Liverpool, city of culture, is witnessing a wide, imaginative, creative and diverse campaign against library closures which is gaining support from almost all residents, young and old.
The plan to close 11 libraries will rip the heart out of communities. An upsurge in opposition is building daily – in public meetings, demonstrations and council meetings.
On 23 October, in a message to campaigners, Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson said that it saddened him that “so many from our own city want to condemn the decisions we are making”. His defensive reaction shows that he did not expect to meet any opposition to his plans.
The campaign began with a petition that now aims to collect 20,001 signatures. This is in response to Councillor McLinden, who on 27 June said to a wheelchair bound disabled person, Mitch Mitchell from Old Swan, I do not care “if Old Swan Against the Cuts gets 20,000 signatures and in two years you will have no parks”. This was a reference to the offensive and outrageous strategy of selling off all public services and spaces.
On 4 October, a demonstration with over 200 gathered outside the Central Library with writers and activists, including an 11-year-old speaker who started her own petition and campaign.
A broad campaign
The campaign is broad and includes parents with young children, unemployed, disabled people, schools, trade unionists, immigrants, writers, poets, musicians and academics.
It is democratically led by Liverpool Against the Cuts, Old Swan Against the Cuts and an anti-cuts group from Sefton Park, with the support of Liverpool TUC and Merseyside TUC.
Anderson essentially runs the council, and councillors almost always vote the way they are told to by the Labour whip. He has warned that there will be more and more cuts for years to come.
He agrees that the vulnerable are being harmed and even asserted that people will die, but says he has no other choice than to make the cuts.
Across the country the government and Labour councils’ policy is to close libraries. But struggles to keep public libraries have taken place in many parts of the country such as in Sheffield, Kirklees, Leicester and Brent.
Over 500 writers, artists and academics show support
The campaign has gained full support from children’s authors Alan Gibbons and Cathy Cassidy. They wrote a letter to 150 head teachers in Liverpool saying, they “strongly oppose the closure of eleven well-used and much-loved Liverpool libraries. With recent figures showing that one in three children do not own a book, it seems to us terrifying that even the chance of borrowing a book is about to be taken away from many Liverpool children.
“We care very much about the threatened libraries and know many children…We are asking the children, teachers, librarians, parents … everyone in Liverpool who cares about the libraries … to send a ‘Love Letter to Liverpool Libraries’ to Mayor Joe Anderson to ask him to reconsider”.
An ideological attack
“Public Library News” (PLN) commented on their website on a recent Sunday Politics programme “how similar both the Conservative and Labour MPs were on the issue: indeed, they completely agreed on every point (apart from, perhaps, charging market rate rents to volunteers). Both praised co-locations and saw volunteers as a viable solution and had no problem with professional libraries being available only in the largest branches.”
The PLN continued, “Many would argue that they would be the lesser of two evils but, so far at least, it is hard to see a renaissance coming for the sector should Ed Miliband become Prime Minister next year.”
Tory and Labour support the use of volunteers and closing public libraries. Liverpool city council are getting their plans, their new “ideas” from the Tories and Labour leaders, which are ideologically driven. The use of volunteers means sacking staff, removing libraries from an integrated service and making them easier to close in the future. But campaigners refuse to allow libraries to be demoted this way, they are fighting to maintain a core professional service.
Some local Labour councillors in Liverpool have issued a leaflet saying they do not want to close libraries. While welcome this has followed pressure from below and the fear of a defeat in next year’s elections. They are sensing the growing anger. If councillors want to keep the libraries open, why do they vote to close them?
No sackings, unions must fight with us
Unfortunately, Unison and GMB have not said a word about the library closures. Closing libraries mean sacking workers, and it’s a duty of the unions to defend their membership and oppose Labour’s plans. We call them to publicly support the campaign and organise librarians and library support workers to defend their jobs and the libraries.
The unity of workers and the public is the only way to win this fight and give a step forward to organise the fight against all cuts.
Call a Referendum now
On 8 November, a public rally will call for a referendum, as proposed by Old Swan Against the Cuts. Gibbons and Cassidy wrote an open letter calling Anderson to organise a referendum on the future of the libraries.
This call has the support of children’s laureate Laureate Malorie Blackman, Joan Bakewell, Roger McGough, Frank Cotterill Boyce, David Morrissey, Terry Jones from Monty Python, Merseyside TUCs, and all the campaign groups.
The closure of libraries was not included in Anderson’s electoral manifesto and the councillors say they don’t want to close them.
They don’t need to agree with the campaigners who are against the closures, but they must comply with the people’s will.
The referendum is the most democratic way to decide, because it gives the people from Liverpool the final say.
The International Socialist League (ISL) is an important part of this campaign and defends the right of workers and the people to decide, so we are in the forefront to demand the Labour Council call a referendum now!
We are putting our energy into this fight to build a broad and democratic alliance of the exploited and oppressed against the attacks from all the parties of austerity.
Note: Just after this article was published on the Socialist Voice n. 17 (ISL newspaper) the Labour mayor Joe Anderson announced that all the libraries would be kept open, although some of them could be privatised or run by volunteers. This is a first step forward against the Labour austerity policy, now it will be followed by the fight against privatisation and sacking of council workers.
