Hyde Park Speech 18 October 2014

"Hello Comrades, I’m Seán McGovern of Unite the Union and the TUC General Council

Comrades, the speech I originally had planned for today was a scathing attack on this government.

It spoke of the endemic rottenness that permeates through ConDem policies.

Their attacks on disabled people through:

·       the Work Capability Assessment,

·       benefits cap,

·       benefits sanctions

·       bedroom tax,

·       and ending of the ILF.

And of course Lord Freud’s that we’re only worth £2 per hour comment.

But, why I thought?

What’s the point in stating the obvious that Tories are the nasty Party?

That the LibDems sold their principles for power.

No, today’s message has to be aimed at a future Labour government.

Here is my message to that Labour government.

Drop your agenda for austerity.

It hasn’t worked so far for this mob.

Stop the cuts in disabled peoples’ benefits and services.

Instead introduce progressive policies.

Bring in disability assessments that are transparent and fair.

Assessments that address the needs of the person.

Not the balance sheet.

If people cannot work due to disability, don’t hound them.

Bring an end to repeat assessments.

For those who can work, help them into sustainable and meaningful employment.

Prosecute employers who discriminate against disabled job seekers.

Introduce an access into work scheme for disabled people.

Disabled job seekers have the same support needs as disabled workers.

Make entry to Access to Work easier.

Stop the decline in the Access to Work scheme.

Plough greater resources into Access to Work.

Properly organised this scheme is a money spinner for the Treasury.

End the vicious sanctioning of benefits.

Make the Personal Independence Payment fit for purpose.

Scrap the unrealistic 20 m ruling from PIP.

Labour, bring back fairness into social care.

Properly resource the services.

Cease the social care postcode lottery.

Make social care packages portable.

Thousands of disabled people with complex care needs depend on the Independent Living Fund.

Stop the closure of ILF.

And finally Labour.

Put an end to government complicity in the demonization and vilification of disabled people via the scum press and media!

Finally Comrades after this demo make your way to Parliament Square to join DPAC in the democracy camp!"

A Freudseye view of the world

Referring to Lord Freud’s disgraceful comments on the worth of disabled people one Facebook user believes that disabled people should be willing to sell their labour for whatever the market offers. Apparently starvation wages are better than no wages at all.

“His language was totally inappropriate, but the underlying point mustn't be lost by shrill PC activists - we could work for less rather than not at all!”

 

Lord Freud feels some disabled people are worth only £2 an hour 

More importantly here we have a man charged by the government to oversee the reform of the welfare system who harbours views shared by Nazis and supporters of euthanasia.

How exactly can we work for less? Should we set our sights so low that we remain forever on our knees? Our dreams; our aspirations. Don’t these count for anything? Why should we surrender to a fate dictated to us by unfeeling people who seek only to profit from others? People whose view of the world is distorted by balance sheets. People who judge us to be worthless because we are viewed as unproductive and a drain on resources. Worthless because we are unable to jump through the hoops they design; or surmount the unclimbable barriers they erect to keep us on our knees.

Personally I say fuck the attitude that would value me less than my worth as a worker and a human being. I say fuck the views of a man born into privilege who has not known want; who has not gone hungry. And I say fuck the defeatism of ‘some crumbs are better than no crumbs’; the kind of mind-set that accepts the myth that we’re all in this together.

Boris Johnson is a nasty Tory...the avuncular image is a front

Why are we calling the privileged vicious neo-lib Johnson 'BoJo', or even Boris? All this does is add to the chummy matey image he has cultivated for himself. Such familiarity, especially the chirpy 'BoJo', lends a sense of Johnson being one of the crowd, someone who's approachable, a man of the people.

Yes, Johnson does have a personality; for that matter you’ll probably find shit-house rats who have personality. He is also charismatic; but then so were Rasputin and Hitler. He undoubtedly has a sense of humour; as did Bernard Manning and Jim Davidson.

Come on people let’s expose Johnson for what he is, a racist misogynist who is not too fussy about setting violent thugs onto his enemies. We should tear down the genial façade he has erected to cover his nastiness; rip off the mask of the ditzy funny man he wears, and expose the bare bones of the repugnant Tory bastard he really is.