The Jarrow March 2011, which is marching from Jarrow in the North East to London to raise awareness of youth unemployment, arrived in Nottingham today. Marchers and supporters assembled on the Forest Rec at 12.30 and marched to the Market Square where a rally was held. It is the 75th anniversary of the original Jarrow Crusade, which an attempt to raise awareness of the intense poverty and unemployment in the North East. The marchers are demanding a number of major policy changes by the government to improve the lives of young people and give them a better future.

The marchers left Jarrow on 1st October and aim to be in London on 5th Nov and is supported by various trade unions and socialist political parties. They are making the following demands:

• A massive government scheme to create jobs which are socially useful and apprenticeships which offer guaranteed jobs at the end – both paying at least the minimum wage, with no youth exemptions.
• The immediate reinstatement of EMA payments, expanding them to be available to all 16-19 year olds.
• The immediate re-opening of all youth services that have been closed, including reinstating sacked staff.
• The scrapping of ‘workfare’ schemes – benefits should be based on need not forced slave labour.
• A massive building programme of environmentally sound, cheap social housing.

There was a good turnout of people to march with them including anti-cuts campaigners from Notts SOS and Notts Uncut as well as local trade union branches.

It was inspiring to see people so young speaking passionately and confidently about the changes they want to see in society and taking action to spread the word around the country. I spoke to 17-year old marcher Lizzie Graham from Gateshead, whose great-grandfather was one of the original Jarrow marchers in 1936. She said they'd had a really good response from people along the route of the march, including in Notts, adding "It just shows that this system of capitalism isn't working". "We want to do something from this", she concluded, "We don't want to just sit on the dole looking for a job."

At the end of the march, Notts Uncut led a tour of corporate tax dodgers in Nottingham. Other people stayed in the square for the Occupy Nottingham gathering. The Jarrow marchers are heading on to Loughborough tomorrow.