20 October 2012

Marching for A Future That Works

There are times when you have to stand up and be counted and Saturday 20 October 2012 was one of them.

The march for A Future That Works was organised by the TUC, and supported by a raft of organisations, in opposition to this Government's disastrous economic policies that have taken us from a position of growth in to a double-dip recession with no sign of any significant improvement for years to come.

The cuts are not working and we need an alternative approach that gives us growth and, through that, employment.

I had a choice of organisations that I could have marched with (last time I went with Kingston Peace Council/CND) and I chose Compass which I have belonged to for a few years.

Our muster point was St Pauls. We shared this with a few similar organisations, notably UK Uncut, and there was a good collection of banners to interest and confuse the foreign tourists.



From their it was a short walk to Blackfriars where we joined the back of the march that was strung along the Embankment. It was slow going from there, as expected, and we stopped-started our way for the next three hours or so.

The route was familiar. We followed Embankment all the way to the Houses of Parliament before doubling back to Trafalgar Square then along Pall Mall, St James Street and Piccadilly to Hyde Park.

The mood was familiar too and there was singing, chanting and drumming all the way.

Behind the good mood was the serious matter at hand. 150,000 people do not sacrifice a Saturday just for a slow walk through Central London. We all wanted to stand up and be counted.

This government is making a big mistake by trying to cut their way out of a recession and we needed to tell them that. I am fairly certain that they will not listen but that does not mean that we should not try. And we will try again and again if we have to.

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