30 November strike

So admittedly, being a housewife, I don't belong to a Union...or have a pension..or well ..a wage. But that did not stop me striking on 30 November! Nor did the stinking cold that started the Sunday before - although it brought me to a crashing halt after 30 November! The husband, for his sins, has a vocation to teach - it's inconvenient and it will keep us poor but, as someone who never found their passion in a work sense, I do envy him his dedication. I don't think this is enough of a bonus for the government to shit on him from a great height though and it is my pension too, so I was happy to join in on the 30th.
He is getting a huge pay cut in February as it is (although, on the bright side, that will reduce how much his pension contributions are increased!) Now, when I did work, I was actually a pension specialist, so this is an area that I am familiar with. The last Labour government were responsible for killing the defined benefit scheme in the private sector, in an act of myopic stupidity that still leaves me frothing at the mouth. Not only did it deprive thousands and thousands of people of benefits in retirement (which will only have to be topped up by Welfare Benefits) but it destroyed the major source of long term investment, damaging the economy and I believe, contributing to the current economic crisis.

On 30 November, I was on the picket line at 8 am, then there was a march though the town where we live. About 1500 people marched  - pretty impressive - culminating in speeches that stressed the need to raise the benefits for the private sector, not just use their inadequate benefit levels to decrease the public sector ones. I thoroughly enjoyed the day, even if it did worsen my cold into an illness that persisted for 2 weeks and even though I have the feeling we will not win, even though we should.

Cutting pensions to solve a short term or even medium term economic problem is a huge mistake. Pensions are the stew of benefits - they need to simmer for years, even decades to be effective and the cuts this government propose will not provide that much relief in the short term - commitments have already been made to pensioners - but it will irreparably damage the ability of many to retire on any kind of meaningful income in the medium and long term. And who will foot the massive benefit bill then?

Occupy and the 99% Movement

I have nothing but good wishes for the Occupy and 99% movement - I know its not perfect, but it is heartening to think that there are other people out there who would like to live in a fairer world. If the number of ways it is attacked are anything to go by, it may even be threatening the status quo!
It is a spontaneous expression of disperate people saying "enough is enough"..so it is accused of having no formulated ideas or policies....
It is supported by some organsations like UK Uncut so it is accused of being fuelled by organised trouble-makers...
It has many eccentrics amongst its ranks so it is dismissed as a loony fringe....
It has some people who work or study so it is criticised for being part-time...
It was forced away from the banking district and into the square in front of St Paul's so it is criticised for interupting the business of the cathedral...
The truth is that it represents the 99% of us that do not own all the wealth, we work, we study, we have different political beliefs, we are sane, we are loony...we are the people. We want fairness. We want less disparity between the rich and poor. We want politicians to do their jobs and come up with the policies to achieve this.

Anyone else got deja vu?

As a teenager in the 1980's, I pulled on my Doc Marten's, soaped up the spikes in my hair and protested. The Tories were in power, Labour was weak and various fascist organisations were looking to capitalise on the despair and frustrations of the time to gain new recruits to the philosophy that all woes are someone else's fault, (some "foreigner's" no doubt!)
Today, deja vu hits me like a bucket of water in the face and its not altogether unpleasant. The younger me has re-awakened. After two decades of disillusionment and frustration, I have hope again. Maybe this time, in opposing what we know we do not want, we will get that much closer again to what we do want. For all of us it will be a little different, but the general themes of fairness, equality, freedom and decency are common enough ground to build on.
First step for me is attending the Unite Against Fascism march in London on November 6th....now where did I put those Doc Marten's?