Last post, and new blog: Days of Hope

This will be my last post in this blog. In the new year, I’ll be starting a new weekly blog called Days of Hope. The plan is to post every Saturday. It will be a more regular version of this, with a few changes: pages set aside for poems I’ve had published (and a few that are new), and a page of posts about my main research interest at the moment: the anti-democratic activities of intelligence agencies. (My forthcoming book ‘The Enemies of Freedom’ has torn me away from a lot of things, including blogging, for the last 12 months. It will be finished by June 2012; and I’ll definitely be having a party then!)

I have enjoyed blogging about the struggles of some of the brave souls who continue to battle against cuts, poverty, wars and injustice. To have stood amongst them; sometimes organising a few events myself, has been a great privilege. Hard struggles for all of us lie ahead, but together we can fight, push back the reactionaries, and put our visions forward: an end to inequality, poverty, and wars and the obscene waste of wealth by the billionaires who rule over us!

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The whole point of writing a blog, I think, is because you have something to say and you want to share it. For some people, what they have to say is not much more than a long string of words, arising from no particular purpose or meaning. Maybe, we’re all like that sometimes. However, at our best, as human beings, we talk or write, sing, dance or paint because we want to communicate something which matters: not just to one person but to many.

A couple of years ago, in book-form, I read some writings by a worker which began their public life as a blog. The blog was called Random Acts of Reality, and it was a fascinating account by London Ambulance Service technician Brian Kellett about his exploits across London on call-outs, doing his best to belp people despite the time-wasters, the downright aggressive, and traumatic scenes. Increasingly, a cost-cutting management became the biggest problem. The best of the blog entries were gathered in two books: Blood, Sweat & Tea; and – More Blood, Sweat & Tea, under the pseudonym Tom Reynolds.

It was months after I read the first of his books that I started writing my blog: Invictus. The idea of sharing my experiences of the struggle against huge cutbacks in public spending led to sentences forming in my head; then paragraphs on a page, well – an electronic page; then finally posts in this blog. As regular readers know, I began just over a year ago with a debate challenge to Iain Duncan Smith, which included popping up on TV a few times and campaign meetings, including one in the Parliament in London. The various demos against cuts I attended were often mentioned: sometimes there was only a few of us, at other times – hundreds of thousands. Personal events in my life appeared occasionally – like becoming a grandad; or remembering the struggles of being a single parent. I was feeling my way forward, as a blogger.

We can, of course, record our experiences or ideas in many ways. I’ve used a few methods over the years – factual articles, research reports, poems, talks. One common thread has been trying to communicate about the real world, which brings me back to my starting point. The world we all live in is a vast, and at times terrifying place. Our lives are full of immense challenges. To make sense of it all we talk to each other: sharing our hopes, dreams and plans. Maybe all types of communication involve this: it’s all ‘talking’ to each other. In the work of writers I admire and love, this ‘talking’ seems to me to take on a dimension where the writer is almost present. (No, I don’t actually hallucinate. Not yet, anyway.) But I can almost sense George Orwell at my side, guiding me through the battlefields of workers struggles; and sometimes I ‘see’ the vision of some described scene, say by Ernest Hemingway, and feel grateful it has been shown to me; and in the words of some poets I sometimes sense a comforting hand on my shoulder ‘saying’: “yes, it can be hard, sad, and sometimes unbearable; but look: there is also hope and wonder and love in this world.” When that happens, although I may be down to my last £2 to last me a week, at least I can listen to Thom Gunn or Mary Oliver and know how valuable being alive really is.

Writing about struggles was my starting point as a blogger. It was and is important to me. Some struggles we face seem to be more public or private than others, although this can be an illusion: all struggles are a bit of both. I remember vividly, from my time as advice worker, a courageous man who came to see me to get help with filling in a form, for Disability Living Allowance. A big man, with a craggy face, he came into the community centre with his wife, who answered some of the questions when her husband was too busy fighting off spasms of intense pain. You could see the struggle in his face, and after every temporary victory, he smiled and answered a few more questions, until the next spasm. The next battle. He had been a stonemason for decades, providing for his family, paying taxes; and now he had an illness where his bones were crumbling. Eventually, the form was done; and that time they were lucky: he was awarded the highest level of care and mobility. (Around the same time, I tried to help many other equally brave individuals who had terrible conditions but were awarded nothing.)

I received a letter of thanks from that couple, which was lovely but I was only doing my job. My point here is that their struggles today are still very personal, very difficult, but also part of a wider public battle. The government remains determined to slash benefits to that couple and to every other who are struggling to cope with illness, disability, or unemployment. Why should those who have worked all their lives paying taxes be persecuted in this way by politicians like David Cameron or Iain Duncan Smith who have never worked and who are the friends of rich tax-dodgers? It is this fundamental unfairness which powers the mass movements we have seen over the last year. It is the common thread running through varied struggles: the students fighting against fees; workers fighting against job cuts; and of course the magnificent struggle to protect pensions which led to a huge strike by public sector workers on November 30th. As I marched in Dundee that day with my partner Isobel, I saw in a crowd of thousands lots of people who I knew were also fighting their own battles to support family members who are ill or have disabilities and are under attack.

What can we do when faced with such challenges, so much injustice? We can fight! In all I have written so far in this blog, and all I aim to write in ‘Days of Hope’, that is the underlying theme: the need to fight for a better world and not allow those who would turn this world into a wasteland to win.Sometimes, we march forward in the full glare of media interest; at other times we may seem to struggle on in a very private dimension. I am no one special – certainly, I am not of the courageous stature of the stonemason I once met. And, at least for a while, I am not facing the full wrath of the ruling class – as Bradley Manning is in his small cell, waiting to hear if he will face a court martial and possible life-imprisonment. For what? For allegedly exposing war crimes! Yet, we live in extraordinary times, when the most oppressed can rise up in their millions in a hearbeat, and terrify their oppressors. Those who can fight and organise and tell the truth no matter what the personal cost have a tremendous responsibility to do so. This is an era of struggle. This is the era of the human being versus capitalism. I have no doubt who will win.

