Plymouth Trades Council

On October 7^th, the Afghanistan War will be 10 years long – almost as long as the First and Second World Wars combined. Its time to ask what is the true cost of the War? In 2001 Britain and the United States invaded Afghanistan, and over 3,600 innocent Afghan civilians were killed in the first three months of the war. But as the focus shifted to Iraq, spending and civilian deaths in Afghanistan fell, and in 2004 the British Government claimed the Afghan war cost just £56 million and cost the life of one UK British soldier.

Today that’s no longer the case. By 2010 the War was costing £4,500,000,000 (four-and-a-half billion) and 100 British soldiers were killed. The War was now 100 times as costly and bloody as it had been in 2004. Since 2001, £18,000,000,000 (eighteen billion pounds) has been spent, with 380 British soldiers and 9,300 afghan soldiers killed by ISAF forces.

The Afghan War is currently costing us over £12million a day - £3,021,905,817 in 2011 (so far) – that’s the same cost as employing 100,000 nurses (Band 5 £21,000pa) and 150,000 care workers (Avg.salary £15,000pa).

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&hl=en&v=X0Bkg8zgoYQ&gl=US

The total cost of Afghan civilians dead, like the cost of war, is unknown, but cautious estimates exceed 40,000: 25.6% killed by ISAF forces; 15.4% killed by anti-government forces; 60% killed by poverty, disease and starvation.

Worldwide, the Afghan War is the source of 3 million refugees – that’s 30.69% of all the World’s refugees (Iraq: 16.92%; Somalia 7.74%; D.R.Congo 4.5%).

This is a War that neither the British nor the Afghan people can afford. If you, like 74% of the British population, want to end the bombing and occupation of one of the poorest countries on Earth, join with us on October 8^th in Trafalgar Square and send this message:

FOUR MORE YEARS OF WAR IN AFGHANISTAN IS UNACCEPTABLE!

Book your place on the coach from Plymouth – leaves 7am Saturday 8^th October, returns by 11pm. £25 waged, £15 unwaged and students – reply to this e-mail or book at plymouthaction@virginmedia.com

Come to the Plymouth Stop the War Coalition Public Meeting to hear ex-Soldier, Joe Glenton, court-martialled and imprisoned for refusing to return to Afghanistan, tell his story:

Wednesday 28^th September, 7pm at the Quaker House, Mutely Plain

Every day we are attacked. This is not paranoia - just look. Today we're told that the US debt and Euro-crisis means more cuts to be made in the UK on top of the £96,000,000,000 already going through.At the same tim, more private care homes for the elderly were exposed as abusive, and hospitalmanagers were accused of delaying scheduled surgery in the hope that patients would give-up and go private or die!

Yesterday all public sector workers were told they will pay on average 3.5% more for a measily pension of on average £4,000 a year, paying-in for 40 years and working towards 70 years of age before they can get hold of it. The additional £1billion income to the Treasury will not fund services or save jobs, but go towards the debt caused by big bankers speculating and ripping-off the people.

In the same media, the Department for Work and Pensions showed that the private for-profit company, ATOS, had assessed all new claimants for Incapacity Benefit and deemed only 14% unfit to do any work. In the process, moe than a third were intimidated into cancelling their application. Yet 39% of appeals against the initial judgement were successful. The new work-capability assessment is much tougher than previously and designed to save the government money by excluding people. 

I could go on and on. Monday's announcement of the privatisation of the rail infrastructure will mean more job cuts and deadly train crashes, further cuts to transport services at a time of still-increasing carbon emissions, and incredibly, more price hikes. Housing Benefit changes are causing increasing alarm as local councils recognise they won't be able to cope with the numbers of homeless young people.

And we look forward to winter with an average 18% in fuel prices from September, despite record profits for Shell and BP. Wherever you look there's corruption and the rich wielding unaccountable power to accumulate more and more cash from the poor of the world. There is more than enough food produced and surplus to feed all 11 million facing starvation in Somalia and Kenya, yet there is no profit in transporting it there.

Because we are all experiencing the Cuts in different ways, we focus on our own needs. But when you put the Big Picture together it reeks of political corruption, extortion and social injustice on an historic scale. 

