The following details have been supplied by the PCS HQ:
Thousands of people have been taking to the streets protesting against the cuts and demanding multinationals and the rich pay the tax they owe. Adam Ramsay, co-editor of brightgreenscotland.org who runs the campaign noshockdoctrine.org.uk, joined the demonstrations, most notably against the government, Vodafone and Topshop which “punctured a hole in the economically illiterate idea that the government has to cut public spending”.
There are lots of ways to show that the cuts which are breaking Britain are not needed. But perhaps the easiest is to look at the money the government doesn't bother to take in taxes from the mega-rich.
For example, Philip Green, who runs the Arcadia group of Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and BHS, doesn't bother to pay much tax. By signing his company over to his wife, Tina, who lives in tax haven Monaco, he has dodged hundreds of millions of pounds.
If the government collected all of the tax we are owed, there would not be a long-term deficit. But instead of closing the loopholes and employing more experts to collect these taxes, the government has decided to lay off thousands of tax collectors.
Now, normally I would be against replacing paid, trained, unionised staff with ad hoc volunteers. But I'm happy to make an exception. And so, in December, across the country, the Big Society Revenue and Customs (also known as UK Uncut) appeared, in our hundreds, at two dozen Topshop branches across the country.
Demands delivered in chants
Our demands were delivered in chants rather than brown envelopes. And we sat across their doorways until they closed. And all across the country, passers-by cheered, gave us food, and even joined in. And so the movement grows.
Two weeks later, the organisers of UK Uncut called for an even bigger day of action dubbed "Pay day". In more than 50 towns and cities, people responded, and again made national headlines. And again, people stopped shopping to cheer, applaud, and join in.
In London's Oxford Street, protesters held a ‘school sports day’ at Topshop, and brought 'library' books to read in Vodafone highlighting the victims of tax dodging. Other protesters ‘brought Monaco to Oxford’ and had a mock grand prix, racing around each of the culprits until they shut.
Small group becomes movement
This movement against tax dodgers was started when a small group of friends were fed up with watching ministers cut our public services while refusing to collect the taxes owed by the rich. They had decided to do something about it. So they met up in Oxford Street, marched into Vodafone, and held signs demanding the £6 billion of tax that experts estimate they have been let off.
The reaction from passers-by was amazing delighted this group of young people was taking action and inspired people across the country. Two days later 30 Vodafone branches nationwide were also shut.
They regrouped, built a more sophisticated website, and prepared their next action, choosing Topshop and attracting enough support shut down its London branch, showing the scale of the anger at this blatant injustice.
Building pressure against government
UK Uncut has punctured a hole in the economically illiterate idea that the government has to cut public spending. But we need to continue to build the pressure.
As we fight to defend the welfare state our parents and grandparents built for us, and as we work to defend our jobs, we will need to expose that old lie that there is no alternative.
The websites falseeconomy.org.uk and noshockdoctrine.org.uk provide excellent resources to campaign against cuts. But ultimately, it is the ability of the internet to link together people on the ground that is really exciting, the new power of the web to allow people to organise to campaign against a Tory party which believes society is best run by the elite.
Get involved
Join actions in your area, and bring your friends, or start your own. All the information you need is on the UK uncut site. We can stop these crazy cuts and we can have fun doing it.
