DLA not under threat?

DLA is not under threat and people can be very happy…

So says Care Services Minister Phil Hope. But Disability Now should be asking the Tories about their plans for DLA (Disability Living Allowance). This is a government that is on its way out and knows it is….. They are too busy concentrating on their next employment if they lose their seat at the 2010 election, nice little earner in the private sector….possibly…

So it is ok they have this undertaking from this minister but what about the Tories…

That will be a whole different response!

A tale of social exclusion

This is an appalling, shocking and tragic story and now NL seizes the ’Fiona Pilkington’s case’ to go on an anti-social frenzied bender. But Brown nor Johnson will concentrate on the underlying reasons why this kind of behaviour exists. Instead it will be about tagging, curfews and ASBOs… which will mean further criminalisation.

And NL will never take responsiblity or accountability for creating the very conditions for ‘anti-social’ behaviour to happen. The politics of neoliberalism further oppresses, atomises and alienates people, pushes people into a corner, how to deal with this powerlessness is to bully and victimise people in a worse situation than yourself and are less powerful than yourself.

NL has generally pitted working class people against each other, divided people and isolated them. That’s central to the ideology of neoliberalism. And the society NL has created reflects this. Neoliberalism is not about transforming society into an equitable and positive one, where people have self-worth and self-confidence. It is, instead, about divide and rule, dog-eat-dog mentality. So what kind of values are instilled in people?

Furthermore, Gordon Brown’s speech today contains more ways of stigmatising young people,especially young women and that’s supervised homes for pregnant teenagers. What message does that highlight? The emphasis being on ‘responsibility’ again, the usual favourite loose language of NL.. There is nothing intrinsically progressive about this rather Victorian retrograde step of shoving young women into ‘supervised homes’…(it also comes across as punishing the young woman for getting pregnant in the first place).

 And central to this is will the woman be able to choose or will the ‘choice’ be forced upon her with the threat of benefit sanctions..? Again, I am only guessing but knowing NL’s track record, well, I wouldn’t put it past them.

And what has been noted is where are the resources to do this, including the money, what will it entail? All there is at the moment is half-baked policies to appeal to whom?

It is well worth reading Kevin’s post on this issue regarding anti-social behaviour. Thought provoking.

Pix from protest tonight

I went to the protest outside the French Embassy tonight to show solidarity with the migrants forcibly removed in Calais last week.

Green lefties

It was small and annoyingly the cops wouldn’t let us anywhere near the place so we had to stand directly opposite the embassy.

Saw a couple of Green leftie comrades such as Jim J. and Andy H. Good to see you all…..

Sarah Brown: ‘my husband my hero’ (pass me the sick bucket)

I don’t know what is worse, Gordon Brown’s speech or Sarah Brown’s sickly sugar-coated vomit inducing introduction. It is a repeat of last year’s Obama-esque introduction. Do the movers and spinners believe that will increase Labour’s measly poll ratings? Oh dear! Well, at least Brown as one fan…. Tammy Wynette’s opus, ‘Stand by your Man’ is on a loop inside my head.

And Brown’s speech…or should that be the swan song? Nothing earth shatteringly progressive about it, empty of policies/ideas, shallow, right-wing populist, with a couple of sops thrown in (if you can even call it that) ….NL morally, financially and politically bankrupt. That speech won’t change the fortunes of NL.

Kaput!

Protest outside the French embassy tonight

I was shocked watching this report last week witnessing the agents of the state in France forcibly removing migrants, their homes and possessions bulldozed. It was horrific and utterly upsetting to watch. State racism at its ugliness.

So I will be going to this later to the protest outside the French embassy in solidarity with migrants in Calais‏. It starts around 5:30pm and the embassy is based in Knightsbridge. This is a useful and informative blog.

Harpy’s mad weekend in Brighton

Have updated my Flickr page with more pix from Harpy’s mad weekend in Brighton…..

G20 cop charged with assault

So it seems that the TSG cop who assaulted Nicky Fisher on the 2nd April  G20 demo will be charged with assault, the images of the vicious attack captured on film for all to see.

The CPS reviewed a file of evidence provided by the Independent Police Complaints Commission following their investigation into Ms Fisher’s allegation. A summons has been served on Sgt Smellie.

I was at that specific demo on the 2nd April and was interviewed by the IPCC about the incident (along with showing them pix I took).

 Time will tell what will happen.

Couple of things…

Few choice quotes from Alistair Darling….

I haven’t shirked them in the past, I won’t shirk them now. We must keep the public finances on a sustainable path. The long-term health of our economy depends on it.

So that means attacks on the public sector. What. A. Surprise.

We won’t allow greed and recklessness to ever again endanger the whole global economy and the lives of millions of people.

I will see it to believe it. But it is all a bit late after the years and years the banks been given free reign to indulge in free market piracy along with boom and bust. And the likes of Alistair Darling still want the public sector to pay for the establishment’s bloody crisis!

……..On a separate topic, solidarity to the union Bectu who have attacked the BBC for their decision to allow Fascist Nick Griffin onto Question Time.

