UK Promoted Newswire Archive
Picket of Atos Glasgow May 12th
12-05-2011 19:49
Over a dozen claimants and supporters managed to get our message out about Atos, that 'They Rob From The Poor To Give To The Rich' to hundreds of shoppers and people going home from work outside the Atos offices at 45 Gordon Street in the centre of Glasgow between 5pm and 6pm. Banners proclaimed that 'Atos Are Making The Sick Pay Por The Greedy Bankers Debt.Picket against Atos, against privatising benefits!
12-05-2011 16:55
LEEDS - 12 May 2011. As part of a national Week of Action Against Atos Origin, pickets were held today in front of Atos's headquarters in Leeds. This is part of a growing campaign to raise awareness about the privatisation of the benefit system, in particular the role that Atos is playing to kick disabled people off of benefits - an assault that has already led to several claimants dying waiting for their appeals.
After picketing in front of Atos's headquarters, people moved to picket the offices of Best, another company involved in the privatisation of the benefit system for the profit of a few.
A transcript of the leaflet handed out is below:
ATOS ORIGIN: VICTIMISING CLAIMANTS
Atos Origin is a multinational corporation that the government is paying £500 million to carry out "work capability assessments" for everyone on incapacity benefit. The computerised tick-box test assesses people with terminal illnesses and severe mental conditions as fit for work. It's a badly disguised attempt to cut as many people's benefits as possible.
CUTS HURT
Atos Origin is being paid millions to do the government's dirty work. So far, over 40% of appeals against the test's results have been successful. But people are dying waiting for their appeals to be processed. What Atos is doing amounts to an attack on benefitsclaimants, including severely ill and disabled people.
UNFAIR WELFARE
The welfare reforms of the coalition government are part of the new "work programme," a continuation of the blair government's "welfare to work" programme. Its real purpose is to cut people's benefits to force them to go on Job Seeker's Allowance which is cheaper for the government because it's less money, resulting in people losing a third of their income or more.
CLAIMANTS UNDER ATTACK
The press are always ready to smear people on welfare as "benefits scroungers," but the reality for people scraping by on the dole or incapacity benefit is very different. Benefits claimants shouldn't have to pay the cost of a financial crisis they didn't cause.
www.afed.org.uk
leeds@af-north.org
Palestine Today 05 12 2011
12-05-2011 14:37
Bristol to Benghazi
12-05-2011 13:55
An anarchist from Bristol travels to Benghazi to join the Libyan Peoples Revolution and help what ever way he can...This is part 1 of his story so far...
As you can guess from the title I'm writing to you from Benghazi "Free Libya". I left Bristol about 20 days ago and flew to Cairo, ominously on a one way ticket. My plan was simple to join the Libyan Peoples Revolution and help what ever way I could (they don't like the words rebel or rebellion they call themselves 'revolutionaries')
My motives for joining are fairly anarcho-simple; join the revolution and help topple a dictator, an under equipped peoples militia against a totalitarian regime, a people sick of an underdeveloped neglected with a mega rich family ruling it from lavish palaces and in a small way for an adventure and excitement something you only seem to get in small amounts when it kicks off a riot or demo. I've been from Genoa to Copenhagen, Greece to Scotland and about half the European capitals in-between with the bloc and street medics in the last ten years, fighting for social change and not getting it. So when I looked at Libya and it ordinary people succeeding in liberating its second largest city (Benghazi) and then half the country there was no where else i wanted to be.
Getting there was the easy bit , I got an over night bus from Cairo to Saluum in the far West ($10) and a taxi the last 12 km to the border post. That was where it started to get real , there are about 250+ people living in the border complex carpark stuck in between Libya and Egypt all under plastic tents and tarps they are all migrant workers who left Libya when the fighting started none of them have money to go home or visas to enter Egypt. The guys I talked to were Ethiopian Christians who cant or wont go back to Ethiopia because of religious persecution they all like Libya and its people and want to go back there to live and work, apparently the money is quite good. Everyone at the border area were quite friendly, tents have been handed out,showers and toilets work (but they would remind you of ones at a squat party)
They jack free electricity off of lamp posts. The IOM (International Organisation of Migrants) hands food three times a day, the Red Cross register everyone and carry out health care clinics .But when I passed through some of the people had been there for two months with out a doubt they are still there right now. Couldn’t hardly keep from nervous laughter as I approached the Libyan side of the border, what exactly was I going to tell them? Beyond a passport I had nothing,no contacts in Libya, no one to meet me, no letter of introduction, no contract of employment. I decided at all costs not to lie because lies have a way of tripping you up later on . So I said I was a humanitarian volunteer hoping to imply that I was some sort of aid worker which I suppose I am. The production of an Irish passport seemed to calm them. They weren’t suspicious or hostile just mystified. They stamped my passport and wished me luck! So this is it, up till now it was all just theory, where to go? how to get in? Buying maps, packing bags, the torture of the two weeks notice I had to give at work. But I had done it, I got a lift to the next city Tobruk 180km away for $20. Sat in the front seat laughing , laughing at the mission ahead, laughing at the self doubt of the last three weeks, just happy to be doing it not thinking it.
