In one fell swoop, gas and electricity bills have been increased by more than £1,500. The poor are being hammered by Ofgem, a governmental department, so that the profits of private energy monopolies can be defended.
The energy price cap rose by 12% on 1 October 2021 to £1,277 and then again by 54% in April 2022, taking the average household bill to a record high of £1,971 a year. They will increase again to £3,549 in just a month’s time on 1 October. This is in the middle of the biggest drop in living standards on record. Resistance must be built against the capitalist system.
Supporters of the Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG) and Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! (FRFI) held street events and joined protests all over the country on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 August 2022. This coincided with Ofgem’s announcement on the price hike. Get in touch with your nearest branch to get involved: https://revolutionarycommunist.org/branches/all-branches
North, East and West London branches joined the Don’t Pay UK protest in London outside Ofgem’s HQ in Canary Wharf.
Nottingham branch joined a protest outside E-on offices.
Glasgow FRFI supporters have been active supporting events by the Power to the People (PttP) Glasgow campaign. So far we’ve joined hundreds of people to protest outside the offices of Scottish Power on 12 August and Ofgem on 26 August, the day they announced a further 80% rise in prices. As activists, including FRFI, left the PttP public meeting on 18 August we were approached by two police who claimed they had reports of a disturbance, a sure sign of the political policing to come. Alongside these protests, we continue to hold our weekly street stalls against Fuel Poverty in Govanhill and the city centre.
Dundee FRFI supporters were centrally involved in the first initiative to fight fuel poverty with a rally and march – Power to the people! Fight fuel poverty! – from a food bank, Lochee Larder, to the centre of Lochee, one of the most deprived areas in Europe. The rally and march got national publicity on STV news and ended at the memorial to Mary Brooksbank who was a communist in Dundee in the 1920s, famously daring the police to arrest her by repeating the words of John MacLean who had urged at a rally that the poor should not allow themselves or their families to starve. Follow the campaign on the Unite The Community Tayside Facebook page.
North and East London branch held a speak-out in Dalston.
Newcastle branch held a speak out on Northumberland Street.
