Guest post: Happy First Anniversary Big Society!
Posted on Wed 13th Jul 2011, 3:44pmThis is a guest post by Unite For Our Society. Please follow them on twitter @Unite4Society and Facebook.
Next Tuesday - the 19th July - it'll be exactly a year since David Cameron invited a barrage of TV crews to the grand launch of the Big Society. It was his "big passion," he said - and a "big advance for people power."
But families and communities across the country now know the real cost of his policy. Cameron's government has cut £4.4 billion from the voluntary sector. So much for building a Big Society- he's struck a hammer blow to the vibrant and thriving society we already had.
Over the last month, Unite for Our Society has collected hundreds of stories from the charity workers, volunteers and service users who've learnt the hard way what the Big Society really means - that vulnerable people are losing the services they rely on.
We've heard of disabled people losing their one social outing a week, unemployed young people losing the classes to help them find jobs, and people who have given their whole lives to helping their communities being made redundant.
So next Tuesday, a group of voluntary sector workers are going to Parliament to tell the prime minister their stories. We want those in power to hear what they're inflicting on ordinary people - because for the sake of our society, these cuts must stop. There are two very quick things you can do now to stand up for the voluntary sector against the cuts:
1) Please help us put pressure on Cameron & co to come outside on July 19 and face up to what they've done - send them an email now:
http://www.uniteforoursociety.org/tell-cameron-to-meet-us
2) Sign our Big Society anniversary card, which we're handing directly in to Downing Street on July 20:
http://www.uniteforoursociety.org/big-soc-card
Thank you for your help. Let's make sure the first anniversary of this flawed policy is also its last.
Unite For Our Society
www.uniteforoursociety.org
Next Tuesday - the 19th July - it'll be exactly a year since David Cameron invited a barrage of TV crews to the grand launch of the Big Society. It was his "big passion," he said - and a "big advance for people power."
But families and communities across the country now know the real cost of his policy. Cameron's government has cut £4.4 billion from the voluntary sector. So much for building a Big Society- he's struck a hammer blow to the vibrant and thriving society we already had.
Over the last month, Unite for Our Society has collected hundreds of stories from the charity workers, volunteers and service users who've learnt the hard way what the Big Society really means - that vulnerable people are losing the services they rely on.
We've heard of disabled people losing their one social outing a week, unemployed young people losing the classes to help them find jobs, and people who have given their whole lives to helping their communities being made redundant.
So next Tuesday, a group of voluntary sector workers are going to Parliament to tell the prime minister their stories. We want those in power to hear what they're inflicting on ordinary people - because for the sake of our society, these cuts must stop. There are two very quick things you can do now to stand up for the voluntary sector against the cuts:
1) Please help us put pressure on Cameron & co to come outside on July 19 and face up to what they've done - send them an email now:
http://www.uniteforoursociety.org/tell-cameron-to-meet-us
2) Sign our Big Society anniversary card, which we're handing directly in to Downing Street on July 20:
http://www.uniteforoursociety.org/big-soc-card
Thank you for your help. Let's make sure the first anniversary of this flawed policy is also its last.
Unite For Our Society
www.uniteforoursociety.org
Join the Big Society Breakfast and support the strike
Posted on Sun 26th Jun 2011, 8:54pmJune 30th will see 750,000 people go on strike on the biggest day of anti-cuts action yet. Their strike action is direct action against the government’s cuts agenda. PCS have declared that they are ‘Striking for the Alternative’. Working people across the country are standing up to the government, defending their rights and our services.
June 30th is a great opportunity for building the anti-cuts movement. UK Uncut has had huge amounts of support from trade unions. This is our chance to support them. Use this opportunity to get talking to local union activists to help build and broaden resistance to the cuts. Share ideas and tactics, plan UK Uncut actions for the future, and send a strong message to the government that we are all in it together against them.
When UK Uncut started, we called for people to get out on the streets to challenge the government and not wait for the unions. Now the unions are getting out on the streets too. 750,000 people striking in June could be 4 million in autumn. For this to happen, June 30th needs to be a success.
