What we have to remember when we oppose the cuts. When we fight against these attacks on the public that come from a cabinet formed of millionaires (and a government formed from the principal of maintaining the status quo rather than addressing the disconnection between public and government) we have to remember, and explicitly state that we stand for the general principle and not the specific issue.
By which I mean:
The basic principal is that those who got us into this mess: banks, businesses and various elected and none elected million and billionaires must pay to get us out of it. The cuts must fall on them. This isn't just fair it is also essential because they can take it. Unlike the poor and the public services. We aren't opposing any single cut but all cuts that fall elsewhere. Each individual strike and protest (and personally I favour civil disobedience over striking) needs to (and most are to be fair) make it clear they are against everyone being cut. This avoids them looking selfish and foster solidarity in people who aren't in a position to strike or cut.
The other principal is that we should have collective free public service. Opposing tuition fees isn't supporting the education system. It is standing for the right to free education. I personally hate the education system, and the elitist and navel gazing nature of most universities and many academics. But that is a specific issue. When we win back their funding then we can use that money to make them better.
Same goes for The Libraries, The Police, Children's Services, Benefits, Arts, Social Work, Sports and all the services that will be cut. I'd go further and add things already privatised like transport and traffic wardens. These things should be free and paid for collectively through taxation with the rich paying more because they can afford to. That doesn't mean I am in favour of Prisons or Police brutality, or the repositioning of public service as business, or the way paper work and absurd assessment is literally ruining education and social services. All these things must be addressed. And we should make it clear they aren't good enough. They need to be sorted out. BUT STOP CUTTING THEM and we will be able to address these issues.
Because the principal of Public Services is what we are fighting for, not the current reality of them. And we know we collectively can afford them and can collectively get out of this. Because we ARE all in it together. ALL of us. Including the members of the Bullingdon club and the Tax Cheaters like Vodafone and Philip Green. It is time to make them pay.
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