Dear Friends
UNISON, the UK’s largest public services union, has commissioned a poem from the poet in residence at the Glastonbury festival.
For the People
By Tony Walsh
FOR THE PEOPLE
I was asked to write a poem on behalf of public services
And I’m proud to be allowed to and I want to get the hurt in this
And I want to get some truth in here and to get behind the mysteries
And to think about the future here from lessons in our histories
And I want some recognition of my colleagues who have served
And to show the demolition of what this country still deserves
And I want to ask the nation, see the real cause of the trouble
Not to fight us but unite with us, our struggle is your struggle
And so this… is for the people:
And so this is for the people who are shouting
With “It’s good to hear that somebody is speaking up for me!”
And so this is for the people who are crying over bills
And the water rates can drown them and the gas bill gives them chills
And so this is for the people who are turning off the heating
For the voiceless and the choiceless cos it’s either that or eating
And so this is for the people who are looking at the banks
Asking “How come they’re still motoring, when we’ve got empty tanks?”
And so this is for the people who are feeling like a victim
In the fall out from the bailout of a failed financial system
And so this is for the people who’re denied by student loans
Those who scrimp and save but still can’t raise enough for decent homes
And so this is for the people who are frightened in their pelts
But you’re tightening your nooses while we’re tightening our belts
And so this is for the children as the future of our nation
So let’s talk of value not of cost and fund their education
And so this is for the people who have seen their gateways closed
When the local vocal folk who spoke were choked until they froze
And so this is for the people for whom libraries saved their lives
Shouting “throw the book at those who look to cut us with their knives”
And so this is for the people who know lives are saved by culture
But have seen the arts all torn apart by Philisitines and vultures
And so this is for the people who are being demonised
Being scapegoats just to scrape votes for these peddlers of lies
And so this is for the people who are learning that the truth
Is “decimation, decimation, decimation” is your message to our youth
And so this is for the people who stood up for our conditions
Through the centuries of injustice and the Tory opposition
And so this is for the people and their strikes to get us welfare
Win equality and dignity, win us pensions and our health care
And so this is for the people who fought hard until they died
Against the poverty and indignity of working people’s lives
And so this is for the people who campaigned for women’s rights
For contraception, votes and childcare, equal pay and all those fights
And so this is for the people who remember in our bones
How we fought against injustice and the right to decent homes
And so this is for the people who are turning in their graves
At the assaults on their advances for a dignified old age
And they think we don’t remember this! They think that we’ve forgotten!
And swap centuries of progress for their fast race to the bottom
And so this is for the people who give years of dedication
In the thankless tasks and all they ask is modest compensation
And so this is for the people in our cities and our towns
In our shires and in the valleys, in our glens and hills and downs
For the vital public services, the needs in our communities
Those providers who provide us with so many opportunities
And so this is for the carers who work the hardest of us all
Day after day after night after day and who catches when they fall?
And so this is for the people who need help to get them dressed
And for those who smile while all the while they wipe your mother’s mess
So don’t talk to me of “cushy” like the Tory press have tried
Because for thousands upon thousands – it’s still barely dignified
And so this is for the people who can spot divisive fools
Setting worker against worker. There they go, divide and rule.
But we know that stood together is our strongest, safest bet
But they’ve bought us off with trinkets which they’ve sold to us with debt
And so this is for the people who are aching every day
For someone to say to Cameron just what I’m about to say
And so this is for the people at the rough end of your smooth
Those who know that you are lying when your lips begin to move
And so this is for the people who are spitting blood and thunder
When you drop the ball, we watch appalled, another thud and blunder
And so this is for the people who are bitten hard and raw
In this rumble in your jungle which is blue in tooth and claw
And so this is for the people who are deafened by the screams
In their daily living nightmare world of Maggie Thatcher’s dreams
And so this is for the people at the sharp end in eighties
Weren’t invited to the nasty party, learned what Tory hate is
And so this is for the people who recoil Clause 28
And your “Hang Nelson Mandela badges” a part of all the hate.
