Appeal to send protest faxes/e-mails till Monday noon

After a month of campaigning, pressure is mounting on the temp agency OTTO. SolFed's sister organisations in Poland and Slovakia, as well as the Dutch Vrije Bond, have picketed the agency after they learnt how they exploit especially Polish, Czech and Slovak workers doing temporary work in Holland.

Apparently, the company is trying to hush up the problem and satisfy the workers with partial concessions. However, no changes were made regarding for example housing conditions, and the CEO still claims there is no system of fines in the company. Also, more workers have contacted the activists and want to join the struggle, and the campaign is thus not over.

On March 26th, London saw people assemble to protest and take direct action against the government. Most of the people there were marching quite simply because their jobs, their services, and their livelihoods are under attack. This included those of us in anarchist blocs, though we also argued for a much broader perspective and recognition that capitalism itself was the issue, not just the current "ConDem cuts."

Arriving in London, members of the Liverpool Solidarity Federation headed to Kennington Park. We met up with other SolFed members, as well as members of the Anarchist Federation and other class struggle anarchists to form the Radical Workers Bloc on the South London feeder march.

Members of Northampton Solidarity Federation joined the masses on the streets of London on March 26 to protest against the brutal cuts being imposed by the government.

People were marching for many reasons: some still accepting the idea that cuts are necessary but wanting to slow them down or alter the focus, some suggesting that investment rather than cuts would stimulate the economy which in turn would reduce the deficit, many pointing out that if taxes were fully collected and if military interventions were curtailed the cuts would not be necessary.

On Friday 7^th of Febuary, a group of sixteen students and workers of our sister anarcho-syndicalist union in spain, the CNT, held a protest infront of the british consulate in the capital of tneerife in canary islands. This was their first action of solidarity with british students against the cuts in eduaction.

The comrades handed out information to everyone in the street during that morning, but promised this would not be their last action of solidarity. On Friday 25^th of march, the Tenerife comrades protested inside the local university, “Campus Guajara”, a day before the TUC demo in London. They have plans of action for the coming week.

Today, Liverpool Solidarity Federation visited the UCU picket lines in Liverpool City Centre to show our support for those coming out on strike.

Whereas Tuesday's strike had been over attacks on pensions, today's was in protest at the threats to members' jobs. An 80% cut in teaching budgets from the government means that 40,000 jobs are at risk. This represents not only an attack on jobs but also on the education sector as a whole, as pickets were keen to stress when they handed leaflets to students urging them not to attend lectures.

One picket on Brownlow Hill told us that the area was a lot quieter than it would normally be first thing in the morning. There had been good support from UCU members, however by the same token the density of non-union members amongst the staff meant that there were still people going in to teach.

As part of a national strike day, members of UCU at Sussex university have been picketing. They were joined by other education workers and students at the entrance to campus who expressed their support for industrial action. 

UCU are involved in a series of rolling strikes across the UK which started last week in Scotland and culminate in a FE and HE strike on Thursday. Strikes are nominally over changes to the pension scheme, however at Sussex it was clear that strikers see this as part of the wider fight against austerity. This was also in evidence from the solidarity from students and education workers well beyond the UCU membership.

On Saturday 26th March the Trades Union Congress has called for a march against the cuts, and there is going to be a South London feeder march starting at Kennington Park which we will be joining. We are calling on anarchists, libertarian communists and militant workers from across the country who agree with the principles of solidarity, direct action, and self-organisation to join us on the demonstration to provide a visible presence and a revolutionary alternative to the reformism of the TUC.

This short article was written by a member of the Thames Valley Solidarity Federation for inclusion in the upcoming fourth issue of 'The Ox-Fly', Oxford's radical newsletter, asking whether government is really the common foundation of our day-to-day lives...

‘Anarchy’ is a word that has a very bad reputation these days. The mere mention of it causes most people to imagine nothing but rows of burning cars, roaming gangs of looters and senseless violence in the streets. Anarchy, we are told, means nothing but the very breakdown of social order itself. Yet is it the truth? Is government really the vital foundation of our society?