Strikers and protesters are demanding a better future - how long will it take Westminster to catch up with reality?

In the last week, thousands of people have taken to the streets in protest. From strike action taken by NHS staff on Monday, protesting the refusal of a 1% pay rise (The Guardian, 2014), to the Trade Union Congress (TUC) 'Britain Needs a Pay Rise' protest on Saturday (Johnston, 2014), people are taking to the streets in opposition to public sector cuts and austerity - with more strikes planned for the coming weeks.

The NHS strike received wide support, being particularly broad on twitter, that once more demonstrated strong positive public feeling towards public services, and in particular the UK's health service. The TUC protest for better pay only confirmed the increase in opposition to the public sector cuts.

At the coalition's inception a narrative was laid out that stressed the apparent necessity of cuts to public spending. That narrative came with a promise: 'We're all in this together'.

That idea was challenged from the beginning (Butler & Malik, 2010), and the statistics gathered by the government's social mobility commission, chaired by former Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn (Boffey, 2014) confirm that young people are being disproportionally burdened with falling pay, fewer opportunities, and in many cases left without either the ability to find work or to find homes.

This crisis extends beyond young people, however. Prices are rising as wages and social security continue to fall across the board (Roberts, 2014). That situation is deeply affecting people's confidence, and leaving them with little hope of a better future (Mason, 2014).

Combined with incongruous contradictions like refusing a 1% pay rise for all NHS staff but approving an 11% rise for MPs (Campbell & Johnson, 2014), or the super rich getting richer as the rest of us are getting poorer (Dorling, 2014), it seems that the cuts, if the necessity of them was ever conceded, have now been pushed far enough to become a bitter pill people are no longer willing to swallow.

There is a growing feeling that the cuts are an ideological project, rather than a commitment to a pragmatic public policy. Part of an ideology opposed to the government collecting and spending money on the behalf of the people. An ideology opposed to the wealthiest contributing a proportional share to the commons. 'We're all in this together' is looking like a hastily slipping façade.

Society is becoming absurdly unbalanced, and the economic crisis continues. At a time when conditions are getting more and more difficult for those hit hardest by the continuing economic crisis, taking away public services, reducing public sector employment and drastically cutting back public welfare & support is making that situation desperate.

As Thomas Paine reminds us (1795), there has to be something in it for the worst off within civilisation.

'In taking the matter upon this ground, the first principle of civilization ought to have been, and ought still to be, that the condition of every person born into the world, after a state of civilization commences, ought not to be worse than if he had been born before that period. But the fact is that the condition of millions, in every country in Europe, is far worse than if they had been born before civilization began.'

Otherwise, why should they care or participate? Today, Paine's words remind us of society's duty to ensure continued hope and enfranchisement of each new generation. But those obligations are being shattered by attacks on social security.

In response people are out in increasing numbers to strike, and to protest. They are resisting. Yet they are also finding it hard to make themselves heard where it matters. It is not a coincidence that these difficult conditions have been accompanied by the rise of far-right populism across Europe. As Charles Kennedy (2006) warned us:

'The danger in all of this is that if sufficient people conclude that there is nothing in the conventional political process for them then they may opt for more simplistic and extreme options on offer. I remain an optimist. But across the mainstream political spectrum there is a candid recognition of the danger.'

It was in these kinds of conditions that movements like the protests of May '68 in France emerged, when an entire fifth of the country's population went on strike. From Occupy, to the student protests in Chile, to the democratic movement across the Middle East and North Africa, and protests against austerity across Europe, people are taking to the streets to demand a better future.

In the UK, these strikes and protests are becoming a common sight. Public sector workers, trade unions and government commissioners are warning that society is slipping into dangerous levels of inequality and unfairness. How long will it take Westminster to catch up with reality?

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References:
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+ The Guardian's 'Unite workers vote to strike in NHS staff pay dispute'; 26 September 2014.

+ Chris Johnston's 'Tens of thousands take to UK streets in pay protest'; in The Guardian; 18 October 2014.

+ Patrick Butler's & Shiv Malik's 'All in it together? Young people and the cuts'; in The Guardian; 8 December 2010.

+ Daniel Boffey's 'Alan Milburn says Britain is on verge of being permanently divided between haves and have-nots as young miss out on recovery'; in The Guardian; 19 October 2014.

+ Yvonne Robert's 'Low-paid Britain: 'People have had enough. It's soul destroying''; in The Guardian; 30 August 2014.

+ Paul Mason's 'The unending economic crisis makes us feel powerless – and paranoid'; in The Guardian; 19 October 2014.

+ Denis Campbell & Sarah Johnson's 'NHS strike: clinics close and operations cancelled in dispute over pay'; in The Guardian; 13 October 2014.

+ Danny Dorling's 'How the super rich got richer: 10 shocking facts about inequality'; in The Guardian; 15 September 2014.

+ Thomas Paine's 'Agrarian Justice'; 1795. [Buy Now]

+ Charles Kennedy's 'How we lost people's trust'; in The Guardian; 4 August 2006.