See you on the picket!
Here are some options for providing breakfast on the picket, it’s really easy and will mean a lot to people:
- Buy a round of teas/coffees or sandwiches from a local shop and hand them round
- Bring a thermos of tea/coffee
- Bring some cereal, milk and some bowls
- Bake a cake
- Bring a disposable BBQ and cook up some tasty breakfast/brunch
If you do want to do more than support the picket, plan and list a UK Uncut action in solidarity with the strike and to show the connection between the tax dodged by the super-rich, the crisis caused by the banks, and the attacks to our public services.
http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/blog/breakfast-press-release
-There will be flyers and posters available on our resources page soon:
ukuncut.org.uk/resources
-Spread the Big Society Breakfast video!:
youtube.com/watch?v=ucQ48ScFH1E
j30strike.org/pickets-actions
Select your location and find details of what pickets, marches and rallies are happening in your area.
If there isn’t anything there (it’s not a complete list) or you would like direct contact with a local union, you can find a of local PCS contacts through the link below:
www.pcs.org.uk/en/about_pcs/contact_pcs
June 30th is a great opportunity for building the anti-cuts movement. UK Uncut has had huge amounts of support from trade unions. This is our chance to support them. Use this opportunity to get talking to local union activists to help build and broaden resistance to the cuts. Share ideas and tactics, plan UK Uncut actions for the future, and send a strong message to the government that we are all in it together against them.
When UK Uncut started, we called for people to get out on the streets to challenge the government and not wait for the unions. Now the unions are getting out on the streets too. 750,000 people striking in June could be 4 million in autumn. For this to happen, June 30th needs to be a success.
See you on the picket!
What you could do on the day
The Big Society Breakfast is an easy way to support the strikers. Find a picket-line near you; list it on the UK Uncut Action Map and on the 30th head on down nice and early. Talk to the striking workers, tell them your support, let them know you are involved with UK Uncut and exchange contact details for possible future collaboration with your local trade union activists. Picket lines start early and tend to be quite small (10 – 15 people) so even one or two people turning up, on your way to work in the morning, and showing support is valuable and will let the strikers know that they are not fighting the government alone.Here are some options for providing breakfast on the picket, it’s really easy and will mean a lot to people:
- Buy a round of teas/coffees or sandwiches from a local shop and hand them round
- Bring a thermos of tea/coffee
- Bring some cereal, milk and some bowls
- Bake a cake
- Bring a disposable BBQ and cook up some tasty breakfast/brunch
If you do want to do more than support the picket, plan and list a UK Uncut action in solidarity with the strike and to show the connection between the tax dodged by the super-rich, the crisis caused by the banks, and the attacks to our public services.
Resources
-The Press Release is available here:http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/blog/breakfast-press-release
-There will be flyers and posters available on our resources page soon:
ukuncut.org.uk/resources
-Spread the Big Society Breakfast video!:
youtube.com/watch?v=ucQ48ScFH1E
What’s going on in your local area? Where are the picket lines?
You can go to:j30strike.org/pickets-actions
Select your location and find details of what pickets, marches and rallies are happening in your area.
If there isn’t anything there (it’s not a complete list) or you would like direct contact with a local union, you can find a of local PCS contacts through the link below:
www.pcs.org.uk/en/about_pcs/contact_pcs
Guest post: It's crucial we send a message to Bono that what he is doing is wrong (updated)
Posted on Thu 23rd Jun 2011, 6:15amUpdated at 25/06/11:
If they can get away with it, the wealthy establishment tend to hire heavies to crush dissent. We wanted a dialogue with U2, on an issue which is crucial for international development. Instead we got heavy handed security tactics; our highly visible (25ft high) expression of conscience was pulled down after just a few minutes – where are the festival's radical roots now we ask?
