Pensioners of Direct Action and Solidarity: PDAS [or the Pretty Damn Awkward Squad!]
Us pensioners should give some serious thought to how we can help fight the ConDem cuts. In my book the government is a neo-liberal coup d'etat lacking a popular mandate and we should work to end their rule as fast as possible.
We are in a strong position to support and even take direct action. Unlike students and trade unionists we don't have other demands that we necessarily have to fulfill. Students in the end have to return to study and trade unionists in the end have to work to live. I say this after many years as a trade union branch secretary who organised disputes and some stikes almost on a yearly basis. In the end thought had to turn to an exit strategy and agreement which, depending on the balance of forces, fended off an attack or took things forward a little.
As pensioners we have an independent income and time is limited by our physical ability to keep going. We are of different ages and circumstances but we have this freedom to act and challenge in common. We should reject the notion of being 'feather bedded' baby boomers through solidarity and action.
We benefitted from our parents struggles in war and peace and I don't know about you, but I was very appreciative and struggled hard to preserve the social and economic gains they made. I also worked hard and my public sector pension is basically the result of the pay I forego over those years and can now draw upon. To be honest I'm not sure how we found the time to go to work as since retiring my partner and I have been really busy enjoying life, children, grandchildren, friends and helping out when we can.
We are under direct threat from this government in terms of services and already our pensions will be cut by shifting the definition of inflation from the RPI to the CPI: be rest assured this is only a start. Don't forget the original Barbara Castle proposal was to link pensions with wage or prices increases whichever was the greater. The ConDem government intend to drive down wages; no wonder they are willing to support a link on just this basis.
However, it is through my children and grandchildren to I see the real threats, I know what we had as a result of our parents' struggles and I seem all this being taken away from the next generations. I think we should do something about it. We should use our strength to fight alongside the next generations and unite to fight our battles.
The sky is the limit in the form of action. We should join their demonstrations, occupations, strikes and other actions, keeping them going when they are under pressure to back down. The state can do very little to us now and they should be the ones to worry. Prison, courts, police younger than my own children: they worry me not and we have nothing to lose by acting now.
So Pensioners for Direct Action and Sollidarity (PDAS)
And our first action is to find each other, exchange ideas about agitation and action, keep in contact locally and affiliate to organisations like the Coaltion for Resistance.
What do you think?
What is taking place?
What more can we do?
What do you think?(read less)
PDAS [or the Pretty Damn Awkward Squad!]
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