Uniting against the real causes of oppression is better than poor people lashing out at the nearest scapegoat

I attended  an information day in Liverpool regarding a reconciliation-based Summer Play Scheme  — Protestants and Catholics together to build trust and friendships — in 1979. At that information day, a participant said that an affluent Roman Catholic resident away from the strife-ridden areas had told him:

"These Catholic-Protestant troubles have nothing to do with us; it's just those working class families fighting among themselves."

In 2016, after the Brexit vote, there seems to be an upsurge in racist hate crime that needs to be addressed. Perhaps the following is the backdrop to that rise of the race hatred gutter into communities after political Punch & Judy pantomime?:

1. David Cameron's, "We're all in this boat together" statement came as a façade for a 2010 post-General Election coalition with the 'market liberals' of the Liberal Democrats known as the 'Orange Book' Lib Dems, through cuts in public spending that seem to have been especially targeted at various strands of the most vulnerable people in British society via the 'bedroom tax' and even nastier 'welfare reforms' than Blairite Labour had brought in. (As previously stated on this blog though, the harsher 'Work Capability Assessment' by which Employment & Support Allowance entitlement was assessed was authorised by Yvette Cooper as one of her final acts as Work & Pensions Secretary in office in April 2010. It was not piloted until early 2011, and so the 'Con-Dem' coalition got the blame for that.) The even nastier strands of 'welfare reform' included not only benefit sanctions, but also
   • 'bedroom tax' reduction in Housing Benefit,
   • reduced support from central government to local authorities leading to imposition of Council Tax payments on the poorest citizens, and
   • 'overall benefit cap' as part of Universal Credit

2. Capitulation of opposition party councils with 'Con-Dem' government attacks on Housing Benefit and the imposition of Council Tax payments on the poorest, while rents rose considerably and council lands was sold off to builders for ridiculously low prices, council waiting lists were closed down, very poor people were evicted, global money launderers bought up large swathes of London and other UK cities, and the racist UK Independence Party's 'blame it all on migrant workers' explanation became mainstream
3. More of the same after the 2015 General Election that introduced an outright Conservative Party majority that claimed a 'mandate' for more of the same nastinesses
4. A greater emphasis on xenophobia in British politics as the nation moved toward an EU Referendum while social housing entitlements were attacked in the Housing & Planning Bill 2016, and the 'EU Referendum Debate' became effectively a smoke screen for attacks on poor people's entitlements in favour of the global money launderers and profiteers buying up the UK and the workfare companies that operate as legalised, taxpayer-funded human traffickers
5. A week before the actual UK EU Referendum took place, a pro-EU Labour MP was murdered by a mentally disturbed person who had swallowed the race hatred of 'Britain First' wholesale, and a truce was called between the opposing factions in the EU Referendum, before hostilities resumed.
6. Those who scapegoated 'foreigners' now seem to take the superficial polarisation of public opinion in their favour as licence to attack and abuse 'foreigners'

Now, 

• Hackney Unites in association with Hope Not Hate is calling a community meeting on the theme #moreincommon
• Islington Tribune reports that a 'Post-Brexit race hate attack sparks fear of rise in 'community tensions', and a similar report in the Camden New Journal.

There is hope. With its focus on helping benefit claimants with their claims, Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group meeting every Thursday from 3pm to 5:20pm at Kingsgate Community Centre has built a very ethnically diverse membership and now finds its diversity of 'mother tongues' an advantage in translating people's stories for the benefit of the caseworkers. In our campaigning alongside the casework, we help direct attention also to what is really going on and who is really to blame.

By Dude Swheatie

Related link addresses

• http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/eu-can-i-stay-or-must-i-go.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orange_Book:_Reclaiming_Liberalism
• http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=b82d5d5a7ac69045df976d76f&id=fe63305f0a&e=9bb347a936
• http://www.islingtontribune.com/postbrexitracehateattack
• http://www.katebelgrave.com/2016/06/youre-the-kind-of-immigrant-that-we-want/
• http://www.katebelgrave.com/2016/06/while-politicians-amuse-themselves-austerity-continues-rampant-etc/
• http://londongreenleft.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/brexit-uk-in-crisis.html
• http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/minister-for-bins-letwin-to-head-brexit-unit.html
• http://www.camdennewjournal.com/brexit-hate-crime
• https://www.carolinelucas.com/latest/farage-was-frontman-for-biggest-establishment-stitch-up-in-a-generation

'Minister for Bins' Letwin to head 'Brexit Unit'

David Cameron has appointed Conservative right-wing MP Oliver Letwin to head up a 'Brexit Unit' to handle negotiations for the terms on which Britain leaves the EU.(1)

What kind of 'Brexit negotiations' would you expect from Oliver Letwin MP's involvement?

Perhaps we can get a flavour of his long-held racist opinions from revelations that emerged in 2015, thirty years after he had made the statements regarding rioting among Britain's black communities?(2) Those views had been embargoed from public consumption of Cabinet papers for 30 years before publication and his eventual apology under public pressure.