In spite of this, the ‘Bono Pay Up’ has been a great success. The whole point of the campaign was to use the national and international media to raise awareness of the importance of thinking about tax ethically, and the relationship between tax ethics and international development. This we have achieved.
We will build on this. We aim to bring about a culture shift. We want to see a world where people automatically and instinctively think about tax in an ethical context. We want to see a world where credible musicians just don’t do what U2 did in 2006 because the public won’t tolerate it.
In the meantime join us tonight in Kentish Town for the ‘Bono Pay Up’ night of music, comedy and talks, to celebrate what we achieved at Glastonbury, and to hear from Christian Aid, Tax Justice Network and Maurice Glasman about the crucial message behind the headlines.
*****
Original Post (23/06/11): Art Uncut: It's crucial we send a message to Bono that what he is doing is wrong
Before 2006 U2 Ltd, which deals with U2’s royalties payments, was registered in Ireland, the band’s native country, for tax purposes. At the time, Ireland had an astonishing policy of allowing artists to pay zero tax on royalties. In 2006, the Irish government decided to cap the income which can be subject to this exemption at 250,000 Euros per annum. Following this change in the law, U2 Ltd decided to move their tax affairs to Holland in order to pay less tax.
What’s wrong with this? Why not shop around to get the best deal for yourself? Isn’t capitalism driven by customers demanding the best deal for themselves? Well there’s competition and there’s competition. What we’re dealing with here isn’t competition between companies; it’s competition between countries, fighting to undercut one another’s tax rates.
This undercutting in the short term, attracts businesses greedily wanting to pay as little tax as possible. But globally, and over time, tax competition inevitably leads to an ever-dwindling percentage of profits going to governments to spend on health, education and public services and ordinary citizens end up paying the price. By ‘shopping around’ for the country with the best tax deal, U2 put pressure on countries to surrender more and more of their tax revenues to share holders.
And there is a broader issue here. Bono is publically known for being concerned with development. But tax issues are crucial to development. Christian Aid estimates that developing countries lose $160bn annually, more than the global aid budget, thanks to unscrupulous multinational companies dodging tax. If we want poor countries to become richer, we need to adopt an ethical approach to taxation. On the face of it, it doesn’t seem that U2 are taking an ethical approach to taxation. They are not thinking: ‘What’s our fair share? What do we owe the country that funded our health and education growing up?’ Rather, they’re thinking: ‘How can we pay as little tax as possible?’ Poverty will never ‘be made’ history whilst such attitudes persist.
This is why Art Uncut have decided to make weekend June 24/25 ‘Bono Pay Up!’ weekend. On Saturday 25 June, there will be a ‘Bono Pay Up’ night of music, comedy and short talks at the Bull and Gate in Kentish town, with talks by Christian Aid, Tax Justice Network, and Maurice Glasman, leading proponent of the ‘Blue Labour’ movement. On Friday 24 June it is U2’s headline gig at Glastonbury and we want to send a message to U2 that their approach to tax is not acceptable.
Join the Bono Pay Up facebook group and if you’re going to Glastonbury, check out the radical Left Field section of the festival that organises political events and go visit the Tripod Stage/Great Direct Action Space. Glastonbury has once again become the sounding board of political discontent and that’s restoring Michael Eavis’s faith:
"Politics gives Glastonbury soul and gives it back its purpose. I place these values very highly, and recently I've been lamenting a bit of a decline. I hate to admit it, but the political platform has been reducing. The overriding reason people come now is to have a good time”.
We want people to have a good time and this is not just about having a dig at Bono. But it is crucial to get people thinking about the ethics of taxation, and the relationship between tax and development. So far, UK Uncut actions have been incredibly successful at getting tax dodging into the public consciousness, highlighting the hypocrisy of government cuts to public services. This action will spread awareness of the suffering tax dodging causes to the developing world.
If they can get away with it, the wealthy establishment tend to hire heavies to crush dissent. We wanted a dialogue with U2, on an issue which is crucial for international development. Instead we got heavy handed security tactics; our highly visible (25ft high) expression of conscience was pulled down after just a few minutes – where are the festival's radical roots now we ask?
