David Cameron’s clever decision to delay a vote on “bombing ISIL” until the Autumn means we’ll have a summer of discussions about intervening in schools, the problems of Islam and the need to do something for those British citizens who lost their lives on the day.
Next Wednesday, George Osborne will spearhead a cruel and bloody attack on the British people which will kill more than the 30 who died on the beaches of Tunisia recently. Will there be a minute’s silence for them? Will we seek to track down the perpetrators? Will we ask teachers to look for signs that little Johnny might be a Tory and to report him to the police?
Austerity kills. One needs no further proof of this than Iain Duncan’s Smith’s tireless attempts to squash reports of people dying because their benefits were taken away, or his repeated denials, repeatedly exposed as lies, that there are targets for benefits sanctions within the DWP. One only needs to Google “Sandra Lambert” to uncover this lie.
We must fight austerity as hard as we can, for that reason. This is why, shortly after the Chancellor has smugly taken his seat to cheers from his dishonourable friends, I will be attending this “Balls the the Budget!” demonstration: http://t.co/QjtPNLzyho . We will demonstrate in style, with coloured balls, banners and flags.
We’ve known for a while that the Tories plan £12.5bn of cuts, based on their philosophy that the poor, working or not, have failed morally and practically, and must therefore bear the brunt of austerity. The poor, the vulnerable and the weak – those working people on zero-hours contracts already dependant on food banks, people with disabilities, sick people, the elderly and the homeless – those most likely to die as a result of a drop in income, are the targets of this vicious and cold-blooded attack.
The British who died in Tunisia were not targeted for being British. The British targeted by our own Chancellor (our own Chancellor!) are being targeted because they are British, but also because they have no money.
The phoney war against austerity will end on Wednesday. The protests will get angrier, the movement will get stronger and more confident. We will have to help our neighbour when she receives that brown envelope of bad news from HMRC or a green-and-white one from Housing Benefits. We will have to tell her she is not alone, that there are millions in the same position, and that by working together, we can change things for the better.
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