The Independent has highlighted the racism of those statements the now-Dorset West MP made in tandem with Conservative aide Vernon Hartley Booth. Letwin later apologised for those statements.(3) But what depth can such apologies for "badly worded and wrong" comments have from a Member of Parliament supposed to represent the views of all constituents when he has gained such notoriety for binning constituents' correspondence that was 'weighing [him] down' into a park bin, that he has been dubbed 'Minister for Bins'.(4) (5)

As Green Party Member of the European Parliament for the South-West England region in which Letwin's Dorset-West parliamentary seat is based has commented in an open letter to David Cameron, Letwin's appointment is very 'divisive'.(6) And of course, he was a supporter of the much-hated 'poll tax' that led white people to riot after he had inferred that it was not possible for white people to riot!

Dude Swheatie also notes that confidential papers related to Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group casework are shredded before binning, and only after making the attempt to lighten the burdens of those who come to us for assistance. That is unlike how Devon West MP processed the constituents' confidential and sensitive papers that he said were 'weighing him down', and for much less than £120K MP's salary. He would, though, surely have preferred the 30 year old Cabinet papers exposing his racism to have never met the public eye.

Link addresses

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/oliver-letwin-brexit-unit-ridicule-david-cameron-bin_uk_577157fee4b0d257114a235c
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-5-most-shocking-quotes-in-oliver-letwins-racist-memo-a6790551.html
ibid.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/8826960/Oliver-Letwin-investigated-for-binning-sensitive-documents-and-letters.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/oliver-letwin-brexit-unit-ridicule-david-cameron-bin_uk_577157fee4b0d257114a235c
http://mollymep.org.uk/2016/06/28/letwin-brexit/

What do Brent Council Tax payers, including those with incomes "too low to tax," think of Davani's compensation payment?

Taxpayers Against Poverty chairperson Revd Paul Nicolson in dispute against his own local authority over unfair levying of Council Tax on the poorest citizens and non-citizens has argued that benefit incomes and other poverty line incomes are too low to tax, while Haringey Council think it fair to charge those people for a portion of Council Tax.(1)

Now it has emerged that the amount that Brent Council paid a former senior employee in 'compensation' for loss of her job amounted to £157k, as Wembley Matters blogger Martin Francis notes:(2)

£157k payout leaves Davani laughing all the way to the kennels

The Brent and Kilburn Times LINK today reveals that former Director of Brent Human Resources, Cara Davani, was paid out £157,610 when she...

Was that what David Cameron meant when he said that his Government would bring about a 'fairer Britain'? And Welfare Reform Minister Lord Freud — former investment banker and Tony Blair protégé — said:

"People who are poorest should be prepared to take the biggest risks, because they have least to lose."(3)

What several poor people would perhaps love to lose the most would be the Welfare Reform Minister and all he stands for!

Link addresses

1. http://taxpayersagainstpoverty.org.uk/news/councils-tax-benefits-then-blindfold-the-magistrates-with-computer-printout
2. http://wembleymatters.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/157k-payout-leaves-davani-laughing-all.html
3. https://uk.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?hspart=avast&hsimp=yhs-brwsr001&type=osf01s1&p="Lord+Freud"+"least+to+lose"

Shaping Our Lives: From Mental Illness to a Social Model of Madness and Distress

Logo of Shaping Our Lives: A National Network of Service Users and Disabled People

From Mental Illness to a Social Model of Madness and Distress (1)

There are growing concerns about UK mental health policy and services. They are widely seen as being in ‘crisis’,chronically underfunded and having fallen far behind physical healthcare. There are also more fundamental worries that they are over-reliant on a narrowly-based medicalised conceptual framework which can be stigmatizing and unhelpful for service users. 

Authors: Peter Beresford, Rebecca Perring, Mary Nettle, Jan Wallcraft

Foreword: Tina Coldham SCIE Trustee and Chair of the SCIE Co-Production Network www.scie.org.uk

Funding: Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Link address:

1. http://www.shapingourlives.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/FROM-MENTAL-ILLNESS-PDF-2.pdf

DPAC: End 'work cure therapy' for claimants! Demonstrate in London, 5 July 2016 at 9am

When:	Tuesday 5 July 2016, 9am
Where:	New Savoy Conference, Hallam Conference Centre, 44 Hallam Street, London W1W 6JJ (Great Portland Street tube). Location map(1)
Why:	Details on Disabled People Against Cuts website.(2)
Related post on this blog:	Psycho-coercion and workfare — a talk by Lynne Friedli of Boycott Workfare(3)

The 'work cure' can be defined as the DWP and private sector profiteers grooming vulnerable people for slavery

Vulnerable people need firmer safeguards, not sanctions!

Boost benefits — rather than cutting them as the Government has done — not psycho-coercion!

Poorest would love to lose Lord Freud — who says they should take the biggest risks, having least to lose(4)

Link addresses

1. http://www.cavendishvenues.co.uk/marylebone-euston-conference-venues/location/
2. http://dpac.uk.net/2016/06/protest-against-work-cure-therapy-5th-july-london/
3. http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/psycho-coercion-and-workfare-talk-by-lynne-friedli-of-boycott-workfare.html
4. https://uk.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?hspart=avast&hsimp=yhs-brwsr001&type=osf01s1&p="Lord+Freud"+"least+to+lose"

University and College Union City & Islington College Branch statement of support for Corbyn

City & Islington College is based largely in Jeremy Corbyn's very multi-ethnic and cosmopolitan Islington North. Their statement of support for his Labour Party leadership can be found at

http://us3.campaign-archive2.com/?u=74b04c5e36a4b7382cc03ede3&id=ecb746e430&e=246ba611cc

PR as public relations in politics and the selling of jobcentre-funded training in the Tony Blair era

In a blog post 'On the Lost Art of Intellectual Honesty', Craig Murray states:

.... One of the arguments the Blairites use against Corbyn is that he had the temerity to employ nuance and intellectual honesty in discussing the EU. Intellectual honesty is certainly not something Tony Blair ever employed.Politics has become a branch of PR. It is just about selling. The party, candidate or policy you are selling must be portrayed as the absolute epitome of excellence, with no flaws whatsoever. Political discourse has therefore become juvenile. It is about expensively dressed, well groomed salesmen with perfect teeth. Thought is positively frowned upon.(1)

I especially concur with Murray's conclusions about politics becoming a branch of PR. It goes back to a song I first heard and read the background to in about 1973 on a Joe McDonald (ex-Country Joe & The Fish at a time when he just wanted to be known as ‘Joe McDonald’) live album, 'Tricky Dickey'(2)

The song is based on the New York Times best seller by Joe McGinniss, The Selling of the President.(3) The song is especially good at highlighting how PR focuses on ‘solutions’ without particularly investigating the kind of juvenile political discourse that has preceded the current situation.

And I would argue that the transition of Bill Gates from ‘software developer’ to 'global philanthro-captialist' has been marked by manipulation of contract law, business acumen and substantial PR.(4)

Window 95 and 'welfare to work' schemes with government-funded training

When Windows 95 emerged on the scenes from 1995, for example, it became the ‘standard platform’ for desktop computing in the conventional office world; and government-funded computer skills training schemes became a means for ‘training companies’ then focused on that as a ‘welfare to work’ avenue.

Some of those companies were better than others in terms of my own experience of ‘user-outcomes’, yet the worst tended to go in for over-subscription at the expense of under-provision. Four class loads of trainees in the latter were whisked through one training room in a day, maximising the amount of profit and minimising ‘user-friendly access to equipment’. In my experience, the better companies had the disadvantage that the Training & Enterprise Councils ruled against trainees — even with learning difficulties — returning to them. I was told patronisingly that they would not send me back to a training company that I was satisfied with for consolidation in the same kind and level of training. “We don’t want you to become institutionalised,” the Focus TEC for Central London told me when I asked for help in getting Level 1 training in Microsoft Office beyond word processing.

One of the shoddier standard companies tended to shunt trainees for half the day of a 5-day week into ‘open learning’ that was supposed to be devoted to ‘jobsearch’. We were told by Head of Jobsearch to submit photocopies of our CV for each job, and to do a minimum of 16 job applications per week, recorded in a ‘jobsearch portfolio’ to be submitted each week. I got told off for “not devoting enough time for job search.” In fact after spending most of the week skimping what spare Personal Computer access I could get at that company in customising my CV to the job application in hand. I had also spent a whole weekend perfecting the required handwritten letter, making six drafts before sending off my application. Crucially in terms of results though, that one written job application got me an interview; most other ‘trainees’ had no interviews to record. That was in 1998.

By June 2000, a home PC bought for by my mum on the advice of my earlier, excellent Information Communications Technology trainer who had helped me achieve my NVQ Level 1 about 5 months after the initial, funded training, helped me acquire the ‘underpinning knowledge’ to pass the entry test for a Web Development training course with a ‘Positive About Disabled People’ and ‘Investor in People’ award winning charity in SE London. Yet Blairite politics reared its ugly head when I challenged their administrator over the extent of the curriculum vs the six-week duration and no guarantee of a work placement. “I agree with you,” she told me; but the Government has told us to halve the length of training so as to double the amount of throughput.”

In September 2000, having decided to turn down the offer of a place on that course, I was one of several disgruntled ex-jobcentre funded trainees to contact the then BBC2 Working Lunch programme following Immigration Minister Barbara Roache MP’s speech to Labour Party Autumn Conference announcing ‘special green card status’ for people with special skills from abroad.

By Dude Swheatie of Kwug

Link addresses

1. https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/07/lost-art-intellectual-honesty/
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmp9gRsncuY
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_McGinniss#The_Selling_of_the_President
4. http://londongreenleft.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/save-us-bill-gates-video-game-satirises.html