tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post2067751523027948256..comments2023-07-04T16:57:28.929+01:00Comments on Where's the Benefit?: Absolutely Outrageous!Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714918894319998184noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-68833142188232706412011-02-07T16:12:27.917+00:002011-02-07T16:12:27.917+00:00Just popping back in to say our efforts have got a...Just popping back in to say our efforts have got a nice wee write-up in the first-page editorial of Red Pepper, including a mention of the Atos protests (plus a "know your enemy" feature on the company on p13). Ok, it's hardly mainstream, and I do maintain that our struggle transcends the left-right spectrum to an extent, but it's very nice to have a physical publication sat in front of me that contains acknowledgement of the situation.<br /><br />Quote:"One important argument against the cuts centres on the distinction, so lucidly drawn by Tom Paine, between justice and charity. Benefit payments, state services and public goods exist because it is the duty of the state to ensure the rights of its citizens are respected."Jannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-48140481237365635372011-02-07T10:21:54.107+00:002011-02-07T10:21:54.107+00:00"First they came"
The truly scary thing..."First they came"<br /><br />The truly scary thing about Niemoller's poem is that it used to have "the sick, the so-called incurables" as its second verse. One of the most famous pieces of anti-discrimination literature has eradicated us from its own history.<br /><br />As for 'anonymous', the contradiction is in supporting the enlightened society that sees libraries as a good thing, but not the other things that make us an enlightened society, such as protecting minorities.DavidGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11734028655032503805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-40971173333408279702011-02-06T16:42:38.763+00:002011-02-06T16:42:38.763+00:00Oh dear, not another one against another problem, ...Oh dear, not another one against another problem, when the whole thing systemic. This is a great post, however - the cut of DLA and other benefits is really about throwing whole sections of society into a ditch.<br /><br />It has to be seen as all part of a larger problem, however. The banks steal our money through direct larceny (compound interest) or indirect (derivatives often fraudulently sold and now bailed out by our taxes). Now anything which doesn't have a monetised value within the banking system (public forests and libraries, the parts of the NHS left to be privatised, etc) and people seen to be a drain on taxes are under attack. Meanwhile the public debate is not about how to put the bankers in jail and make our monetary system work for the greater good, but about which things 'should' or should not be cut as though the cuts in public money/services are reasonable in response to a government deficit and it is just a matter of doing it 'fairly'.<br /><br />The fact is, though, that it is easier to get people mobilised around specific issues, and so far the tress and libraries are attracting the attention, perhaps because more people use them than get DLA (might be wrong because I don't have the figures). I do wish however that at least the tax-stealing banks were being occupied and shut down rather than mere tax-avoiders like vodaphone and topshop...cityeyriehttp://twitter.com/cityeyrienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-29861763254948601172011-02-06T16:27:00.094+00:002011-02-06T16:27:00.094+00:00@Anonymous: You seem to have missed the paragraph ...@Anonymous: You seem to have missed the paragraph in which I said "I want to make it absolutely clear that I do not support the closure of libraries or the sale of the forests. I am not suggesting that we close libraries and sell forests to save benefits. I am opposed to all the government's cuts."Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16714918894319998184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-8809355532404436462011-02-06T16:19:34.358+00:002011-02-06T16:19:34.358+00:00Divide and Rule. It means that people argue about ...Divide and Rule. It means that people argue about which is more important: A forest moving in to private ownership, or a library being closed...a disabled person having a life, a Policeman having a job. When we all fight with each other, we ignore the real foe.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-13992897342466359692011-02-06T13:48:39.085+00:002011-02-06T13:48:39.085+00:00My take on crips vs. trees is hereMy take on crips vs. trees is <a href="http://skepticlawyer.com.au/2011/02/03/not-noticed-in-the-news/" rel="nofollow">here</a>DeusExMacintoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02728119585120029111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-37234841839797630532011-02-06T08:25:40.556+00:002011-02-06T08:25:40.556+00:00That's nice, Anonymous really, as it has been ...That's nice, Anonymous really, as it has been mentioned, libraries, yay. Trees, yay! But the thing is that books and libraries don't pay for our treatment, or our mobility. They don't buy our expensive medical equipment. They don't pay our rent. They don't give us a bus pass so we can actually get out TO the library in the first place. They are a nice thing to have, but the vital stuff, the essential stuff which keeps us living and breathing and housed is being cut. <br /><br />I have been homeless before and the library was a great hangout for homeless people because it's warm and is open for a long time (you'd be amazed how many of the homeless are incredibly well read). That's possibly not the vision everyone has of libraries but I remember a library as shelter. And if the current cuts go through, it might have to be one again for me and my son. <br /><br />If the cuts to disabled go through I'll need libraries again - to hide in when it gets cold, to email in my 30 minute window to try and find a place to eat for the night, for the daily papers which I sneak out in my clothes to burn so I have a bit of warmth during the night, and for the ability to read about people in houses, with food, and jobs, and not a care in the world who are sitting all around me but never look me in the eyes.<br /><br />No, there shouldn't be a contradiction at all. And yet...there appears to be one, because the support isn't happening. It wouldn't be hard; sign a petition, raise a "No Cuts to DLA" placard at the Cuts protests...but it doesn't happen. No media coverage, no articles but a few things written in the Guardian Society pages.<br /><br />I despair.Oya's Daughterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01184649716540468970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-4216604661038485012011-02-05T21:59:06.733+00:002011-02-05T21:59:06.733+00:00I don't see the contradiction between resistin...I don't see the contradiction between resisting cuts to libraries and supporting disabled people. As you yourself have pointed out, libraries serve disabled people in important ways.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-27360394102717075392011-02-05T20:16:09.932+00:002011-02-05T20:16:09.932+00:00Great piece. I am white and straight and take a g...Great piece. I am white and straight and take a great interest in anti-racism and Gay Rights, which seems to surprise people. The idea that humans are inherently selfish, however unscientific, is still thought of as hard fact. But I think those two causes attract me precisely *because* I'm not the one being victimised or denied equality. It's not "white guilt" or vicarious victimhood, I just want to make our society a better and more compassionate place for everyone, so any positive action will do and...<br /><br />It really is so so so so many times easier to stand up for someone else than it is to stand up for yourself. Of necessity I have had to prioritise Disabled Rights (or whatever it's called; do we even have a name?) of late, but it takes so much more to do the tiniest thing, because unlike the 2 causes above, it directly affects me; I have to live with the hatred, so every encounter with the subject is shot through with fear.<br /><br />It is so many more times more easy to stand up for someone else. Imagine if we all did that.Jannoreply@blogger.com