Strikes make a strong statement, but need the support of many voices to make a debate

In the final months of 2011, the Occupy movement reached its crescendo. At its peak, the movement had occupied many important, central and highly visible areas of major cities. Since then, however, the movement has disappeared out of the mainstream. Occupy showed exactly how a progressive protest could be mobilised in a highly visible and effective manner, burning bright like a beacon for those disaffected. But it also showed how such a movement can also burn out after only a short while.

Meanwhile, other progressive, leftist, political protests against the economic establishment have rumbled on, quieter and receiving far less attention. The the trade unions have been in the midst of the UK's own anti-cuts, anti-establishment, protests. Even when they have managed to get coverage, they have struggled to find consistent support among activists, protesters, the general public and the political order. If the strike actions of history tell us anything, from May '68 in France to the ongoing Chilean Winter, you need all of these facets to produce comprehensive reform.

This has been particularly demonstrated by the latest round of trade union strikes (Taylor et al, 2014). Trade unions called strike action on 10 July, with over a million public sector workers walking out to protest low pay and zero hour contracts, as well as stagnant public sector pay at a time when the standard of living is falling and the cost of living is rising (O'Grady et al, 2014).

Yet, strike action has not been accompanied by a visible enough progressive, leftist, activism, and the general population remains largely passive. That in particular makes it easy for the trade union strike tactics to be criticised by David Cameron and the Conservatives, who want to put stricter rules on future strikes (Morris, 2014). The Conservatives, whose policies are being protested against, have been criticised by the Liberal Democrats and Labour for wanting a clampdown (Mason, 2014).

Whichever way that political posturing goes, a quick look at history will show that, either way, strikes alone can only apply so much pressure. They need support, and a general comprehension of their plight and of their cause, as part of a vision supported and actively campaigned for across the left (Chessum, 2014).

In France, in the May '68, students and workers held several protests and strikes that coincided, but were not coherent. The combined pressure of both movements managed to force President de Gaulle into calling an election. However the lack of unity among political parties on the left, their lack of connection to the protesters, and the lack of coherence between the protesters and the wider public, especially beyond Paris, resulted in a quite catastrophic defeat for the left.

What the protesters of May '68 did achieve was largely fractured and fragmented, won piecemeal by each of the groups. The workers negotiated a better deal out of the government, increasing pay and reducing working hours, and the students succeeded in winning concessions with regards to the running of a number of universities (Lichfield, 2008).

But the major victory was social. The movement broke new ground for personal freedoms and paved the way for some of the concessionary social legislation that followed (Poggioli, 2008). But comprehensive political change was missed, because the various groups did not pull together to build a coherent vision that sought for all of their concessions within a better framework. They made a statement, but did not launch a debate.

The slow success of the Chilean Winter emphasises this point. Still struggling on, after four years, confederations of students, workers and unions are slowly seeing reform. The protests began as a student campaign for the reform of the education system, and slowly expanded into a generally supported push for political reform.

In 2013, that campaign saw the electoral defeat of the political allies of conservative President Sebastián Piñera, with Michelle Bachelet a new socialist President elected, along with a new left-wing alliance (Collyns & Watts, 2013). Among those elected where the prominent figures from the student protests Camila Vallejo, for the Communists, and Gabriel Boric, for the Autonomous Left. Only through persistent, widespread and interlinking activism and support has this, and the other small concessions so far won, been possible (Aljazeera, 2014).

The message is clear: strike action alone is not enough. It is however a strong and visible statement. In order to make a push for real political reform however, rather than just to secure concessions, the visibility and broad inclusiveness, of a movement like Occupy, needs to be combined with a sustained activism. The aim has to be to produce a general comprehension and support of the aims and values of the movement. The strikes are a statement. Next comes the debate.

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References:
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+ Matthew Taylor, Rowena Mason, Helena Horton & Rebecca Maguire's 'Public-sector strikes: hundreds of thousands join rallies in pay protest'; in The Guardian; 10 July 2014.

+ Frances O'Grady, Felicity Dowling & Stuart Guy's 'Why we are going on strike'; in The Guardian; 10 July 2014.

+ Nigel Morris' 'NUT strike: David Cameron announces crackdown on strike action ahead of mass industrial action'; in The Independent; 9 July 2014.

+ Rowena Mason's 'Vince Cable opposes tightening industrial action law'; in The Guardian; 10 July 2014.
+ Michael Chessum's 'The anti-austerity left is re-emerging. This time it must take root'; in The Guardian; 20 June 2014.

+ John Lichfield's 'Egalité! Liberté! Sexualité!: Paris, May 1968'; in The Independent; 23 February 2008.

+ Sylvia Poggioli's 'Marking the French Social Revolution of '68'; on NPR; 13 May 2008.

+ Patrice de Beer's 'May ‘68: France's politics of memory'; on Open Democracy; 28 April 2008.

+ Dan Collyns & Jonathan Watts' 'Bachelet pledges radical constitutional reforms after winning Chilean election'; in The Guardian; 16 December 2013.

+ Jonathan Franklin's 'Chile's Commander Camila, the student who can shut down a city'; in The Guardian; 24 August 2011.

+ Aljazeera's 'Tear gas used at Chile protest over education'; 12 June 2014.