Opening Shots…

I’ve been very late flagging this up because of the little matter of moving from one side of the country to the other, but you may or may not know there is a strike going on. Staff at Tower Hamlets College, an F.E. College serving some of the poorest people in the country, are on indefinite all-out strike against savage cuts to jobs and education provision. Much of what’s happening at Tower Hamlets is very specific to the site, from the particular importance of ESOL in this area to the peculiarly belligerent brinkmanship of the management, but this is part of the general trend of cuts in education I have previously highlighted. This is not just some ordinary strike, rather it is the opening shots in the coming battles against public sector cuts. The level of picketing, organisation and solidarity is impressive, and a marked break with the routine, one-day public sector strikes of recent years.

If you can get there, get there. If you can do a collection, do it. If all you can do is send a message, then send it now. The outcome of this could set the tone for some time to come.

Join the support rally this Saturday 12 September, 2pm, Altab Ali Park with George Galloway MP and strikers.

Send messages of support to lallylord [at] hotmail [dot] com and send solidarity money to Strike Fund, c/o Keith Priddle, Tower Hamlets College, Arbour Square, London E1 0PT