Freedom Anarchist Fortnightly Newspaper
30th November 2002



MODERNISING THE FIRESERVICE: AN ANARCHIST MANIFESTO

When considering industrial action, never ask for things you don't know the bosses can give you.
Not every garden path has roses at the end of it. We suggest firefighters accept the 4%
they've been offered and go back to work. It's not much but at least they'll know where they
stand and how much they're really worth to the state. Since Tony Blair thinks they're second-
rate, why not give him the service he expects. We suggest firefighters introduce a work to
rule, based on Freedom's MANIFESTO FOR A MODERN FIRESERVICE.



We will fight any fire where life is threatened, but not put out fires when it's not

We will not go to the house of any cabinet minister, they paid themselves more than we're
asking now.

If MP's don't want to support our claim for decent pay, let the House of Commons burn. It's
happened before and may do again.

We will go to a fire at any state school but not at a private one.

If you're rich enough to pay for a private ward, we suggest you buy your own fire extinguisher.
You may need it.

We will not put out a fire at GAP or Harvey Nicks, Harrods or Calvin Klein, Starbucks
or McDonalds.

Since the bosses would rather keep their profits than pay higher taxes, they're going to need
more than smoke alarms at their factories.

We will not got to a house worth more than twice the local average, nor to weekend cottages
in the Cotswolds.

If your door is more than twenty yards from the road, that's too far for us.

As the government won't tax the rich to help pay public sector workers, let
the rich fight their own fires.

Since Tony Blair would like to make public sector strikes illegal, we won't go to a
fire at law courts that might imprison us.

If your pet is up a tree we'll rescue it, but if your pet's a Jag we won't.

If your car cost more than we earn cut yourself out, and if your idea of the good life
is a riverside mansion we suggest you invest in flood protection.



We respond to every fire or emergency without asking what the cost will be or whether
the person we're helping is worth it. Since the government weighs our lives in pounds
and pence, how much do you think you're worth?

The problem is that government sets the standard, the councils pay the bills and we
do the work. But society is ignored. Why not cut out the intermediaries, the bosses
and the state, and work directly with us?

Let the Fire Brigade Union take over the management of the Fire Service itself.

Every three years you and the rest of society will discuss plans for service delivery and
management with us.

Let an independent committee of ordinary people with the necessary skills scrutinise
and endorse the plan.

You don't think it could work? But there's already an emergency service that saves lives in
hazardous enviroments.

It's the best in the world and it lagely manages itself. It's called the lifeboats - ordinary
people doing extraordinary things, with not a politician in sight to muck it up.
Now that's modernisation!