The Red Pepper round-up: 7 September
7 September 2012: Red Pepper’s weekly round-up of the left around the web, with Izzy Koksal
Here we’ll collect the best articles and videos relating to lefty politics and action. George Osborne getting booed at the Paralympics seems a good place to start.
It was the latest sign of disabled people's anger at the government. Last Friday, Disabled People Against the Cuts and UK Uncut targeted both Atos HQ and the DWP in protest against welfare cuts. The DWP was occupied by disabled activists and supporters who locked themselves on inside and remained there for two hours. Watch a video of the actions here featuring a personal story of what disability cuts mean for disabled people’s daily lives.
It’s not just Atos’ sponsorship of the Paralympics that is massively insulting – Robert Jones’ article argues that the Paralympics itself places unfair and unrealistic expectations on disabled people who are expected to reach the feats of elite athletes. Whilst disabled people face brutal cuts to their benefits, the Paralympics further distorts our understanding of disability.
This Monday, Remploy workers in Glasgow and Chesterfield launched a five-day strike to save their jobs from the government’s cuts.
In yet another move that will greatly exacerbate the present housing crisis, the government’s law to criminalise squatting in residential properties came into force on 1 September. In Brighton, the first eviction under this new law to criminalise the homeless was met with resistance as squatters superglued themselves together in an attic with others occupying the roof.
Also in Brighton, those police liaison officers have been overstepping the line yet again – while you may have thought the PLOs restricted themselves to trying to befriend you on protests, it turns out that they might actually rock up on your doorstep, as one Brighton UK Uncut activist discovered.
And also at the Guardian, if you missed it, Ellie Mae’s beautiful article on the need for a politics beyond work is well worth reading.
Finally, in case you’ve given up following Parliamentary politics this furious piece from the Fleet Street Fox tells you everything you need to know about this week's cabinet reshuffle.
Upcoming actions
This Saturday (tomorrow!) the Boycott Workfare network is holding a UK-wide day of action against charities involved in workfare. Actions will be taking place in Bradford, Brighton, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, and London to put pressure on charities to withdraw from the government’s workfare schemes which force unemployed people to work for their benefits. Find your local action here.
Friern Barnet library will reopen this Saturday after campaigners squatted the library in the early hours of Wednesday morning after it was closed by the council back in April. Opening hours will be from 11am-3pm.
A new party of the left comes one step closer Salman Shaheen of Left Unity, the group supporting Ken Loach’s call for a new left party in Britain, reports from its first national meeting
Diary of a ‘wannabe MP’: local elections, UKIP and the left Davy Jones is Green Party parliamentary candidate for Brighton Kemptown at the next general election and a member of Red Pepper’s board. This is the second of a series of regular blogs on his campaign
South Africa’s poor resist home attacks Amid Britain's decision to cut aid for South Africa by 2015, Caroline Elliot hears from poor shack dwellers who vow to resist the destruction of their homes.
Open House begins this weekend in London A nine-day event bringing together people facing the housing crisis across London to organise and take action around our collective housing needs
Call to protect Colombian human rights defender On 10 October 2012, a man pushed a gun into the chest of Alfamir Castillo and told her that both she and her lawyer were going to die.
Beyond the Fragments is more than history The book was part of challenging the left's methods of organisation, writes Alice Robson - and that struggle continues today as it is republished
Meet Red Pepper’s new co-editor, Michelle Zellers Michelle Zellers introduces herself, her reasons for wanting to be part of Red Pepper and her hopes for its future
Bedroom tax: Lessons in morality from Iain Duncan Smith Kara Moses reflects on the experience of protesting at the Tory minister’s mansion – and offers a glimpse of the luxury he enjoys while lecturing us about ‘fairness’
Reviewing the NHS – speaking ill of the dead Junior doctor Paul Teed says patient satisfaction surveys give an illusion of ‘choice’ in the NHS – but bad reviews don’t create more capacity or employ more staff
We need to challenge the myths that poison attempts at progressive change Hilary Wainwright introduces the first in a series of mythbusters produced by Class, in collaboration with Red Pepper.
The Brighton pay dispute: the union view GMB union organiser Rob Macey puts the workers' side of the argument
The pay dispute at Brighton council: a Green view Davy Jones, Green Party parliamentary candidate for Brighton Kemptown, gives his view of a dispute that has caused huge debate among Green Party members in the city and across the country
Jeremy Hardy thinks… about the right to exist 'We’d all say a person has a right to a home, but we wouldn’t say their home has rights.'
Back to the fragments Lynne Segal, one of the authors of the seminal 1979 socialist-feminist text Beyond the Fragments, reflects on its lessons for today
Turkey: A people imprisoned Once seen as a moderate party, the AKP government in Turkey is using anti-terrorism legislation to unleash a wave of repression against the left and the Kurdish movement. Tim Baster and Isabelle Merminod spoke to activists in the country
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