Left Unity are gearing up for a busy month of events across PCS and the wider movement as we celebrate Black History Month.
Sunday 4th October marks the 90th anniversary of Cable Street, when the people of East London united together to push back fascist Oswald Moseley and his Blackshirts from marching through their community.
Sadly the events of the last few years have shown us the scurge of fascism and racism is alive and kicking today, and our union and activists within it must play our part in driving out this cancer from our society.
Last Saturday, September 26th saw thousands of activists take to the streets as Stand Up to Racism held its anti-racist anti-fascist march and demonstration in Manchester.
The theme of the day was ‘Hope, Peace and Unity’, with PCS Left Unity members Martin Cavanagh – DWP Vice President, Mohammed Shafiq – PCS National Black Members Chair, and Angela Grant – DWP President all in attendance.
Both Mohammed and Martin, had been invited by the organisers despite Martin not being the President of PCS at this time, it was his voice that that the organisers wanted to hear along with Mohammed speaking in his capacity as Local Councillor and PCS National Black Members’ Chair. PCS North West Region were invited to send a speaker along but as is the case at most anti-racism events, the factions that hold that committee failed to respond to the call and worse still failed to put the notice out to those that were not elected to the committee this year, despite two of them having served on that committee for ten years, holding Vice Chair positions and being present members of the PCS National Executive Committee.
In a further act of sectarianism, these people would rather see PCS with no voice on the platform than ask NEC members, not aligned to their faction, to attend.
Left Unity filled the void for PCS and as ever gave a fantastic contribution to the event, Martin Cavanagh first to take the stage in a personal capacity spoke about the importance of peace, hope and unity and how though many of us believe all of those things are in short supply, the turn out on the streets of Manchester for this event, the thousands that marched, shows that hope, peace and unity can be delivered – bringing solidarity and support to those living under threat in their local communities and all at risk from the growing threat presented by the rise of racism and fascism across these isles.
Martin said the working class has suffered generation after generation from a political elite that has let down working people in this country and across the world – it has never been those fleeing persecution that have been the problem, it’s those that seek to offshore wealth, that hide away money that should be put into our NHS, the education system and housing sector – they are the people to blame for the lack of hope amongst our class. As the far-right activists heckled that we are paying for immigration – Martin responded directly that they need to go and educate themselves, because civil servants know that migrants do not receive hand-outs, they play a vital part in our society, in our public services, they hold up our NHS.
Martin called for safe routes for all as we have rightly seen for those fleeing Ukraine and gave PCS’ continued commitment to stand with Stand Up to Racism and the Together Alliance.
As Labour Councillor Bilal Babar stood to speak, again the heckling came, this time the voices so loud that the organisers were forced to interrupt Bilal to call for unity – because those causing the disruption themselves stand in defence of asylum seekers and are for – not against – immigration. It beggars belief that at a time we should be standing together, against the far-right, any left wing activist should heckle a man – speaking as a father, speaking to build unity – in such a way when calling for peace and support for our black and Muslim brothers and sisters.
Mohammed Shafiq gave an empassioned speech. In it he highlighted his 25 years as an anti-racist activist fighting racism, islamophobia and inequality – and spelled out that “the far right will not be allowed to divide our communities, racism will not be normalised and we will not be silent”. In keeping with the spirit of the day he called shame on those that heckled Councillor Billal – regardless of our political persuasions the fight against racism requires all of us to be united – on one platform. The far right want us to turn on the most vulnerable and each other – but Mohammed shared how in his constituency people of multi faiths live side by side – and while Reform and others want us to turn on the most vulnerable we know our diversity is our strength, not our weakness.
Mohammed also gave a rallying call for Black History Month and for us to look to the towering figures in the black community that have never given in despite the challenges amd attacks they have faced. Our movement has a similar history and now more than ever need to remember what sets us apart. “When we organise and we unite and fight back, we win. No to fascism, racism and Islamophobia, and free Palestine.”
