Durham Miners Gala 2011

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 10 July 2011 14:27:02

Yesterday was the Durham Miners Gala, otherwise known as The Big Meet. I was there most of the day, along with others from the Streetlights team who were involved in running a stall and stewarding. I managed to site myself by the stage for the speeches which meant, despite the dodgy PA system, I heard everything. I want to give a brief overview and link some of what was being said into the theme I am currently looking at on this blog.

Walking around the field in some ways was like moving back in time. Brass bands abounded and so did "proper" socialist politics, alongside the Labour Party tea tent and the North East  Humanists stall. The nature of the Big Meet means you never know quite who you will bump into or end up listening to. Yesterday as I was walking along the allotted area we were stewarding I bumped into the District Chair and Mr. and Mrs. President of Conference on an official visit. During the speeches I heard a Chilean Miner who had been one of those trapped underground, a few union leaders and a couple of MP's. The main themes were: the cuts in public spending, the News of the World fiasco and jokes which referred to Ed Milibands decision not to come and speak to the Gala after all, according to the media this was because he refused to share the stage with Bob Crow.

Starting with Bob Crow I'll now focus in on a couple of the key speakers and what they were saying. Ok, for the uninitiated or those who are not from round these parts Bob Crow is an old skool trade union leader with "far left" socialist opinions. He is leader of the RMT union. I have to admit I thought he would give firey rhetoric but actually, he was measured and the best speaker on the stage. He gave a lesson in public speaking which is just as important for preachers as it is politicians. Don't water down what you are saying but make it relevant to and easily understood by your audience.

He started off with a rather good joke about not worrying about the rain which had, during earlier speeches, come down in torrants. He made the point, "Cameron has been pissing on us for a year now". Crude yes, but effective in getting the crowd immeadiately on side and relaxed. He then called for renationalisation of the utilities on the basis of the fact that competition wasn't reducing prices as promised but was making people suffer. He illustrated this by going through an illustration based on different utility providers knocking on his door to try and sell other services. The point was clear and effective. He then went on to point out that energy providers can put up their charges 18% and get away with it because business will moan but say well, we can't help increased costs. He then said though that if workers were to ask for an 18% increase that would be stamped on as an unacceptable demand. Both are "costs" but in the first case the increased costs are going into supporting capitalism whilst the second relates to "working classes".

Dennis Skinner MP, the beast of Bolsover, also came to speak. He is always worth a listen and is a traditional hard working left wing MP. He was speaking to an audience he knew and who respected him. During the speech he made the point that whilst we might all be annoyed with the Lib Dems and their lies the real enemy are the Tory government. A government who have managed to get the students and disabled stirred up in a way which has not been seen before and also the police. Bearing in mind the way the shadow of the '83/'84 strike still casts long in these parts and Orgreave is still remembered bitterly Skinner was careful in his words. He said all should have a free vote on whether to back the police in their struggle or hold on to the memories of the past, but he made the point never before have the police been so bitter against a government.

I don't know if it was Crow, Skinner or a.n.other who said it, but somebody made the point that the most important thing was the government should not be able to divide society by turning the public and private sector employees against each other. We were reminded that during the strike of the '80's the scab union (Union of Democratic Mineworkers) were tempted back to work with promises their jobs would be protected, but within 5 years only one of their pits remained open. They took the 30 pieces of silver but still lost their jobs." United we will win but divided we are sure to fall" was the message.

Yes, the talks were left wing....but they also reflected more realism than I am used to hearing from the left. Put the message from the stage together with the other material I have referred to this week from Joseph Rowntree and the Methodist Conference (the debate is now on the web) and I am left with little doubt that whilst as Christians our response may differ from some people there is still a legitimate response to be made and encouragingly a raft of different people are standing up to be counted.