Lies, truth, and News International

There can’t be many people on the planet who believe that Rupert Murdoch, his son James, or the recently resigned Rebekah Brooks are honest people. A few weeks ago, when they sat in a Parliament committee room giving ‘evidence’, their faces showed a narrow range of responses to simple questions about what they knew of phone-hacking, bribes, and other crimes. Sometimes, they seemed bored, occasionally angry. Mostly, they were stony faced: James, in particular, churning out a long chain of denials, as if he was explaining his non-involvement in poisoning a meal for thousands of people. “No, I knew nothing about arsenic in the potatoes; I did know about the potatoes, well there were a lot of potatoes, but if there was any arsenic in the potatoes I was not aware of it.” His dad would sigh, or ask: “What’s a potato?” Or, just to vary the proceedings, he’d bang the table, and declare: “My son can answer the questions about poison and stuff. I don’t know anything about anything.” It began to appear as if he was genuinely some innocent old guy who had blundered into the wrong room. I half-expected Tom Watson to ask him “Do you even know who you are?” To which he would pause for a long time, and then give his favourite answer:”Nope.”

Rebekah Brooks wasn’t much help at getting to the truth either. She seemed quite smug a lot of the time – and said she didn’t sanction any payments to the police. Her performance was like that of James Murdoch: she droned on and on about how this and that may have happened, or did not happen, but she was innocent – of anything, ever.

Later, millions of people gasped, as more facts emerged about what private investigators who worked for News International had done. For sheer horror, these true stories outdid any of the made-up stories which were once the speciality of News of the World. Deleting texts from a murdered child’s phone; hacking the phones of terrorist victim’s families; and then hacking the phone of Sarah Payne – the mother of a murdered child, who considered Rebekah Brooks to be a friend, and who had received a phone from her as a gift – the same phone that was hacked.

So, what do we know about truth and lies within the phone-hacking scandal? In this post, I’m particularly interested in considering: how do we know what really happened when so much evidence remains secret? Who in News Corporation, and it’s subsidiary companies, was aware of phone-hacking, and police bribes, and perjury – particularly at the top; and how can we find out? Here, gaps in our knowledge form the nowhere-land where Rupert, James, Rebekah, and lesser-known chiefs hide, and hope they can hide forever. Perhaps, we can begin with a little thought-experiment.

Imagine one of the ordinary millions of conversations about these issues, in pubs, workplaces, homes or on a bus. Let’s make it on a number 22 bus in Dundee – a double-decker, on the top deck, between Mr Know-it-all, and his wife, Bessie. For added realism, it’s raining outside. For 20 minutes, this man, like many others, has been recounting what he knows about the phone-hacking scandal: from newspapers, radio, TV and long discussions with his workmate – a Mr I-bet-I-know-mair-than-you. His wife, Bessie, manages to get the occasional word in: ‘aye’, ‘maybe’, and ‘but – dae wi really ken?’.

Eventually, in a momentous judgement, the man pronounces: “The lot o’ them are guilty! They’ll a’ go to jail, and that daftie David Cameron too!” The woman looks at him for a long time (but not as long as Rupert Murdoch’s epic pauses) before giving her verdict: ” Folk like us – we’ll never ken whit really happened. None o’ thae top people will go to jail. ”

Now, our thought experiment is this. Fast forward to the future: 2 years from now. In one possible version: the Murdoch muppets, Brooks, and Cameron are all in jail; in another, none of them are. We can ignore, for now, the most likely future: a few token jailings, and any other alternatives (such as my favourite: there’s been a world socialist revolution and Cameron is now a sewer cleaner in Bognor Regis). All we are concerned with is: either Bessie or her husband got it right. They looked at what they knew about the phone-hacking scandal, and they decided what would happen as a result.

It may seem that both Bessie and her husband are also making political judgements about what will happen, and they are. Bessie is probably the closer to the truth, as the ultra-wealthy and powerful often avoid answering for their crimes. Tony Blair, for example, helped to engineer a war in Iraq which led to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of deaths. To do this, he lied about non-existent weapons of mass destruction. Yet, he has avoided not only any conviction, but even a trial.

Returning to the two possible versions of the Murdoch’s future: which prediction was based on knowing what really went on during the phone-hacking scandal?
I’d say: neither. We are all by necessity, at the moment, relying on what we know about what the private investigators did, and the discrepancies in the testimonies of the executives. We are then making a judgement about what probably happened. Our suspicions are of course massively strengthened by our knowledge of past crimes of Murdoch. Let be me clear what I believe: they are all guilty.

The problem is that – right now, we have a limited range of facts on which to base a judgement about who at the top of News International definitely knew what was going on, although their own testimonies do not fully support their claims of ignorance and innocence. (We can ignore for now the point that – if the executives didn’t know what was going on, they should have. The possibility that they knew nothing is almost infinitely unlikely.) We can all have (and, I believe, should have) suspicions about, for example, Andy Coulson or Rebekah Brooks knowing about and encouraging illegal methods of spying into the private lives of several thousand people. In fact, sufficient evidence has emerged through police and journalistic investigations to suggest a strong possibility that Coulson and others may be heading to jail, at least on perjury charges. This will all become clear over the next year or two. The Levenson inquiry may add further revelations about who knew what, despite being stacked with Right-wing media figures.

What is lacking is the smoking gun (or, more accurately, the smoking armoury): incontrovertible evidence that the Murdochs, Brooks, Coulson, and other heads of News International and News Corporation ordered phone hacking and other crimes, or knew about them, and then engaged in a massive conspiracy to manufacture a cover-up. This cover-up would have had to involve, to some extent, close advisors to David Cameron and to others in the Cabinet, and elements in the Metropolitan Police.

Comparisons have been made with Watergate, and it’s worth reading up on that scandal to show how absolutely corrupt a Right-wing government can be. However, every individual crisis of a ruling class has it’s own unique dynamics. On the positive side of this one, there’s a disparate group of campaigners who have shown enormous tenacity and sometimes great courage in taking on the power of News International. Deserving of special mention are: the real journalists of the Guardian; Tommy Sheridan – whose questioning of Coulson in court led to that winker having to face a perjury investigation, alongside others; and Tom Watson MP who has doggedly pursued the issues in a way which puts most of his Labour colleagues to shame.

If an inquiry into all these events was truly representative of the millions at the sharp end of attacks from Cameron and Murdoch, there would be little possibility that the guilty ones could keep hiding. Instead, the official inquiry has the rich investigating the rich. That doesn’t mean that all in the News Corp camp are safe: it looks increasingly likely that scapegoats are being selected: lawyers, a few ‘journalists’, perhaps a gaggle of executives: but not the puppet-masters. Above all else, there will be no questioning in any of the existing inquiries of the role of the Murdochs as ruthless representatives of capitalism. This questioning must come from those who both Murdoch and Cameron wish to crush: trade unionists, anti-cuts activists, disabled people fighting for the right to exist, and all those fighters for justice who are leading the offensive against the Murdoch’s Empire of Lies.

