I had the pleasure of spending yesterday afternoon at the UNISON Retired Members Conference in Chester. I wasn't feeling 100% and at one point the day before I even considered dropping out. I am so glad that I went along and was able to speak and take part in what I thought was a great panel discussion with my colleague Sian from out Health Group.
As always at these sessions I found myself inspired by some of the stories of organising that a number of the delegates related during the discussions. I have said on numerous occasions on this blog that resistance is fertile and certainly not futile. Delegates told us of organising campaigns that they were involved in that demonstrated just how much resistance is actually taking place on the ground to stand up for public services like our beloved National Health Service. People organising petitions, getting the message out into their communities and standing up for progressive politics.
It was awesome to be in the presence of such experience and knowledge and it reminded me that while there is certainly no substitute for experience there is also no substitute for working people coming together and organising. It's clear to me that we can't rely on politicians to rescue us - as the great Alice Walker said "we are the ones we have been waiting for". When we come together it's to organise. That's the experience we have. That experience reminds us that if we don't organise then things stay the same but when we organise we can achieve wonderful things and enormous change.
0 comments:
Post a Comment