Without any mandate the politicians who lead Britain have launched a huge change for the worse in millions of people’s lives. They have joined a race with other EU regimes to use the banking crisis as an excuse for breaking down the welfare state.
Banking losses cost Britain’s taxpayers £2,000 Billion. There are only two ways available to deal with a system-shaking catastrophe like this. The first way is the one that was chosen (but not openly debated in the General Election) by all three mainstream parties. It is to shift away a vast amount of money and social wealth from the majority of the population. The second is to reorganise your economy in the interests of all. There are obvious signs of the meaning of the first policy in examples like the tiny bank levy of £2 billion in the budget when even the Bank of England (25 June) says if last year’s bank bonuses were stopped it would make £10 billion instantly available. At the same time millions of workers are to be forced to go into years of pay cuts.
The commission of the peoples’ charter for change met at the end of May and issued a statement to those supporting the charter movement and to all who seek an alternative to austerity wages, pensions, and services. The commission will issue statements regularly - showing that there is an alternative to cuts – as the public’s call for fairness and against a banker’s Britain gets louder.
The Peoples Charter Commission was set up to build a mass movement against Bankers’ cuts and for a peoples’ Britain. Non-sectarian Charter groups are now springing up around the country.
The aim of the People’s Charter is to secure at least one million signatures on a Charter petition. The six-point Charter is the focal point of a movement to organise for real change to the lives of the people. With an economy in crisis, cuts in public services, millions unemployed, young people denied a future, now is the time to act.
Join the campaign. Get involved.
How to: A Local Guide
The People's Charter represents a real opportunity to draw together the struggles and campaigns of the working class and progressive movements. Published here are some ideas on how to get the campaign started locally. It also has the potential to engage the wider community in a co-ordinated campaign against the priorities of big business and for democratic social advance. This will be particularly important if we are to successfully challenge the attacks on terms and conditions which is already underway. Your locally will be crucial to making this movement a reality.
The People's Charter has, since its launch, had the support of several national unions and has now been adopted by the 2009 TUC Congress. However, if this support is to translate into anything concrete, it needs to be the focus of discussion and activity within the trades’ union movement at local level and in tenant's organisations, community groups, public service defences and others. A Draft resolution is available here that can provide the basis for obtaining support. It will hopefully possible for you to tailor them to suit your local union branch or trades council.
