Ice and fire

Posted on February 8, 2012 by lipstick socialist

Manchester protests against the cuts!

What do you do on a Saturday? Last week as I trudged through the snow in central Manchester  I watched other people sat in bars and cafes with their friends laughing, bumped into people with bags of shopping and wondered what I was doing.  I walked into the Friends Meeting House feeling cold but soon warmed up with the good feeling from the people present. The main room was filled with people of all ages who  were there to review the first year of their organisation, the  Manchester Coalition Against the Cuts, MCAC,  which grew  out  of a meeting organised by Manchester Trades Union  Council, (founded 1866 , by the way). MTUC  brings trade unions together to campaign on common issues such as pensions and the health service.   MCAC brings together  activists, trade unionists, students and pensioners  and  “initiates protest,  publicises actions and links up campaigns against cuts to services and to jobs and conditions in the City”.

Last time there was a Tory government  in 1979 it took about 18 months before trade unions and the left started campaigning seriously against their cuts. This time is  different. The scale of the cuts, the onslaught against the public sector,  and the growing national and international recession is affecting everyone. One year on it was wonderful to see the progress of one local organisation. MCAC is a coalition, unlike the Con-Dem coalition  it aims to promote the importance of public services to everyone and to draw the link between the excesses of bankers and  large corporations  and the ideology of the cuts programme.

Children’s author, Alan  Gibbons,  spoke about  his campaign to “Save the Book” which started in 2008.  He said that he had gone through all the democratic process of lobbying at local and national level  etc  but it was direct action, including read-ins at libraries,  that had drawn people into the campaigns, and put pressure on both local and national politicians to reverse their  library cuts agenda.  Other speakers repeated the same message that “naming and shaming” the scissor people could challenge the agenda of justifying  the destruction of  services.

Two young women from the local Uk Uncut campaign I found particularly inspiring. Amanda and Eve spoke about their own journey to political activism. It might  seems  fluffy and not very political but they are reaching out to the non involved (as yet) person in the street.  Their aim is to highlight how large organisations from the banks to large retailers such as TopShop/BHS are avoiding paying taxes which amounts to £12bn per year.  They want  to lay bare  the political nature of the cuts agenda; that this is still a rich country and that it’s the poor who are being made to pay for the so called “budget deficit”.

It could have been a depressing meeting as we were told about yet more cuts being planned across mental  health services, the BBC, the Fire Service etc. But instead it was heartening for me  to see not only the amount of marches, lobbies, rallies and meetings  that MCAC had organised but also the way in which they had brought together so many diverse people and campaigns, not only brought together but supported, encouraged and marched with to produce successful campaigns,  and to prove that people getting together can make a difference.

Another date for your diary is 15/2/2012 at 10am to lobby Manchester City Council Executive Committee as the decision about the future of Sure Start and childcare in Manchester will be made at that meeting.

If you have enjoyed this article and would like to support this blog by making a donation you can do using this button

Posted in anti-cuts, Manchester, Socialism, trade unions | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Stop! Look! Listen! a weekly selection of some of my favourite films/books/people…

Posted on February 5, 2012 by lipstick socialist


Watch…..
Saturday Night Fever is my favourite film. Set in Brooklyn it’s the story of many young working class people across the world, music and dancing being the passport from a boring life. In the late 70’s me and my friends would go and see the film and then head straight to the local disco. Brilliant dancing/brilliant music/brilliant John Travolta – shame that the BeeGees turned out to be Tories!

Listen…
to the music of Kathleen Ferrier (1912-53). A Lancashire lass, she worked as a telephone operator and sang in local choirs. Spotted by Malcolm Sargent, she went onto become one of the greatest British classical singers of her day. She is still remembered by local people because she sang at so many local halls across Lancashire. Due to her early death she has not been given as high a profile of some of her contemporaries such as Maria Callas. The Bridgewater Hall is having an event to celebrate her birthday.

Read…
the poems of Pablo Neruda – poet and political activist. Born in Chile, he was a lifelong Communist who believed poetry and political activity were two sides of a coin. The film Il Postino stirred many people to discover his work (including me) but you need to read his true life story in biographies such as Pablo Neruda; a passion for life by Adam Feinstein (Bloomsbury) to see why his poetry and political activity still has meaning in 2012.

The Hard Way Up by Hannah Mitchell. (1871-1956) She lived most of her life in Manchester working in clothing sweat shops but educated herself and became a local leader of the Suffragette and Labour movements. This book is unique being one of the few histories written by a working class woman. In 1905 she summed up her life “No cause can be won between dinner and tea, and most of who were married had to work with one hand tied behind us.”