I believe, as a socialist, that there should be a proper inquiry into News International, led by representatives of the working-class. As part of the agitation for this, I believe that the unfolding drama of the phone-hacking scandal should be watched closely by all of us: not passively, but in order to identify issues where we can put forward our own questions – the hard questions that Leveson will not ask. What role did News International, and corrupt officers in the Met play in the collapse of the Daniel Morgan murder case? Who planted a bug in Tommy Sheridan’s car, and who in the police made the extraordinary comment to Herald Scotland that it was not of a type used by security services – when it is not common practise to comment on what is or is not used by MI5, or by its’ proxies? These are not peripheral issues – but are similar to the questions thrown at Coulson during the perjury trial: they demand answers which – if proven wrong – will lead to those in power facing further investigations.

In the Watergate scandal, Woodward and Bernstein kept asking themselves: how high does the scandal go? It’s always a good question to ask. I suggest it’s one that leading trade unionists, and other campaigners now ask seriously, and develop their own very specific questions for Leveson’s inquiry. Hold meetings, decide what to ask, and send it in. Let us fight for answers from the News International men, and at least one woman, who have viciously attacked the most basic human rights of many, many people for decades. And if there are no answers from their inquiry, let us continue to campaign for a real, honest inquiry of our own. Let there be no hiding place for warmongers, anti-trade unionists, racists, sexists, and homophobes; or for their phone and computer-hacking buddies. And to the Prime Minister’s former communications strategist- wink, wink.

Some words for Marcus

For most of my life I have wanted to be a writer of some kind. And for most of my life I’ve written, without considering myself to be a ‘writer’. As a teenager, I wrote poems full of vague but painful adolescent angst. I listened to a lot of Bob Dylan records on an old mono-player, and I dreamed of becoming a Rimbaud kind of poet, purposively deranging my senses with booze and drugs so that I could write weird, visionary poetry which would enthral people. The problem was, although I drank as much as any working-class Dundee teenager in the 1980s, I wasn’t too keen on drugs. People I saw taking them were not visionaries or writers – they were mumbling ghosts, or heading that way.

Despite my own timidity in becoming a complete waster, I read and enjoyed books by those writers who had made a career out of getting stoned, and writing about it. I discovered the Beat writers of the 50s and 60s: particularly Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs. I still think ‘Junkie’ by Burroughs; some of his use of cut-ups; the best of Ginsberg’s poems; and the freewheeling prose of Kerouac in books like On the Road and Dr Sax are the best antidotes to only reading ‘factual’ books. I still get a secret thrill from the idea of running away from all responsibilities, which is essentially a big part of what all these guys did. It’s noticeable that they are all men and any women around them tended to end up abandoned, wrecked or dead. Despite these concerns, and the dubious politics of Kerouac and Burroughs, I can still read them and feel that they were writers who dared to escape from conventional middle-class backgrounds and at least try to understand life, creating pieces of writing which at their best shine a bright light into some very dark places. And sometimes, they were just fun.

Coming from a working class background myself, my attitude to writing was shaped by the struggles which were all around me. So, I could relate to George Orwell’s idea that almost every word he wrote, for most of his writing career, was designed to further the cause of democratic socialism and oppose fascism. This kind of thing made a lot of sense when Thatcher’s police were putting the boot into the miners, the Miltant were leading the Liverpool City Council struggle, and I was attending demos on both issues, and fighting fascists on the streets of Dundee, Glasgow, and London. The journalism of Orwell, although it was from the 1920s to the 1950s hit a chord with what was happening in my own lifetime. I remember being attracted to the clarity of the descriptions. Despite a lot of adjective-stuffed prose in early books like Burmese Days, Orwell is rightly famous for his clear political writing. In this, he certainly discusses ideas, but rarely by neglecting the sights, sounds and smells of the world: rundown streets in London or Paris, trenches in Spain, or a dusty bookshop.

Speaking of bookshops, my haunting of them was not considered a good habit by most of my pals in the 80s. I was always being dragged out of them, after spending too long at the bookshelves whilst they were buying records. I had to sneak off on my own to secondhand bookshops in the Hilltown area of Dundee. They were as dusty and fascinating as any written about by Orwell. There, I’d buy bundles of science fiction: Michael Moorcock, Brian Aldiss, Arthur C Clarke and anthologies of lost stories from the 1920s and 30s, like the very creepy ‘Tumithak of the Corridors’ by Charles R Tanner, about a post-apocalyptic race living deep underground and one hero who decides to try to reach the surface through a labyrinth of tunnels. Or, I’d buy an incredible variety of types of books because for some reason which is a mystery to me – I wanted to know everything.

At one point, in the early 80s I think, I decided to write to a few famous writers, to ask vaguely how I could become a writer. Three replied. Alan Sillitoe, author of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and other novels, said that everything he could say about writing was in his novels, which was fine but I only liked one of them. John Le Carre, perhaps the best spy novelist ever, thanked me for pointing out a misquote in one of his books from George Orwell. I thought that nice of him, and very cheeky of me to point it out! But the best advice came from Colin Wilson.

Colin Wilson is not a writer much in the news these days, or even in the 80s when I read him, but in the 1950s he was considered a budding genius when he published The Outsider, a philosophical study of alienation in modern society. It’s still readable, but it’s ideas and conclusions now seem to me vague, at best. He followed up his success with other philosophical books which were trashed by critics, and ended up spending decades writing mediocre books about serial killers, and the supernatural.

I wrote to Colin Wilson because I liked his book then – he focused on mainly young creative malcontents who often began by feeling that they had something to say in the world but were unsure what it was. It sounded like me! He helpfully suggested that if I was serious about becoming a writer, I should keep at it ‘with grim persistence’, no matter how long it took, adding that he had only felt certain of his role in the world once he decided that he was a writer.

That was nearly 30 years ago, and it’s only now that I’ve had the opportunity to write a book, and know it’s the real thing. It’ll be 6 months or so before it’s finished. I’d love to say that I’ve maintained a consistent allegiance to Colin Wilson’s advice, but I haven’t. My life has involved writing from time to time, whenever that seemed like the right thing to do. I wrote essays at University because I had to, and won an award for Philosophy; I wrote political articles for 2O-odd years, and sometimes still do, because it fitted in with campaigning for socialism, against fascism, and against the many evils of capitalism. And I wrote a few articles and a few poems, over the years, because they expressed ideas which I thought were important, but I never felt I was a ‘writer’ as it was never my main activity: I was a factory worker, youth worker, at other times I stacked shelves on nightshift in a supermarket, or gave advice on benefits, but I wrote alongside these things. Perhaps, I was always becoming a writer without noticing.

