Subscriber One of our most-read pieces this past month opens with the paragraph below, a testimony to the bleak reality we face in the UK:

"Energy bills are set to rise by 80% from 1^st October, taking the average household’s annual energy bill to £3,549. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) estimates that the average UK household’s income in 2023 will be £2,054 per month, making the cost of energy equivalent to around two months’ salary. Meanwhile, the poorest among us have been forced onto pre-paid meters which enable energy companies to charge even more for the same energy.

Welcome to Tory Britain."

Liz Truss is the new Prime Minister, the Royal Family continues to leech public funds and media attention, and Thatcher's legacy is still going strong. We're in for a rough winter. Truss and her incompetent, malicious cronies in the cabinet are only one of the symptoms of the new wave of legitimised, legalised right-wing politics across Europe. Sweden's neo-nazi party is the second biggest in parliament, Italy has a fascist prime minister (though it is yet to be seen whether she will be able to form a government), and Hungary has been euphemistically designated an 'electoral autocracy' by that bastion of neoliberalism that is the European Union.

In all the horrifying developments of the past month, however, not all hope should be considered lost. Local and national collective campaigning, such as union action and the Enough is Enough campaign, have been working hard to fight against the powers that be. Grassroots groups have staged ongoing protests against the ludicrous cost of living. And independent media and journalism keeps rising to ensure accountability, and to expand the blinkered lens of traditional and mainstream corporate commentary - especially in increasingly repressive and authoritarian circumstances. None of this is new. None of this is a surprise, either, as grassroots movements have been actively fighting against a rigged system for decades in the UK, as in many other countries.

Democracy is being eroded at its core, with fascism - now fully normalised and rehabilitated, thanks in part to a complicit media - taking hold of most narratives and policy-making. But if collective, direct action teaches us anything, it's that they will not pass. We protect ourselves, we take care of each other, and they will not pass. No pasarán.

Solidarity,
The Norwich Radical Editorial Team Most Read Articles in September Want to change how you receive these emails?
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