Stuff the DWP! (doesn’t want you to know)
Full text for a flyer I wrote re our basic rights on Universal Credit. Please use this as a tool for organising and to help people on benefits (please let me know when you use it! I need the encouragement to keep writing!). This was all correct and checked as of 2022, but nothing has […]
Class and Oppression – an injury to one is an injury to all!
Most people face other kinds of exploitation than just class. For example women get paid less, and do far more unpaid work as well. [1][2] Black people are often “last hired, first fired” and face racist bullying and harassment at work. [3] This isn’t just about prejudice or people being mean. It’s economic – some […]
Working Class Direct Action (how we fight the class war)
Direct action is about forcing things to change. We make it too expensive for bosses and landlords to refuse our demands. It works because they are in it to make a profit. Hit that profit, and you have them on the ropes. How do we actually do it? There’ll be a list of tactics in […]
Stealth Cuts to Trans Healthcare in Plymouth
We have recently learned of cuts to transgender healthcare in Plymouth. There has been no public announcement. No consultation. Public questions to the responsible “Integrated Care Board” [1][4] have not been answered. But we’ve seen a letter [2] confirming local GPs are no longer allowed to perform blood tests or offer prescriptions for Hormone Replacement […]
We Fought NHS Cuts to ADHD and Autism Services… and we WON
In 2018 Livewell Southwest, the private company who run mental health services in Plymouth, stopped ALL assessments for adult ADHD and autism. There was no announcement, and the Devon Clinical Commissioning Group helped to cover it up – ignoring questions and refusing Freedom of Information requests. However, in October last year, we finally beat them! […]
ADHD, Capitalism, and Disability Activism
It seems like every couple months, the ADHD community on twitter has another phase debating capitalism and ADHD. How many of our problems are caused by capitalism, and how many are just a medical condition that will never go away? This tends to end badly, with polarisation and over-simplification on all sides. But if we […]
An attack on benefit claimants is an attack on ALL of us!
“I would have quit this job months ago, but I’d be sanctioned by the Jobcentre”. That’s what one person told me after working unpaid overtime every evening that week, on low pay that barely covered bills and rent. It’s a dilemma faced by everyone working in unsafe or illegal conditions. If you are fired then […]
Initiative, Reaction and the Class War (pt1)
What is Initiative? Something happened at work and everyone’s pissed off. People would probably join in if there was a strike, or at least a joint complaint. But nobody does anything. People grumble to each other in ones and twos but that’s all it is – no-one knows how to initiate action. How many of […]
HOW we win, not just WHAT we win
Back in 2015 I’d not had much experience of organising, and I worked in an industry where it’s rare for people to be unionised (IT). But I did win some small victories at my old workplace (mostly thanks to my union’s workplace organiser training) and like they say, the best way to learn is by […]