Arthur Scargill’s speech, 1^st April 2009, at the G20 ‘Yes we can- stop the war’ march and rally in Trafalgar Square, London:

My audio recording:

Note: If you want a copy of the MP3 you can download it here.  

Youtube close-up video:

Full transcript:

"Today we have an opportunity of not merely demonstrating in London or demonstrating in Trafalgar Square but doing something rather than simply saying something.

Are you Margaret Thatcher? (to someone in the crowd heckling)

Let me make it absolutely clear, a lot of people in the world firmly believe that when the election of Obama in America took place there was going to be a change.  That myth has now been exploded.

It’s no good people arguing that we want to see an end to the slaughter in Iraq and at the same time do little or nothing to the increased slaughter in Afghanistan.

This rally today should be saying we want an end to all wars throughout the world and an end to all slaughter.

I’ve found it incredible that we’ve got an administration in the United States, past, yes and present who can continue to issue threats against countries like Iran or countries like Korea.

The important thing that we have to say today is that the billions that have been spent and continue to be spent on war and slaughter all over the world should come to an end.

And if they want to see an end to slaughter, one of the things they should do is go to the border and stop that fascist state of Israel slaughtering the people of Gaza and the West Bank.

We have an opportunity to begin to do things.

I remember speaking on this platform years ago at the time of apartheid in South Africa when they said we’ll ban all South African goods.

Well they should do the same, say ban all goods from Israel until they stop the slaughter for once and for all.

I’m privileged to be here today to add my voice to that of the miners and the women’s’ support groups who have given me the right to say for them that they stand four-square with this movement against the war in Iraq, an unlawful war, the war in Afghanistan and of course to take action to stop the slaughter by the Israeli government.

But the important thing, probably above all else, is that we should do as Bruce Kent (previous speaker and ex-head of CND) said. We should stop the manufacture of arms; stop giving billions to produce weapons of mass destruction.

We’ve got a credit crunch they say. So what do we do, we give billions to banks so they can give golden handshakes to bankers. I’d put those bankers in brass handcuffs and take them away.

Instead of giving the money to the banks, why not give it to those people and enable them to pay off their mortgages and pay off their debts?

If the G20 meeting means anything, it means a change of direction and as a socialist, yes and as a member of the socialist Labour Party, I say we need a change in the system that operates in this country.

Capitalism has demonstrated its inability to deal with the issues at stake.

Let us go from this rally determined in every town, every city and every village to take our message because that message needs to come from the workers and the people of this nation and throughout the world.

To say you are no longer going to run the countries of the world in the way you have, we the people have a right to demonstrate our view and have our opinions taken into account.

It is a privilege and a pleasure to be with you, I salute you".

How to use it:

Get your students to get their dictionaries out. Have them listen to it first, then watch the Youtube video and listen and watch his lips move and finally read the full text whilst listening again. Or do it the other way round. Up to you. But then get them to send it to someone they know who speaks English and then give them a call on Skype, MSN or sites like Italki.com and tell your students to have some questions about the speech prepared, just one or two and note down some vocab they want the English speaker to explain.

There you go, DIY EOT! Let me know how it goes?