In the country where people work the longest hours in Europe
and have the least leisure time, where real wages are what they were two decades
ago, councils are fixated on building new shopping and leisure facilities. All
in the name of “regeneration”.
We reported here
the planned vandalism
of Glasgow's George Square, halted by public protests, against secret plans to
remove statues and ban demonstrations to create a space prioritising shopping and
events.
Now in Newport, South Wales, the local authority has taken a
wrecking ball to a much-loved mural
celebrating the Newport Uprising, a dramatic moment in the struggle for
democratic rights in the 19th century.
It was in the way of a shopping development, so it had to
go. The mural was demolished without even councillors being told it was
happening, the day before a planned protest.
Newport Council is consulting on a cultural strategy full of
"overall aims, vision, mission, priority themes, desired outcomes and
objectives" – the well-known weasel words of bureaucrats everywhere.
A survey showed that people said the top six best things
about Newport were heritage, arts and culture, wildlife and open spaces, sport
and leisure, attractions, events and things to do, social networks and
community, and children’s activities.
Not SHOPPING – you notice. And number one was HERITAGE.
And what is Newport's heritage? Like Glasgow's, it is a
heritage of working class struggle, heavy industry and a passion for sport.
Of these Newport Council chooses sport as its number one
focus - sporting venues, sporting events and, to be fair, sport for young
people. Glasgow has the same priorities - sporting venues are being constructed
for the Commonwealth Games 2014. One will later become a massive stadium for
visiting pop stars, with expensive ticket prices.
Council's interpret their responsibilities as maximising
income for big retailers and entertainment corporates – the same trickle-down
economics that have failed so badly for so long.
The claim is that more shops mean more jobs. But as new
shopping areas open, with big retailers huddling together like nervous
teenagers, others becoming increasingly run down.
Before you know it the glamorous ‘80s shopping mall is full
of pound shops, and the local shopping streets are destroyed. You know your
local high street is finished when betting and charity shops outnumber the
fresh food shops.
And just exactly how successful is this constant lust for
the shoppers' pound? The graph below shows that retail in Britain bumps along,
never reaching the high point just before the debt bubble burst in 2008. And
the real growth in retail sales has in any case been in on-line shopping.
Are the much heralded jobs arriving? Glasgow has the highest
number of jobless households in the UK. Unemployment in Newport is 1.3% above
the UK average.
So back to the Newport mural and the struggle for the right
to vote, which in one dramatic moment in 1839 broke out into an armed uprising
of ironworkers, miners and farm workers.
What we need is a new popular struggle, this time not for
the right to vote, but for the right to decide, the right to control our
destinies. At present we vote, but we decide nothing. Power has migrated into
the hands of the corporations and our "representatives" serve them,
not us.
Those who opposed demolition of the mural could mark the
175th anniversary of the uprising next year by launching a Newport People's
Assembly. There people can start to formulate their own plan for the future of
their city and start putting it into practice in their communities. United with
people's assemblies right across the UK, they can become part of a new power in
the land – a popular democracy to do our Chartist heritage proud.
Penny Cole
Environment editor
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