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From The Socialist newspaper, 26 May 2021
Cladding anger builds - protest on 5 June
Protesting at Bellway Housing 1 May 2021 (Click to enlarge)
Pete Mason, Chair, Barking Reach residents' association
Three-quarters of cladding systems on new medium-rise buildings use combustible materials. Now residents trapped in fire-risk buildings are taking to the streets to protest outside the salerooms of builders and developers who refuse to rectify the problem.
Networks of angry residents have sprung up. The government has doubled down on its refusal to legislate to ensure that leaseholders, facing bankruptcy or a lifetime of debt, will not end up paying.
We had two successful protests outside the Bellway Homes showrooms on the Barking Riverside estate in east London, where a fire took place in 2019. We were joined by New Providence Wharf residents, who suffered a fire on 5 May (see 'Canary Wharf fire' at socialistparty.org.uk), and residents from three other estates.
Now our call for nationwide protests on 5 June, outside the sales offices of builders and developers, has received a big echo. Plans are being laid in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Ipswich and Southend. More than 50 attended a planning meeting.
We demand that the government should pay, and builders and developers should remediate without charging residents.
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In The Socialist 26 May 2021:
What we think
Palestinians need a new socialist intifada
News
Our lives, our jobs, our future - Not safe in Tory hands
Fight for the right to protest
Great British Railways shake-up offers no end to profiteering
Organise to oppose Tory academisation plans
Lancaster Greens do deal with Tories
NHS
Organise for 3 July NHS pay protests
Scottish Independence
Where now for the Scottish independence movement?
Workplace
Metroline London bus workers win huge victory
Goodlord sacks strikers - fight the penny-pinching, bullying bosses!
Thurrock refuse workers beat council and bin pay cut
RMT: Support Alan Pottage for assistant general secretary
NUJ leadership pushes through subs increase but left lands blows at conference
CWU elections: Vote for a fighting, campaigning, socialist EC member
'Fire and rehire' attempts spread - coordinated fightback needed
Cadent Gas plans 200 job losses
International
Mexico City subway train collapse - negligence, corruption and capitalism
US right to abortion under threat: Mass campaign to support the right to choose must be built
Campaigns
Stop Israeli state terror against Palestinians
Leicester protest against arms supplies to Israel
Palestine protesters donate to fund socialist material
Cladding anger builds - protest on 5 June
Readers' Opinion
Get up, stand up - don't give up the fight!
TV review: Three Families is excellent. But protest movement is missing
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2021