20 June: your chance to undermine the Tories

The Tories have been confident since the election, but the big People’s Assembly demo on 20 June can start to change that. Jen W lists six things you can do to make it as big as possible.

If you are reading this you probably woke up on the Friday after the election, like me, in a pretty dismal mood. The scale of the Tory result was alarming. But the scale of anger and the numbers of people wanting to do something has been incredible. Some of the shy Tories have become embarrassed Tories, ashamed to admit they voted for a party that will deliver misery to millions more people in Britain.

The shock and awe announcements in the first few weeks of a Tory government have confirmed our fears: £30 billion in cuts, attacks on migrant rights, attacks on unions, less affordable housing. The human cost of this is visible in the personal stories of people all around us, our friends, families, colleagues, the growing numbers of homeless people on the streets, the thousands of articles which reveal a thousand cuts… and doesn’t it make you angry!

That is why 20th June matters.

In itself it isn’t going to bring down the Tories but it’s a bloody good start. People are travelling down from over sixty towns and cities around the country. Thousands will pour in from across London. It’s an opportunity to shout out our anger and alleviate some of our despair, and to visibly show that the Tories might have won the election, but most people don’t support their agenda. We need a different narrative in the media, we need hope that we can fight back. A huge demonstration – and it will be huge – is our first opportunity to show the strength of our opposition.

So get yourself to the demonstration, help to build it and then get involved in the weeks and months afterwards to build a serious challenge.

Six things you can do the build the demo

• If you’re outside London, book your transport now – there are coaches coming from over sixty towns and cities (details here)
• Contact your local People’s Assembly or anti-cuts group to help with publicising the demo (details here)
• Talk about the demo to your friends and people you know at work, in your neighbourhood, your community group, your place of worship or your kids’ school.
• Use social media to spread the word – the Facebook event is here and the page for the People’s Assembly is here. On Twitter the People’s Assembly is here – follow and retweet!
• Make your own placard or banner saying what the cuts have meant for you, and bring it along – make your voice heard.
• Download the demo leaflet here and stick it up at work to get people talking.