Article from Rick Heyse's blog.
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| Torbay Mayor Gordon Oliver |
So
the Mayoral budget has been and gone and now we pay for the consequences. We cannot
hold the Mayor totally responsible, even though the budget is by and large his
responsibility with Torbay being a unitary authority. Make no mistake, the
opposition Lib–Dems on the council would also have introduced savage cuts, just
as Lib Dem, Labour and even Green councils are doing up and down the country. If
anything, Lib-Dem condemnation is very hypercritical, being that they sit
alongside their capitalist chums in the Tory Party at Westminster as part of
the coalition government, and are equally responsible for slashing services,
increasing privatisation and making working class people pay for the mistakes of
the bankers.
I also find it hard to stomach that Adrian Sanders also
fails to recognise the Lib-Dems (HIS party) have to share responsibility for
the cutbacks. His words to a supporter of local anti-capitalist group Torbay
Fightback were along the lines of that if we were passionate about fighting
cutbacks we should aim our attacks at the Mayor and the money he has in the council’s
reserves.
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| Torbay MP Adrian Sanders |
Okay,
he has a point; a local authority has to use its ‘rainy day’ money in times of
necessity. But what Sanders was trying to do was shift the blame from HIS Liberal
Democrats role in Government and instead divert attention to the Tory Mayor. As
has been previously stated ALL are capitalists, and ALL are to blame. As for
the Lib-Dem MP for Torbay, thousands of people voted for him simply to keep the
Tories out, only for HIS party to snuggle beside them when an offer of power
came along. The Lib-Dems have sold out on many of the principles they ‘declare’
to value. I say declare as if they really held these values close to their
heart they would never have jumped into bed with the right wing Conservative
Party. If any of them truly held such principles (Sanders included) they would
surrender their membership of a Lib-Dem party which has lurched to the right
and join the Liberal Party, which still maintains the vast majority of its original values.
Even though we are in harsh times there is an opportunity
for people to organise and oppose the cutbacks, economic exploitation and
social cleansing that is going on in society. This will mean taking control of the
councils and defying the government when it comes to introducing budgets and
cutbacks. We need a ‘United Anti Cuts Alliance’ to take control of Town, City
and County Halls and actually take on the Coalition. Liverpool was virtually
isolated when it tried to do this before, but imagine if there was 50 or more
local authorities all defying the government, all instigating anti-austerity
action by introducing budgets based on people’s needs. Imagine support coming
from industrial and Trade Unions and community groups in a common alliance to
bring the age of austerity to an end. Imagine occupation of strategic sites and
buildings across the country. Such opposition would virtually be unstoppable. One
event which could help forge such opposition is the People's Assembly Against Austerity in
central London on Saturday 22nd June. I is one we all need to
support.
Rick Heyse is a member of Torbay Fightback