In spite of this, the ‘Bono Pay Up’ has been a great success. The whole point of the campaign was to use the national and international media to raise awareness of the importance of thinking about tax ethically, and the relationship between tax ethics and international development. This we have achieved.
We will build on this. We aim to bring about a culture shift. We want to see a world where people automatically and instinctively think about tax in an ethical context. We want to see a world where credible musicians just don’t do what U2 did in 2006 because the public won’t tolerate it.
In the meantime join us tonight in Kentish Town for the ‘Bono Pay Up’ night of music, comedy and talks, to celebrate what we achieved at Glastonbury, and to hear from Christian Aid, Tax Justice Network and Maurice Glasman about the crucial message behind the headlines.
*****
Original Post (23/06/11): Art Uncut: It's crucial we send a message to Bono that what he is doing is wrong
Before 2006 U2 Ltd, which deals with U2’s royalties payments, was registered in Ireland, the band’s native country, for tax purposes. At the time, Ireland had an astonishing policy of allowing artists to pay zero tax on royalties. In 2006, the Irish government decided to cap the income which can be subject to this exemption at 250,000 Euros per annum. Following this change in the law, U2 Ltd decided to move their tax affairs to Holland in order to pay less tax.
What’s wrong with this? Why not shop around to get the best deal for yourself? Isn’t capitalism driven by customers demanding the best deal for themselves? Well there’s competition and there’s competition. What we’re dealing with here isn’t competition between companies; it’s competition between countries, fighting to undercut one another’s tax rates.
This undercutting in the short term, attracts businesses greedily wanting to pay as little tax as possible. But globally, and over time, tax competition inevitably leads to an ever-dwindling percentage of profits going to governments to spend on health, education and public services and ordinary citizens end up paying the price. By ‘shopping around’ for the country with the best tax deal, U2 put pressure on countries to surrender more and more of their tax revenues to share holders.
And there is a broader issue here. Bono is publically known for being concerned with development. But tax issues are crucial to development. Christian Aid estimates that developing countries lose $160bn annually, more than the global aid budget, thanks to unscrupulous multinational companies dodging tax. If we want poor countries to become richer, we need to adopt an ethical approach to taxation. On the face of it, it doesn’t seem that U2 are taking an ethical approach to taxation. They are not thinking: ‘What’s our fair share? What do we owe the country that funded our health and education growing up?’ Rather, they’re thinking: ‘How can we pay as little tax as possible?’ Poverty will never ‘be made’ history whilst such attitudes persist.
This is why Art Uncut have decided to make weekend June 24/25 ‘Bono Pay Up!’ weekend. On Saturday 25 June, there will be a ‘Bono Pay Up’ night of music, comedy and short talks at the Bull and Gate in Kentish town, with talks by Christian Aid, Tax Justice Network, and Maurice Glasman, leading proponent of the ‘Blue Labour’ movement. On Friday 24 June it is U2’s headline gig at Glastonbury and we want to send a message to U2 that their approach to tax is not acceptable.
Join the Bono Pay Up facebook group and if you’re going to Glastonbury, check out the radical Left Field section of the festival that organises political events and go visit the Tripod Stage/Great Direct Action Space. Glastonbury has once again become the sounding board of political discontent and that’s restoring Michael Eavis’s faith:
"Politics gives Glastonbury soul and gives it back its purpose. I place these values very highly, and recently I've been lamenting a bit of a decline. I hate to admit it, but the political platform has been reducing. The overriding reason people come now is to have a good time”.
We want people to have a good time and this is not just about having a dig at Bono. But it is crucial to get people thinking about the ethics of taxation, and the relationship between tax and development. So far, UK Uncut actions have been incredibly successful at getting tax dodging into the public consciousness, highlighting the hypocrisy of government cuts to public services. This action will spread awareness of the suffering tax dodging causes to the developing world.