I texted my main man in Bristol to keep him informed of what i was doing, before I left I bought two identical maps leaving one with him just so I would have some one in Bristol keeping an eye on me . Within 40km of the border vodafone reception gave up, that took the smile off my face.
I got dropped off at a posh hotel on the edge of Tobruk, it was going to get dark soon so I booked in ($80), big hotels are good for information , money exchange, fixers and interpretors .The next morning I changed Dollars to Dinar and got a taxi to Benghazi. Please note that there is no way to withdraw cash in this country no banks open, no cash machines working, Western Union has suspended all operations no one will accept credit or debit cards, if you don't have it in your pocket when you cross the border, your screwed.
I got to Benghazi after a 6 hour journey in a taxi, it cost me $105 which is about 3 times that of a bus but it went direct, saving me 10 hours travel time and it dropped me right to a hotel, bear in mind I have a 24 kilo rucksack (half of it is tools). He drops me at another posh hotel (my last) . This hotel is crawling with corporate media, satellite dishes on the lawn, journo only internet, Government press conference every two days etc.,I book in ($80) drop my bags and head into town to have a look around (and find a cheaper place to stay)....
(Image: Benghazi Media Centre) Original ArticleSolidarity actions to Simos Seisidis in London
12-05-2011 11:52
Cambridge Atos offices occupied
11-05-2011 23:20
Palestine Today 05 11 2011
11-05-2011 15:27
Anti Arms-Traders 'breach' parameter for Heckler and Koch picket
10-05-2011 19:57
Trident Ploughshares and Faslane Peace Camp Blockade Faslane
10-05-2011 19:55
Trident Ploughshares and Faslane Peace Camp Blockade Trident Base
Tuesday 10 May, 2011
Palestine Today 05 10 2011
10-05-2011 15:18
Radio Kebele! interview RAMONA AFRICA on the 26th anniversary of states's attack
10-05-2011 13:05
Protests against Office Angels and ATOS
10-05-2011 09:55
On Monday 9th May, a small group of Nottingham visited the offices of Office Angels and ATOS Healthcare. Organised by the local Anarchist Federation and supported by various individuals, the protests were both part of coordinated national actions.
Office Angels
Office Angels is a national recruitment agency. In March, the Solidarity Federation began supporting a former Office Angels temporary worker. Dan had worked for the company for three days in December last year. Despite being assured that the lack of a timesheet would "not be a problem," Office Angels have refused to pay him wages he is owed, claiming he only worked for one day, even though they called him at work on his third day.
The Solidarity Federation has held a number of pickets across London and the country, demanding that Dan be paid. As part of an escalation of this campaign, the called a national week of action against the company from 9th-15th May. They suggested that people picket branches, "make solidarity calls and emails to the branch he had been working for on Wednesday 11 May" and, as Office Angels is a subsidiary of Adecco, that their branches be picketed also.
Office Angels' Nottingham office (dubbed "Angel House") is located on Cheapside, essentially in the side of the Council House/The Exchange, on the side the tram runs. A small group of activists picketed it from 11am until just before 12 noon. We gave out a number of leaflets (attached below) to passers-by, but only one person came out of the office in the time we were there and nobody went in. A couple of pickets went in to try and speak with the staff who were completely disinterested.
A couple of coppers arrived to keep an eye on us, but didn't interfere. They stood in the sheltered walkway opposite the office, in front of Squares. Surprisingly they weren't wearing the usual yellow jackets, perhaps suggesting they didn't think we'd be moving on. When we left they didn't make any effort to follow us.
ATOS Healthcare
ATOS Healthcare, our second target, is a subsidiary of ATOS Origin who have just begun a £300 million contract for the government to carry out "work capability assessments" on everybody claiming Incapacity Benefit. While it is claimed that these assessments are intended to test what people can do rather than what they cannot, the real purpose is to take benefits from as many people as possible. Already, people with terminal illnesses and severe medical conditions have been declared fit for work and had their benefits cuts. Plans announced for scrapping the Disability Living Allowance, suggest that this testing is likely to be extended to anybody claiming some form of disability or health related benefit.
