‘austerity consensus’ supported by all the mainstream parties.
Trafalgar Sq, 27.5.15, protesting against the Tory government’s austerity onslaught , photo by Oktay Sahbaz (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)
Calls for a 24-hour general strike – urgently needed to start building the kind of movement capable of ending austerity as well as new anti-union laws – were met with applause and chanting. Other speakers included a Sweets Way housing campaigner, student activists and a public sector worker from Unison.
But it was clear the protest had not run out of steam. After taking a vote, the demonstration continued. We marched to Oxford Street where tax avoiding companies like Boots and Vodafone were named and shamed. There was a short sit-down protest at Piccadilly Circus before the protest wound its way back to Downing Street. Here, at around 8.30 in the evening and after more than three hours of marching, the protest began to wind down.
Marching against austerity, 27.5.15, photo Rob Williams (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)
In conversation, there was lots of interest in socialist ideas and discussion on how best to get organised to fight back. Many protesters expressed an interest in finding out more about the Socialist Party, and a public meeting organised on Saturday promises to be a forum for discussing the most effective way to organise to fight cuts and to transform society in the interests of the 99% (see details below).
This protest and others organised around the UK as part of a national day of action called by Youth Fight for Jobs, mark the opening round in what will need to be a colossal struggle to defeat this brutal government of millionaires.
As an immediate next step, we need to ensure that George Osborne’s emergency budget on 8 July is met by an enormous wave of protest. And we need to build pressure on the leaders of Britain’s potentially hugely powerful trade union movement to call for mass coordinated strike action – and lead the kind of fight needed for us to win.
Above all, we need to send a clear message to the “Tory scum” who want to snatch our future: We are coming for you.
