TUC March and Rally - Manchester for the Alternative - Sunday 2nd Oct

Date: Sunday 2 October
Assemble 12 noon Liverpool Road (off Deansgate)

This year the Conservative Party are having their annual Conference in Manchester and the TUC is organising a march and rally to show opposition to the Coalition Government's disastrous policies of pay freezes, cuts and attacks on public services that are producing rising unemployment, cuts in living standards and stagnation. The march will also show the support for The Alternative. We need jobs, growth and justice for a sustainable future and this event will send that message loud and clear.

Coaches from .......

Stourbridge - Dudley - Wolverhampton ........01384 813875

Sandwell - Walsall ..........07952 647479 or 0121 567 5446

Birmingham ............07904 960442

Coventry Trades Council ........ 07799 340 559

European Conference Against Austerity & Privatisation

Three years ago the world economy stood on a precipice. Collapse was only averted by a vast bank rescue package. In Europe the sum ran to trillions of pounds. This proved to be no answer to the crisis but poured yet more wealth into the pockets of the rich and led to the sovereign debt crisis. Governments throughout Europe and beyond now propose a single solution – draconian austerity measures that threaten the livelihoods of millions of ordinary people. And indeed millions oppose this policy, which will not bring economic recovery but recession. To address this crisis on a basis that meets the real needs of the peoples of Europe, we will be meeting in London on 1 October at the Europe Against Austerity conference to discuss an alternative economic and political strategy.
Jeremy Corbyn MP Lab, Islington North,
Len McCluskey Unite,
Pierre Laurent Party of the European Left,
Sevim Dagdelen Die Linke,
Annick Coupe Solidaires,
Prof Walter Baier Austria,
Elisabeth Gauthier Transform Europe,
Felipe Van Keirsbilck European Joint Social Conference,
Hugo Braun Attac,
Piero Bernocchi Cobas,
Prof Costas Lapavitsas Soas,
Andrew Burgin Coalition of Resistance

DEMOCRACY NOT IN EVIDENCE AT LIB DEMS CONFERENCE AS GREEN ACTIVIST IS JAILED FOR HANGING A BANNER!

There is a protest on Monday from 3pm outside Birmingham Magistrates Court in support of Edd Bauer who used to be involved in Birmingham University Young Greens and is now a sabbatical officer of the Student Union.

Edd is in prison for the crime of hanging a banner that could be seen by motorists on Broad St just before the start of the Lib Dem Conference. The crime is said to be a "road traffic offence" but the prosecution said his act was not dangerous. He was denied bail as he has a previous offence of sitting down on the floor in Fortnum and Mason. Being denied bail is thought to be unprecedented. The 2 others with Edd at the time were granted bail but banned from Birmingham city centre for over a month.

At 3pm on Monday he will see his next bail hearing at Bham Magistrates Court. Anyway wishing to protest in solidarity, meet in front of the magistrates Court on Corporation St at 3pm.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=159569750798811

http://brightgreenscotland.org/index.php/2011/09/solidarity-demo-for-imprisoned-activist-edd-bauer/

SICK TORIES ATTACK THE MOST VULNERABLE PEOPLE IN OUR TOWN!

RUGBY GREENS MARCH ON THE LIBS DEMS CONFERENCE

Still waiting for a response from local Lib Dem loyalists

Letter printed in Rugby Advertiser 15th Sept 2011

It’s not so long ago that local Lib Dem Councillors and their national party would have been proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with people fighting to defend the NHS, including opposing ward closures and any ideological attempt to privatise the NHS - which will be a very serious threat to small hospitals like St Cross.

Liberal Democrats would have also opposed, going to war, Incineration - instead of recycling ‘waste’ and tyres, nuclear power, weakening of community planning rights to defend the green belt and would have demanded action to create green jobs for the future and action on climate change.

Its doubtful, if they would have gone along with plans or even proposed scraping (as they do) subsided coach travel for the elderly or disabled and would have flinched at anything that may result in 80,000 families losing their homes because of housing benefit cuts.

Safeguarding the community through proper policing levels would have been something the Lib Dems would have been standing up for, and saying no to cuts to the youth services would have been a top priority.

They would have been calling for action in tacking inequalities in wealth, including curbing tax evasion and they would have been critical of the obscene Banker’s bonuses and would have opposed any idea of a tax cut for the top 1% in this country.

But then again this is before Nick Clegg got the trappings of power.

The actions being taken by Clegg & Co are clearly more ideological in context then any attempt to deal with the budget deficit – just look at the list above.

So what needs to be done?

Rugby Green Party members will be protesting at the TUC march, along with thousands of people at the Lib Dem Conference in Birmingham this Sunday (18^th September) and we would ask those Liberal Democrat Councillors and members (and anyone else) who really care about social, economic and environmental justice to join us.

Regards

Roy Sandison - Rugby Green Party Spokesperson.

Caroline Lucas (MP OF THE YEAR WINNER) excellent speech to Green Party Conference

Caroline Lucas | Caroline named 'MP of the Year' in Public Life awards

www.carolinelucas.com

Thetitle was awarded to the Brighton Pavilion MP, who is also leader ofthe Green Party of England and Wales, for proving to be ‘the mosteffective woman in the House of Commons who has shown outstandingachievement during the parliamentary year'.