When asked why she had travelled to Manchester for the event Angela said “As a child of immigration and a woman that has fought for justice the whole of my life, I am duty bound to attend as many events as possible, whether to speak or to stand side by side with our communities – this here today though has been a microcosm of society, with the far right infiltrating the crowd, spreading their hatred and bile as speakers on the stage are calling for unity and speaking out for peace. To have just been surrounded by four men, of a movement that claims to protect women, as they were shouting about rape then telling me that it is me that is intimidating them – that shows how much work there is for us to do. We must stand together, we must be strong in the face of adversity, and we must talk down racist and Islamophobic rhetoric wherever we hear it”.
The event raised awareness of our movement, showcased our anti-racism and anti-fascism, and our peaceful protesting.
On Saturday, though, we were also put on notice. We need numbers – we need to build like never before, and in PCS that means building our membership, and building Left Unity.
It is Left Unity that are active in our communities – whilst others resemble a management project team – it is Left Unity that are out in our communities, attending rallies and fighting the far right. The event organisers wanted Martin Cavanagh – despite the other PCS factions holding the NEC – it was Martin’s voice they wanted to hear. That strength and experience, the respect that has been earned through hard work and socialist politics. The far right are not going away – they are moving like a cancer through our communities and unless we build, their narrative will spread.
Last Saturday spoke volumes of not only the challenges we face if we are to change that narrative, but also showed us who in PCS is serious about leading the fight.
We need Left Unity returned to the leadership of our union alongside our PCS Democrat comrades. Only by building to win next years elections can we guarantee that our union will remain at the forefront of such an important fight across our movement and througout society.
Equally, as much of the union’s attention is drawn to the national ballot over the next few weeks and months, we must also ensure that we build a visible presence at each and every demonstration, conference, and summit. This is simply a fight we cannot afford to lose – that society cannot afford for us to lose.
On February 14th PCS members were among trade unionists who joined school students and other environmental activists in Central London to make their voices heard to demand more action to avoid catastrophic climate breakdown.
Over the last couple of years there have been a number of racist attacks around Edinburgh. SUtR has worked with other organisations, including trade unions, Unite Against Fascism and local politicians in order to build responses to these.
I am the Branch Treasurer for Preston Central Branch, North West Disabled members rep and
Several mornings this week, I have been proud to support our PCS Interserve strikers on their picket line outside the Foreign and Commonwealth office. These low paid members are on strike from 3rd to 28th February for a set of very basic demands.
This week (Tuesday), we held a strike rally at the picket line to coincide with Heart Unions week, supported by many Labour MPs, where speakers included Mark Serwotka, Frances O Grady, Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and PCS Parliamentary group chair, Chris Stephens from the SNP. Having such high profile support really gave the strikers a boost, for many, this is the first time that they have been on strike and it really helped their morale.
The strikers are picketing every morning and it is very cold. Many of the strikers don’t have English as a first language, and the banner which reads “We speak many languages but through our union we have one voice” really has a resonance.
Well thank you so much for that warm welcome, and friends what a great honour it is to be here representing my Union PCS Union at the Stand up to Racism Conference. The work that you do has been essential to defeat racism and expose fascism in our workplaces and communities.
PCS members working for private company, Interserve, at the Foreign Office (FCO) are taking a month’s strike action, the longest in the history of FCO.
The picket lines are loud and vibrant, with vuvuzelas at full blast! There are multiple entrances to cover but luckily PCS membership has quadrupled since they began this campaign and spirits remain high, even though it is often very cold.
There is lots of support from other unions, MPs and local campaigners and at the Central London reps’ meeting this week, we discussed asking branches to ‘adopt a strike day’ when each branch could go along to the picket line on a given day to show solidarity and support. Some branches are now considering this.
PCS now faces a very difficult 5 years ahead. Anyone not convinced about that should just ‘google’ Dominic Cummings’ comments about the future of the civil service.