Scottish Trade Union Council anti-cuts protest

Saturday 23rd of October saw the Scottish Trade Union Council call an anti-cuts march which was attended by upwards of 20,000 people. This was one of the biggest protests Edinburgh has seen for a long time and saw a respectable Anarchist Bloc. Most encouraging of all it was not just made up of the “usual suspects” but saw thousands of people from very varying walks of life. As Edinburgh Anarchists put it :

” We even ended up chatting to the Prison Officers’ Association and Tayside Police Admin(!) How’s that for getting out of the anarchist ghetto?”

This is exactly what is needed to succesfully fight pubic spending cuts and find constructive ways to build our own alteratives. The ability of the Trade Union Council to attract this many people to come out onto the street was impressive and heartening for what often may seem like the decline in strength of trade union movement. lets hope this new found momentum translates into action and grass roots organisation. Whe banded together in defence of one another we are strong enough to resist this coup by the rich. We must fight for every job, every public amenity, every school, every park and anything else they will try to take from the people. It has been a long time since the working class have had a victory in this country, but remember that local community organisations and flat out refusal to co-oprate is what made the poll tax unworkable and eventually brought down Thatcher. By organising as unions, neighbourhood/community groups and anti-cuts networks we can win this . As put in the leaflets we handed out:

“We need collective, grassroots responses to our hardships. As anarchists we want better lives for ourselves, our neighbours, our friends and our colleagues. There are alternatives to to a society forced on us by the rich, Let’s build them.”