From the 1980s, I’ve sometimes written articles where the common factor was I felt that some injustice had to be exposed, or attacked. In 1983, I wrote an article for Radical Scotland, attacking the trend towards the government ‘encouraging’ the unemployed to work for nothing. In 2010, in an article called ‘Ideological Incapacity’, for Bella Caledonia, I attacked today’s government for once again seeing people on benefits as a convenient scapegoat. And now, I’m spending a great deal of time and effort, writing about a different kind of attack: that of private intelligence agencies who are actively undermining our right to protest, organise trade unions, and build support for the ideas of socialism.

In the past, occasionally, I came across a story that I wanted to write about, and began to, but struggled to find a publisher. One example of this came from reading a wonderful book by Richard Rashke called ‘Escape from Sobibor’, about a mass escape from one of the Nazis death-camps. I was so moved by this tale of courageous resistance against almost impossible odds that I wrote to the author to ask if any of the survivors were still alive. He pointed me towards two of the very few remaining participants in the mass break-out:Esther Raab and Chaim Engle. I interviewed both by phone in 1992: an unforgettable experience. When I heard their quiet voices, talking about the killing of millions of people and their resistance, I felt more strongly than I have ever felt anything – that their example should live forever. Esther Raab also wrote to me, and said: “I concur with you that history is too important to be left to historians who, as far as recent history is concerned, rely too heavily on documents and too little on oral history as if people lie and documents don’t. I have come to believe that the best modern historians are what I call “historical journalists” who don’t follow any particular school of historical thought and whose only allegiance is to the story itself.”

Sadly, I couldn’t get an article published about these marvellous individuals, but I’ve kept the story, and used it’s inspiration many times. I’d reccommend that all new fighters for justice in the world read about Sobibor, and about the Warsaw ghetto uprising – for example, in The Ghetto Fights, by Marek Edelman. The story of how Marek, Mordechai Anieliwicz, and other young fighters took on the the might of the Nazi war machine with nothing more than a few pistols and some explosives is an example to all of us. All tyrannies must be fought, no matter what the odds.

My writing of poetry has stalled recently, buried as I am most days in masses of facts about spooks and surveillance, stitch-ups and liars. But I’d like to get back to it one day, as it’s one of the few ways I know of reminding myself, and hopefully some others, that the world is an amazing and beautiful place.

I still don’t see myself as being a ‘writer’. My first grandchild – Marcus – was born a few days ago, and he reminded me what is important. People are important, and trying to make the world a better place. We can all join in that task, and – sometimes – it may even involve some writing.

Taking the anti-cuts battle forward

These times have been compared to others in history: 1922, when vicious public sector cuts – the ‘Geddes axe’ – slashed social spending, and led to mass support for the Labour Party; the 1930s – when mass unemployment sparked off huge protests; and the 1980s – particularly, the successful struggle of 18 million poll tax non-payers, who toppled the ‘Iron Lady’ Margaret Thatcher. She later described, in memoirs, her government’s abandonment of the poll tax as the greatest concession ever given by a Conservative government to “these people”. (That’s people like us, by the way.)

There are elements of these historical situations in the current war against all cuts. Yet, there are also key differences – especially the fact that this is not a strong government, and it has cracks emerging already, as they face the organised anger of millions of people. Andrew Lansley, the Health Minister, was ordered by Cameron to postpone the plan to break up the NHS, after the BMA opposed it, and then the Lib Dems voted against it at their conference. A 2-month delay ‘for consultation’ isn’t however a U-turn: or, not yet. It does show that the Tories are wary of splits and defeats.

They are also wary of the social impact of some of the most vicious benefit cuts. Last year, when there was an uproar over the plan to ‘cap’ Local Housing Allowance, the full impact of this draconian measure was postponed (from the old start-date of April 2011 to a new start-date of April 2012). So, the cap still hits new tenants, or those who have a change of circumstances, but postpones the horrors of hundreds of thousands of evictions.

Every week, the government are weighing up what they think they can get away with. The magnificent demo of at least 500,000 on March 26th will have shaken them further, particularly as it has increased calls for widespread industrial action by trade unionists. As I mentioned in the last post, the demand by the National Shop Stewards Network for a 24 General Strike by public sector workers against all cuts is likely to be the key, fighting idea in the weeks ahead. It will be raised in thousands of meetings and rallies. I look forward to reporting on how it begins to develop – from words into action!

The ‘phoney war’ is over: the cuts are now biting into the lives of millions of people.

In Dundee, two secondary schools – Morgan Academy and Menzieshill High – are threatened with closure by the SNP-run council. Morgan Academy was recently rebuilt, after a huge fire, at a cost of £20 million. Yet, spending large sums of money and then closing a school is not unprecedented. A few years ago in Dundee, the then Labour council spent millions on new science blocks for Linlathen High, then closed and bulldozed the place a few months later, to make way for a supermarket!

Already, a great start has been made in campaigning against these cuts by youth. A group called Students Defending Dundee Schools, made up of pupils, led a walkout and rally in the town centre. Around 200 pupils took part. This is a strong indicator of the big protests which lie ahead.

I have a few connections to one of the schools threatened – the Morgan. My partner Isobel went there, as did both my children, and my dad was a pupil there in the 1950s. Many other people have the same type of connections to schools, libraries and other services under threat across the country. It is these millions of threads connecting people to services that mean the government is cutting into the hearts and veins of our communities. We will not allow this little gang of Eton thugs to destroy our hard-won services! The months ahead will be a time of vigilance and protest for all of us.

And there’s the IDS-led blitzkreig of benefits. It threatens to leave in it’s wake millions of unfairly-treated people: penalised for the ‘crime’ of being sick, disabled, or unemployed. The onslaught against Incapacity Benefit claimants has begun on a vast scale. A new report ‘Not working’ details the problems faced by the 10,000 people a week called in for ‘Work Capability Assessments’. ‘The report is endorsed by 17 charities… Its major criticism is that: “People with serious illnesses and disabilities who could not reasonably be expected to work are being found fit for work.” http://www.mencap.org.uk/page.asp?id=18546 Government Ministers admit they expect 500,000 people to be forced off Incapacity benefits.

