Camapign group Enough is Enough held a cost-of-living rally in North London last week for a night of solidarity.
Last Friday, dozens of people arrived in the basement of the Central Mosque of Brent to stand in unison against the cost-of-living crisis.
The night consisted of key figureheads like Mick Lynch of the RMT Union and Jo Grady of the UCU, who called for more people to join unions to challenge the government with costs soaring.
The Enough is Enough campaign, which is well known for its mass protests, previously held a nationwide day of action on Saturday 1 October, where 50 demonstrations were held simultaneously in 40 towns and cities around the UK.
The campaign criticizes the lack of inaction from the government to help the public with rising costs of necessities by demanding actions including a £15ph pay rise and reinstating the £20-a-week Universal Credit uplift.
At the event, Dawn Butler the Labour MP for Brent Central, blamed the Tory government for failing to protect their citizens against the effect of rising prices, calling it a “disgrace.”
Dr Raja Amjid Riaz, an NHS Consultant, also warned about the alarming rates of food and fuel poverty affecting his own colleagues in the NHS.
He said: “We applaud them for the hard work and hard effort during Covid to protect and keep our country safe and yet those individuals are unable to feed, heat themselves or have decent lives and that can’t be fair.”
The community-based union ACORN also supported the event with spokesperson Sarah Emm speaking to the crowd about the direct work they do to help renters facing awful living conditions.
A definitive sense of unity was created in the small basement from the powerful words of Jo Grady and Mick Lynch. They urged the crowd to support demonstrations, saying that a big misconception of the strikes is that it is solely a dispute over pay when the real issue is that working class people are being forced to endure harmful working conditions for little to no recognition.
Jo Grady said: “There is a moment in this country that is happening where working people are waking up to their power. Whether that is shutting down the M25, or taking strike action, or taking on a landlord. We know that the pandemic showed us who really runs the country.”
Since September, the campaign has held other demonstrations in bigger venues such as the most recent one at the Boiler Shop in Newcastle, which featured Labour MP Zarah Sultana and Si King from the Hairy Bikers. The event at Brent was much more intimate due to the location being under a place of worship and revealed the campaign’s desire to connect with more secular parts of the borough.
At the end of the rally on Friday, the campaigners emphasized the effectiveness of group demonstrations, hinting at the power of organizing various strikes together.
Enough is Enough continues to hold rallies with another meeting happening on Wednesday 16 November in Ealing.
Featured image credit: Amirah Quiday
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