26th March 2011 – March for the Alternative

Posted by cb

I’ll write more about the March for the Alternative during the week but wanted to feed back in the immediate aftermath.

As arranged I attended with some friends and our intentions of meeting up with a larger group were scuppered somewhat by not being able to find the group we had intended to join. Still we found people to march with and the atmosphere was cheerful, very friendly and good spirited. There were families and pensioners and everyone in between. Very far from the typical ‘troublemakers’. These were people who cared about the society they live in and wanted to show it. That was community. That was a voice. I marched along people I believed in and who believed in me and the work we do and need to do to create a better, a ‘bigger’ society. I was very proud to be there.

I started a flickr account for my photos to keep them distinct from my personal flickr account but go and have a look at the pictures.

I’ll leave you with one of my favourite banners.

About cb

Social Worker in the UK

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Posted on March 27, 2011, in personal, politics, work and tagged 26th march, banners, cuts, evil cameron, london, march 26, march for the alternative, march26, protest, star wars, unions. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.

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melindaklewis | March 27, 2011 at 7:37 pm

I’ve been following this somewhat from the U.S., and I’d love to know if there was a noticeable social worker perspective, at the March and throughout the resistance effort. Are people mostly participating as citizens and from their own perspectives, or are social workers and the profession as a whole engaged in combating the retrenchment?
cb | March 27, 2011 at 8:00 pm

Hi Melinda
Contrary to what I wrote in the other post, when I went yesterday I decided to go with a group of social work activists but then we (me and my friends – all social workers as well incidently!) couldn’t find them so we ended up making our own way. So I know there was at least one group of social workers marching as a group – it’s just we couldn’t find them!
The Social Work Action Network has been active in opposing cuts. I’m a member and have been to some of their meetings. BASW (British Association of Social Workers) has made some noises, I believe but most social workers are also members of trade unions and the trade unions (including mine) were very well-represented so we would have been heard through those channels.