Will it kick off between Pawsey and Wright? As boundary changes means Rugby merges with Southam from 2013

The Boundary Commission report has created a new parliamentary seat of Rugby & Southam from 2013

The new seat will include wards south from Brownsover North extending to Southam, including Harbury and Fenny Compton.

Warwickshire will see a reduction of 6 seats to 5 and could well create serious friction amongst Tory MP's with Mark Pawsey and Jeremy Wright possibly fighting over the same seat as they both lose significant parts of the Rugby & Bulkington seats to Nuneaton (North rural Rugby) and the whole of the current Kenilworth & Southam seat to Solihull and Rugby respectively.

In other news, Caroline Lucas gets a boost in Brighton, where her seat of Brighton Pavilion is being condensed into a stronger Green seat - reflected in the seat now containing 20 Green Councillors out of 22.

A cruel French IT company paid £100m per year of your money to attack the sick and disabled by the Tories and Lib Dems expenses scandal MP's

Green Party calls for the removal of ATOS from benefits assessments

10 SEPTEMBER 2011

Green Party members yesterday voted to pass an emergency motion calling on the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to stop using IT firm ATOS as its assessor of benefit claimants.

Concerns have been raised over the company's suitability to conduct assessments, ranging from the lack of disabled access at their assessment centres to the shocking fact that 40% of their decisions have been found to be wrong on appeal [1].

Jillian Creasy, Green councillor for Sheffield Central who also works as a GP, said:

"ATOS's computer-led assessment is far too blunt an instrument to assess a benefit that is vital for so many. For example, the box-ticking exercise is close to useless for assessing a condition such as autism. Not only that, but the number of decisions that have been reversed means that an awful lot of taxpayers' money has been wasted.

"Disabled people should be afforded the dignity they deserve throughout any assessment process, and should not be presumed guilty or treated like they're avoiding work. ATOS has no place in such a sensitive area, and we urge the government to sever all ties with the company."

===
Notes

1.http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2011/jul/25/disability-benefits-atos-government-hiding

2. The full text of the emergency motion follows:

Conference expresses deep concern at the use of ATOS to assess incapacity benefit receivers for their ability to return to work. As evidence continues to mount that the work capability assessments are being used politically to remove Employment and Support Allowance payments, with 12 doctors referred to the General Medical Council in August, Conference calls on the party leadership to demand that the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions removes ATOS as its assessor of benefit claimants

“Unrestrained capitalism eats away at the fabric of our society” – Caroline Lucas MP

In a powerful speech to the Green Party Conference in Sheffield, Caroline Lucas MP spoke up about the nature of a society that sees fit to make most of us pay for the obscene wealth of the few.

'For years, we have spoken of the dangers our country faces from within. How globalisation and unrestrained capitalism have been eating away at the fabric of our society. How big corporations and cynical marketing have left people feeling manipulated and exploited. How consumerism excludes those who don’t have money and enslaves those who do.

How, in a society where individuals are defined as consumers not as citizens, those who cannot afford to consume effectively become non-citizens . And we’ve spelt out how this greed-based economy was built on sand. On the myth of cheap resources and on exploitation. Alienation.

The undermining of community spirit.

These are the practical effects of decisions by government. Starving local authorities of the means to provide alternatives for young people. We pointed out how crime was a symptom of this malaise. How unless you got to the roots of these issues, then building more prisons or putting more police on the streets would at best buy you some short-term relief – but at the expense of a worse problem in the future. – Well, now it is the future.

We’ve seen scenes on our streets that might have come from a dystopian sci-fi film. A kind of collective madness in which trouble-makers and gang members are mixed up with ordinary people acting out of character. Such behavior must be condemned.

But while some politicians have spoken at length about a sickness in society, perhaps the riots have shown most clearly a sickness with politics itself. It fell to David Cameron to deliver this response – but it is one that might have come from Tony Blair or Gordon Brown, or Ed Miliband. The first instinct of the typical politician is to shed responsibility and try to pin the blame elsewhere. So we have attacks on the police not only from gangs on the streets, but from the Home Secretary and Prime Minister. The truth is, the police faced an unprecedented situation and though there are lessons to be learned, recriminations are a distraction. The second instinct is tough talk. Talk of calling in the Army. Of water cannon and baton rounds. Heavy sentencing, cutting benefits, making people homeless. All panicky and unnecessary responses made against the advice of the experts. The third is to use rhetoric to cover up inaction.

So we have Cameron’s inane sound-bite about a security fightback being followed by a social fightback. How wrong can he be? It’s not about society fighting back against alien invaders. The people who took part in the riots are from our society. They are our neighbours and our work colleagues. We sit next to them on the bus and visit the same shops. Casting them into outer darkness is exactly what you would expect from a ruling cabal who will not accept that the divisions in society are largely of their making. And where are they to go, these enemies of our society, when the fight-back has been won? Prison? Internment camps?

