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| Volume 52 Number 20, September 10, 2022 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBCENTRE | SUBSCRIBE |
The Enough is Enough rally at Manchester Cathedral
with tens of thousands inside and outside the Cathedral
The Enough is Enough campaign has underlined the momentum of the workers' movement to refuse to shoulder the burden of the cost-of-living crisis. A number of rallies have seen tens of thousands of workers and their unions participate in the campaign. There are 500,000 registered supporters, and growing.
The five key demands of the campaign for the rights of working people are: A real pay rise; slash energy bills; end food poverty; decent homes for all; tax the rich.
Enough is Enough rally in Norwich on September 6
2022 - Photo: Norwich Evening News
The second rally of the campaign, after the launch rally in London on August 7 [1], was held in Manchester on August 30. Tens of thousands of people participated in the rally at Manchester Cathedral. Representatives of the RMT and CWU unions were joined by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham.
Addressing the rally, CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: "Working people will pay the price unless we come together and fight. Change isn't a spectator sport - are you ready?" He said that the workers from the mail, post offices and telecommunications sectors by taking strike action were reuniting a system destroyed by privatisation. Dave Ward pointed out that working people were becoming aware of the obscene salaries and bonuses of the chief executives of privatised industries and the billions in profits handed to shareholders while profits soared alongside millions being thrown into desperate poverty with potentially worse to come.
Eddie Dempsey, assistant general secretary of the RMT, said his union's slogan "Unity is strength" was fittingly taken from a banner carried at St Peter's Field in Manchester 203 years ago before authorities unleashed troops on a peaceful crowd in the Peterloo Massacre. He declared, "We are the people who created pensions, built the hospitals, schools and social housing, the things they have taken away. We are here to take them back. But our strength comes from unity. That is why the government and the media tries to keep us divided. They want teachers fighting NHS workers, rail workers fighting nurses, and all of us fighting immigrants." He underscored that change is coming as working people unite in action against the multi-national corporations who run the country.
Enough is Enough Rally at Liverpool's St George's
Hall on September 2 2022 - Photo: Liverpool Echo
Other speakers included Jake Johnson of community union Acorn, who listed some of the widespread strike actions by different groups of workers who were coming together to fight. Liverpool MP Ian Byrne pointed to the obscenity of the growing dependence on food banks in Britain, pointing out that there were "more foodbanks than there are branches of McDonald's".
The Enough is Enough campaign came to Liverpool's St George's Hall on September 2, where over 1,000 people were joined by trade union leaders and MPs to declare "Enough is Enough".
The Enough is Enough rally in Norwich on September 6 was one of the biggest indoor rallies in Norfolk in recent years, attracting around 850 people. Speakers included Eddie Dempsey of RMT, singer Grace Petrie, chair of Young Labour Jess Barnard and inequality campaigner Taj Ali. The Norwich Evening News reported that Jess Barnard, who is also a Norfolk youth worker, said: "Norfolk is a place where we have experienced real neglect from government after government, we have seen a lack of investment in council housing and infrastructure. The country is looking at pay stagnation and Norfolk has already been experiencing that, it's another thing making it harder for people." She said: "I have been a youth worker here for a long time what I see is families struggling to put food on the table. Holiday hunger is a big problem."
Further rallies have been planned for Glasgow, Brighton and Leeds, with a day of action in October.
For further details see: Enough is Enough - A campaign to fight the cost of living crisis (https://wesayenough.co.uk/)
Note
1.See: For Your Information: The Enough Is Enough Campaign:
http://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-22/ww22-19/ww22-19-03.htm