Anti-austerity activists organise free solidarity market
ANTI-AUSTERITY activists will hold a free market in Castlemilk tomorrow to help people in desperate need and to build links of solidarity between community members.
The ‘food solidarity market’ will open from 1pm to 4pm tomorrow (Saturday 12 November), in order for people to exchange free food and other items.
But organisers from Castlemilk Against Austerity (CAA) are adamant that this will not be a foodbank, but rather an act of mutual solidarity and support.
Speaking to CommonSpace, a spokesperson for CCA said: “We at CAA have no desire to become a foodbank or dispense charity. Our aim is to meet an immediate need for help, because when someone does not know where there next meal is coming from this is probably their main worry and concern. That’s why we are offering “on the spot” solidarity.”
CAA say their motto for the market, which will also feature free entertainment including poetry, music and kids crafts, will be “bring what you can and take what you need”.
Recent years have seen a massive growth in the number of foodbanks as austerity measures have seen vulnerable people forced off meagre benefits, increased under employment and precarious work. In 2015 1.4 million free food parcels were delivered to families across the UK.
According to the TUC, real wages have fallen by 10.4 per cent since 2007, a collapse in working class income unprecedented in amount and duration since the great depression.
Britain is a more economically unequal today than when Charles Dickens wrote Oliver Twist in the early nineteenth century.
Austerity measures were ushered in by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government in the aftermath of the global banking crisis from 2008. Major banks were bailed out by the state, with the costs being passed onto the mass of the working people in the population.
Between 2010 and 2014 half a million people in the UK lost their jobs due to austerity measures.
Picture courtesy of keizer keizer
Check out what people are saying about how important CommonSpace is. Pledge your support today.
