We are currently living through the worst economic crisis since the war. There is no clear way out of it, and we’ll be living with the consequences of it for some time yet.

Though this crisis is the result of a system engineered by states, and profited from by vast companies and financial institutions, it is ordinary people who are suffering from it. Job losses and unemployment have shot up, people are losing their homes, and public services face the axe to pay for the banking bailout.

But not everyone has taken this lying down. 2009 has seen some of the most significant struggles in recent years as ordinary people stand up and fight back. Workers threatened with layoffs have occupied their workplaces, local communities have occupied schools threatened with closure, and workers are taking industrial action to defend themselves against a hammering.

This public meeting is to bring together those interested in joining, supporting and organising around this fightback.

Called by the Anarchist Federation (Manchester)