Carers UK Forum

My first demo - and I'm afraid it shows my age - was as a student member of the NUS marching to Grosvenor Square to protest outside the US Embassy about the bombing on Cambodia in the early 70's .... But we did have a single very clear objective. It was a black and white issue - either you were for the war (in those days it was the Red Menace, not The War on Terror) - or you were against it.

The protests worked eventually, though it helped that the US government were losing not just the media and the public but also the war itself - ultimately the Viet Kong proved to be too much even for Uncle Sam.

Sadly those who fail to study History are forced to repeat it...

No Campaigning from PRTC Carer Centres in North Ayrshire anyway I'm afraid.
They're run by Unity and it's a definate no-no
They wouldn't even allow us to put out some leaflets at the Scottish Parly - if we wanted to do that we couldn't go with them and had to make our own way even though they were taking a bus load up for a tour.

So I'm not expecting any campaigning there!

marie x

My pennyworth...

Is organising a protest online an achievable target?

We have carer forums of CUK,PRTC,CU,National forum,CW,CV and Chill.All told you have approximately what...100-120 people who post.Even if that number trebled to discuss this, it would in no way be enough.

The purpose of such a protest?

What would make this different to others that have taken place such as Lambeth and Nottingham.All the time and effort put in to arrange such an event to hand yet another petition over about Carers Allowance etc when the government already knows the problems that lie therein.

It has to be both different and try get public onside so they even in a small way can understand what we are about.

The numbers and people involved are crucial so it needs relaying to as many carer/disability/elderly groups/centres.A united front, as what affects us affects those we care for and vice versa.

We already know how little free time the bulk of carers have ,so maybe former carers,family and friends who can help can be roped in.

Dont rule out the union members who are already fighting for a fair deal for themselves.

How can 24/7 carers who want to participate take part?

As much as London is the centre of things would it be more viable to have a protest there but also many others on same day at various locations.?

What about some sort of petition being relayed from as high up in Scotland as possible down to London stopping at some of the bigger towns/cities to be passed on.Cuts costs down dramatically and also each town/city could do a send off.Be accessible to more carers if something locally.Big finale at No 10.?? Hopefully as it progressed so would media interest increase.

Volunteers would be needed to tell their stories.
Who would organise this?

Who would arrange all the details with police and local councils.

Would the disability/elderly groups be interested?

If something more dramatic was wanted like this... http://www.disabilitynow.org.uk/latest- ... re-reforms no way could it be discussed in the open and would anyone want to do it anyways.

Who takes charge? One person or a group of people but who nominates them or who volunteers?
*************************

Above may sound like I am against a protest but I am not,I would be all for it but its a massive undertaking and so needs discussed at length.Of the ones who have posted previously or even the lurkers reading,who could actually volunteer to commit as much time to this.We are not just talking 30 mins here and there but hours and hours.

Its a nasty habit of mine to start with the negatives/the obstacles and then build up over.

In 1936 we had a crusade from our town, many here will have heard of it.200 men marched to London about unemployment.They were not successful but their effort is always remembered.

I would like to think the same would be said if a Carers Protest/Crusade takes place.

.

Protests aren't (just) about numbers. Large numbers are good for bonding and team spirit though.
Effective protests ARE about creativity, courage - and a clear case of headline-grabbing injustice.

• 200 Jarrow marchers - they walked, nobody ever did that before - big impact. Maybe didn't achieve much in tangible terms apart from good publicity, goodwill, solidarity and a place in history, but I would have liked to be there. Respect!
  Invasion of Czechoslovakia by USSR - one guy burns himself to death in protest - became a visual symbol of Russian oppression that ended 30 years later with the Iron Curtain falling.
  1960's Paris students revolution - nearly but not quite brought down the French government. Never quite sure what exactly they were protesting about - the demands were too diverse and unrealistic.
  Miners strike/ 3 day week in 1970s - finished off the Heath government but .. allowed Maggie Thatcher to seize power in 1979. Oops!
  Tianamin Square, Beijing - a few thousand students almost bring the Chinese government ot its knees, but most protesters end up doing 20 years of hard labour or worse.
  Iraq protests - up to 1M demonstrated - no visible impact on policy. People are still dying. But government has been served a warning that the British people are VERY unhappy ... and that acts as a restraint on future hawks.
  Fathers for Justice: as part of a major campaign of letter writing and online protests, - half a dozen guys in batman suits with minimal climbing skills got more publicity than the Iraq war demo. But - again whilst maybe its hard to show the tangible effects - making a very clear point that dads were fed up and the system was unfair ... the CSA was given a shafting by Ministers and I have no idea if things have changed but they sure made waves.

Moral: we probably don't need or will not benefit from getting huge numbers of people to stand around like wallies with banners in Westminster or stand in front of the tanks: but we do need a few big imaginative publicity stunts and a steady drip drip campaign of emails and letter writing to MPs, local and national media.

We also need a clear campaign objective and slogan...

Only Carers UK - as a democratic mass-membership carer-led organisation - is in a position to provide the leadership for this kind of campaign.. but they wont do it without a clear mandate from the membership.

Options: well we could put a motion to the next AGM .. in fact we will have to if this is to succeed. But it will have to be very clear - our Trustees don't support waffle with hard cash and staff time.

Draft wording please? Try to be precise and brief.

Invasion of Czechoslovakia by USSR - one guy burns himself to death in protest - became a symbol of Russian oppression that ended 30 years later with the Iron Curtain falling.

Well I am not setting fire to myself!

Seriously Rob, what do you think the chances are of getting a motion passed at the AGM?

Seriously Rob, what do you think the chances are of getting a motion passed at the AGM?

Judging by this forums own experience, zero, if you don't get it in by the deadline. About 33% if you do. Those are pretty good odds. Nothing stopping you doing what we did in 2006 and putting in three different motions to improve your chances and keep the Trustees and staff on their toes

- Deadline for return of motions is Friday 6th June.
- Only Carers UK members can put forward motions to AGM (although everyone will be able to feed their comments on the motions, as we'll put them up on the forum at a later date).
- Motions need a seconder.

6th june is next friday, how are we going to be
able to do that???
answers quickly please

krys

we would like cuk to endorse a protest by carers on the issues of carer poverty, namely the overlapping rule and the limitations on cares allowance

Is this any good?

6TH JUNE D DAY

You are right you will never get enough interest from carers forum its like on line pettitions some have just a few hundred unless its about car tax or fuel duty or speed cameras we will never get the support we need from general public as we have said before many people see carers as just another group on benefits we are supposed to be 6/7 million strong but i dont know where they all are, London it is claimed have 600-000 carers so lets ask them to pop along to # 10 .



GEORGE=====

ROSEMARY 200 MEN SHAME ON YOU WHAT ABOUT ELLEN WILKINSON M.P. mind you dont think she done the whole 300 miles

sunday 1st june 2008

if anyone is interest in this, and do not want to
post, can they then not e-mail/pm any of the moderators
on their boards?
Rosemary has posted on here, so surely members can
pm her?
then perhaps by this evening at the latest monday evening
we should know how many carers want to do this, even
if you can't go yourself, we need to know who is in
agreement.

krys