Visit….
The Working Class Movement Library in Salford. Founded by trade unionists and Communists Ruth and Eddie Frow, it’s much more than a library, more an alternative to the education system. Attend a talk, watch a play, hear a choir…it’s all going on there. Check out the website for details

Posted in biography, Communism, education, films, labour history, Manchester, music, poetry, Socialism, women | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Women making a difference!

Posted on February 1, 2012 by lipstick socialist

Dagenham machinists on strike 1968

.
The film “Made In Dagenham” is one of the few images out in the public arena of what it means to be a woman trade unionist and to be involved in an industrial dispute. It is still rare to see women shown in these roles in the media . Most of the images of trade unionists are of men, usually manual workers being well…masculine and often stereotyped by the media as threatening.
Recently I was invited along to the CWU North West Regional Women’s Committee meeting. The CWU is an interesting union as its membership is a mixture of privatised industries such as British Telecom, the publicly owned Royal Mail as well 02,Orange and Santander. The CWU has 207,500 members and is a small union in comparison to my union, Unite, which is about 2 million strong.
At the meeting there were women from CWU branches across the northwest. There was also one man there, the committee does allow men to join them as representatives from branches rather than have no rep at all. It was a lively and inspiring meeting. The discussion ranged from issues regarding the internal politics of the union to the need for women to be active in their union and their workplace. Although many women are union members, its still rare to see women in the top jobs in unions so it was great that the new Vice President of the CWU, Beryl Shepherd was present.
A Geordie woman, she spoke about her experiences as a woman worker with a child (and a supportive husband) and her involvement in the union. She talked of the need for women in the CWU to challenge negativity towards them and that sometimes the best people to challenge this was the people who had faced these problems. What was inspring about the meeting was the warmth and generosity of the women, not just to each other but caring about society generally. Apart from the stresses and strains of doing two jobs at work ie their job and being a trade union representative, they were interested in the world. They discussed the welfare cuts and they had made the time during the year to collect Xmas gifts for women in refuges.
My own experience of trade unions is that their collective nature can bring out the best in us all. And that is about supporting the vulnerable in society as well as sometime being confrontational by saying that some things are just wrong. Racism, inequality, injustice, bullying are just some of the issues that trade unions have historically campaigned against and won many battles. Most of the time these things go unnoticed because all the work takes place in meetings such as the one I attended. Just another reason why everyone woman/man should not only join a union but also play an active role.

If you have enjoyed this article and would like to support this blog by making a donation you can do using this button

Posted in trade unions, women | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Why we need trade unions

Posted on January 29, 2012 by lipstick socialist

Me and friends enjoying the march on 30 November 2011

Trade unions are part of my dna. My father went on strike during the National Building Workers dispute in 1972. Mum did not work outside the home, they had four children and still sent money home to Ireland to our elderly Gran. So striking without any pay was hard. But it was about being part of a community, part of a trade union where people stuck together to improve their lives. Luckily for us our uncle was a docker and he helped us out. Dad was on strike for a week. It wasn’t a successful strike and it meant he was then in debt for many weeks afterwards. Many years later I learnt the history of the Irish in this country. Often stereotyped as “scabs” or “cheap labour” the Irish were and still are the back bone of many trade union and labour organisations. To quote playwright and activist Jim Allen from an article he wrote for the TV times in 1969, “For them (the Irish) life itself is a clenched fist and they imbibe rebellion with their mother’s milk.”
I have always been a trade unionist and on several occasions a shop steward, latterly for the Unite trade union. I have been on strike, walked out of an office to join the picket line of other workers, supported the historic MinersStrike of 1984-5 and the various one day public sector strikes.
The Public Sector strike of November 2011 was different for one main reason; I looked around and saw I was surrounded by women trade unionists – thousands of them! It was like a women’s strike! Care workers, teachers, chiropodists, physios, nurses and many others. It reflects how many women work in the public sector – around 65% (TUC). These women are angry as they are bearing the brunt of the proposed 400,000 job losses over the next four years. Women work in the public sector because it has a better record on pay equality, particularly for those women who work flexibly or part time due to childcare responsibilities. Cuts in the welfare budget will disproportionately affect women. Figure s show that 72% of the changes in taxes , benefits and tax credits will affect women.
For women in the private sector life is little better. Since the recession began there has been a decrease in retail and wholesale work of 34,000 and a 14,000 fall in administrative and secretarial vacancies. Research by the TUC has shown that other sectors are shrinking and numbers of vacancies falling in education by 26,000 and in health and social work by 6,000. Unemployment rates for young women are now the highest on record. And in some areas such as Merseyside, West Midlands, Scotland and Yorkshire the numbers of young women who are unemployed has gone up between 9 and 11%.
It’s no wonder women are angry and out on the streets! But we are out there with our men. It’s only if we all get together to oppose the Con Dem cuts that we will get a fairer, happier society. We are in a different world from the highly organised trade union movement of the 70’s and 80’s and it’s going to take a new way of getting people to work together to get that better society.

