{"id":4531,"date":"2015-06-22T13:12:17","date_gmt":"2015-06-22T12:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=4531"},"modified":"2015-06-23T16:18:27","modified_gmt":"2015-06-23T15:18:27","slug":"defining-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=4531","title":{"rendered":"Defining battle"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A quarter of a million people turned out to protest the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s austerity measures on Saturday (June 20) in central London, police figures estimated, with thousands more attending demonstrations up and down the country.<\/p>\n

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Organised by the People\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Assembly, the London demonstration kicked off at the Bank of England, where a mass coalition of anti-austerity groups gathered and marched to Parliament Square demanding the government end its attacks on public services and the living standards of working people.<\/p>\n

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Speakers at the demonstration included singer Charlotte Church, comedian Shappi Khorsandi, actress Julie Hesmondhaigh, anti-austerity MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Caroline Lucas, and writer Owen Jones. They were joined by Unite general secretary Len McCluskey and Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner.<\/p>\n

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Coaches from across the country brought in thousands of people to the London demonstration, many of whom had not participated in a march until now, just as the newly elected Tory government has pledged to continue with its austerity regime.<\/p>\n

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For Natalie Denny, an education working from Merseyside, the march was her first.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI come from a single-parent household, and if it weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t for public services and funding from the state, I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have been able to get the education I did or find the job I did or have any of the opportunities I was given to set me on the right path,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Denny said, explaining her reasons for attending the march.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA lot of young people are going to miss out on opportunities under austerity because their families don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the money to help them succeed,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Denny added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd there are many really bright young minds out there that will go to waste.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Addressing the sea of protestors at Parliament Square, Unite general secretary Len McCluskey urged them to continue the battle against austerity despite the Tories\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 ascendancy to power in May.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is not the time for us to be downhearted or to be cowed,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bA [Tory] majority in the House of Commons when 64 per cent of people voted against them will never legitimise the ravishing attacks on the disabled, the elderly, the sick, those in precarious work and those out of work.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLet us be clear \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the battle ahead will be a defining one for all of us,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe outcome will define not only our country, not only the lives we lead, the lives our children lead, but it will define the lives of generations to come.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Speakers highlighted that Saturday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s march was only the beginning in what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s set to be a mass mobilisation of people opposing austerity. Dozens more People\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Assembly protests are planned, including a national day of action on July 8, when chancellor George Osborne announces an emergency budget.<\/p>\n

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Find out more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A quarter of a million people turned out to protest the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s austerity measures on Saturday (June 20) in central London, police figures estimated, with thousands more attending demonstrations up and down the country.     Organised by the People\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Assembly, the London demonstration kicked off at the Bank of England, where a mass coalition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4534,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[265,76,321],"wps_subtitle":" Hundreds of thousands attend anti-austerity march","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4531"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4531"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4535,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4531\/revisions\/4535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}