We need massive direct action and social unrest to stop the destruction of the Welfare State. We need to rebuild collective action and trade union militancy as fast as possible, before we go past a tipping-point into a dog-eat-dog catstrophie. With 7 million workers still in trade unions, millions of claimants sharing the same attacks, millions mroe students starting college in September, and 11 million pensioners feeling the  pain together, we can rise up. There is still time.

But we must get organised. We must come together. We must plan and strike together.

Come to the planning Conference for activists: students, claimants, the unemployed and workers, to organise the Autumn of Resistance. Saturday 6th August, 11-3pm at the Quaker House, Mutely Plain. Lunch included.

Come to the national protest outside the Tory party Conference in Manchester on 2nd October and show the Government how you feel.

And prepare for mass action through the first week of November. 

It's time!

Tony Staunton, Secretary, Plymouth Trades Union Council e-mail: secretary@plymouth-tuc.org.uk

 

 

Now, we start the campaign for a Day of Action against the Cuts in Plymouth on Thursday 30th June. Upwards of 800,000 workers across England and Wales will be on strike, with teachers and civil servants in Plymouth on picket lines. The fight? To prevent the loss of at least 20% value of work pensions - money being stolen back by the bosses, aided by this nasty but very weak ConDem Government. But underlying the strikes are a range of grievances and a depth of anger - against the break-up of the National health Service; in rage against the bail-out of the banks at our expense; incandecent at the £120 billion tax bill unpaid by the rich and corporations across Britain; the Privatisation of our universities and schools; and the attacks on the the subsistence benefits of at least 1.5 million people with disabilities.

There's more. But how much more do you need? £26 billion on the start-up costs of Trident replacement? £14 billion half-year profits for UK-based oil companies? £1 billion on bombing Libya? £6 billion on the war in Afghanistan? Cuts to investment in green energy whilst tax-payers £billions underwrite private companieslaunch of a new generation of toxic nuclear power stations?

 Huh? You ask what about Plymouth? £1.5billion council tax funding of a 1980's designed Incinerator with huge fines over the next 25 years if the toxic smoking chimney isn't delivered enough recyclable waste per day? A nuclear waste dump being imposed on the City, despite the proof from Chernobyl to Fukushima of the dangers of radiation for local populations? The privatisation of our bus services resulting in huge cuts in services and rises in fares? Our one in five children living in trans-generational poverty? Our growing homeless population?

 Or how about the  permanent ward closures at Derriford? The 400 staff cut there? Or the 500 jobs going at the Council? Or the threat to jobs at Princess yachts? The loss of 8% of shop jobs in the last year? The record increases in unemployment amongst women in Plymouth?

 

Me? I'm outraged by the hopelessness imposed upon the 1 million working class people unemployed. I'm beside myself about the lack of urgency of governments about the threat of runaway Climate Change. And, yes, I'm scared stiff about getting old.

 

I'll be on the streets campaigning for pensions tomorrow and every day to the 30th June. What will you come out for?

A big thank you to everyone who helped make the May Day Festival a success. Particular thanks goes to John McDonnell who offered his whole day and evening to us, giving a national and international perspective, and highly valuable input to our afternoon meetings.

 We had a larger march than last year, with 120 people, including a contingent from the anti-Incinerator campaign and a group of young people from Millbrook against the Cuts, and others joining along the route. There was also much higher “footfall” at the Levinsky Building with a lot of interest from younger people passing through. The Rally attracted 70 people, with two important public meetings taking place afterwards that brought together some of the key activists in the City and laid plans for the way forward on fighting the cuts, and combatting climate change.

 There were 24 stalls from campaigns and groups across Plymouth, including support from UKUncut, Plymouth Students against the Cuts, Plymouth Right to Work Campaign, CND, Trident Ploughshares, Incineration is Wrong, Stop the War Coalition, Friends of the Earth, Plymouth Palestine Solidarity Camapign, Campaign against Climate Change TU Group, Transitions Plymouth and Transitions Ivybridge. My thanks to all who made the effort. The PCS, UCU, UNISON and UNITE stalls were very impressive, and the vital message of the importance and activities of trades unions could not be lost on anyone who attended.

Most importantly, we brought together many lead activists in the City in a successful networking of progressive campaigners.

Download May Day Newsletter with updates on latest news from the local trades unions. Our work will now focus on action for 30^th June.

 

Tony Staunton

Secretary, Plymouth Trades Union Council