Monthly Archives: July 2016

Brexit: ever growing economic inequality and the public spending cuts that accompanied austerity

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The outcome of the EU referendum has been unfairly blamed on the working class in the north of England, and even on obesity.7 However, because of differential turnout and the size of the denominator population, most people who voted Leave lived in the south of England.8 Furthermore, of all those who voted for Leave, 59% were in the middle classes (A, B, or C1). The proportion of Leave voters in the lowest two social classes (D and E) was just 24%.8 The Leave voters among the middle class were crucial to the final result because the middle class constituted two thirds of all those who voted. Continue reading →

Let’s go out into the country, and reinvent our politics.

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But even so, let me make three warnings.

We’ve seen ugly things happening up and down the country, and the license given to horrible, malign forces by the way the Leave campaign conducted itself. Notwithstanding those awful events: please let’s not think of the vast majority of the people I’ve talked about as stupid, or deluded, or bigoted or hateful. I don’t believe 17 million people are like that. In fact, I think I’m confident enough to say I know that.

If you woke up on Friday morning thinking the country was suddenly in the hands of a social tribe you didn’t know much about and you were suddenly terrified about the future, bear in mind: that is how millions of people in this country have been living for decades.

Please understand that the Labour Party has left a vacuum in these places which has been growing for ten or fifteen years. And if the result is denied, certainly while all of this is still raw, Ukip – with or without Nigel Farage, or maybe something even nastier – may well sweep through a lot of England and Wales, and the terrain for meaningful progressive politics will be destroyed. That’s how high the stakes are.
Continue reading →

A progressive alliance

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As Jeremy Gilbert, one of the crucial thinkers charting a new direction for the British left, points out, by placing general elections in the hands of a few middle-income voters in market towns, our system grants inordinate power to the corporate media, which needs only to influence them to capture the nation. A combination of a media owned by billionaires, unreformed political funding and first-past-the-post elections is lethal to democracy. Continue reading →

We Are Many

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We Are Many

Amirani Films
Producer/Director Amir Amirani

In Cinemas May 22, 2015

In selected UK cinemas July 2016

Tipping Point Film Fund is proud to be supporting this project with funding, fundraising and campaign outreach support.

The Context

This film is being made at a time where ‘people power’ is coming into its own, again. The Arab Spring, Occupy Movements around the world, the Indignados in Spain. From Wall Street to Wisconsin, from Madrid to Athens, and all across the Middle East, people are rising up to make their voices heard.  We are going through a unique period of popular protest, seeing the start of a mass, global movement, demanding real democracy and justice.  The anti-war marches of 2003 played a huge role in laying the ground for much of this global activism.

THE TRAILER

The Film

‘We Are Many  is a film about a single day and its aftermath. It is the story of an untold chapter in the history of people power. By turns uplifting and chilling, it reveals both the power and potential of ordinary people, as well as the dark underbelly of the war machine.  It also draws a connecting line from 2003 to the present-day global activist networks as well as the wave of citizen protests seen across the world, beginning with the Arab Spring.

On February 15 2003, in a totally unprecedented event, 15 million people, some say up to 30 million, in over 800 cities around the world across all seven continents, marched against the impending war on Iraq. But how did this come about? The film will chronicle the birth, growth and rise of a new kind of movement, from those that built it, participated in it, and those who opposed it. From the stories of mothers who marched while their soldier sons went to war, to stories of men and women who had never marched before in their lives; from scientists protesting in Antarctica, to September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows protesting in New York; the story of February 15 2003 is a journey into the heart of a movement that became transformed into a phenomenon. The film recounts the twists and turns of these opposing forces, the revelations and leaks, inquiries and high level hearings which have come to light since the invasion.

Spread the word, see the film and
learn more about the issue

1.  UK release

For details of the wider general release, please visit
http://wearemany.com/cinemas/

2. DVD and iTunes

WE ARE MANY will be available on iTunes from July 18th and DVD from August 1st.  It has been acquired by UNIVERSAL PICTURES for worldwide distribution (excluding North America). Planning is now underway for the theatrical release of the film in the USA.

