Two Nottingham residents, a wheelchair user and a retired paediatric nurse, dubbed the ‘Atos Two’, have been charged with aggravated trespass following a protest at the local offices of Atos ‘Healthcare’. They will stand trial at Nottingham Magistrates Court on February 27th and 28th. [See update below.]

Atos plays a crucial role in the government’s attack on people with disabilities as the company administers the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), a contract worth £100m a year. The WCA is specifically designed to force people onto Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) regardless of the claimants’ physical and/or psychological abilities.

These tests are part of the latest attempt to distinguish between a mass of ‘idle’ and a few ‘deserving’ poor. Whereas the former are demonised, the provision of alms for the latter is used to maintain the guise that capitalist regimes can be ‘progressive’ (a term that really needs to be reclaimed from Clegg) and caring systems of social relations.

Atos’ implementation of the WCAs resulted in the company also becoming a target of widespread criticism from beyond the radical community. Campaigners have e.g. repeatedly referred to the substantial success rate of appeals against Atos’ decisions. A report by the BBC Inside Out ‘found that of the 146,200 appeals that have been heard to date, 56,500 (more than a third), have been upheld in favour of the claimant’[1].

Furthermore the professionalism of those conducting the assessments has been repeatedly questioned. The Guardian reported in August that twelve doctors employed by Atos were ‘under investigation by the General Medical Council over allegations of improper conduct’ [2].

With Atos being such a particularly disgusting part of the modern British ‘welfare’ system, there have been a number of protests against the companies’ offices all over the country. The protest in Nottingham was not unusual in having been not only entirely peaceful, but also extremely (one might say far too) polite.

The rather ham-fisted reaction by the local police, until now better known for their frequent blunders and blatant incompetence rather than a particular urge to repress peaceful protests, as well as the CPS’s decision to charge the Atos Two have been received with astonishment. The prosecution is widely seen as politically motivated, a perspective only underlined by one of the arresting copper’s admission that ‘there’s been too much of this sort of thing going on and we’ve been told to crack down on it.’

The case of the Atos Two is indeed not an isolated one. The offence of aggravated trespass was introduced in the 1990s in response to the successes of hunt saboteurs and road protesters. It is frequently used against activists to deter people from engaging in acts of protest and civil disobedience. Recent examples include the cases against activists who went into Fortnum & Masons or Panton House.

All of these protests were using forms of direct action that are usually accepted within western representative democracies unless a certain line of annoyance is crossed. After the wave of direct action by UK Uncut and others in Nottingham and across the country over the last year this is apparently now the case.

‘Total policing’ does not only entail total surveillance and the increasing armament of the repressive apparatus, be it with Tasers, water cannons or rubber (and live) bullets. It also entails the repression of anything perceived to be putting a spanner in the efforts to maximise the accumulation of capital, however small that act of direct or indirect sabotage may be.

The ‘Atos Two’ have been supported by an impressive solidarity campaign. At their first court hearing there was a solidarity demo of around 40 people outside, despite it being early morning on a workday. A further protest is planned for the first day of the trial, as well as a demonstration on February 3rd with a number of other activities in the pipeline.

Their case shows that fluffy protesting is as liable to repression as more radical forms of direct action. As one of the solidarity messages sent to the ‘Atos Two’ noted, it is an example of ‘the ruling classes cracking the whip’. But the solidarity shown towards the defendants from within and outside the radical community as well as the wave of demonstrations and direct action against the imposition of “austerity” in the UK show that the attacks by the ruling classes can be – and are being – resisted. If anything, an increase in repression can often be a sign that resistance is beginning to work. We just need to keep pushing.

For updates on the ‘Atos Two’ please follow http://twitter.com/nottsdefence
Email: nottsdefence@riseup.net

*** UPDATE: The charges of the Atos Two were unexpectedly dropped by the CPS on January 13th apparently “complainant no longer supports the prosecution”. The ‘Atos Two’ have asked us to express their gratitude to everyone who has supported them over the last few months and let you know that you’re all fantastic! Check the campaign website for details of further actions against Atos: https://network23.org/nottsdefence/2012/01/13/atos-two-charges-dropped/

Article originally appeared in freedom newspaper: http://www.freedompress.org.uk/news/2012/01/26/cracking-the-whip-%E2%80%93-case-against-the-%E2%80%98atos-two%E2%80%99/