On 5th November people up and down the country celebrated a growing resistance to government policies by engaging in many and varied peaceful acts of civil disobedience that they had planned and organised in their local People’s Assemblies.
London Green and Party Welfare Spokesperson Romayne Phoenix (centre left, green scarf)
joined protestors against the governments package of welfare and public service cuts
Romayne Phoenix, London Green and Party Welfare Spokesperson was one of those who marched across London and onto Westminster Bridge in protest against government austerity economics and privatisation plans. Speaking ahead of the night, she said:
“I believe that we are faced with a choice, like so many others around the world, to allow market forces to dominate or to demand a better future where we can start to tackle inequalities and climate change for the sake of us all and future generations. A capitalist economic model will not work for the interests of the many or the protection of our delicately balanced ecology.
We must not underestimate the challenges ahead. The government has succeeded in selling the necessity for cuts diverting blame for the economic crisis on to the cost of the welfare state. There are now a million in receipt of housing benefits but the government won’t tell you that these are people working for poverty wages. They don’t say that the housing crisis continues to drive up private rental costs. Who is benefitting from housing benefit? Landlords, not tenants. Many are now struggling to meet household costs, increasingly relying on pay day loans or using credit cards in the supermarket.”
She added: “We must begin to actively resist the direction of this governments policies, planning together to demand changes. We need to unite together to make our opposition heard. Working locally and joining forces together nationally we can resist this government’s ideological onslaught and together we can win.”