The We Are Many website will be a resource on many levels – from story sharing to learning more about how to get involved with some of the many issues raised in the film. We at Tipping Point are also working on our in-house developed campaign focussed on runaway military spending, developed alongside our work on the film.

We hope the film can raise debate on many inter-connected issues that the Iraq War has raised, and will continue to raise – from the value of protest to political accountability; from the costs of war to the bringing of charges of war crimes to those who took us into this disastrous conflict.

Links

Website http://wearemany.com/

Trailer: https://youtu.be/yOpa8y2TIy8

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wearemanymovie

Twitter: @WeAreManyMovie

FESTIVALS

‘We Are Many premiere screening takes Sheffield Doc/fest by storm. The reception for Amir’s  film about the world’s largest protest – the anti-Iraq invasion protests of 2003 – was incredible, getting a standing ovation from the audience, much feedback on twitter and some brilliant reviews.

Press

“A work of beautiful rage. Provokes anger and goosebumps”
Empire

“consistently intelligent and nuanced”
Variety

“incredibly ambitious… gripping. The only film I’ve ever watched where the audience started clapping halfway through…” ★★★★★
Huffington Post

“rousing and moving, it’s a film that should be seen by the many” ★★★★☆
Radio Times

The Huffington Post UK: ‘We Are Many’ Film Review – A Tireless Look At Events Leading To And From Stop The War March 2003 ★★★★★

HuffPost Entertainment: ‘We Are Many’ Director Amir Amirani Reveals 8-Year Journey From Anti-War March To Standing Ovation

The Star: Sheffield Doc/Fest Best of Fest

Grolsch Film Works: Sheffield Doc/Fest 2014: We Are Many ★★★★☆

Screen Daily: Review – We Are Many

The Hollywood Reporter: ‘We Are Many’: Sheffield Review

The Observer: Stars invoke the spirit of 2003 Iraq war demo in new film

Twitter

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Why we should back Corbyn

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As rallies of support for Jeremy Corbyn are held in Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance this weekend, Simon Parker writes an open letter to the region’s only Labour MP, Ben Bradshaw.

Dear Ben,

I address this to you, but it applies equally to Cimber, Casca, Brutus and the others. Let me say at the outset that I’ve always liked you, always admired your straight talking, your passion, your courage, your genuine interest in the underdog, your honesty. That’s why I find it so difficult to stomach your actions this week. It is with a heavy heart that I feel the need to take issue with our region’s one Labour MP.

I wish you had come out with me on Monday evening. A group of us were gathered in the public hall of a workaday village in South East Cornwall for the regular meeting of Moorland Branch Labour Party. We are a small but growing group, united in our commitment to building a better future for our community, our country and our world. As well as Moorland, there are new and active branches right across my area – Torpoint to Tamar Valley, Lostwithiel to Looe.
Continue reading →

John McDonnell on the leadership battle

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This talk was given by John McDonnell on Wednesday 29 June at a Stand Up for Labour event in the George IV pub in Chiswick, West London. The transcript has been lightly edited to account for the difference between spoken and written language but the content is unchanged. 

Let me just tell you where we’re at at the moment because it’s important that you know. I just want to go back a short while, I won’t keep you long.

When Jeremy got elected last year he got elected on 59.5% of the vote – the highest mandate that any political leader of this country has ever received from their own membership. It was overwhelming in individual members, the affiliated group and also the new supporters. In every category he won.

When we got back to Parliament he tried, in his own quiet way (I’ve known Jeremy 35/40 years and he’s one of the most caring, compassionate people I’ve met), to work with people, put them together. He created a Shadow Cabinet of left, right and centre, he tried to hold it together. And when he did that he tried to work with the Parliamentary Labour Party all the way through. But there’s been a group within the PLP who consistently refused to accept his democratic mandate and consistently undermined him in every way they possibly could. To be frank, I don’t know how he’s borne it. I’m just so proud of him, to be honest, for what he’s done.
Continue reading →