I fear Cameron already has the answer in his mind – though he will not speak it clearly. It’s the idea of ghettoes, where the undeserving poor can be kept and contained through heavy policing, CCTV surveillance, and the use of benefits as a stick to intimidate, without the need to use the courts, with their inconvenient interest in evidence and justice. That is Cameron’s vision. – I want to be plain about this. That vision is immoral. It is a betrayal of everything that we should be proud of in the traditions of our country. It is a betrayal by the same elite that has gained so much at the expense of the rest of us.' MORE HERE

Greens to join TUC Demo at Lib Dems Conference in Birmingham on Sunday 18th September - Assemble at 11am Granville Street

The aspiration of the Green Party is to replace the awful Liberal Democrats as the third party in England and this demonstration gives us the chance not only to demonstrate against the cuts imposed by Clegg and the Liberal Democrats in the coalition but also to expose the sell out of the Liberal Democrats over green issues such as climate change, nuclear power, burning tyres and industrial waste instead of recycling, green jobs and the green belt.

The Trade Union movement and ordinary people want an alternative to what is currently on offer and we have an opportunity at the demonstration to offer an alternative green vision to unrestrained capitalism

Green Party members have been working hard to build this protest so please come to Birmingham on Sunday 18 September and bring your green banners and placards and lets be a sizable group on this protest. We aim to have a Green Party speaker at the demonstration or the rally afterwards at 3.30pm

The march will be followed by a Right to Work Rally

Unite the Fights – Build the Resistance

Sun 18 September, 3.30pm

CWU Office, 47 Summer Lane, Birmingham B19 3TH

(5 minutes from the end of the march at Lionel Street)

Speakers include:

Mark Serwotka PCS General Secretary

John McDonnell Labour MP Hayes & Harlington

Billy Hayes CWU General Secretary

Estelle Cooch Right To Work

Linda Burnip Disabled People Against Cuts

Maxie Hayles Black Activists Rising Against Cuts

Chair: Lee Barron CWU Midlands Regional Secretary

Maroon Town - Watching The Trees - by Captain Ska

Ahoy Rugby Green people

I just produced this tune for my good friends Maroon Town

It's got a green message , thought it might be up your street !

check it out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hMfIIN1dr0

Captain SKA

Andrew Lansley should resign over Heath Bill say Green Leader Caroline Lucas MP

The Health and Social Care Bill returns to Parliament this week for its third reading.

The Green Party is calling for the resignation of Andrew Lansley, as new research demonstrates the poor outcomes of the proposed Americanised system of healthcare.

It also comes as some hospitals face major funding problems, including Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, where managers are considering a proposal to shut St Mary's, Paddington, and sell off the site to property developers to make up for a £100m debt. (1)

Green Party leader Caroline Lucas MP is giving her full backing to amendments to prevent NHS privatisation, and she supports the 38 Degrees petition against the Bill, which is now heading towards 450,000 signatures.

Caroline Lucas said: “I have been working closely with 38 Degrees on the crucial campaign to protect the NHS – and am doing all I can in Parliament to support the opposition to the Government’s dangerously flawed proposals. The Health and Social Care Bill would set the legal stage for private companies to be allowed to run much of the NHS and for market forces to determine the way health services are provided. Like the many constituents who have contacted me in recent weeks to voice their opposition to the Bill, I believe this is totally unacceptable.”

Stuart Jeffery, health spokesperson for the Green Party: "The NHS needs reform, but the direction that the Conservatives and Lib Dems are taking the NHS in will bring the system far closer to the US version of health care. The US system is constantly found wanting.

“We welcome new research which demonstrates clearly that the US system was one of the least cost-effective in reducing mortality rates, while the UK was one of the best (2). MPs should take note of this when then vote on the bill this week.

"The US system of health care is predicated on competition and insurance, both of which are enshrined in the draft Health Bill. Moving the UK towards the US system will either cost lives, or it will cost taxpayers billions.

"Despite the rhetoric of Labour, Lib Dems and the Tories, competition and markets in health care increase costs and make outcomes worse. Markets require the threat of failure, yet no sensible government should be introducing failure into health care. Claims that the NHS won't be privatised are simply untrue. Revelations this week have shown (3) that takeover discussions started last year. It comes as no surprise that the Health Bill absolves the Secretary of State of his duty to provide health care. (4)

"Andrew Lansley should therefore resign immediately as Secretary of State for Health for his disgraceful attempt to destroy the NHS. He is not fit to lead health care in this country and clearly does not want to do so either.

“The NHS may not have been safe in Labour's hands but in Conservative hands it is in immediate peril."

Notes

1) http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/top-hospital-to-be-closed-as-cash-crisis-engulfs-nhs-2349300.htm

2) Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Short Reports July 2011 available at:

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2011/08/07/JRSMpaperPritWall.pdf

3) Overseas management of hospitals discussed

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/sep/03/shirley-williams-nhs-reforms-turmoil

4) Legal opinion on 'Duty to Provide"

http://www.scribd.com/doc/63555659/Duty-to-Provide-legal-review-NHS-health-and-social-care-bill