[Campaignforrealdemocracy] March European Strike

[marknbarrett at googlemail.com]

Jointly Called Spring Days of Action.   Please distribute widely 
                                                              - The OLSX General Assembly has recently endorsed the call for UK and wider European day(s) of action in March
- There are call from the wider Occupy movement for a world strike in May
 
- We would welcome an informal meeting between members of Occupy and Union leaders and rank-and-file to explore ways of taking either or both of these forward together 
 
Some of the thinking behind the March call at this stage is as follows:
 
- The Occupy Movement is looking to find ways to work constructively in partnership with unions and student campaigners, and with faith and local community groups
 
- Individuals from a number of London Occupy working-groups are proposing a March pan-European strike, ideally to be called and organised by a  partnership of Occupy, unions and others ( and I believe this day of action could/should also work on the national UK level)   
- It is therefore provisionally proposed the call would be for an unprecedented national and international mobilisation 'against cuts / austerity and job losses' and 'for new models of democracy in the uk / a social europe' involving unions and Occupy and other local movements together from the start
 
- The need to strategically nationalise and internationalise the struggle against the global forces of capital (eg debt/bond market) has never been more urgent
- Europe and the UK with their increasingly technocratic / neo-liberal governance and crippling levels of debt are now shaping up to be key global battlegrounds in the fight for real democracy
- If unions, student campaigners, faith and local community groups and Occupy UK joined forces what we could achieve in terms of social change would be phenomenal   
 
- The days of action currently being proposed are for Friday 23rd March, followed by a new wave of newly purposeful camps and occupations being set up on Saturday March 24th and 25th ( all out against the cuts, for a 3 day weekend and a new model of democracy...)
 
- Our hope is that with a big day of action immediately after budget day, to unite unions, student and other community groups around a common agenda we can effectively begin the process of re-founding the UK and  Europe around a common agenda for workers, the precarious and unemployed, and provide a springboard to the global strike in May.
 
- The lead up to the days of action could perhaps involve 'thematic' assemblies across the country in workplaces, neighbourhoods and educational establishments ( co facilitated by Occupy, unions and others) in order to speak and listen together about the real issues and to discover alternatives. As Giles Fraser's article puts it today on the need for a widespread conversation on the issues: 
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/12/occupy-starfish-regenerate-protest?newsfeed=true 
 
[March 21st is budget day, March 26th is exactly one year on from 'March for the Alternative' and March 25th is both the Anniversary of the Treaty of Rome which founded modern Europe and of the British Parliamentary abolition of the slave trade. The week March 21st-March 28th also has Christian significance (the Annunciation) and marks the beginning of the year in the northern hemisphere (Spring Solstice).]
  
 
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