Bectu said it would support any of its members who refused to work on the programme, which will be transmitted on October 22.

Convention of the Left

I didn’t attend last year’s Convention of the Left but heard good reports about the event.

So this year I decided to go to Brighton to see for myself.

The first session of the day was a discussion of the current political discussion. There was a brief introduction by Caroline Lucas from the Greens, along with John McDonnell MP. Both concentrated on the bailout, recession and the grotesque spectacle of the 3 main parties all involved in a feeding frenzy over public spending cuts.

What came out from the main morning discussion was how vital it is to work together in support and solidarity, to build alliances when struggles arise. Visteon and Vestas were mentioned along with the current postal strikes.

But what depressed me thoroughly was the discussion from the floor. Sometimes it feels like Groundhog Day when it comes to these political events. Various political currents on the revolutionary left gave their initial political impressions of the political situation today including the usual programmatic discourse which many of them like to discuss (the polarisation between revolutionary versus reformist). There were tensions, politically, coming to the forefront in these discussions. And sitting through this debate disheartened me.

Interventions that interested me were ones which talked about grass roots organising in their area and fightbacks. Those kinda make me sit up and listen. I would have liked to have heard more from Prem Sikka who spoke about the trillions pumped into the banking system during the global bailout yet banking institutions in the UK only account for 7% of the GDP  as opposed to 13% for manufacturing yet not financial support there.  Billions lost in tax avoidance and evasion. He mentioned measures that would alleviate the financial crisis without resorting to public sector cuts.

And interesting questions were posed such as what will happen to the LP when it will lose the next election? Will it split? Will the link to the TUs and the working class will once and for all be severed? How will the bureaucracy in the TU movement react?

Dave Osler made an interesting contribution when he spoke about Labour losing much of its support in the north and the possibility of the Tories becoming the dominant party in Wales. He spoke of the relative success of Die Linke in Germany, Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste (NPA) in France and Left Bloc in Portugal. So why not here rather than the many left groupings operating in their own political vacuum with their own brand of sectariania?  It was pointed out that there are more left groupings now than before 1997….. And most have floundered at the first hurdle.

So what does that say about the British Left?

Workshops in the afternoon had public services, peace and “politics” as topics.  In the workshop on public services tensions did emerge around the role of trade unions.  The issues around the apparent lack of imagination of the trade unions and their isolation from community based activity.

 As far as I could tell there was little in the way of concrete proposals. The main point of the conference seemed to be to get the various currents/organised parties to use decent comradely manners while being in the same room. This clearly tested some people at various points. A lot was talked about of informal electoral pacts.

Attendance was quite small. The SWP, Permanent Revolution, Workers Power and the Socialist Party both sent numbers. It is still not clear to what extent all the currents present will co-ordinate activity at the general election next year. The idea of local conventions was aired as it was last year. This does seem a way forward that could be important in the struggles we all expect not just  after the election but before.

Rage against New Labour

Firstly, I was running late and had to sprint for the train. Unfortunately discovered once I flopped onto the seat that I had lost my favourite woolie cardie (must of fallen out of bag during mad dash)..

Too late, doors had closed sans cardie.

 

Orange flares

 

Secondly, got to Brighton. Beautiful, warm and sunny for autumn. Wandering down the main road, taking some pix when I felt a leather gloved hand on my shoulder.

None other than a cop who starts badgering me about what pictures I am taking and whether I am taking pix of the ‘armed police officers’.

Eventually I was allowed to move on but my adrenaline was pumping and was half expecting the cops to confiscate my digi. Yes, tourist not a terrorist.

I mean, why don’t they arrest those war mongers who are up to their neck in war crimes as opposed to hassling me. While going towards where the protest was assembling I watched tooled up cops strutting around in their paramilitary style dress code brandishing a Heckler and Koch.

And the erosion of civil liberties with their excuse that it is all about the ‘War on Terror’….

Students running after the demo

Anyway, the protest was lively and dynamic, lots of students who decided half way through to let off coloured smoke flares (very orange…see pic). There were trade union banners; PCS, Unison, FBU, NUT, UCU, NUJ, CWU… along with anti-war and climate change banners.

I ended up in the student contingent (ahhh, the memories of many a 80s/90s student demo) and I was fascinated by their desire to all crouch down waiting for the rest of the protest to move ahead then they would leap up and chase it (it reminded me of the European Social Forum demo, late 2002 in Florence where we did just that, crouch down waiting then running to catch up with the rest of the demo). So much energy and anger…..

Tower Hamlets College comrade speaking

Don’t ask me how many were there as I am rubbish at approximating numbers on demos (and in the past it has caused rows). Instead take the number of what the cops say and then take the number given by the SWP ….and take the mid-point figure between the two figures.

Easy….

Mark Serwotka (PCS)

Speakers included Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, Mark Serwotka, NUJ, CWU, Vestas speaker, Sally Hunt…. lots more.

John McDonnell MP

But the UCU comrade from Tower Hamlets College was impressive especially hearing about their month long strike battle which they won!!