The weekend of 4th and 5th July will be the 72nd anniversary of the founding of our NHS, and we are joining Keep Our NHS Public, Health Campaigns Together, People’s Assembly and We Own It, in calling a weekend of events to wish our NHS a happy birthday and demand its restoration as a well-funded, universal public service available to all.
KONP are also demanding an end to the Hostile Environment and to all discriminatory policies in healthcare. And we will take this opportunity to go further than ever before, in also demanding a radical reform of social care. You can find out more about their #2020Vision for better health care here.
The foundation of the National Health Service in 1948, in the wake of a devastating war, represented something truly new: an institution that provided “freedom from fear” for all. Today, that institution is under siege – under-funded, under-staffed and mismanaged by a government of free-market ideologues. The government’s deadly mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic has left health and care workers unprotected and has taken a deadly toll more broadly on poorer people and on Britain’s BAME and migrant communities.
The Anniversary Weekend will consist of a wide variety of events up and down the country, culminating in a national online rally organised by Keep Our NHS Public at 3:30pm on Sunday 5th .
Friday 3th July | London | Candlelit vigil
To open the weekend’s events, on Friday 3rd KONP will hold a socially distanced vigil in central London to mark the lives that have been lost to the pandemic in recent months. This will be a quiet and dignified event.
If you are based in London and would like to attend, please fill out this google form, or contact KONP at [email protected] for more information.
Please note: Please only fill out the form if you are sure that you wish to attend the event, if you are currently well, and if you do not belong to a category of people at high risk of Covid-19.
Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th July | Local events around the country
Over the day of Saturday and Sunday, groups of activists around the country are organising a variety of safe events around the country, varying from banner-drops to motorcades to vigils. KONP will compile an up-to-date list of local event as the day approaches on the Events page of the Keep Our NHS Public website.
If you can organise, or help organise, a local event, even something very small and symbolic, please let KONP know and get in touch with them at [email protected]
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