*** WE ARE ALL ONE
Russell Brand told the marchers there will be a ‘peaceful, effortless, joyful revolution’ against austerity in the UK. Photograph: Rex Features
Stephen Cook/golden age gaia: Tens of thousands of people marched through central London on Saturday afternoon in protest at austerity measures introduced by the coalition government.
The demonstrators gathered before the Houses of Parliament, where they were addressed by speakers, including comedians Russell Brand and Mark Steel.
An estimated 50,000 people marched from the BBC’s New Broadcasting House in central London to Westminster.
“The people of this building [the House of Commons] generally speaking do not represent us, they represent their friends in big business. It’s time for us to take back our power,” said Brand.
“This will be a peaceful, effortless, joyful revolution and I’m very grateful to be involved in the People’s Assembly.”
“Power isn’t there, it is here, within us,” he added. “The revolution that’s required isn’t a revolution of radical ideas, but the implementation of ideas we already have.”
A spokesman for the People’s Assembly, which organised the march, said the turnout was “testament to the level of anger there is at the moment”.
He said that Saturday’s action was “just the start”, with a second march planned for October in conjunction with the Trades Union Congress, as well as strike action expected next month.
People’s Assembly spokesman Clare Solomon said: “It is essential for the welfare of millions of people that we stop austerity and halt this coalition government dead in its tracks before it does lasting damage to people’s lives and our public services.”
Sam Fairburn, the group’s national secretary, added: “Cuts are killing people and destroying cherished public services which have served generations.”
Activists from the Stop The War Coalition and CND also joined the demonstration.
The protest outside the UK Houses of Parliament.
The crowds heard speeches at Parliament Square from People’s Assembly supporters, including Caroline Lucas MP and journalist Owen Jones. Addressing the marchers, Jones said: “Who is really responsible for the mess this country is in? Is it the Polish fruit pickers or the Nigerian nurses? Or is it the bankers who plunged it into economic disaster – or the tax avoiders? It is selective anger.”
He added: “The Conservatives are using the crisis to push policies they have always supported. For example, the sell-off of the NHS. They have built a country in which most people who are in poverty are also in work.”
The People’s Assembly was set up with an open letter to the Guardian in February 2013. Signatories to letter included Tony Benn, who died in March this year, journalist John Pilger and filmmaker Ken Loach.
In the letter, they wrote: “This is a call to all those millions of people in Britain who face an impoverished and uncertain year as their wages, jobs, conditions and welfare provision come under renewed attack by the government.
“The assembly will provide a national forum for anti-austerity views which, while increasingly popular, are barely represented in parliament.”
The Metropolitan police refused to provide an estimate. A police spokesman said the force had received no reports of arrests.
A spokesman for the prime minister declined to comment.
By Kevin Rawlinson, The Guardian – June 22, 2014-
http://tinyurl.com/qf2qchg
Russell Brand and fellow anti-austerity speaker, Caroline Lucas
Russell Brand Calls On 50,000 Protesters To Stage ‘Joyful Revolution’
Thanks to Jo.
Russell Brand has called on thousands of protesters to be part of a “peaceful, effortless, joyful revolution” that seizes power back from Westminster.
The former Big Brother’s Big Mouth presenter, who this year implored readers of the New Statesman magazine to abandon the current political system, told crowds gathered in London’s Parliament Square that MPs no longer represented the people.
Speaking in the shadow of the Houses of Parliament at the end of a march marking the one-year anniversary of the People’s Assembly being formed, Brand stripped off his T-shirt and replaced it with one carrying the message “Firefighters rescue people not bankers”.
He said: “The people of this building (the House of Commons) generally speaking do not represent us, they represent their friends in big business. It’s time for us to take back our power.
“This will be a peaceful, effortless, joyful revolution and I’m very grateful to be involved in the People’s Assembly.”
An estimated 50,000 people took part in the march, which started at the BBC in Portland Place where protesters accused the broadcaster of ignoring the plight of impoverished Britons.
Brand, one of several speakers who also included comedian and commentator Mark Steel, MP Caroline Lucas and journalist Owen Jones, said: “I obviously face accusations of being part of the 1% (of the country’s wealthy elite) myself but I wasn’t designed in a laboratory with Jimmy Carr and Adele, I’m from Grays in Essex.”
Referencing his previous drug addiction, of which he has spoken frequently, Brand joked: “I signed on for eight years, I lived on benefits. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have been able to work on my quite severe crack and heroin addiction.
“Where I grew up I felt there were low expectations.”
In the run-up to the march, Brand talked of the “toxic swindle” of austerity.
He added today: “Power isn’t there (in the House of Commons), it is here, within us.
“The revolution that’s required isn’t a revolution of radical ideas, but the implementation of ideas we already have.”
Bowing to calls from members of the crowd to replace his T-shirt with the pro-firefighter garment, Brand replied: “See, I’ve given you even my vanity.”
Brand has enjoyed an increased standing on social commentary in recent years, penning an article in the New Statesman two months ago entitled “We no longer have the luxury of tradition”.
In it, he also called for a “total revolution”, encouraging young people to abstain from voting, adding: “I will never vote and I don’t think you should, either.” It was a message he was to repeat on BBC Newsnight.
Sam Fairbairn, national secretary of the People’s Assembly, said: “Make no mistake, these cuts are killing people and destroying cherished public services which have served generations.
“Alongside May Day demonstrations in memory of the legendary Bob Crow, who helped launch the People’s Assembly, and Tony Benn, who was Assembly president when he died, we are now turning up the heat on Cameron and Clegg.
“Later this autumn, we will unite with the trade union and labour movement when it holds another monster march against austerity and the ConDems.
“Soon we will reach a size and influence where neither the BBC nor this austerity Government will be able to ignore us.”
He said the group will aim to hold the biggest protest in British history later this year.
To watch 1.5 minute video of some of the protest, click on link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wrp7n2NyEz0
From The Huffington Post, UK – June 22, 2014 –
http://tinyurl.com/mczl39t
http://goldenageofgaia.com/2014/06/23/russell-brand-calls-for-joyful-revolution-as-tens-of-thousands-march-in-london-against-governments-austerity-measures/
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