All of this presents the anti-cuts movement with huge challenges. In addition to strikes by workers, and protests by students, we need to support protests by the poorest sections of our society – benefit claimants. As a result of housing benefit changes now introduced, millions of benefit claimants will from this month begin to lose part of their housing benefits. Inevitably, rent arrears will increase. We cannot let this be accompanied by waves of evictions, and a growing sense of hopelessness by families who will face debts they cannot afford to pay. We must fight!

Over the next few weeks, like many other activists, I’ll be involved in several protests. On April 14th, I’ll be protesting alongside trade unionists, youth, and the inspirational Black Triangle group against Atos Healthcare. And, at a later date, I hope to raise concerns about housing benefits with Dundee council on behalf of unemployed campaigners. We will be saying to councillors: there’s no excuse for evicting tenants who are too poor to pay rent because of these cuts. Nothing less than a no-evictions policy will be acceptable. And if this is denied to us, then they better prepare for a fight!

There is much to be done, and the rich and powerful in government want to scare us into a state of shock. It won’t work. Let us rise up together – let this year be remembered as the greatest mass uprising against cuts and injustice ever seen!
Victory to the anti-cuts movement!

After

For as far as you can see, thousands of people of all ages, marching. A river of brightly-coloured banners and flags. One old-fashioned, embroidered banner was from the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers & Firemen, Centenary Year 1980. Red RMT flags; the white and green of Unison; PCS; the FBU; disability-rights groups; student-campaigns and lots of others. A young couple were walking banners – white words on their black hoodies saying: ‘Take the Power Back’. And there were countless hand-made placards and banners; with one boy holding a sheet of cardboard with the words:’Half of children in poverty have a parent in work’.

I took as many photos as I could before my battery died. I saw thousands of students, inspired by their earlier protests, dancing their way through the streets of London; pausing to boo at government buildings, and chant: “That’s not what democracy looks like, this is what democracy looks like!” They marched alongside trade unionists from every corner of the country: uniformed firefighters and nurses; railworkers; prison officers; teachers; hundreds of people in wheelchairs; and families. Jazz bands; pipe bands; and loudspeakers on trolleys (one blasting out Bob Dylan songs) accompanied the crowd as it snaked through three and a half miles of streets to Hyde Park.

The entire demo was a huge celebration of our collective desire to defeat this government, and stop the cuts. After travelling for 9 hours on a bus to get there, it was uplifting to see so many people protesting.

The key question now facing the anti-cuts movement is how to win. The magnificent anti-war demos in 2003 were also huge, vibrant events – yet, they did not stop Bush and Blair’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. There was then, as there is now, a need for more. That ‘more’ is mass industrial action, coupled with mass community-based struggles to force the ConDems to retreat. That’s why it was great to see thousands of placards and leaflets from the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN), calling for a 24 General Strike by public sector workers, as a step towards strikes by all workers. It was the NSSN which brought about the demo through lobbying the TUC. Now, there’s a need to continue and expand the struggle so that a 24-hour General Strike happens.

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A few good things about spending hours on a bus is it gives you a chance to chat with fellow protesters, read, and think about lots of issues. As well as cutbacks, and how to fight them, I thought about new technology, and the huge role it plays in our lives. On the bus, I was surrounded by it: an electronic voice calling out directions from the SatNav to the driver (very annoying when you’re trying to sleep!); protesters phoning, txting, Facebook msging, and Tweeting about their journey; and I chatted with a Unison shop steward about the advantages of an E-book device. For me, it might reduce the number of books I always haul around with me like a travelling library!

In Britain, around 30 million people are now on Facebook -nearly half the population. By January of this year, 600 million FB users had signed up globally. Capitalist governments, and their police and security services, have begun to take a keen interest in this social-networking tool, fearing it will be increasingly used to organise protests against cutbacks, poverty, and other evils of the capitalist system. The recent revolutionary movements in Egypt and Tunisia led to several exaggerated media reports about the ‘power’ of internet-tools like Facebook. These claims overlooked the fact that the horrendous social conditions which fuelled the revolutions would have done so had Facebook never been invented. The claims were further undermined when dictators shut down the internet, and still faced huge protests. The working class, in it’s quest for freedom, will use whatever means of communication are available to organise revolt.

Under socialism, the internet could be taken out of the hands of big business and ‘spooks’, and opened up to the democratic control of the working class.

*

When I finally got back to the bus, tired but happy, I asked if anyone had seen any of the violent incidents reported in the media. All I’d seen was a broken window and paint splattered on the walls of the Ritz hotel. Two Unite members on the bus said they’d seen the ‘attack’ on the building. About 40 men and women in black balaclavas “marched with military precision” towards the building, and then hurled paint and poles towards it, watched by 2 police officers. Then the whole bunch of them ran away. The men were described as “big guys, well built.”

As a few articles in other blogs have also suggested, I believe that groups like the ‘Black Bloc’ anarchists are now firmly under the influence of police agent-provocateurs. In fact, I would not be surprised if the Ritz operation was actually carried out entirely either by police officers or members of the intelligence agencies, seeking to discredit the anti-cuts movement, and deflect attention away from the mass protests and the issue of cuts.

Over the years, I’ve come across individual anarchists who are decent, working-class fighters. I’ve been happy to fight alongside them in street battles against fascists. I would do so again. However, anarchists have always been a small minority in any big workers demo, and within that small group is an even smaller one whose addiction to obeying the commands of police-provocateurs is sickening. As protests against cutbacks grow, these arrogant grouplets will need to be exposed whenever they act in a clear alliance with the state. In the poll tax riots, these elements assisted police agent-provacateuers, and later had the cheek to try to brand the leaders of the mass non-payment struggle, including Tommy Sheridan, as police spies!

Youth who are caught up in mass police riots, and may wrongly be referred to as ‘anarchists’ in the media, are an entirely different matter. They must be won to the same cause as trade unionists and socialists – to stop all the cuts, and fight for a society free from poverty, inequality, and wars. Judging by the vast numbers of youth on the London demo, that process is well underway.

When I have the time , I’ll write in this blog about the politics of socialism vs anarchism.

*

Finally, a quick word about Ed Miliband’s call for ‘some cuts’ at the rally in Hyde Park. This abysmal grovelling at the altar of capitalism, in front of hundreds of thousands of workers who were there, and millions more watching on TV, is another reason why we need a new mass party of the working class, based on clear, socialist ideas.

No to all cuts!
For a 24-hour public-sector General Strike!
Unite trade union, student, pensioner, community, and benefit-claimant campaigns!

