Self-help support vs ravages of 'welfare reform'. Never attend anywhere official alone!
This blog currently focuses on national policy matters that impact upon KUWG members.
Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group as a group focuses primarily on combating benefits injustices locally through advocacy in individuals' benefit claims, and demonstrations that emphasise that there is hope when we come together. We are more angry than frightened.
Considering an apparent disinterest in the Conservative & Unionist Party Government toward benefit sanctions deaths — leading the DWP to cover up the benefit sanctions deaths enquiry results as best they can and continue to extend the sanctions regime to include low-waged people via Universal Credit conditionality sanctions — I thought of benefit sanctions as being in line with the torture element of what Naomi Klein exposed in her 2007 publication: The Shock Doctrine: The rise of disaster capitalism.(1)(2)(3) So after looking up what outlining reviews I know of that book, I went to a Naomi Klein interview headed Naomi Klein: Climate Change "Not just about things getting hotter.... It's about things getting meaner". That interview was first published at Common Dreams website, and later republished on the London Green Left blog.(4) (5) It was there that I came across this extract:
Q: .... what brought you to this point? How did you become this articulate advocate of this cause? What changed you? When you say, this changes everything, what changed Naomi Klein? A: I think my wake-up call was definitely [Hurricane] Katrina. And I was writing the book that I wrote before this, I was writing The Shock Doctrine. And I was in New Orleans during Katrina while it was still underwater and doing reporting. I was there when all the lobbyists were descending on Baton Rouge with their wish lists: Close down public housing. Privatize the school system. And New Orleans, it was just such a horrifying thing to witness first hand. To me, it’s one of those events that actually becomes more shocking with time. With some things you kind of get used to them, but I think actually what happened in New Orleans, it was so shocking that we couldn’t actually believe it or metabolize it, in particular the fact that African-American residents were given one-way tickets out of their city, forcibly relocated, at gunpoint, people were loaded onto buses. And there was no plan to bring them back. And while they were gone, their homes were bulldozed. I mean this is, to me, the more I think about it, the more shocking it becomes and there was so much happening in that moment that I actually think that we could not fully understand that this was — local residents were calling it genocide and I think they had every right to call it that.
I shall leave my readers to investigate further and draw their own metaphors and conclusions for what is really going on under this Government.
I'm sure that most of the people who like this blog will have heard of Hilary Clinton's main Democratic Party rival in the USA. Bernie Sanders is a man and I believe that despite his gender even the women who like this blog would prefer Sanders to be USA President than have Hilary Clinton as the USA's first ever female president. Whether the women and men who like this blog currently would already prefer Sanders to be USA President or not, I commend them to read the blog piece Dear Bernie, Don't Give Up, Run as a Green at either:
I find it pretty convincing, but then again I 'declare an interest' by saying that I am a member of the Green Party of England & Wales and a member of the eco-socialist tendency in GPEW known as Green Left. As for the fact that I am a man, I do not think that that is relevant to why I reckon that women who like this blog should vote for Sanders than vote for Hilary. Are those who wanted Obama as America's first black president satisfied with his record as first black president of the USA? What would Hilary Clinton be known for as America's first female president? What is Margaret Thatcher mainly known for as Britain's first female prime minister? I am reminded of something that Alan Clark MP (Conservative) said on an audience-participation programme in South-West England. He had been asked why Britain was kowtowing the American line with Ronald Reagan in the White House and Margaret Thatcher resident at No. 10 Downing Street. Taken aback by that statement, Clark instantly retorted:
"Margaret Thatcher is twice the man that Ronald Reagan is!"
That was after she had gained the 'Falklands Factor' to her record, turning — as Naomi Klein pointed out in her 2007 book The Shock Doctrine: The rise of disaster capitalism —
from attacking the 'enemy without' (an Argentine military junta)
to attacking 'the enemy within' (in the collective form of the National Mineworkers Union and the political left in general)
Klein wrote of the results:
".... the disorder resulting from the war allowed her to crush the striking miners and to launch the first privatisation frenzy in a western democracy."(3)
Feminists at the time of the Falklands War, I had been told by a pacifist woman close to the Greenham Common Peace Camp women, were considering whether a male UK prime minister would have been so warmongering in their response to the Argentine invasion?
Signposting in writing, openness about past errors, and 'this changes everything'
There may be many reasons why people who go to this blog go to this blog. This blog reached an all-time high record number of 'viewings' in one day yesterday from around the world. With very few people ever commenting on what brings them to viewing a blog, it can be hard to say what really draws them in.
