We wage nonviolent war against fiscal state terrorism

We wage nonviolent war against fiscal state terrorism

Fiscal (financial) state terrorism is embedded in right wing welfare reforms, and modern claiming procedures are a minefield. Standing up against such conditions for the welfare of ourselves and others takes great courage and skill. Yet we endeavour not to harm anyone else, even the perpetrators of 'welfare reform' war crimes against the economically vulnerable.

Come, celebrate 5 years of Fuel Poverty Action! Thurs 3-11-16, 7pm onwards, in Brixton

Come and celebrate 5 years of Fuel Poverty Action

AGM Thursday 3 November

Brixton Pound Cafe, 77 Atlantic Rd, London SW9 8PU, Brixton tube

Please contact us re wheelchair access (it’s not great but is being worked on)

FPA was started in 2011. We've gone through a lot – and accomplished a lot – since then.  We have our eyes on the prize, and with our many allies we intend to make concrete gains this year.  We are welcoming new members, and people who want to work with us in other ways.

                                             

More than any other time in the past few years, fuel poverty and energy policy are in the headlines.

• Will Theresa May really bring the bills down as she’s promising?  What pressure are she and the companies under – and how can we increase it? 
• Would her plans dent the increase in deaths from fuel poverty due to government policy – on everything from benefits sanctions to housing?
• How can we support the fight against fracking?
• How can we expose the cost of Hinkley C as opposed to solar, wind and tidal power?
• Why are people in arrears being forced onto Prepayment Meters and then forced to pay more than their better off neighbours – even after the proposed “cap”?
• Why doesn’t London yet have a public energy company as Nottingham and Bristol do?
• District Heating – How can we make sure that those who run it are held to account so that it's win-win for the climate and communities and not a PFI disaster? 

What is Fuel Poverty Action doing about all this?  What is our role, in a landscape of charities and lobbying organisations?
How are grassroots communities organising for our energy rights?
What is being done in other countries?
How can we speak out and defend ourselves and our environment?

Come along and raise your own issues, find out what’s happening, and consider how you might be part of it.

7 pm  Business and elections
7.15  Reports, activities, discussion
8.30 Social

Lovely Brixton Pound café food will be available (for sale) 

before the meeting and for the social at the end.

RSVP – Thank you!

From New Internationalist magazine

Could Brexiteers Johnson, Gove, Farage be prosecuted for lies?

By Vanessa Baird | 2

 

  115  441  

Anti-Brexit protest, London, July 2016. by Vanessa Baird

Vanessa Baird reports on new citizen initiatives calling for honesty in politics.

A crowd-funded campaign could see leading British political figures such as Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and Michael Gove facing legal investigation for their conduct during the EU referendum campaign.....

More at https://newint.org/blog/2016/07/25/could-brexiteers-johnson-gove-farage-be-prosecuted-for-lies/

We are more angry than frightened

The blog editor chanced upon this post from February 2014 in the archives a few days ago and thought it worth repeating, especially when one political party's internal elections for a new leader to become Prime Minister whose electoral platform no vulnerable people voted for can be very frightening.

"We are more angry than frightened"

Kilburn Unemployed — proud and uncowed: We're more angry than frightened!

By Dude Swheatie of Kwug

I suppose that the wording of the placard design puts into words what the KUWG logo says symbolically. (Apart from the lettering, that logo image was not my idea.)

Anger can motivate us to do what we might otherwise fear to do, and there are parallels between 

1. Why I 'stand out proud' in street campaigning, and why I told my Hampstead Heath muggers on a very dark [29 January and New Moon] 2001 early evening to 'get knotted' when they told me, "Give us some money and we'll let you pass" and
2. Why I now stand out and proud as a campaigner rather than fearful about being witch-hunted as an allegedly fraudulent claimant of Employment & Support Allowance who is now in the 'Support Group'.

In both 1 and 2 there are risks.

Vocal power in nonviolent resistance to physical attack

In 1, maybe I was lucky to come away with just a puffed lip, but I was very angry about that epilogue to my afternoon's walk.

I had got so lost in the afternoon's walk back from E15 to NW5 on an afternoon that was raining so much that I did not bother to open my A-Z of London, and walked into Leyton or Leytonstone by mistake. And all because I could not afford the bus fare home while being on Jobseekers Allowance. So when I received the demand of money for safe passage, a deep rage at how I had been let down as a disabled person and decades long jobseeker resulted in a sense of open defiance. I was also emboldened by the tale I had read in about 1977 of Frankie Armstrong [who had degenerative blindness] responded to an attempted rape in a railway compartment.