Before

Tonight at 12 o’clock, 2 coaches full of protesters will leave from outside the main Post Office in Dundee, for the 364-mile trip to London. We’ll be heading off like hundreds of other buses, trains, and cars to the TUC-organised anti-cuts demo. I imagine thousands of people on the move tonight and tomorrow morning will be hoping for the same thing – a massive turn-out to show the ConDem government that their £95 billion of cuts are not acceptable, and are being resisted.

This post is my ‘Before’ the demo musings. I’ll post my ‘After’ the event thoughts later. I’d also considered a ‘during’ post but the idea of blundering about amongst thousands of marchers with my eyes glued to my Blackberry struck me as a bit daft. I will however be posting lots of photos and updates on my Facebook page.

The spot where our bus leaves is also beside an old graveyard called the Howff. In it, there’s a plaque commemorating Dundee citizens who went to fight fascism in the Spanish Civil War, in the 1930s. Some of them were also active in struggles against unemployment and poverty here. It struck me that we are forced to fight many of the same battles they did.

When we drive into London, we may see some of the glittering office blocks built for banks, company HQs of all kinds, even the offices of the ‘masters of the world’ – the hedge-fund bosses and other currency speculators. Perhaps, a few of their obscenely wealthy Executives will be doing some ‘overtime’ on Saturday, and may look down from their offices as hundreds of thousands of people march through the streets. I wonder if even a flicker of guilt will cross their minds as we pass by. After all, it is the crisis of their economic system we are being told we must pay for.

It is almost the end of the financial year – as a Guardian front-page article points out: ‘A week today the cuts will start to bite…grants will run out, contracts will wind up, and charities and services will begin to shut their doors.’ And added to all of this will be the diabolical process whereby an estimated 10,000 people will be booted off Incapacity Benefits. Many will end up on the dole, forced to compete for a dwindling supply of jobs.

I’ve detailed some of the reality of the cuts before in this blog, in speeches, and in articles over the last few months. This is a link to my article about Incapacity Benefit changes : http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2010/10/28/ideological-incapacity/ This article is about Iain Duncan Smith’s Welfare Reform legislation: http://socialistpartyscotland.org.uk/
news-a-analysis/83-campaigns/286-the-welfare-reform-bill–a-declaration-of-war-
I’ve no doubt it will be necessary to write and talk more about these matters in the weeks ahead. I sincerely hope we never to lose sight of the reason why we discuss these attacks – protesters, socialists, the millions who have simply had enough. We discuss not in order to make clever points – but to prepare for an almighty battle to stop all these cuts! Nothing less than the total defeat of Cameron & Clegg’s cuts-agenda is acceptable!

Ed Miliband’s option of cuts implemented over a longer period is a vile betrayal of the aspirations of all who will march in the streets of London, and of the millions who support us! I know, from experience, that the Tories are led by cowards like Iain Duncan-Smith, prepared to cut benefits to the poorest people in society but afraid to debate with us: his intended victims. Yet, is Miliband any better? Let us never forget that the vile company Atos is a friend and ally of New Labour politicians.

The anti-cuts movement and the trade unions are gearing up – not just for a demo, for even vast demos will not stop this government, but for strikes and community-based struggles. This will not be easy but we have magnificent victories to point to in the past – not least, the millions of organised poll tax non payers who stopped the poll tax, and toppled the ‘Iron Lady’ Margaret Thatcher. This is the time to remember our own history – and what a history it is! The working class is the strongest force in society and when we move all the King’s soldiers and all the King’s men cannot stop us!

The tasks facing the trade unions, and the forces of the anti-cuts movement are vast and daunting, but we must face them with a clear vision. Youth who led the way in the students battles will be on all the buses to London. I know some from Dundee, and I have seen in their actions against the cuts the same fire of determination I saw in the poll tax struggles years ago! The new forces who will demand a political voice of their own are mobilising. Workers sick and tired of grey politicians are looking for fighters to represent them. That’s why in Ireland, socialists Joe Higgins, Clare Daly and others were elected.

For the last couple of posts, in this blog, I referred to a story in the national press I was feeding into as a source. It has been the most exciting and frustrating experience of my life! I’ve decided that I need to get my life back – for the last 3 months I’ve buried myself in research. It now looks certain it has paid off – two top reporters are now on the case. I don’t want to keep putting off saying what it’s all about, but I also don’t want to blow their cover! So, my new idea is this – I’ll share with the anti-cuts movement and readers of this blog what it’s about, without detailing the evidence. And in that way I can begin to write in this blog and elsewhere about similar stories.

So, here goes. There is in Britain and America, as is well known, a vast intelligence-network: ‘spooks’ in MI5, MI6, GCHQ, private intelligence agencies like Hakluyt & Co and Global Open, and in the USA, there’s the NSA and Homeland Security, the CIA and a proliferation of weird outfits. The ‘Washington Post’ recently ran a series of stories about the expansion of spending on ‘spooks’ since the 9/11 terrorist atrocity, and they estimated more than 800,000 people are employed in Intelligence-gathering. 50,000 reports on Intelligence- related matters hit the desks of Senators and Congressmen every year, far too many to actually read. Also, there are so many different agencies, it’s unclear what all of them do.

In Britain, stories emerged recently about environmental groups who were infiltrated by spies working for big business. And, in my last post, I referred to Seamus Milne’s terrific book ‘The Enemy Within’ detailing a plot by Thatcher, media baron Robert Maxwell, and MI5 to frame and attempt to jail mineworkers leader Arthur Scargill. They almost succeeded. I also believe that one day, the role of British intelligence in the jailing of Tommy Sheridan will be revealed.

Recently, by accident, I came across ‘spooks’ who had (well, probably still have) an interest in trade unions. I approached a national newspaper with the evidence, and bit by bit more was uncovered. The story became like a giant octopus, with it’s tentacles stretching all the way into the UK and US governments. That’s the basic story, and the details will come out, although I can’t say when because I don’t know. Even if the spooks decided to whisk me off to Guantanomo Bay, it’s too late – the story is in the hands of people I trust to expose it.

So, over the next few weeks, I may post some articles about ‘spooks’. I’ll not say anymore about the specific story – it comes out whenever it does! At least, I won’t have to keep a cliffhanger going on forever. This blog was beginning to look like the 1930s movie-series ‘Flash Gordon’, where every episode ended in a ‘Oh no, what will happen next!’ moment.

Tomorrow, we will remind this government : we are many, you are few, and we’re much more determined than you!

