HOME | IMC UK | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

Liverpool Indymedia

Durham Miners Gala Sat 14th July 2012

Arthur Scargill | 03.07.2012 19:52 | Liverpool | Sheffield

The Durham Miners Gala this year promises to be the largest for decades. Already 100K strong recently, the addition of the Labour leader Ed Miliband is likely to tip the numbers higher still if the weather permits. The bands, speeches, marches, banner, Gala field, funfair etc all allow for a great family day out where old and new comrades meet and greet.

"I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all our comrades, friends and supporters who will be joining us in Durham on the occasion of the 128th Durham Big Meeting.
The Gala goes from strength to strength and we have to thank our banner and community groups for much of this success. They play a vital role in maintaining our links with the former mining towns and villages of the County - communities bearing the brunt of the Government's savage attacks on the social wage and the very fabric of the Welfare state.
Whether, young, middle aged, or old no one is safe from this vicious Tory/Liberal coalition. On the one hand they reward bankers for failure, allow politicians to get away with dodgy expenses claims and reduce taxes for the rich. They then conclude that the solution to the crisis is to clobber the poorest in society. And now while every family lives in fear of unemployment we have some lunatic advising the Government to make it easier to sack workers. To make matters worse they insult our intelligence by saying 'we are all in it together'. Well we weren't in it together when the big profits were being made and just how much our people think 'we are all in it together' was demonstrated in the results of the local government elections.

In County Durham and Tyne and Wear the Tories and Liberals were obliterated - and rightly so. They represent the interests of big business and capitalism and we want no truck with them.

Although it is now 18 years since the last pit on the Durham Coalfield closed, the fight to get justice for our former miners who suffer from painful and debilitating diseases continues.

Although we have has considerable success in some fields we are still struggling to establish compensation for our members who are sufferring from the painful and crippling symptoms of arthritis of the knee - known in the industry as 'miners knee'.

We are at the moment awaiting a judgment from the Court of Appeal which we hope will allow our litigation against the Coal Authority to proceed to the High Court. If we lose the case it will not only deny many of our members, now advanced in years, the justice they deserve but the legal costs will have a profound impact on the Durham Miners Association.

We are very proud of the success of our Compensation department which is due to the dedicated work of Davy Guy. unfortunately as we go to press Dave is too ill to take part in the preparations for the Gala. His struggle against serious illness over the past 4 & a half years has been an inspiration to us all and our thoughts today are with Dave and his family.

In a county where the County Council has been labour controlled for 93 years, where all Metropolitan Borough Councils have vast Labour majorities and where every constituency regularly elects Labour MP's, it is fitting that, after an absence of 23 years a Labour party leader h.as accepted an invitation to speak at the Gala and we of course welcome Ed Miliband to Durham.

We also welcome the new banners to this year's Gala from Burnhope, Felling, Brandon and Heworth, all making a reappearance so many years after their pits closed. There has hardly been a year without new banners being brought to the Gala. They are a credit to the communities who have produced them and a fitting tribute to our forefathers who fought so hard for our future. We must dedicate ourselves at this Gala to defend all the gains they made for us and to fight for a better future for the next generation - there is no other reason for the trade unions and the labour movement to exist.

As the European financial system teeeters on the brink of total meltdown it is now clear to all that capitalism has failed miserably. As we go to press the Spanish miners are fighting a life and death battle for the future of their industry and their communities. They are as we were in 1984/85 the victims of organised state violence and we pledge to them our solidarity and assistance as they did for us 28 years ago.

We have never had a better opportunity to fight back and establish a society based on the needs of people and not on the profit and greed of the few. Let today's Gala be that launchpad.

Have a great day and a safe journey home.

Best Wishes, Dave Hopper," General Secretary of the DMA, NE region NUM

Taken from the 128th Durham Miners Gala programme, pages 11-13, Sat 14th July 2012.

Arthur Scargill

Comments

Display the following 12 comments

  1. Milliband — Labour bullshitters
  2. The enemy of the working class. — Dave
  3. Well done — Arthur Scargill
  4. Labour - Tratiors — Ex miner and Ashamed
  5. Great idea. — Ex Shipyarder.
  6. It was my idea... — Shadow secretary of the brass bands
  7. Political organisation, have you heard of it? — Arthur Scargill
  8. Labour = Tory bitches — NUM Scargill you bastard
  9. Political organiser — Oxbridge attendee
  10. Point about Ed Milliband. — Ne
  11. Facebook pages — Arthur Scargill
  12. Labour Leader — Mackem

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

[navigation.actions2016]

[navigation.actions2015]

[navigation.actions2014]

NATO 2014

Actions 2013

G8 2013

Actions 2012

Workfare

Actions 2011

2011 Census Resistance
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Occupy Everywhere

Actions 2010

Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands

Actions 2009

COP15 Climate Summit 2009
G20 London Summit
Guantánamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
University Occupations for Gaza

Actions 2008

2008 Days Of Action For Autonomous Spaces
Campaign against Carmel-Agrexco
Climate Camp 2008
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Smash EDO
Stop Sequani Animal Testing
Stop the BNP's Red White and Blue festival

Actions 2007

Climate Camp 2007
DSEi 2007
G8 Germany 2007
Mayday 2007
No Border Camp 2007

Actions 2006

April 2006 No Borders Days of Action
Art and Activism Caravan 2006
Climate Camp 2006
Faslane
French CPE uprising 2006
G8 Russia 2006
Lebanon War 2006
March 18 Anti War Protest
Mayday 2006
Oaxaca Uprising
Refugee Week 2006
Rossport Solidarity
SOCPA
Transnational Day of Action Against Migration Controls
WSF 2006

Actions 2005

DSEi 2005
G8 2005
WTO Hong Kong 2005

Actions 2004

European Social Forum
FBI Server Seizure
May Day 2004
Venezuela

Actions 2003

Bush 2003
DSEi 2003
Evian G8
May Day 2003
No War F15
Saloniki Prisoner Support
Thessaloniki EU
WSIS 2003

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech

Publish Your News


Temporary Scroogle search

-->