And so this is for the people who can see through all your games
Yes, you’ve hired a smiley choirboy but the songs are still the same
And he’ll happily kiss babies but he flatters and deceives
Says “I mean it most sincerely, folks.” Then batters us and leaves.
And you’re still the nasty party and you’re party clothes are fake
So don’t expect us to respect you when you throw us crumbs of cake
And so this is for the people who first formed the NHS
Against the fierce opposition from, go on – I’ll let you guess!
And so this is for the people who see Cameron roll his sleeves
And he can wash his dirty hands all day. It’s poison when he breathes!
And so this is for the people who see Lansley picking sores
With his answers filled with cancers which his snakeoil never cures.
And so this is for the people who regret the choice they made
When they voted liberal democrat and now they’ve been betrayed
And so Nick Clegg, if you’re listening, can you hear your people weep?
Can you hear the people crying? Does your conscience let you sleep?
And so “Stand up to the Tories, Nick!” the voters cry and bellow
But by now they’ve seen you’re blue not green and, like your tie, you’re yellow
And you’ve weasel words and even worse your pledges were all hollow
And they “agreed with Nick” but now they’re sick, they see you suck and swallow
And the ruthless, truthless Tories do the same old Tory things
You’re their puppets now you Muppets! And they’re pulling all your strings
And so this is for the people who you smile at as you fail
But your throats will slit on voting slips with a cross against betrayal
And so this is for the people who can see a global story
For the mud stained and the blood stained who can see no hope or glory
And so this is for the people as you prostitute the earth
Who are destitute but resolute against your sense of worth
And so this is for the people who have heard you make an oath
To make sustainable attainable in a system based on growth!?
And so this is for the people know that that remains unseen
There’ll be camels through a needle’s eye first! Do you think we’re green?
And so this is for the people who just look and look again
And can only see a government of privileged white men And so this is for the people who can see you’re millionaires
In your spivvy suits and in cahoots with shady billionaires
And so this is for the people who can see you’re in the thrall
Of the trillionaires and zillionaires who are squeezing our …Town Halls
And they’ve kidnapped all our futures and they’re holding us to ransom
And they’re screwing knives in ruined lives unless we pay them handsome
And they’ll measure this in misery, they’ll measure this in debt
And they’ll measure this in poverty, they’ll measure this in deaths
And they’ll measure this in ghost towns and closed down old communities
They’ll measure this in hauntings from the ghosts of opportunities
But our grandchildren will judge this as a criminal deceit
And they will take the corpse of justice and they’ll lay it at your feet
And Osbourne, Clegg and Cameron flash their blades like cavaliers
With the rapiers and the cutlasses of mad free marketeers
And they genuflect to Thatcher but in truth they’re even worse
As they rob the poor to feed the rich like Robin Hood reversed
And we see them in Cathedrals hiding blood stains on their psalms
What did Jesus do to moneylenders? Now there’s a call to arms!
They’re just the storm troopers of blitzkrieg, economic shock and awe
But it’s shocking and it’s awful, and we’re not taking any more
And so this is or the people who refuse to be a pawn
To be money shots on honey pots in economic porn
And we see their countenance malign and their dark satanic ills
But we’re rising from our slumbers and we’ll chase them to the hills
And so this is for the people who are standing to be counted
For the decent men and women and the campaigns being mounted
And so this is for the people who would join us if they dared
Our unvanquishable numbers will soon have them running scared
And so again, I ask the nation, see the real cause of the trouble
Please don’t fight us, help unite us. Our struggle is your struggle
And so this is for the people and the soul of William Blake
And the spirit of our forebears and the world they tried to make
And they tied a blood red ribbon around the scroll that tells us how
And they fought so we could read it, and by God, we’re reading now
So bring your bows of burning gold now! Bring your arrows of desire!
Bring me your spears, oh clouds unfold now! Bring me chariots of fire!
We will not cease from mental fight, nor will our sword sleep in our hands!
We’ll fight in union, sing in unison for this green and pleasant land!