This is a guest post from Rosie Huzzard (NUS National Executive Committee and National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts). The original posting of this blog can be found here: http://rosiehuzzard.wordpress.com...
I just got back from the demo to 'Save the NHS' in Manchester, which as I'm sure you all know, took place outside and around the Conservative Party Conference.
There's a lot of things to say, about the day, the campaign, and what we do next.
I was really pleased to be part of the student bloc for much of the march and to meet so many enthusiastic activists from Manchester, Sheffield, Royal Holloway, Birmingham, KCL and UCL there - I'm sure others too who I didn't get to meet!
Manchester University has a really vibrant group called Manchester Save Our NHS, which is, as far as I'm aware, the most active student group campaigning around NHS cuts in the country. I'm incredibly impressed by their work, and the amount of energy they put into building the demo was clear to see. Here's them alongside NUS activists and students from around the country.
By all accounts the demo was fantastically well attended - 50-60,000 being quoted by even the BBC, which for a demo outside London is brilliant. There were thousands of trade union activists (including a good turnout from my own trade union, PCS), people from Disabled People Against the Cuts, and even the anti-cull types in their lovely badger suits (http://www.demotix.com/news/2110409/save-badger-cull-british-nationalist-party-protest-london#media-2110391). As demos go, I think everyone agreed it was positive and in good spirits. I witnessed one arrest, where police typically overreacted to someone who climbed over a (roughly 3' high) barrier, and four or five cops pinned him to the ground, and bundled him into a van. A reminder that the police aren't there to keep us safe - they're there to protect the state.
Worth noting as well that the private security company, G4S prevented the BBC from filming the demo (http://www.politicshome.com/uk/story/37514/save_our_nhs_rally.html) resulting in a media blackout - so spead the word!
What next? Does a demo change anything?
In my view, demos and protests like this don't change the world on their own, and today will not reverse Tory party policy. I was one of 2 million people on the demo against the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and that didn't change Labour's minds about the war. That's not to say they are useless though. What they are good for is getting issues out there, getting people thinking, and invigorating a movement which can often feel like a long, hard slog.
The important thing about days like this is that we use them to build around. Feel positive and buoyed up by the size and passion of the demo today, and take that feeling back to your student unions and workplaces, and build local campaigns to defend the NHS. Use the success of this demo to keep working hard, and get students who are studying in the NHS (medical students, nurses, paramedics, physios, social workers, mental health and psychotherapy students...) interested in the political issues surrounding it. Hold a meeting on your campus - get in touch with me if you'd like some help.
Earlier this month I attended a meeting held by Medsin and NCAFC at Goldsmiths University, which put a lot of plans in place to start more student action around the NHS. One of these plans is for a week of action around NHS cuts and privatisation from November 23rd - 30th. You can find out about that exciting event here: http://studentsforthenhs.blogspot.co.uk/ and more information will be added in the next couple of days (at which point I'll update this post). If you're interested in organising action on your campus (things like zombie flashmobs are being discussed...), get in touch with Pete at nhs@medsin.org or send me a Facebook message or a text to 07810632653.
Save the NHS - and fight for more!
So it's no secret I'm a socialist - it says so right up there. That means that 'saving the NHS' just won't cut it for me. The NHS has always had some private interest, and the privatisation of some services goes right back through the Labour years and the legacy of the Private Finance Initiative. What we need is a health service that is truly public. That means that the control of resources should be in the hands of the NHS workers, and not related to the interests of private interests, research funding, or multi-national pharmaceutical companies. You can sometimes see a small scale version of this when NHS workers go on strike - nurses and paramedics manage their own shifts and cover the services they know are vital themselves, through the democratic process of their trade union branches. Making demands for a democratically controlled NHS might seem far-fetched, but the privatisation that the Coalition have already brought into the health sector is pretty revolutionary too. Most people are blissfully unaware of the changes that have already been rail-roaded in through the back door - privatisation happening under the name 'National Health Service' (now used simply as a brand name to badge any number of private providers - don't believe me? Check this out: http://www.nhsidentity.nhs.uk/all-guidelines/guidelines/independent-sector-treatment-centres/introduction), and many are still to come.
We need to Educate students and the public about the changes, Agitate for a health service free of private interests, and Organise against the cuts before it's too late.
Rosie
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