dave.hill35@btopenworld.com
For lots of quotes and pics, see
• The Brighton TUSC blogspot is at http://brightontusc.blogspot.com/
• The Brighton TUSC Facebook is at http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=328024422940&ref=nf
There is a Wikipedia entry on Dave Hill (Dave Hll Professor) at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Hill_(professor)
Dave Hill’s speech to the Brighton march and rally for jobs and public services (6 March, 600 people there) is on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozMQeyMUfxE (part one) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOAI-gRH4lk (part two)
Dave Hill: Why I am standing: Quotes
`I am a socialist and a trade unionist (in UCU, the lecturers’ union). I was Labour- twice I stood for Parliament for Labour, and led the Labour Councillors in East Sussex. But I’m not New Labour. I left Labour in 2005- it just doesn’t represent my class, the working class any more! I oppose the Iraq and Afghan wars, oppose making working people pay for the economic crisis that the fat cats- the supa-rich-caused. I want better public services- not cuts! And, if elected, I will take only the average Brighton worker’s wage! I am standing as a Workers’ MP on a Workers’ wage. And I’m happy to sit in Bartholemews Square , outside Brighton Town Hall (inside if wet!) the first Saturday of every month to account for every penny of my expenses- which will be minimal- the first Saturday of every month as part of a Town Hall/ Bartholemews Square Open to all Meeting- to account for my voting record, any expenses- and to listen to the people- and explain the policies of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition. We are in this to win! And to represent working people! ’
Dave says `Have a look at the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition policies! They are brilliant! Particularly retaining the minimum wage, renationalising services such as the railways, and capping fat cat pay. I am standing for TUSC in Brighton Kemptown to work for a radical redistribution of wealth and power and income to those of us who create the wealth and the profits- the working class’
`Why should working people, pensioners, students and the unemployed pay the price for an economic crisis not of our making? Why are the main parties and the bosses piling the burden of cuts and job losses on our shoulders when they continue to rake in thousands in expenses, millions in bonuses and billions in tax evasion and privatisations?’
`The amount of money lost to the government through tax avoidance or uncollected tax exceeds £120 billion, according to a report by Richard Murphy from the Tax Justice Network. That figure alone would plug nearly all the money that has been borrowed to bail out the banks. Cancel the Trident nuclear sub replacement programme and the Identity card programme- and- bob’s yer uncle- no need at all for any cuts in wages, jobs or public services whatsoever! In fact, if we tax the riches 1%, `the masters and mistresses of the universe- the fat cats who rake in millions, if we tax then at the same rates as in the 1970s- we can have a massive housebuilding and house energy conservation programme, free nutritious school meals for all, and free higher education’.
`Why should working people, both here and in the poorer world, have to pay for the disaster of climate change, which threatens to roast or drown whole regions and island states? We demand measures that protect us from this disaster of capitalism: - free public transport and an end to the dominance of the private car and air transport; a huge programme of green job creation; an end to polluting and planet damaging sectors; an end to fuel poverty; and massive reductions in fossil fuel usage.’
`This country is the sixth richest in the world! It is also one of the most unequal, and unhappy. The rich are paying half as much tax as 40 years ago, the poor are paying twice as much. That’s not fair, is it!’
`Tax the Rich, Increase the minimum wage, Set a maximum wage, Defend and Create jobs, Defend and Improve public services like the NHS. Vote Dave Hill, the Trade Unionist and Socialist parliamentary candidate for Brighton Kemptown!’
`TUSC is standing in this election to offer ordinary people a positive alternative to the unnecessary savage cuts lined up by the other parties. Vote TUSC, get involved, get justice.’
Dave Hill quotes
1. (My) experiences of inequality- and my life as a teacher professor and trade union rep since have resulted in a fierce hatred of inequalities in society, in life expectancy, education, pay, incomes, power and wealth. That’s why I’m standing as parliamentary candidate for Brighton Kemptown for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC). To protect and improve the standards of our public services, to fight for a more equal economy and society and education system.