Numbers of 'viewings' of this blog from its beginning in May 2010
This is a blog hosted by Google, and Google's administrator panel tools can be very helpful in identifying the 'referring sites' that bring people to a blog, and it seems that yesterday the main referring site was Google itself. That is arguably because of the use of the 'labels' used in composing the blog pieces or 'posts' as Google prefers to call them. So it's good to have something relevant for use as the label, as if Google was a 'dating agency' for readers. It was through that influence that our anarchist friends from Bow in the East End of London joined Kilburn Unemployed's recent demonstration in support of Tony Cox in Kilburn, North-West London.(4)(5)(6)(7) So Google 'labels' as 'search keys' can help direct people to a blog as 'sign posts'. Making optimum use of relevant words in the 'permalink' to a page can be another essential aid in attracting viewers. 'Signposting' in writing has more traditionally been focused on headings, subheadings, minor headings and resultant 'tables of contents' and indexes originating from paper-based reading matter. Subheadings and minor headings can help break up a long piece of writing into more manageable chunks. They can also help prepare the reader for what they are about to read, and help them remember the content more easily. As a person with very slow reading speed and thus lower 'reading stamina' than probably most of the people who read London Green Left blog or Counter Punch regularly, I was reminded of that point as I scrolled through pane after pane of the Bernie Sanders blog post. It did strike me though that that blog post could have benefited from such headings as 'Freedom to change one's viewpoint and retract a previous commitment'. Beyond the specifics of the polling and the party politics though, it struck me that there was very little or no argument specifically to back up the 'run as a Green' part of the post's title. I believe linking in matters of global warming as they have impacted the U.S. of A. since 2012 could have complemented the article's attack on the 'industries' that are the megabucks corporate backers of presidential front-runner candidates, and the attacks on Hilary Clinton's 'dodgy dealings'. That would have made it all much more convincing and more appealing to a potentially wider audience. A quotation that comes to mind about freedom to change one's viewpoint is by Alexander Pope about one being 'wiser today than yesterday'.(8) Relatively short statements stand out in the mind more than long sentences; take Alan Clark's, "Margaret Thatcher is twice the man that Ronald Reagan is" as a case in point. Another important, very pithy and very short phrase though is one used by Naomi Klein as the title of a book on the links between the wrongs of global corporations and the urgency of tackling global warming: This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate.(9)
"Leave them wanting more"
I remember the advice of a Casting Director Richard Evans to aspiring actors and performers in the 1990's. He told 'The Art of Selling Yourself' workshops that I attended, "Leave them wanting more." [Earlier pause in writing: So it's goodbye from me for now. I have to get in some more sleep at 04:49 in the morning and later eat before going to a weekly medical appointment.] Most specifically he was referring to the length of the CV (Curriculum Vitae) or resumé (career summary) that the actor or performer would send the employer, and the self-selected audition pieces chosen. "Keep it brief and keep it memorable," he argued, as these were but parts of a recruitment process, serving as introductions. Transferring that advice to electoral politics one of the main means by which politicians attempt to 'grab the voter's attention' is by way of the 'sound bite', where brevity rules but can be taken too far with over-simplification. (In blogging I attempt to keep sentences as simple as possible and paragraphs not too long. That makes the content not only more digestible, but also easier to proofread for errors!) Sound bite brevity helps to engage the listener's attention, and it is clear from the 'Dear Bernie, don't give up ...' blog post that Sanders has grabbed the attention and engagement of many previously disaffected voters. Moreover, he has kept 'on message' but not bored his audience. Listening to people is also a great way of engaging their attention, and goes hand in hand with the campaigning and direct action of Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group. The more that people are helped with their cases — whether by direct intervention by us or by 'signposting' referral to other agencies such as Z2K where truly expert legal advice is called for — the greater the public 'goodwill' attached to our name and the more consistent our meeting attendances. To conclude this article here and now though, I emphasise that Bernie Sanders seems to have become a spokesperson for people either entirely new to electoral politics in a very 'corporatist' two-party state, and 'first past the post' electoral system where minority voices are too often marginalised and the holders of those voices become very disenchanted.(10) So perhaps Sanders showing a greater loyalty to that audience than to the Democrat party-political-allegiance in a corporatist 'two party' State really can help to 'break the mould' of American politics and leave people the world over wanting greater political engagement?
