#resigncameron

Anti-austerity protests lack anti-capitalist leadership

Police break up the demonstration in Parliament Square Last weekend saw spontenous demonstrations outside Downing Street and the Grand Connaught Rooms, where Cameron was apologising to the Tory party, attracting several thousand before being broken up by police. These demonstrations came in the wake of revelations that the ruling class (including Cameron) have been – shockingly! – routinely…

As if like that this government have struck again. The government have just passed a new policy, forcing ALL schools in the UK to become academies. This is not a democracy, we did not vote for this or get a say! These are the schools that our children go to or will go to, this is their futures!

'Any schools that do not meet these requirements will be forced to do so by the government using radical new powers to intervene.' - BBC. Clearly, this is not democracy.

What does this mean to the futures of our schools? This means that by 2020, all schools in the UK will be forced to have converted into academies. This means that schools will no longer receive their funding from their respective councils, instead the funding will come directly from central government, the same government that cut the benefits of the disabled and has forced more families than ever to rely on food banks. This means that private investors will have the ability to invest in schools, not only is this unfair (private investors are unlikely to invest in deprived areas), but it also creates new breeds of control - academies will need to keep their investors happy in order to secure funding, opening up the can of worms that is privatisation.

Mostly, this means that schools will be given power over their admissions. Statistics have shown that children with disabilities are much less likely to be accepted into an academy school. This will be the cause of much discrimination. Children with disabilities, learning difficulties, mental health issues and behavioural issues, children from poorer backgrounds, or those in care could all be denied places in schools that they'd once be openly accepted into.

They're privatising our health care, they're scrapping our steel industries, they're cutting welfare from our most vulnerable, they're publicly standing up and mocking us, and now they're privatising our educational systems!

My open letter to Sir Alan Duncan, Conservative MP:

Dear Sir Duncan, your recent appearance in the media has been sparked by your comments on 'low achievers', which honestly were rather spineless. You have publicly equated wealth to achievement, claiming that those who shun the Prime Ministers tax evasion scandal as people who are merely low achievers jealous of his wealth. A later comment you made, claims that the House of Commons risks, and I quote, 'being stuffed full of low-achievers who hate enterprise, hate people who look after their own family and know absolutely nothing about the outside world'.

Sir Duncan, as a low achiever in your eyes, let me tell you my experiences of the outside world. I grew up on an average household income, luckier than some of my friends who grew up on lower incomes, or benefits, but our house wasn't big and fancy, we didn't have savings to store in offshore funds, or to invest into stock markets. We lived a humble, average, British life. Unlike many of the MP's in parliament today, who were raised by parents of wealth and status, went to private schools and had the ability to study at a top university without the need for a student loan, I left home at 18 with no money to my name.

At the age of 18, I gave birth to my first and only child. Times were tough and I needed to claim benefits for a while to keep me from slipping under water, once I found a landlord that didn't frown upon those benefits, I moved out and began to try and better my life. I had become a single parent, which is not an uncommon thing to happen, and I began to work in a minimum wage warehouse job in which I experienced a lot of sexism, that still didn't stop me from turning up. I struggled to find childcare for my daughter considering the costs of childcare in a nursery setting are on average £800 per month, an amount that I did not even earn in wages, an amount the same as my rent per month at the time. Still, I pushed myself through this job, sometimes I had to work extra hours, sometimes I had to change my shifts last minute because of childcare issues, it was not a stable situation but I had little to no choice. I was claiming housing benefits at the time, to help towards the costs of my rent, which happened to be higher than the wage I was earning per month. This was constantly being stopped by the council I lived in. One day, I came home from work after working an 8 hour shift, to a house full of empty cupboards, a letter from the council to say my housing benefits had been stopped, and 68p in my bank account. Contrary to popular belief, those living on benefits do not sit around doing nothing all day. Guess what, Sir Duncan? I may not have all the money in the world, but I sure as hell have done my best to raise a child alone in circumstances where I have only had a couple of quid to my name, THAT is an achievement. I have achieved more things in my short life time, none of which equate to money, than you know about the outside world.

I decided that I needed to do the best that I could do, I had so much potential but no money to facilitate it, so I started a BA degree, all so I'd have a better chance at raising my daughter in this world, unfortunately this was after the raising of university fee's so my debt tripled. Many people have criticised me for having a child so young, and for using the benefits system whilst I did, but no matter who you are, your life could take a different turn at any moment, and down here in the outside world, we don't have the ability to just throw money at our problems, so we deal with them. The welfare system is a safety net, and the constant cuts from the government are ripping holes in this net, people are suffering whilst stuck in the vicious cycle that is benefits.

So, Sir Duncan, tell me, how much outside world experience do you have? How many times have you scrapped pennies from a jar to pay for your electricity for a few days after just working a 10 hour shift? How many times have you tried so hard to work your way out of the benefit system, only to find one of your benefits has been cut and you are back at square one again? How many times have you had to use every single penny of your savings to fix your old banger of a car just to drive you to and from the job that pays for it? How many times have you had to use food stamps to feed your family? How many times have you been threatened with eviction and homelessness? I bet I can answer all those questions for you, none. How dare you have the audacity to assume that those living on low wages do not look after their families or achieve anything. Looking after your family is feeding your children first and eating their leftovers for dinner because there wasn't enough food for you to eat too. Looking after your family is standing outside in the rain to protest the closing down of a children's centre because it is the only place that offers free activities for your kids. Looking after your family is buying from the 'basics' range so you get more produce for less money. Looking after your family is campaigning against cuts to disability benefits, whilst your disabled child is denied access to vital treatments due to a lack of services.

The outside world, away from Westminster and its warped ideas on real life, is forced to work untold hours in low paid jobs to feed themselves and their families. The outside world faces cuts from vital services every single day, seeing the loss of many valuable youth groups, community centres, mental health services, educational facilities and social infrastructure. The outside world spends months, or sometimes years, on waiting lists for operations, mental health treatment and other health care needs, on a system that is constantly under threat from Westminster and privatisation. The outside world is made up of students, single parents, teachers, nurses, doctors, dentists, trainers, office workers, cleaners, labourers, electricians, designers, plumbers, the list goes on and on. We, the people, ARE the outside world, we make it go round, tell me that that in itself is not an achievement.

#ResignCameron: Thousands Call for Prime Minister to Step Down