direct action

Are you unemployed and placed on one of the DWP’s Workfare schemes? Contact us.

The court recently judged the DWP regulations surrounding the workfare programme as unlawful. Claimants on any of the other schemes can now withdraw without threat of sanction and existing sanctions must be brought to an end. Unless the DWP wins the right of appeal, all those who have been sanctioned will be entitled to repayment of lost benefit and all referrals will have been unlawful.

However, the DWP is currently laying new regulations which could make all the workfare schemes lawful and mandatory. Added to this, we’ve had numerous reports of claimants being forced under threat of sanction onto the ‘voluntary’ schemes and there is no reason this won’t continue.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt will make a decision on the future of Lewisham hospital at the beginning of February. If he pushes through the cuts, we need to meet them with a campaign of mass civil disobedience and direct action!

The campaign to save the hospital has done a fantastic job at showing the government how unpopular Kershaw's plans are, but the whole campaign depends upon the government being reasonable and listening to people's concerns. How likely is that?

If Hunt won't listen to reasoned argument and decides to close parts of Lewisham Hospital, the only thing left we can do is take action – block streets, occupy - anything that distrupts business as usual and forces Hunt to listen.

We are calling for people to assemble at the roundabout in Lewisham after the announcement, to either celebrate or show our anger and start taking action!

Between 80 and 100 people attended a meeting organised by the Liverpool Claimants Network to discuss and plan local resistance to the government’s proposed Bedroom Tax. The initial presentation by a member of the network gave a good overview of what the Bedroom Tax is, the implications it has for housing association tenants, and the need to organise direct action against what is a callous attack on the working-class.

As of April 1st this year, housing association tenants who have a spare room will be faced with a reduction in their housing benefit of between £40 and £80 a month (a reduction of up to 25%) as part of the government’s welfare reform plans. In Liverpool alone, 12,000 tenants will be affected. Nationally, the figure is around 660,000. Meanwhile, the Empty Homes Agency says there are 725,000 homes lying empty across the country, enough to house 1.8 million people.

This article was written by a SolFed member and originally appeared in the "How do you build a movement?" column of the Occupied Times.

The article focuses on a practical approach to organising in which theory follows practice, is designed to appeal beyond a politicised core, and by which a movement is built by achieving concrete and escalating victories.

OT Issue 18 here.

What: Pret a Manger communications blockade

When: Thur 29th November, 2:00 - 4:00pm

In an effort to show solidarity to Andrej and PAMSU, we are requesting that supporters:

Call, email, and text Pret on the 29th November between the hours of 2:00 and 4:00pm demanding that Andrej be reinstated and that Pret stop victimising all union members.

Ops Manager Magda:  07557 742 317, magda.kielbowicz@pret.com

Ops Manager Thomas:  07557 160 694, tom.sugarman@pret.com

Press Office: 020 7802 2626, pret@lewispr.com

St. Pancras Pret (ask for the manager): 020 7932 5225, UK0225@pret.com

'What We Are Fighting For: a Radical Collective Manifesto' is a new book out by Pluto Press.

It features a chapter written by ourselves, titled 'Direct Action & Unmediated Struggle', as well as John Holloway, David Graeber, Mark Fisher, Franco 'Bifo' Beradi, Nina Power, and many more.

OUT NOW!

As part of the national week of action against workfare, members of Liverpool Solidarity Federation, the Anarchist Federation and various comrades held a picket at the city-centre offices of A4e, with the aim of keeping the pressure on these exploiters, while a communications blockade was simultaneously carried out by allies all over the country.

We managed to hand out a good amount of leaflets and to engage with several people who were themselves on the work programme. The claimants we spoke to were, to a person, all in agreement with our stance on workfare. Claimants placed in the position of having to accept unpaid work under threat of benefit sanction know they are being demonized and exploited, but many are unsure what they can do about it. We gave claimants an advice sheet detailing certain points which the DWP and A4e may be reluctant to tell them, and also managed to give out contact details to a few people.

On Tuesday 26 June, Liverpool Solidarity Federation called a picket and a communications blockade against A4e in Liverpool. Both were well attended, with up to a dozen people joining in the afternoon picket whilst countless people from around the country jammed up phone and fax lines throughout the day.

Another Saturday, another round of direct action against workfare providers in Liverpool. Members of Liverpool Solidarity Federation were joined by other local anarchists and activists to picket Holland & Barrett and Argos in the City Centre. The lively pickets saw 600 leaflets distributed and a number of shoppers turned away from both stores.

When we arrived at the main Holland & Barrett store in town, the security guard immediately got on the phone to the police. When they arrived, they took no action against us, but a complaint by the manager that our picket had abused staff (a claim which was entirely untrue) suggests that the continued pressure is starting to have an effect. Whilst the response from the public varied from largely ambivalent to positive and supportive, local security were clearly extremely hostile.

On Saturday 16th June, members of Liverpool Solidarity Federation, along with members of the Anarchist Federation and local unaffiliated activists, held a picket of the Asda store on Smithdown Road in Wavertree as part of a series of actions to protest against and to raise awareness of Asda’s use of workfare.

The picket began at the main entrance, at the opposite end of the store to Smithdown Road. This entrance gets the most foot traffic as the trolleys and car park are adjacent. We began to hand out leaflets and engage with customers. Security and management stood in the doorway of the store but did not challenge us. After no more than five minutes, two police cars and full van arrived and officers immediately surrounded the picket and began hassling individual picketers, ordering some to remove masks and hoods.