ATOS has previously been targetted as part of national days of action in defence of benefits on 24th January and 14th April. A full week of action was called by various organisations for 9th-15th May. In response, we picketed ATOS Healthcare's offices, located in "Price House", on Stoney Street in the Lace Market. Unfortunately, this is a fairly out of the way location, with few passers-by. It didn't help that we had apparently arrived during lunchtime, so there was nobody going into the office. Again, a couple of people went in to talk to staff, this time, finding only one person holding the fort.
It is clear that ATOS is a particularly deserving target. During our protests, one person came to talk to us about how they had been "screwed over" by the company who had fiddled the figures on their assessment to deny them benefits. They had won on appeal (as do 40% of appeals against the company's decisions), but were understandably angry. Another who supported people on benefits, expressed their gratitude that somebody was targeting the company, suggesting it was something they'd considered doing themselves.
Faslane nuclear base blockaded this morning
10-05-2011 09:13
Trident Ploughshares[1] and Faslane Peace Camp[2] jointly blockaded Faslane from 7am today, shutting down the Trident submarine base for two hours. Four members of Trident Ploughshares blocked the North Gate of the base while six Peace Campers blocked the South Gate by locking themselves together. Just four days after the Scottish elections the activists called for the anti-Trident SNP government to fulfil its commitments and demand immediate disarmament of Trident and a global ban on nuclear weapons.Met occupation evicted by Police midnight raid
10-05-2011 07:55
The entirely peaceful student occupation of the Graduate Centre on the Holloway Road was raided tonight by 16 thugs, including private security guards, 10 bailiffs, 4 police officers and only ONE London Met Security guard, John Hunt.
They forced entry to deliver a high court injunction at about 11.55pm, which was ordered against 5 named individuals and Persons Unknown. It required the defendants to cease their current trespass, or they would be in breach of court and “could be arrested or imprisoned”.
This was massively initmidating and directly victimises students who face transfer to other universities as a result of the cuts. Students were only given 10 minutes to read the order and to leave the premises. The management had got the police involved to intimidate the students and threaten them with arrest, despite this being a civil matter and should not even be on site. The police told the student to “pack up and go” or be arrested.The students had no time to prepare their defence, read the paperwork OR call lawyers. This is a disgrace and shows Malcolm Gillies (VC) is just as much of a thug as the sexist and racist individuals he has placed inside and outside the occupation, at an alleged cost of £35,000.
The eviction came as a surprise, as Malcolm Gillies had agreed to meet the students tomorrow morning at 9.30am to begin a dialogue about their futures. Clearly this was all false information and proves that his view of ‘consultation’ is that it is worthless. Tonight’s events illustrate how Gillies continues to cowardly refuse to communicate, even though his plans will devastate hundreds of lives.
Worried that they were about to be arrested, the students decided to leave the occupation peacefully, and now face having to find their ways home when public transport is closed.
The fight for our futures is now hanging in the balance. Please join us for a mass lobby of the Board of Governors on Wednesday at 4.30pm in Moorgate, to make a public protest to save London Met, and call for the resignation of Malcolm Gillies. This is disgraceful behaviour and such actions by Management should not be acceptable in a University environment.
http://wearelondonmet.wordpress.com/
Squirrels now advocating direct action
09-05-2011 23:14
Palestine Today 05 09 2011
09-05-2011 15:41
Review: Whatever happened to the anti-globalisation movement
09-05-2011 13:08
My account of Sunday's film screening in OARC - the Oxford Activist Resource Centre.Silent protest against Witney youth centre closure
07-05-2011 19:38
Birmingham: May Day International Worker's day
07-05-2011 19:11
May Day celebrates International Workers Day and is marked traditionally when the Trade Union Movement gathers with the community to celebrate our achievements and to commit ourselves to achieving economic and social justice for all.
Birmingham TUC worked together with Birmingham Against the Cuts and invited trades unionists, students and the public to join this demonstration to stop the cuts and fight for an alternative based on our needs, not bankers greed!
DPAC was there with our stall and banner at the start at St Philips Cathedral – we were to march through part of the city centre to Victoria Sq where there were speeches. I joined Matt, Linda and Paul there to hand out leaflets and chat to the people there. It was a lively crowd and people seemed genuinely interested to stop and chat and to take up handouts. There was a UKuncut group dressed up in white body suits with black tipped markings – they said the body stockings were what the UKuncut people (Fortnum and Mason Solidarity Bloc) had to wear after the Fortnum and Mason event in London, 26th march. Next to our stall was the Confronting Anti Muslim Hatred stall. There was also an anti war stall.