Cuts, lies, and fighting back!

The national news story I spoke about in my last posting is still going ahead. Much as I’d love to say a lot more, I’ll have to keep that particular cliffhanger going for a wee while yet. What I can say is that, every bit of free time I have, I’m researching. In the end, it’ll all be a fascinating read. I can promise that.

Talking of fascinating reading, I recommend ‘The Enemy Within’ by Seamus Milne. It’s not a new book – it first came out in 1994 – but there’s an eery parallel with the Tommy Sheridan case. The book is about the hounding of another famous socialist – Arthur Scargill, leader of the titanic miners strike from 1984-85. An unholy cabal of Tory and Labour MPs, MI5, media baron Robert Maxwell, and others tried to frame Scargill (and Peter Heathfield). When the first round of lies in the Mirror newspaper, alleging misuse of union funds to pay off a mortgage, were exposed as nonsense, the campaign to ‘get Scargill’ just made up more lies! They led to the National Union of Mineworkers Executive caving in to legal threats and starting a prosecution process against Scargill and Heathfield. Even the more progressive press believed the miners leaders would end up in jail. The ‘evidence’ against them seemed overwhelming.

As Seamus Milne’s account clearly reveals, these further allegations, which almost led to jailings, were all made up. It was all engineered by State security services, Maxwell, and others, with the full support of then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (who would later fall from power due to the mass anti-poll tax struggle, led by other socialist ‘enemies within’, including Tommy Sheridan.) The book is a terrific expose of how entirely believable lies can be used by the State to attack working class leaders.

As for my own involvement in campaigning – these times feel more and more like the early days of the anti-poll tax struggle. Last night, I spoke at a lobby of around 100 people, mainly youth, protesting at Dundee City Council education cuts. One victory we won against the SNP-run council was that they removed discussion of closure of the Law Nursery from the meetings’ agenda. Although councillors refused to debate the issue, and they may only be backing down for a few months of ‘informal consultation’, it was clear they were responding to a vibrant campaign by local parents – in the press, gathering hundreds of signatures on petitions, and setting up a Facebook group. One of the organisers who was at the protest, parent Sonia Geissler, has also helped raised funds for Dundee Unemployed Support Centre, and several of our members were outside and inside the council building opposing the cuts.

Of course, many cuts are going ahead. The youth who had been mobilised from schools and Dundee college, by Leah Ganley, Matt Dobson and others from Youth Fight For Jobs, were also demanding a reversal of plans to cut creative and other classes. Students have been told they will have to transfer to Perth College, 26 miles away, and there will be no travel costs paid!

Rory Malone, UNISON Dundee branch Secretary also spoke out against the cuts at the lobby; and I congratulated the youth for proving they cared more about the future of services in this city than any of the councillors sitting inside the building. The protest continued for several hours with chanting and occasional speeches, and drums and megaphones all adding to the positive atmosphere!

The government has announced it is planning to put all public services out to tender. The boardrooms of big business all over the world will be full of ecstatic Executives, planning to send in multi-billion pound bids to privatise the NHS, council services, prisons, and what remains of the welfare system of benefits, after IDS has finished with his £18 billion of cuts. His ‘Universal Credit’ – which will replace tax credits most benefits for sick, disabled, and unemployed claimants – will be a prime target for big business vultures. No doubt companies like Atos will be vying for the lucrative contract to administer the new benefit online. The potential for enormous profits at the expense of mass misery would herald a bleak future for millions of families, if it goes ahead.

Thankfully, on our side we are beginning to see significant protests developing amongst those effected by the cuts. As well as PCS and RMT members going on strike, or considering action, hundreds of thousands of people are preparing to travel to London for the TUC anti-cuts demo on March 26th, and there are important local struggles beginning to emerge. I’m looking forward to attending the first Scottish Anti Cuts Alliance committee meeting in Glasgow on Thurs 3rd March, when much of this will be discussed, and plans made. It will be particularly interesting to hear more about – the thousands who demonstrated in support of Glasgow Uni occupation; the outright victory in Renfewshire, where hundreds of protesters saved 60 teaching jobs from the axe; and the tremendous protests at Atos offices by Black Triangle and others, ensuring that this key issue does not slip off the public agenda. We must never lose sight of one key fact – for many benefit claimants, our fight is a matter of life and death.

I should also add my congratulations to the United Left Alliance and their 5 new anti-cuts TDs (members of the Dail, the Irish Parliament), who include socialists Joe Higgins and Clare Daly. This is an important step forward for the working class internationally – a new batch of workers MPs on workers wages, who can lead a mass struggle to defeat huge cutbacks.

The events unfolding in Wisconsin, where an uprising by tens of thousands have shaken reactionary plans to ban basic trade union rights and slash services, have inspired millions in the USA and throughout the world. Alongside the revolutionary mass movements sweeping through the Middle East, these are all evidence that we have entered an extraordinary historical period – where working class people and the oppressed of the world are joining huge movements to change the way our lives are run, overthrow tyrants, and search for how to change society. In that maelstrom, like the brightest of lights, will be the ideas of socialism guiding the way forward. I feel privileged to be playing a small part in that unfolding drama.

New challenges

It seems a long time since I last posted anything here. I planned to post more regularly, inspired by the developing anti-cuts movement – then, being a part of events overtook writing about them! So, what’s been happening?

First, Tommy Sheridan, who is a friend and comrade, was jailed for 3 years for perjury. An unholy cabal of Rupert Murdoch’s minions, former socialists, and dodgy police officers succeeded in putting one of Scotland’s best anti-cuts leaders in a cage. From what I hear, he’s already helping other inmates in Barlinnie with letters, and is staying strong. It’s immensely sad that a billionaire enemy of the working class has won this round, but the fight goes on. There’s the appeal – and, of course, our side landed enough blows on the Prime Minister’s golden boy Andy Coulsen to force him to resign. The way the phone-hacking scandal is unravelling, Coulsen himself may end up in jail.

I spoke to Tommy before he went in for sentencing and he thanked me for previous messages of support. I admit to feeling a bit upset as we exchanged handshakes, but he seemed fine. Through the plate-glass windows at the front of the court building, we could see the ranks of TV and press cameras, and a few hundred of Tommy’s supporters.

The same night, I watched some of the TV coverage, before I switched it off in disgust. One of the worst sights by far was former MSP Rosie Kane calling for Tommy to be jailed for life! I couldn’t help but contrast this sickening behaviour with the dignity shown by Alice Sheridan who was determined to walk into the court without walking aids, despite a severe illness. Now, that’s a real socialist!

