Why I'll be joining the Million Masked March tonight

After the Grenfell fire, the Westminster sexual abuse scandal and persistent cuts to public services, we need to protest against the power of the Government more than ever

Tonight’s march is an opportunity to make our voice heard (Getty Images )

Remember, remember – at 5pm this evening a global masked march against state corruption will commence.

Organised by the global network of activists and hacktivists Anonymous, the march will stop the streets in 800 cities, and I will be among those marching in London to protest against state corruption, austerity economics, environmental destruction and civil liberty crackdowns.

If you think this is unnecessary or over the top, think again. Here in the UK, corruption still clings like a malaise to our governing institutions. The sexual abuse scandal currently seizing Westminster is bringing to light the endemic relationship of abuse between the powerful and the powerless – and it is but the tip of the iceberg. Post-Weinstein, brave and emboldened victims are outing their abusers and no misuse of power, be it historical or recent, is safe from the light of scrutiny.

This year, spare a thought also for the victims of Grenfell Tower and their loved ones – the biggest, most terrible bonfire. At least 80 people died, and they were the marginalised and the downtrodden whose complaints were ignored and whose safety was compromised by Government institutions.

We have a minority Conservative Government propped up by what appears to be a £1b bribe to the DUP, and yet, the Prime Minister is on the cusp of making one of the biggest power grabs from Parliament in Britain’s peacetime history: the EU withdrawal bill, which will enable May to repeal all EU laws using Henry VIII powers.

This is a blatant assault upon our democracy from a Government that has shown time and time again its contempt for due parliamentary process. One has only to recall Theresa May’s long-standing apathy for the European Convention on Human Rights to realise just how problematic this could be for our civil liberties.

The citizens of this country have been subjected to disastrous austerity economics since 2008, and nine years later consumers are living in pre-recession levels of debt, with UK households now the second most indebted of all G8 economies. Cuts have systematically and disproportionately disadvantaged the most vulnerable people in our society.

A recent report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation details that an additional 400,000 children will be living in “absolute poverty” within six years due to the Conservative’s continued benefit cuts.

The NHS is chronically underfunded, its staff are overstretched and struggling to provide adequate care for patients. The Tories’ 20,000 front line police cuts, set against a soaring crime rate, means the police no longer have the resources to keep people safe, We know that hidden and public homelessness is on the rise, that foodbank usage remains at record levels and the Government's continuation of a flawed Universal Credit scheme means they are actively persecuting the vulnerable.

I’ll be marching in solidarity with the victims of abusive power structures, be they the Grenfell fallen, the families surviving on food banks or the brave women like Bex Bailey who are coming forward to out their oppressors.

Against this bleak backdrop of 2017, Anonymous have said “the Million Masked March is a sign that humanity around the world is crying out for change”. They argue that: “We have seen the capital, profit and greed of the few put before the well-being of the many and we say enough is enough.”

Whatever your partisan affiliations, tonight’s march is an opportunity to make your voice heard about the issues that matter most.