Campaign launch draws 1,500

Submitted by AWL on 5 August, 2020 - 7:30
Living Incomes for Everyone graphic

In Australia, the Living Incomes For Everyone coalition is working towards a week of action 17-24 September. The coalition was formally launched on 26 July, at a 1,500-strong online meeting.

Wrapping up the launch, Janet Burstall explained the aims:

Firstly, we stand for meeting people’s needs, and against capitalism. We’re grassroots, we’re a coalition, our demands link the needs of workers, and especially of everyone on low incomes, in or out of work... We are filling a gap in the Australian working class movement, and we will be part of shaking off decades of failure to fight back as a whole movement! Which brings me to my second point, the work ahead of us to win our demands.

We know we’re up against capitalism, and the government with its priority on the value of capital, over the well being of people and planet. The announced cuts to JobKeeper [like furlough] and JobSeeker [like Universal Credit] are designed to increase the supply of cheap labour to employers, to the disadvantage of all workers, in or out of work.

So we also have to take on the employers. We have to take on the job networks and other outsourced providers of harassment services to the government. We’ll take on landlords, developers and banks in order to save homes...

Thirdly, to win against those powers, we need to build our own power and agency... to educate, agitate and organise... We need more people discussing and deciding collectively, especially in workplaces and unions... [to] give our supporters the confidence to refuse to accept injustice by co-ordinating amongst our groups and all their supporters for the most visible and disruptive public actions that we can organise...

The LIFE campaign wants to have democratic and inclusive decision making processes, that will continue the grassroots spirit and commitment that we have started out with.

What we are setting out to do will make history.

(Janet spoke from the lands of the Gadigal Wongal people of the Eora nation, and acknowledged that sovereignty was never ceded.)

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