Dave Hill Letter in The Argus, 5 March, 2010
Online at http://www.theargus.co.uk/yourargus/letters/5044989.The_grammar_school_system_perpetuated_the_class_divide/
2. Naomi Loomes The Argus 5 May 2009 described Dave as
`working class activist Dave Hill, a political icon in the city in the 1970s and 1980s’
Online at http://no2eusoutheast.blogspot.com/2009/05/former-brighton-councillor-to-run-for.html
3. Dave has spoken at student and UCU (lecturers’ union) rallies at Sussex University. He said
`Sussex University students are leading the way nationally in acting to stop the cuts. Now Sussex University UCU, together with Leeds University UCU, have both voted to take strike action to stop the cuts. UCU estimates that over the next 3 years 15,000 jobs at universities and colleges across the country are under threat- not just lecturers, but porters, secretaries, admin staff, cleaners- all sorts of workers- faced with job cuts unless there is solidarity in opposing them! Students and Workers, Unite and Fight!' Dave supported calls for an inquiry into the actions of management in suspending `the Sussex Six' students who were among those who staged an occupation of university admin buildings. He also called for an inquiry into the actions of management in calling in the riot police, with dogs and batons, to disperse the students at that occupation. Management had pretended there was a hostage situation! Despite students inviting staff to leave!. Unacceptable provocation by management! Stop the Cuts!
Online at http://www.brightontusc.blogspot.com/
Dave Hill: The Candidate
Dave Hill is a former Labour Party councillor for Brighton Borough Council and East Sussex County Council, and led the Labour councillors in East Sussex, against the Thatcherite cuts in jobs and services- cuts that Con Lib and Lab all promise to carry out today!
He is also a former Labour Party Parliamentary candidate in Brighton (he fought Brighton Pavilion in 1979 and 1987, and fought in last year’s (2009) Euroelections as the No2EU-YestoDemocracy (the socialist and trade unionist campaign) as lead candidate for SouthEast England.
As Labour Group Leader for East Sussex County Council he organised and led the largest peace-time political demonstration in the history of Lewes with a march and rally of 3,000 protesters as part of the Campaign Against the Cuts. This was at the time of Thatcher’s Conservative government cuts in public spending and restrictions on local government.
Dave was brought up in Brighton in a working class family from the East End of London. He was brought up in the back streets of Brighton, St. Martins St, off the Lewes Rd. He went to the local Westlain Grammar school. His brothers left school at 15, having both gone to under-funded secondary schools. This difference in provision, this educational segregation between sheep and goats at the age of 11 (with the 11-plus exam) left Dave with a passionate hatred of inequality, and a determination to fight for his class- the working class.
He is a graduate of the University of Sussex, has taught at a number of the region's colleges and became a Professor of Education Policy. He has written and edited many books and articles on social class, economic and social justice, socialism and education.
He now teaches at Middlesex University. He is a long-time active trade unionist for the lecturers union, having been a branch representative / shop steward for a decade and also regional chair.
Dave left the Labour Party over its policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, and its pro-big business policies which have resulted in the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer. He is vehemently opposed to the privatisation and marketisation of schools and of hospitals.
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) in Brighton Kemptown: Who we are
The TUSC campaign in Brighton Kemptown is supported by various trade unionists, such as the local, regional and national RMT union, members and activists of other trade unions such as PCS, Unison, Unite, UCU, plus socialist groups such as The Socialist Party, Socialist Resistance, the Socialist Workers party, members of the Brighton and Hove Trades Council, and Defend Council Housing.
Dave says `My hope is that trade unions and socialist parties working, with `Old Labour’ supporters fed up with new Labour, working together in TUSC will lead to the creation of a mass workers’ party to the left of Labour, with socialist policies and trade union support’.
What TUSC stands for- our policies
Please see either the national websiste at http://www.tusc.org.uk/Or the Brighton TUSC blogspot at http://www.brightontusc.blogspot.com/
See also the Brighton Kemptown TUSC leaflet
Thanks
Dave Hill, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition parliamentary candidate for Brighton Kemptown
