Welfare State & Tar Sands Celebration: On Saturday tenth of April 2010 pensioners led a march to defend the welfare state and oppose cuts in public providers and later I went to a celebration at a BP storage in Shepherds Bush in opposition to the corporate’s plans to use Canadian tar sands.
Defend the Welfare State – Temple
The Nationwide Pensioners’ Conference, which represents over a thousand native regional and nationwide pensioner teams with a complete of 1.5 million members had organised a march and rally in London to defend the general public providers they’re notably depending on forward of the 2010 normal election. The march was supported by the TUC and all main unions.
Age Concern has predicted that over 40% of votes within the subsequent month’s election can be made by these over 60, and had recognized 5 key points which notably influence pensioners. Particularly they stated that the fundamental state pension was critically insufficient and the pension rise of solely £2.40 was far too low. 1 / 4 of all pensioners have been dwelling in poverty.
However all three main events have been planning for cuts in public expenditure and transferring away from the consensus Britain had come to throughout and after the Second World Warfare, the welfare state with pensions, a free NHS, free schooling and different public providers. Through the years a few of these provisions had been eroded (and in a number of areas similar to dental care, by no means totally applied) however now they have been more and more beneath menace, whichever get together wins the final election.
Big deficits had come from handouts to the bankers and the price of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the NHS had been hit notably laborious by the prices of privatisation beneath the massive money owed from the Non-public Finance Initiative.
Cuts to native authorities who many pensioners depend on for social care and help providers similar to meals on wheels, in addition to housing profit, threaten the day by day lifetime of many and are resulting in the closure of day centres and different provision.
It was stress from protests similar to this, in addition to the presence of the Lib-Dems within the coalition with the Tories that was elected that led to the introduction of the “triple lock” on pensions in 2010. In 2020 the state pension was round 16% of common earnings and by 2025 it had risen to round 25%. However pensioners have been badly hit by cuts in care.
Extra at Defend the Welfare State.
Tar Sands Celebration on the Pumps – BP, Shepherd’s Bush Inexperienced
The UK Tar Sands Community, Rising Tide and the Camp for Local weather Motion had organised a ‘Celebration on the Pumps’ as part of a ‘BP Fortnight of Disgrace’ attempting to get BP shareholders to reverse the corporate’s resolution to participate within the exploitation of the Canadian Tar Sands which environmental activists say is “the dirtiest and most determined try but to revenue from – and delay – humanity’s crippling habit to grease.“
Extracting usable crude oil from tar sands at all times leads to between three to 5 instances the quantity of carbon dioxide manufacturing as regular oil wells. Deposits near the floor are strip mined, destroying historical forests and peat bogs to dig up round 75 metres depth of sand and oil with enormous vans and mechanical shovels.
In Alberta four-fifths of tar sands are too deep to be mined on this means and are delivered to the floor by the injection of excessive stress steam – which makes use of round twice as a lot power and pollutes twice as a lot extremely poisonous waste water which is already leaking into consuming water.
Indigenous individuals dwelling within the space have very excessive most cancers charges and their staple moose meat has been discovered with 300 instances the appropriate stage of heavy metals from the tar sand extraction.
BP solely bought concerned within the Canadian tar sands in 2007, in all probability as a result of that they had cheaper sources of oil elsewhere. They signed up with Canadian firm Husky Power for a large-scale tar sands venture they known as the ‘Dawn Undertaking’ and for different tar sands initiatives. This was placed on maintain when oil costs crashed in 2008, however BP shareholders have been anticipated to approve it going forward at their assembly in April fifteenth.
Protesters have been informed to fulfill at Oxford Circus with a Journey Card and after an hour or so all of us – together with a number of police – went down into the station following these with inexperienced and yellow (BP’s colors) flags, at the very least a few of whom knew our vacation spot and boarded a west-bound Central Line practice.
At Shepherds Bush the message got here to alight. We rushed behind these carrying the flags alongside the busy buying avenue, throughout the inexperienced to the BP storage on the south aspect, which had already been occupied by a smaller advance group of demonstrators.
A few of them had bought onto the roof from scaffolding on a neighbouring block of flats and have been fixing a banner there, whereas others blocked the forecourt entrance with a big ‘CLOSED’ banner. The protesters occupied the world and put tapes and stickers across the petrol pumps and elsewhere with the messages ‘DANGER GLOBAL WARNING‘ and ‘BP TAR SANDS – BACK TO BLACK?’
The Rhythms of Resistance band had additionally arrived and was drumming loudly and there was additionally a bicycle trailer sound system and the protesters have been dancing. A stay band and a caller performed for extra dancing and the protesters sat on the pavement and discuss, eat sandwiches and snacks and drink, whereas some handed out leaflets to the passers-by and defined why the protest was happening.
After I left after a few hours the protest was persevering with. Police and a person from BP had earlier requested them after they can be leaving and have been informed ‘someday later within the day‘ and warranted that they might trigger no everlasting harm and though the police have been nonetheless watching the protest, filming and taking notes however not in any other case taking any motion. I presume BP had requested them to keep away from extra publicity for the occasion by attempting to pressure it to an finish or make arrests.
Extra at Tar Sands Celebration on the Pumps.
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Tags: 2010, Alberta tar sands, BP, BP Fortnight of Disgrace, Camp for Local weather Motion, Canadian Tar Sands, care provision, cuts, normal election, heavy metals, excessive most cancers charges, Husky Power, native authorities, London, march, moose meat, Nationwide Pensioners’ Conference, NPC, pensioner poverty, pensioners, peter Marshall, police, venture dawn, Rhythms of Resistance, Rising Tide, Shepherds Bush, social care, state pensions, Tar Sands, TUC, UK Tar Sands Community, welfare state
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