{"id":16789,"date":"2018-11-29T11:24:59","date_gmt":"2018-11-29T11:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=16789"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:57:51","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:57:51","slug":"worlds-oldest-rebel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=16789","title":{"rendered":"World\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s oldest rebel"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite has paid tribute to legendary anti-austerity activist, Second World War veteran and the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bworld\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s oldest rebel\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Harry Leslie Smith<\/a>, who died yesterday (November 28) aged 95.<\/p>\n

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A statement from Unite described Smith as a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bremarkable man\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and said the union was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bprivileged to have worked with Harry and to learn from him\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said Smith was a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bchampion for social justice\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bone of the giants whose shoulders we stand on\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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Smith \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who was born to a coal mining family in Barnsley, Yorkshire and lived in poverty through the Great Depression before serving in the RAF during the Second World War \u00e2\u20ac\u201c died in hospital during a visit to see his son, John, in Ontario, Canada.<\/p>\n

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In his later life, Smith lived between the UK and Canada, took up writing and became a prominent activist for the poor and an advocate for social democracy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The self-described \u00e2\u20ac\u015bworld\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s oldest rebel\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 published a number of books<\/a> about the Great Depression, the Second World War and austerity in the post-war years, including Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Let My Past Be Your Future, Love Among the Ruins and Harry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Last Stand.<\/p>\n

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Smith was also an avid and witty user of Twitter, where\u00c2\u00a0his account<\/a> has 250,000 followers, and was known for his passionate defence of the NHS.<\/p>\n

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I<\/i><\/b> stand<\/i><\/b> with<\/i><\/b> Harry<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Smith\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s son, John, used the account to announce his death yesterday morning, saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAt 3.39 this morning, my dad Harry Leslie Smith died. I am an orphan. #istandwithharry.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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During his last years, Smith used his fame to highlight the plight of refugees; travelling to camps across Europe and making a film<\/a> to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bdocument this preventable tragedy\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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Smith began to write after the death of his wife, Friede, whom he met while serving in Germany at the end of war and emigrated to Canada with in the 1950s.<\/p>\n

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Smith garnered widespread public attention in 2013 when he declared he would not wear a Remembrance Day poppy because he felt the symbol had been subverted to support on-going wars.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sharing a clip<\/a> of Smith talking about the vital importance of the NHS, Jeremy Corbyn said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe will all miss Harry Leslie Smith \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he was one of the giants whose shoulders we stand on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA world war two veteran who dedicated his life to fighting for our National Health Service, a peaceful world and for countries to meet their moral responsibility by welcoming refugees.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Len McCluskey also paid tribute to Smith, saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe lost a champion for social justice and a better world today, but his inspiration lives on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe at Unite the union will try to honour his memory in the best way possible by following his lead. Truly an inspirational, remarkable man.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite has paid tribute to legendary anti-austerity activist, Second World War veteran and the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bworld\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s oldest rebel\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Harry Leslie Smith, who died yesterday (November 28) aged 95. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[265,1071,29],"wps_subtitle":"Unite pays tribute after death of veteran and activist Harry Leslie Smith","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16789"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16789"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25691,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16789\/revisions\/25691"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}