Of course, running through the trial, like a polluted river, was the poisonous phone-hacking scandal. Who knows how many other people have been victims of phone-hacking by The News of the World, or other rabid tabloids. When it became clear that at least 4000 people may have been spied on, I contacted my own lawyer. When I explained that I was a former editor of the International Socialist newspaper, he said it was “quite likely” I was on a hackers hit list. We’ll see!

Not long after the trial, I was back in Glasgow, at an anti-cuts rally of 400 people, followed by a conference of trade unionists and anti-cuts activists, which agreed to set up a Scottish Anti Cuts Alliance. This is a big step forward for the anti-cuts movement, particularly as it is opposed to all cuts, and – whilst welcoming ordinary Labour and SNP members – will not have any politicians on it’s platforms unless they agree not to implement cuts. This idea had to be debated, as some argued it would put off ordinary Labour voters. I can just imagine Mrs Labour Voter saying: “I’m not getting involved with that anti-cuts crowd. They’re fighting to stop my library being closed down. But – they won’t let my Labour councillor speak on their platform just because he was the bastard who closed it down! Extremists!” It’s just not going to happen, is it?

I gave a report at the conference of the challenge to Iain Duncan Smith. He is still in hiding, somewhere in London – but at least we’ve got a letter from him, which arrived the day before the conference, basically saying: no, not now, not ever. With leaders as cowardly as him, it shouldn’t be too hard for a mass movement to topple this government!

Another highlight of the conference for me was meeting John McCardle of Black Triangle. We had a chat afterwards and agreed to cooperate on fighting benefit cuts, possibly producing some written material, along with others. I hope to be able to focus more on this soon.

Back in Dundee, where thick snow has been replaced with what we are famous for: rain, I’ve continued to be a part of Dundee Unemployed Support Centre’s campaigns. We’ve got our first public meeting on the cuts coming up, with speakers from Dundee North Law Centre, PCS, and me. Leafleting of dole queues is up and running. We’re fast spending all the money we raised from our first jumble sale, so we’ve organised another one. Our links with trade unions have been strengthened by the involvement of activists like Mike Arnott, Secretary of Dundee Trades Council, and others. Some of us have begun to check out a possible building – this would be a safe-haven for all sick, disabled and unemployed claimants in the city, and a bastion of resistance to all the cuts which threaten our incomes and our lives. I’ll keep readers of this blog informed of it’s progress.

In December last year, when I was trudging up the Hilltown in the snow, wistfully daydreaming of escalator pavements (the Hilltown in Dundee is very steep!) – I was approached by Chris Gibson. I knew that he is a socialist, council worker and trade unionist, but I didn’t realise he’s also a musician. He sent me a previous album, and a few new tracks, and asked if I’d like to have a go at writing lyrics. “You’ve written poems, eh?” was his opening gambit. I was unsure about the idea of writing song lyrics, but this month I at last had a go! It’s something entirely new for me – but it’s fun, and it’s important to have fun when we can because this government are hell-bent on cutting that too!

I’ll end on a difficult point. I began this blog by wondering what role I could play in the anti-cuts movement, helping to fight the worst public sector cuts since 1922. I had years of previous experience – from the miners strike, through the anti poll tax days, anti-fascism, Timex, anti-war demos: it’s a long list! Now, hopefully I’ve shown that I don’t just talk a good fight, but can help to build struggles, in Dundee and across the country.

So, what’s ‘difficult’ about any of that? Well, only that it’s tiring – leafleting, going to meetings, popping up on radio and TV to lambast politicians, writing, and demonstrating most of the time! But that’s not the only ‘difficult’ factor I’m referring to. Imagine if you were an ultra-busy anti-cuts campaigner, doing all of that, and you stumbled upon a story so big it goes to the heart of all that you are fighting against. Then, imagine this – that you can only tell a few people about it, until it’s all checked and double-checked, then explodes into the public domain in a few weeks time. Would you feel, as I certainly do, like a boiling pot with a lid on – about to explode unless I let off some steam?

Some readers of this blog know me well; some – not so well. My close friends and comrades know I’m prone to hyperbole, from time to time. I’m not delusional about issues, just ridiculously positive sometimes! Yet, hopefully, most will realise that when I have spoken here about specific initiatives to boost the anti-cuts movement, I’ve never promised something which can’t be delivered. So, when I say now that this story is much bigger in political impact than the debate-challenge to Iain Duncan Smith, and because of it I’ve felt it necessary to leave aside some of my work on the IDS idea (temporarily!) it will be clear that I am talking about a major news story.

You will all read about it soon enough, in the national press. I ask only that you remember reading this post, bookmark it if you want. When the story comes out you’ll instantly know why I couldn’t say any more here. And don’t worry – it’s not about me doing anything wrong! At least, you will have read a hint here, necessarily vague as it is.

All the best to every anti-cuts activist in all of your individual and collective efforts to defeat this government. If, through events, some of us gain positions at the head of our movement, let’s make sure they never forget that the whole point of every march, or article, or speech we make – is to stop these deadly cuts before they kill more people! There must be a fierce urgency about our campaigning. At the same time – though it is a difficult balancing-act – let no one burn themselves out by taking on too much work. And if, like me, you stumble upon evidence of lies and wrongdoing, by those who have power, do not be afraid of fighting those forces with all of your strength! Let us build for the March demo in London, take heart from the magnificent uprising in Egypt, and move ourselves closer to the day when we bring about a society based on need not profit, and where we all may live in peace, free from fear.

Morning in a different world

When fresh, sparkling whiteness
Expands in all directions;
And tree veins stretch – to try
To catch a bold, blue sky;
I see, thinly on a carpet of light,
Meandering trails of arrow print.
The only sign of some small bird
With feet of twigs or wire.

Though fingertips burn with cold,
And my eyes are startled
By the black-and-white world,
I am not entirely surprised.
Vast shadows flit like pterodactyls,
Warning of thunder snow-storms.

So, we huddle around a one-bar fire;
As others arrive in droves by the hour;
And we paint our banners, then blacken the snow
As into the streets our thousands flow.
Watched by a helicopter high in the sky –
Sending news of our rising to the few who lie
And rule us, though they have no right.
Then, our shadows become giants on carpets of light.

Anti-cuts demo in Edinburgh 23rd Oct 2010, when 25,000 marched. Now, 3 trains are booked to go from Scotland to London for the TUC demo in March. Many thousands more will travel by coach.