Naomi
Klein wrote 'The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism' that
was published in 2007. An analysis of that book can help us understand
trends that accelerated in the UK dramatically from the 2010 General Election, and
also gives a keen understanding of what gloval financial institutions
are doing to the Greek economy. See M. Magazine Review: The Shock Doctrine.(1)
Naomi
Klein's latest book looks at the links betwen global warming and
disaster capitalism's lust for creating shortage. Red Pepper magazine review of 'This Changes Everything'.(2)
And as it seems that to me that the increased warmer weather trends in
the Meditteranean are toward the 40deg C tipping point that could lead
to what some climate scientists call 'tipping point', I tought of
looking up the current temperature in that land that is in economic
crisis.
No
doubt there are forces at work in the global financial institutions
that use another country's debt crisis as a cue for the financial
institutions to turn from 'creditors' to predators. They will probably
be rubbing their hands with glee at what is going on in the Caribbean
and they themselves will be drinking their gin with bottled tonic water.
And
nationalist organisations around the world that are funded by financial
institutions will say that a rise in immigration is a root problem
rather than a consequence of ever worsening global warming.
Meanwhile, the ambient temperature in my South-facing one-roomed flat has recently reached 27deg C (80deg F) even at night, making it difficult for me to get to sleep and worsening my health.
The Labour manifesto stuff about 'fiscal responsibility' and 'hard working families' was nasty to a decades long disabled jobseeker, but today's launch of the Tory manifesto with its extension of 'right to buy' and housing extensions selling off social housing homes once tenants have been moved out is something I find potentially gut wrenching at a time when I should be nursing an injured finger from an accident this morning.
A
Conservative government would extend the right-to-buy scheme for
housing association tenants in England, David Cameron will say, as he
unveils his party's general election manifesto.
The PM will say up
to 1.3 million tenants could buy their homes at a discount as a result,
insisting the Tories are the party of working people....
The photographic backdrop to to the photo of David Cameron delivering the Conservative manifesto proclaims:
STRONG LEADERSHIP A CLEAR ECONOMIC PLAN A BRIGHTER, MORE SECURE FUTURE
The biggest problem there is that the 'clear economic plan' is built upon lies and half-truths and it includes a plan for the privatisation of what remains of the UK's social housing stock and placing it in the clutches of global billionaires.(2)
Clearly a 'corporatist' economic plan
The 'right to buy' extension is the 'carrot'. How much will taxpayers including those of us who don't pay income tax but do pay VAT be subsidising that instead of investment in green energy and home insulation against global warming and fuel poverty? But of course, according to the currently prevailing ideology, anyone who is not in waged employment or 'financially independent of the state' is a 'useless eater', aren't we?(3)
The 'stick' is more a stick extension really. The Cameron-Clegg coalition Government tightened the financial screws on 'social landlords' to the point that they were already keen to 'up stakes' in 'more desirable areas', selling off properties there and shipping poorer tenants out to areas where there were even fewer work opportunities.(4) (We now have school teachers priced out of living in Camden where they teach commuting in from Folkestone!(5))
The Conservative 2015 UK General Election manifesto — if accepted by the electorate — would
"force councils to sell properties ranked in the most expensive third of their type in the local area, once they become vacant."(6)
In conclusion for now, the UK's media and the majority of mainstream politicians have allowed the property market practices that were the real cause of the 2008 banks crash to get away with murder,
not only of poor people through disability benefit eligibility testing, benefit sanctions,
but also of truly civil society while hoodwinking people in waged employment to despise jobseekers and people incapable of anything like a 16 hour working week as undeserving.
David Cameron is for workers? Or is it 'David Cameron is for wankers'?
(Actually, the song video chorus line says 'David Camerson is a w@nker'.)
(2) 'Right to buy' is a means of privatisation very much in line with neoliberalism or 'corporatism's' 'holy trinity' as exposed by Naomi Klein in her incisive book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
(3) 'Useless eaters' is the term Nazis used to describe disabled people. And their extermination of disabled people was firstly through denial of services, secondly through forced sterilisation, and thirdly through making parents so desperate that a parent writing into Hitler's 'bright ideas' mailbag' was so desperate that he asked for the 'mercy killing' of his learning disabled son, and Hitler thought: "What a great idea!" (Memorised from a TV documentary viewed on daytime tv.)