If you have enjoyed this article and would like to support this blog by making a donation you can do using this button

Posted in anti-cuts, trade unions, women | Tagged , | 2 Comments

I love badges

Posted on January 29, 2012 by lipstick socialist

IMG_2628

Con-Dem Their Cuts!

I love badges. At the moment on my sixties style green winter coat I am wearing the anti-government badge I bought on the national demo against the cuts on 26 March 2011. My love of badges started when. as young Catholic girl, I was given an Immaculate Mary medal. These were given to girls as a symbol of the Virgin Mary’s purity and of the kind of lifestyle the Catholic church wanted to promote for women. The Catholic church pays particular attention to brainwashing little girls into compliance and obedience. They are the future ground troops for the religion! Me, I just liked the idea of wearing the medal.

Lucky for me I came from a Irish republican socialist background. My father, Irish exile and building worker, tried his best to radicalise his children. Fighting against the modern culture of 70’s Britain, he explained the injustice faced by our people in Ireland and by others elsewhere in the world. Our heroes were Muhammed Ali and Bernadette Devlin, to name but two. He saw no contradiction between socialism and Catholicism. As a family we in fact practised a very traditional version of Catholicism – west of Ireland brand – a mix of nightly family rosaries and a triumphant trip to the church several times over the weekend. He had little regard for the clergy and saw them only as intermediaries to the “Big Fella” upstairs.

Radicalised I left my East Manchester council house and extended Irish family to go to university in Yorkshire. In the mid-70’s universities were alive with left,women’s groups and political activity. Brought up on the “s” word socialist I immediately joined the International Socialists (and gave up the church). I was now in badge heaven!
At University there was one for every political group and campaign – CND, Troops Out of Ireland, Anti-Apartheid plus numerous ones produced for industrial disputes and even a badge offering advice to the former Lady Diana in 1981 on her marriage , “Don’t Do It Di”. The “Ditch the Bitch” badge to commemorate Magaret Thatcher’s rise to power led to heated discussions between lefties and feminists.

Badges told the world what you believed in – immediately and to their faces. At University I got involved with the National Abortion Campaign. We wanted “ Free abortion on demand” and wore badges stating this. I wore my badge with pride at University, on marches …and back at home when I went to church! My mother looked shocked when I put on black duffle coat to go to church but she had already been so I went with Dad and my sisters. He couldn’t care less and was happy to have a dissident daughter. The priest didn’t pass a comment as he nodded at us as we left the church. He probably expected it of one of our family. Later on as Mum, Dad and I watched Question Time they told me that they supported abortion. They had seen enough pregnant women being chucked out of their family homes and sent away to Dublin to have their babies. Wearing a badge “A Woman’s Right to Choose” led to encounters with anonymous women in toilets where they told me they had had abortions but under terrible circumstances.They treated me as if I knew what they were talking about by just wearing a badge –maybe they wanted to believe that they were not alone…

So in 2012 where are all the badge wearers? As I wear my anti-government badge I see people reading it and looking like they agree with me. They must do – this is the northwest –few people vote Tory. I have had some good conversations with people who have randomly approached me. They say that they have lost their job, their children have degrees but work in coffee bars and they feel things can only get worse. Maybe wearing a badge is making a statement; saying what you think and inviting other people to respond. Wearing badges is not enough…but its a start and you can quickly find out who is on your side…follow me…

If you have enjoyed this article and would like to support this blog by making a donation you can do using this button

Posted in anti-cuts, Catholicism, Irish second generation, Manchester, Socialism, women | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Redder than my lipstick!!

Posted on January 23, 2012 by lipstick socialist

I am feminist, socialist, northern, Irish, working class.  I count myself as a privileged person to be able to be part of this tradition that has enriched the history and lives of people in this country and in the world.

In my blog I am going to tell  the less privileged people about our world. It will tell stories about the working class, the asylum seeker, the trade unionist,  and all those people who are silently and humbly struggling to make a decent  lives for themselves and their community.

Dear reader I aim to broaden your ideas of what it means to be working class. Our likes include….Kathleen Ferrier, foreign films with subtitles, stylish clothes,  plays of Jim Allen , Pat Phoenix,”Saturday Night Fever” , poems of Pablo Neruda, the novels of Maude Casey and Moy McCrory …and more………just wait!

Posted in anti-cuts, human rights, Irish second generation, Manchester, Socialism, trade unions, women | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments