Campaigning is bloody hard work. People see the hours of standoff with the police on Westminster Bridge, or the Pop Up Art Exhibition at Tate Modern, or the Street Theatre outside Downing Street.
What people don’t see is the weeks, sometimes months or planning, arranging and preparation that goes into these events. But that’s OK, the people who take it on know what’s involved and they do it gladly.
What’s harder is the sense that sometimes hits every campaigner that it’s all futile. That all the hard work isn’t getting anywhere. It usually hits when people are tired, overloaded and they read the news and see another wave of cuts on the way in. At times like that, people get close to giving up. But we’re a stubborn, tenacious lot at DPAC, and we don’t give up easy. So we keep going. It gets past the point of understanding why you carry on, but you still keep going.
And then someone sends us something like the video shown below and it reminds you exactly what you are fighting for. It tells you what all the long hours are for, the old sense of anger returns.
Please watch it, it is liable to make you cry but please watch it if you can. It was made by Nichole Drury and sent to us by her yesterday for the liveprotest tool. But it served to remind us at DPAC why we do it. And why all the campaigners from our allied groups Black Triangle, Mental Health Resistance Network, Winvisible, Boycott Workfare and so many other groups and individual campaigners keep on going even when exhausted and things look bleaker than ever.
It reminds us why we do all this because the story told by Nichole in the video about what happened to her mother, Moira is a massive injustice. It is simply wrong.
Cut away all the bullshit about political policy and “supporting disabled people into employment” and reducing the welfare budget because the country can’t afford it (it can) . Cut away all that bullshit and you are left with a mother who did “all the right things”, brought up a family and then became, through no fault of her own, a disabled person who eventually had to give up work But she was still a person with family and friends, and thoughts and feelings. She was promised that the welfare state would look after her. But by that time Labour had introduced the WCA. The WCA that was designed to cut away the welfare state for people just like Moira.
When Labour introduced WCA they proudly stated that it would take 1 million people off benefits. We don’t know how many people it has taken off benefits but we do know about the harm, distress and death that it has caused. And then the Tories, aided and abetted by the Liberal Democrats took over, making it even harsher. Causing yet more harm and many more deaths.
But cut away even that bullshit, and your are left with what happened to Moira and similar wrongs that have happened to hundred’s of thousands of others.
That’s why we fight. That’s why we protest at Downing Street, and block bridges and put in the hundreds of hours of work behind the scenes to make those things happen. And we’ll keep going until this atrocity is finally stopped.
This is why we have to fight back and we can’t stop because no government, whatever political logo it wears, has the right to cause its citizens – us – harm, distress and even death, with its policies on social security.
So there is no rest for us, DPAC will be at the Politics Art and Culture event alongside the Labour Conference 24th-27th September and we’ve begun working on our fightback for the Tory Party Conference at the start of October and we’ll be releasing more details of that nearer the time.
And we’ll carry on fighting until we’ve restored fairness and decency to social security, and we know that we’ll be able rely on the support of all of you, who come out on protests, support us on line, send in your testimonies and videos and in all sorts of wonderful ways. You keep us going. Thank you.
I have nothing but the highest admiration for everyone who partisipated in the demonstrations last week. To be treated like 5th class citizen’s and yet still have the strength to continue fighting against those “Killing cuts”. With more to come. Thank you all so very much. What hurts is the lack of publicity about the dpac protests or any protests by disabled people. The media are only puppets for the government and their Cohorts. They disgust me totally.
The dpac make me feel proud to be a member as they really care about disabled people. They don’t pretend to care. They do care by making the public aware of the plight of disabled people who’s lives have been cut short and who’s daily living has been so badly affected.
Again many, many thanks.
Noone should ever think that their protest is futile – if we can influence just one person then we have achieved something. Hopefully in our protests we will influence a lot more people than that. On Tuesday in Liverpool we held a protest outside the JobCentre Plus in the city centre. It was very hastily arranged – I’d not been feeling too well in recent weeks and was hoping that someone else would step up and organise something. Luckily, we (I am also Secretary of Merseyside TUC) already had leaflets printed on the law on social security which serve as a guide to both claimants and DWP staff. So it was decided that our protest would be ‘No More Sanctions – No More Deaths’.
About 15 people turned up in all and the response from the public was fantastic. Comments varied from ‘Good on you’ to ‘Well done – you’re doing a great job’ to ‘Great, somebody needs to take on this government’. Some of the stories were heartbreaking – just like Nichole’s but we were able to signpost people to where they might get help.
The public’s response to protests and work that we do makes it all worthwhile. I help out at our unemployed workers centre, helping people to fill out their PIP forms and advising them on the process. Their gratitude, not just at the end, but at the start when you tell them you can help them and throughout the process, makes all of this worthwhile. Just knowing that there is someone on their side and willing to help them gives them so much relief from their worries.
Congratulations to everyone involved in the week of action – the events you’ve organised are amazing. Those of you in London must be absolutely exhausted after this week. I get exhausted after one day of protest, so I find your work organising and taking part in a week of events astonishing.
I find travelling to London and getting around London so tiring (not to mention expensive) that I avoid it if at all possible. So it was brilliant to be able to see some of the exhibits and information about the artists in the Art4Rights exhibition online. I found the work totally inspiring – it made me want to go and do something myself. So please more online events in the future.
I’m looking forward to seeing you in Liverpool during the Labour Party Conference.
Congratulations on and thanks for everything you do
When I was born my father was already disabled. He was the most intelligent of his generation of his family. Aunts and Uncles had professions and military ranks. He was the lowest grade of clerk in local government until he was forced to ‘retire’ on health grounds in his early fifties.
I became disabled myself at fifteen, the only room I could get to on crutches was the woodwork room. Teachers didn’t give a stuff. I got 6 O levels mainly to spite them and an A in woodwork in a school without a 6th form.
Further education was tried, never finished a course due to prejudice (and not suffering fools lightly).
I was self employed for most of my working life. Rarely earning enough to pay tax or NHI. Combining work with Care responsibilities doesn’t leave much energy for cash creation when combined with a disability.
Becoming a full time Carer eased the load but things were left on the basis of it’ll get done when they die. By now it was Care for both parents.
Pain had become a constant. Years of being a ‘disabled hero’ had taken their toll.
Now I am over 60 still a Carer, now for my ‘more disabled’ wife. 24/7/365 without any help from the SS.
FREEDOM is worth the pain and heartache. Whilst we accept servitude to our masters we have no freedom.
The last verse and chorus of The Lost Boy are the spirit of our rebellion.
A hero to the masses
To those born without chances
There’s a freedom that everyone deserves
I know there’s greed and there’s corruption
I’ve seen death and mass destruction
But I’m telling you and I hope that I am heard
I will not be commanded
I will not be controlled
I will not let my future go on, without the help of my soul
Kinda sums it all up?
Jon
It would make one Hell of an anthem if the first verses were changed a little.