Protest demands democracy in Lambeth

Suffragette Laura Swaffield (Defend the 10 libraries campaign), Maureen and Steve Freeman (Lambeth Democracy), Tim O'Dell (Unison)
Suffragette Laura Swaffield (Defend the 10 libraries campaign), Maureen and Steve Freeman (Lambeth Democracy), Tim O’Dell (Unison)

Campaigners against Lambeth council policies on estate demolition, libraries, local parks and more put the local into National Democracy Week yesterday (3 July) with a protest outside the town hall in Brixton.

“We could not let National Democracy Week go by without drawing attention to the lack of local democracy in Lambeth, “said Lambeth Democracy, a “non-party local campaign to bring democracy to Lambeth council”.

“Some women got the vote in 1918, more of them in 1928 – but they still don’t have a vote in Lambeth when the council puts through crazy plans to waste their money, wreck libraries, demolish council estates, wall up Brockwell Park, ignore their staff, spend a fortune on the town hall and then try to charge pensioners to meet there … and much more.

“Nor, of course, do men. But we’re working on it.”

Monday (2 July) was the 90th anniversary of the 1928 Equal Franchise Act, which gave women the same voting rights as men.

Saturday (7 July) will see a local celebration of the 170thanniversary of the Chartist movement’s massive demonstration on Kennington Common in 1848 to demand democracy and votes for working people.