Second meet-up for the new anti-austerity initiative Anticuts Atlanta.
Last meeting was really participatory and productive. Let’s come together to reflect on the November 14th march we have coming up and to discuss a more general strategy to take us through the winter and the current wave of austerity, budget cuts, and layoffs.
Bring a friend. Be thinking of a potential strategy as well as next steps until then!
http://atlanta.indymedia.org/anti-austerity-meeting/anticuts-atlanta-meeting
On November 14 there will be general strikes against austerity measures all over Europe. Portugal, Greece, Spain, Italy, and other European countries will be holding demonstrations to stand against the continual crisis and pain of capitalism.
What is AUSTERITY?
The social services that capitalism once provided have become to much of a strain to continue since the financial crisis. Governments across the globe have made massive cuts to housing, the arts, healthcare and education, while also spending trillions of dollars bailing out financial institutions.
We’ve seen how the city of Atlanta has attacked all of these sectors: through home evictions, incessant budget cuts to public schools, budget cuts to humanities programs in higher education, and tuition increases and scholarship cuts for university students. We’ve seen MARTA fares increase while the city of Atlanta refuses to better fund the transit system we have.
The occupation movement of last fall has ended. Regardless, the conditions that gave rise to it have remained fundamentally unchanged: the relative stability of the financial markets sits on atop a heep of austerity budgets.
The crisis continues to deepen. It remains obvious that any group of people who cannot afford to continue living will be forced to change themselves through annihilation or rebellion.
We hope to create a temporary organizing initiative in Atlanta to mobilize a general anti-capitalist fightback against austerity in the schools, health care, MARTA, the arts, and elsewhere. We do not seek a return to the pre-austerity era, but the crisis is making our lives unlivable.
