Reasons to vote for Corbyn

As the voting starts in the Labour Party leadership election, it is even more important to emphasise the extent of the socialist alternative that he represents, and could start to implement, when elected as Prime Minister.

It is more than just being able to answer the question ‘what does Corbyn represent?’ It is about seeing that his position comes embedded in a view that our society and economy can work for us all and not just the rich: that people and the survival of the planet are central, not profit for the few.

Corbyn’s manifesto, his speeches since being elected and his performance at the hustings are a testament to this and make Owen Smith’s 20 points and statements sound like rhetorical sound bites that they are.

The Labour election results over the last 12 months show that this radical vision is not unpopular and that level of support provides the basis of winning over more of the population. Don’t forget the working class - those of us who can only exist only by our ability to sell our labour - is a growing and increasingly exploited majority of our society in the UK and internationally.

As Shelley so graphically put it:

“Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you-
Ye are many - they are few."

Share and comment on these links far and wide over the next few days:

http://www.jeremyforlabour.com/10_pledges
http://jeremycorbyn.org.uk/priorities/

Owen Smith MP and austerity - an email exchange.

Attached is a brief email that I received from my MP Owen Smith in May of last year, just after the 2015 general election.

As the then convenor of the People’s Assembly Wales I had re-circulated an email from Adam Johannes about the Cardiff People’s Assembly and made an appeal to continue the fight against austerity and the Tories.

You can see that I received a brief response from Owen as follows:

“Dear Len,

Please take me off this email list. I can take no more.

Owen”

I was appalled at the time that my local MP would wish to be so dismissive about continuing the fight against austerity after the election, and to such an extent that he no longer wished to know about the PA in Wales. However, knowing the MP, I considered it par for the course and just filed it away.

The situation today is different. Owen Smith is standing against Jeremy Corbyn and claiming he is opposes to austerity, although has also been equivocal. Well in my book there is nothing equivocal about this email given the context he was responding to.

Given the shortness of the email it could leave it open to other interpretations and he was just fed up with the election result.

But so were we all: and as the People’s Assembly we were trying to help provide people a way of continuing to oppose austerity.

So should someone who now wishes to lead the Labour Party.

The email exchange:

RE: Peoples Assembly Wales: March on Saturday

owen.smith.2nd@parliament.uk;

12/05/2015 18:50

To: Len Arthur;

Dear Len,

Please take me off this email list. I can take no more.

Owen

From: Len Arthur [mailto:len.arthur@phonecoop.coop]
Sent: 11 May 2015 09:36
To: Left Unity Wales info; People's Assembly Wales
Subject: Peoples Assembly Wales: March on Saturday

Sorry for much cross posting but needs must

All

Please support everything in this email. We must continue to speak out, criticise and argue for a radical alternative to austerity on behalf of the majority of the population – no matter how they voted! – who will now be getting in the neck.

Well done to everyone for organising the demonstration on Saturday – it was just the act of defiance and unity that was needed to lift us all.

Will not succumb! We will keep the vision of a humane, equal and just society going and act to bring it into reality.

All the best

Len Arthur – People’s Assembly Wales convenor

From: Cardiff Ppls Assembly

Sent: Monday, May 11, 2015 3:42 AM

To: undisclosed-recipients:

Subject: March on Saturday

CARDIFF PEOPLE'S ASSEMBLY
END AUSTERITY NOW: COMMUNITY MARCH AGAINST THE TORIES

Demonstrate Saturday 16 May. Assemble at 1 pm, Aneurin Bevan Statue, Founder of NHS, Queen Street

"Whether you win or lose isn't the final determinant of whether it was worth fighting. You have to fight or you lose" - Tony Benn

We are ordinary people. We are like you: people, who get up every morning to study, work or find a job, people who are sick or housebound, people who have family and friends. People, who work hard every day to provide a better future for those around us....

We are all very concerned and angry about the new Tory government and the situation which we see around us -

- A million people forced to resort to food banks in the sixth richest economy in the world.

- One in four parents in Wales who have skipped meals for days so they can put food on the table for their children.

- People working long hours who still struggle to pay bills or rent because their employer is too greedy to pay a living wage.

- A housing crisis denying too many a stable secure affordable home.

- Poor and disabled people targeted by benefit cuts.

- Libraries, youth services, play centres and other community facilities being cut back and closed down.

A new government promising twice as many cuts this term including £12bn welfare cuts targeting the very poorest.

I could go on...

This situation has become normal, a daily suffering, without hope. But if we join forces, we can change it. It’s time to change things, time to build a better society together.

For all of the above, I am outraged.

I think I can change it.

I think I can help.

I know that together we can. I think I can help.

I know that together we can.

Please forward on this email and invite people. Bring friends, neighbours, and families. If you are a member of a community group, trade union, club, or any kind of network please get them involved. We're all in it together!

PEOPLE'S ASSEMBLY AGAINST AUSTERITY - NATIONAL (UK) DEMONSTRATION

The People's Assembly is calling a national demonstration in just 6 weeks time:

Tell the new government: End Austerity Now

National demonstration, Saturday 20 June

Assemble: 12pm, Bank of England

https://www.facebook.com/events/460624807433119/

We will be organising buses there and back. Details to be confirmed soon.

WALES PETITION AGAINST AUSTERITY

Please sign and share our declaration. We can build it into a referendum on austerity in Wales

http://pawalescymru.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/referendum-against-austerity-in-wales.html

THE PEOPLE'S FILM CLUB

Thursday 28 May. The Abacus, Wood Street (across the road from the bus station)

Doors open 6pm. Screening starts 6.30 pm. Bring food to share.

Documentary screening: The Take: Occupy, Resist, Produce by Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis.

Join us for the second in our series of documentary film screenings around the theme of “Disobedience!”, exploring resistance movements around the world and throughout history

“The Take looks at Argentina after its spectacular economic collapse in 2001 when Latin America’s most prosperous middle class finds itself in a ghost town of abandoned factories and mass unemployment. In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act–the take–has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head.”

Come and watch the film and then discuss how we can organise now for social change and economic justice.

Adam Johannes

Co-Convenor

Cardiff People's Assembly

07940108146

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