Indymedia Cambridge

'Defend the NHS' National Day of Action

Saturday, 3rd March, saw a national day of action to defend the National Health Service (NHS), called by NHS Together, an alliance of health service unions and staff associations together with the TUC. Demonstrations and rallies took place across the country, in Birmingham, Cambridge, Hackney (London), Leeds, Preston, Sheffield and other places. The aim of the protests, according to the organisers, was "to send a powerful message in celebration and defence of the NHS" against more cuts and privatisation. Almost three quarters of NHS trusts in the UK are reported last year that financial deficits are forcing them to make massive cutbacks; wards are being closed down, hospitals shut and jobs cut. Billions are going into 'restructuring' the service along market lines, with millions going on management consultants and financial advisers and millions more, in massive PFI payments, to shareholders and bankers.

Reports and pics: Defend the NHS Day: Sheffield Demonstration [photos] | Demo against the privatization of the NHS in Preston | Hackney Save NHS Demo | Leeds General Infirmary For Sale!

Previous Indymedia Features: Is Britain ready to defend its NHS? | The NHS in Crisis | Sheffield Children's Hospital: Save Ward S2 | Local Trusts Take Scalpel To NHS | Indymedia UK's Health topic page

Links: NHS Together | Keep Our NHS Public

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Immaterial Labour

Ed Emery of the Universitas adversitatis has organised the "Immaterial Labour, Multitudes, and New Social Subjects: Class Composition in Cognitive Capitalism" Conference in Cambridge this weekend (August 28-30th). This conference will be feature a large international gathering of radicals and militants, with a focus on autonomous inquiry in the digital era and a keynote open to the public by Antonio Negri, co-author of Empire.

This diverse revolutionary current believes that the era of the "material labour" of the factory has been superseded by the "immaterial labour" that includes unpaid family work, "service with a smile" and the production of affects, and symbolic-linguistic production such as computer programming and entertainment. There is also an increased focus on the cybernetic communications of both capital, and as opposed to vanguard parties, the natural antagonism of labour to capitalism and their ability to subvert their own machinery - including the Internet (see texts related to the themes of the conference).

Antonio Negri will give his keynote in French on the evening of the 28th on the topic of "J.M. Keynes, Guaranteed Minimum Income and the Recent Events in France," an analysis of the recent revolt in France against the neoliberal CPE.

To make this conference as widely available, there will be live audio-stream available on www.radiovague.com and an IRC chat room at chat.indymedia.org#immaterial. This room will allow people, regardless of their location in space, to discuss the speakers and ask questions. A full archive will also be made.

Update: At the last moment, Negri had to cancel for personal reasons, but his paper will be delivered by his esteemed colleague Andrea Fumagalli at 7:30.

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Cambridge Support for Jerry Hicks

There has been active support in Cambridge for the campaign to reinstate Jerry Hicks. Jerry, a worker at the Bristol Rolls Royce plant, was "probably dismissed on trade union grounds", the employment tribunal found, for supposedly organising unofficial action, influencing the decision of the disciplinary panel (both to support two sacked colleagues), and standing in the way of normal working practices [more details].

Jerry Hicks has spoken at a public meeting in Cambridge [ Report | Photos ]. And there is now a call to action.

IMC UK feature on Jerry Hicks.

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