There is more to Frankie Armstrong than the fact that she is blind through glaucoma. She has a very powerful voice that she has used to help empower other women. A monthly folk music newsletter interviewed her and she told how someone attempted to rape her in the isolation of a railway compartment and got the shock of her retorting, "Fuck off!" in a voice so loud that he fled that railway compartment as other passengers might be alerted. And as I had been working on my own singing voice in the interim years and was more aware of my personal power than when verbally bullied at school and in early waged employment, once my muggers tripped me to the wet ground,

The tripping to the ground set off an 'adrenaline trigger' and I let rip with intonation of a loud "Ah" and hoped that I might alert whoever happened to be over the next hill top. My assailants who started kicking my head front and back as I sat upright making sound told me, "Shut up and we won't hurt you." I preferred to trust in my own vocal power and Frankie Armstrong's example — even while it may not have hurt their ears as much as Frankie Armstrong's in a confined space would have done. They then decided that I was not worth the effort and they had better target someone else.

Fear of being witch-hunted as a 'benefit fraudster'

The imbalance of 'saints and sinners' on TV documentaries is ridiculously skewed in favour of those who would like the public to collaborate with scrapping of an already inadequate UK benefits system, and right-wing newspaper love to denounce people as 'benefit fraudsters' and create a climate of fear that prevents many from speaking out. But, for example, in the months preceeding my 2001 mugging I had been told by a training company that took jobcentre money to train jobseekers: "We agree with you that the training period is inadquate for the amount of course content, but the Government has told us to halve the training period so as to double the amount of throughput from the dole queue."

That, and evidence from 2011 tests by Camden Learning Disabilities Services, highlights how as a much slower than average learner how it is dangerous for me to attempt to enter or even prepare for the 'world of work' in 'austerity Britain', and was a major factor in my annoyance with tight-fisted government before I was mugged in 2001.

I apologise for a long blog posting, but had to get that off my chest when the likes of Lord Freud and IDS never really thought to consider how hard life was for existing disabled jobseekers in their pursuit of 'a fairer benefits system' in which the 'earnings disregard' for unemployment benefit/Jobseekers Allowance has not been updated since 1988 and Jobcentre Plus has long let down the people it was supposed to serve. See
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2006/06/23/why-people-work-informally-while-claiming-benefits-special-report/
and
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2006/11/16/jobcentre-plus-poor-service-continues/
for information regarding the latter points.

Neither did David Freud want to answer my question regarding existing disabled jobseekers when I questioned him about it at a a debate in September 2008 that he lost with an audience largely comprised of disabled people, disability campaigners and carers.

Paula Peters of DPAC at KUWG

Paula Peters from DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts) came to speak to KUWG this week. She talked about their actions against benefit cuts, ATOS and Maximus over the past 5 years. DPAC have got results. ATOS no longer does WCA (Work Capability Assessments) assessments. Ester McVey is no longer an MP.

DPAC have reported the UK to the UN on the grounds that benefits cuts especially axing the Independent Living Fund breach the human rights of disabled people.

Paula also looked towards the future. All the signs are that Stephen Crabb will try to make cuts to PIP (Personal Independence Payments) after all. He is due to make a speech on 12^th, which we will watch with interest.

DPAC's website is at http://dpac.uk.net

Thanks from Swiss Cottage Action Group — with a word of warning

Blog piece title and email forward from CJ of the KUWG, who describes KUWG members as 'Kwugites'.

As we had agreed to support campaign, here is a Thank You... with words of warning.

CJ

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Swiss Cottage
To: "saveswisscottage AT gmail.com"
Sent: Monday, 15 September 2014, 22:33
Subject: Thank you from Swiss Cottage Action Group

Spectacular solidarity beyond the full public gallery

Dear Friend,

Apologies for the belated nature of this email.     

As you probably already know, local councillors rejected the application to develop the 100 Avenue Road/Swiss Cottage site at the Development Control Committee meeting on Thursday.  

On behalf of Swiss Cottage Action Group, I want to thank you for your help in the campaign.

A huge thank you to everybody who signed a petition, wrote a letter or email, attended meetings, sent out tweets, told friends, donated money or attended the Town Hall on Thursday (both inside and outside).  Every single person and action played an indispensable part in the campaign. I wish I could thank you all in person. 

Despite Thursday's pleasing outcome, we cannot celebrate just yet.  The developer has various avenues of appeal.

We hope our opponents will now take time to consider the matter calmly and act in a manner which fully respects the decision of our elected councillors.  We will of course keep you informed.  

Thank you again.  I want send very special thanks in particular to those who made the effort to attend the meeting, but were turned away from the Town Hall on Thursday night.  Everyone helped to make the difference. 

Best wishes,

Sarah 

(on behalf of) 

Swiss Cottage Action Group

Follow us on twitter: @swisscottageag

p.s. You can view the webcast of the full meeting on Camden's website for the next six months.  I'd be happy to send the link on to anyone who requests it.

Swiss Cottage Action Group

Follow us on twitter: @swisscottageag