P1281256 DPAC UKUncut (Lo Res)
Around two hundred activists from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), Disabled Activists Network (DAN), WinVisible and anti-corporate tax-avoidance campaigners UK Uncut joined forces on 28.01.2012 to carry out a demonstration and acts of civil disobedience to protest against the ongoing savage cuts being made to disability benefits by the Coalition Government led by Old Etonian, ex-Bullingdon Club member and ex-PR man, prime minister David Cameron, who has overseen a concerted public attack on the weakest, most vulnerable members of British society - the sick, the disabled and the dying - who are seeing the welfare benefits they depend on to survive slashed at the same time as they have been publicly demonised and branded work-shy scroungers by a compliant right-wing press, in order to slash the welfare budget, which is the Cameron government's only solution to the economic shockwaves caused by the banking crisis of 2008.
Congregating first in Holborn Circus by organizers, the activists (many of whom were in wheelchairs, had guide dogs, or were accompanied by their Carers and Buddies), who had earlier been instructed to arrive with a valid Oyster travel card - were entertained by a samba drum troupe. Suddenly the signal was ,given, and everyone (except the wheelchair-users, who had to find other transport because of the woefully abysmal provision for the disabled on 90% of the Victorian rail system) entered Holborn Underground Station en-masse to reappear at their top-secret destination two short stops away - the large, busy junction of Oxford Street and Regent Street, where they proceeded to spill onto the new Tokyo-style pedestrian crossing before completely blocking all traffic from the North by chaining their wheelchairs together across the road, anchored at each end to the wrought-iron railings at the entrances to the Underground station.
Police looked on, almost powerless to act without being seen to physically manhandle many severely disabled people, and it's very doubtful if they have provision to load electric wheelchairs into police carriers and hold them in custody suites without a huge public relations disaster, so instead they sensibly adopted a pastoral role, doing what they could to keep the peaceful-but-very-vocal protesters safe for the three hours their act of civil disobedience lasted, after which they all calmly dissapated, vanishing back into the underground system and home for a well-earned rest after a triumphant protest.
This is the first time that Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) have had any significant support on one of their direct actions, and being joined by the extremely effective corporate tax-avoidance protesters from UK Uncut was a fantastic morale boost for the battle-hardened disabled activists. For well over a year DPAC has been fighting back against David Cameron's swingeing "austerity" cuts to the welfare budget, especially to provision for the disabled, which are only hurting the most vulnerable in our society. It seems as if the message is finally getting through to other single-issue protest groups that everything is related to everything else. Taking Disability Living Allowance from half a million disabled people, making them homeless and destitue with their considerable physical and/or mental health complications may save the Department of Work and Pensions' annual budget, but the burden of caring for all these people will now fall to local councils, already chronically stretched by huge government cuts to their budgets - and it is widely understood by everyone that it is much, much cheaper to keep a disabled person living independently with State help than it is to reinstate the Victorian Institutions and Hospitals, which past campaigners fought so hard for so long to abolish because of the inherent cruelty in institutionalising the disabled who previously had independent lives and employment but can no longer get to work because the Conservative government has taken away their mobility allowances...
All photos © 2012 Pete Riches
Do not reproduce, alter or reblog my images without my written permission.
Hi-Res versions of these files are available for license on application. NUJ rates apply.
P1281256 DPAC UKUncut (Lo Res)
Around two hundred activists from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), Disabled Activists Network (DAN), WinVisible and anti-corporate tax-avoidance campaigners UK Uncut joined forces on 28.01.2012 to carry out a demonstration and acts of civil disobedience to protest against the ongoing savage cuts being made to disability benefits by the Coalition Government led by Old Etonian, ex-Bullingdon Club member and ex-PR man, prime minister David Cameron, who has overseen a concerted public attack on the weakest, most vulnerable members of British society - the sick, the disabled and the dying - who are seeing the welfare benefits they depend on to survive slashed at the same time as they have been publicly demonised and branded work-shy scroungers by a compliant right-wing press, in order to slash the welfare budget, which is the Cameron government's only solution to the economic shockwaves caused by the banking crisis of 2008.
Congregating first in Holborn Circus by organizers, the activists (many of whom were in wheelchairs, had guide dogs, or were accompanied by their Carers and Buddies), who had earlier been instructed to arrive with a valid Oyster travel card - were entertained by a samba drum troupe. Suddenly the signal was ,given, and everyone (except the wheelchair-users, who had to find other transport because of the woefully abysmal provision for the disabled on 90% of the Victorian rail system) entered Holborn Underground Station en-masse to reappear at their top-secret destination two short stops away - the large, busy junction of Oxford Street and Regent Street, where they proceeded to spill onto the new Tokyo-style pedestrian crossing before completely blocking all traffic from the North by chaining their wheelchairs together across the road, anchored at each end to the wrought-iron railings at the entrances to the Underground station.
Police looked on, almost powerless to act without being seen to physically manhandle many severely disabled people, and it's very doubtful if they have provision to load electric wheelchairs into police carriers and hold them in custody suites without a huge public relations disaster, so instead they sensibly adopted a pastoral role, doing what they could to keep the peaceful-but-very-vocal protesters safe for the three hours their act of civil disobedience lasted, after which they all calmly dissapated, vanishing back into the underground system and home for a well-earned rest after a triumphant protest.
This is the first time that Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) have had any significant support on one of their direct actions, and being joined by the extremely effective corporate tax-avoidance protesters from UK Uncut was a fantastic morale boost for the battle-hardened disabled activists. For well over a year DPAC has been fighting back against David Cameron's swingeing "austerity" cuts to the welfare budget, especially to provision for the disabled, which are only hurting the most vulnerable in our society. It seems as if the message is finally getting through to other single-issue protest groups that everything is related to everything else. Taking Disability Living Allowance from half a million disabled people, making them homeless and destitue with their considerable physical and/or mental health complications may save the Department of Work and Pensions' annual budget, but the burden of caring for all these people will now fall to local councils, already chronically stretched by huge government cuts to their budgets - and it is widely understood by everyone that it is much, much cheaper to keep a disabled person living independently with State help than it is to reinstate the Victorian Institutions and Hospitals, which past campaigners fought so hard for so long to abolish because of the inherent cruelty in institutionalising the disabled who previously had independent lives and employment but can no longer get to work because the Conservative government has taken away their mobility allowances...
All photos © 2012 Pete Riches
Do not reproduce, alter or reblog my images without my written permission.
Hi-Res versions of these files are available for license on application. NUJ rates apply.