2021 | >Re-PHOTO

DPAC End Week of Protest Against Atos

DPAC End Week of Protest Against Atos: In August 2012 Disabled People Against the Cuts and UK Uncut organised the week of action as a protest against the sick spectacle of Atos, the company who pressures its staff to unfairly declare disabled people ‘fit for work’ so as to increase its profits and meet government targets, bathing in the glory of sponsoring the Paralympic games. The week ended with two protests on Friday 31st August.

Closing Atos Ceremony – Triton Square

Protests earlier in the week had included a spoof Paralympic opening ceremony next to Tower Bridge, then decorated with a giant paralympic symbol hanging from its upper level, a vigil at Westminster and a memorial service outside the Atos head office to remember the people who have lost their lives at the hands of Atos Healthcare. There had been protests too in other cities – with 40 protesters as corpses in the road stopping traffic, and at the actual Paralympic opening many of the contestants covered up the Atos name on their lanyards as a protest against their involvement as sponsors.

Among those protesting earlier in the week was Tara Flood, a former Paralympian who represented GB at three Paralympic games and whose gold-medal winning time at the 1992 Barcelona games remains a world record. She reflected the feeling of many disabled people when she stated: “It is a shocking irony that Atos is a main sponsor of London 2012 whilst destroying disabled people’s lives on behalf of the government.”

Over 500 came to Atos’s offices in Triton Square for a peaceful protest at the end of the week on Friday 31st August 2012. It had a festival atmosphere, with music and dancing, poppers, brightly coloured plastic water pistols and some fancy dress along the the usual banners and placards, but there was no mistaking the anger against Atos, evident in the slogans on the placards and chants of ‘Atos Kills!’

The target-driven computer-based work capability assessments delivered by Atos cause extreme hardship and misery to many disabled – and death to some. Last year 1,100 claimants died after Atos tests placed them on compulsory work-related activity to gain benefits, and others found ‘fit for work’ and so left without income have committed or attempted suicide.

Among conditions that Atos tests have found to have no bearing on fitness for work have been fatal heart conditions, terminal breast and kidney cancer and severe MS.

In one long street theatre performance disabled people who truly wanted to be freed of their disabilities were urged by ‘Atos’s own Reverend’ to come forward and go through the ‘Atos Miracle Cure’ archway, and several, mainly in wheelchairs, did so. Nothing seemed to happen to them, and they were disappointed, even after the ‘Rev’ had blessed them and patted them on the head, but then an ‘Atos doctor’ in a white coat came to assess them, and lo! she gave them each a certificate that they were now fit to work, and, even more miraculous, a job. But it was all a con!

By the time the ceremony ended I had left and was making my way to the Department of Work and Pensions offices, Caxton House, in Westminster, having been tipped off that disabled activists had entered and occupied them.

More at Closing Atos Ceremony.

DPAC Occupy Dept of Work & Pensions – Westminster

Traffic was heavy in London – I should have taken the tube. By the time I arrived there were around 20 or so protesters outside with banners in front of the entrance. Behind them were a block of around a dozen police in several rows in the fairly narrow outer lobby, and behind them I could see more police and a few protesters.

Shortly after me more arrived from the event outside the Atos offices, including quite a few in wheelchairs and formed a fairly large crowd, spilling out into the street.

Adam Lotun and spoke briefly about the reasons for the week of actions against Atos and announcing the struggle would continue and as a part of that he would be standing in the Corby by-election.

A few late arrivals tried to push past the police to join those already in the building, but as well as police there were people in wheelchairs and the media in their way and they had little chance of success. The situation became rather confused, but soon police reinforcements arrived and pushed the crowd back a few yards away from the doorway.

Happy New YEAR? We Can Hope

London, UK. 1st May 2021. Several thousands held a rally in Trafalgar Square before marching past the Ministries of Justice, DWP and Education to the Home Office against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which will ban effective protests, criminalising many and create new offences with heavy sentences, discriminating against Gypsy, Roma and Travellers and expanding racist stop and search powers. Peter Marshall

Happy New YEAR? We Can Hope. We can only hope 2022 will be a better year than 2021, though despite everything I found plenty to enjoy in the last year. But I’m not making any resolutions, other than to try and keep going as best I can.

Some Thoughts on 2021

The first few months, still under lockdown and largely isolating at home were dull. When a trip to the dentists is the highlight of your week you know there is something seriously wrong.

But the vaccinations – my first at the end of January and the second in mid-April – were very welcome. I’ve no sympathy for those who refused them, their arguments are entirely specious – like those for not wearing masks – apart from a very small group with genuine medical reasons.

I was fortunate not to have more than a little soreness from the needle for the day or two after the injection. Though I was rather disappointed when a few weeks later a lateral flow blood test for antibodies gave a negative result, though these tests are apparently even less reliable than those for Covid – where I’ve been pleased so far to always get a negative.

But a couple of weeks after the second dose I felt confident enough – despite my advanced years and diabetes – to go up to London rather than miss another May Day. Although the official May Day March was cancelled there was a large protest taking place. The pictures here are all from that day.

Of course I wore a mask – as did many of those in the protest against the Tory bill attempting to seriously limit our rights to protest also did, even though we were out of doors. It did after all get quite crowded on the streets. Even some of the police wore masks.

It was good then and on later days when I went up to London to meet many I’d not seen for over a year, though sad to remember there are some I won’t see again, largely victims of the Boris Johnson’s failures to bring in effective measures in time.

As the year went on I continued making occasional visits to London to photograph events, though many were still cancelled. I decided also to cut down on the number of events I attended, concentrating on those I felt more strongly about that were taking place on Saturdays, seldom covering things during the week. And although I’ve not posted these on my own web site, pictures are available on Alamy. You can go to my Alamy portfolio page to see them all.

I also began occasionally meeting socially with family and a few friends – though still rather cautiously and keeping in mind the need to avoid too much risk. We kept mainly outdoors and mainly ate in near-empty pubs.

But then came Omicron, since when things for me have rather closed down again, even though I got my booster early. We had Christmas and Boxing Day meals with only two of our immediate family and I’ve again stopped going to London.

On the plus side, the hiatus since early March 2019 has given me the time to get to grips with digitising and posting online many photographs from my early years – now almost to the end of 1992 with the black and white work. Now I have over 18,000 images on-line in albums on Flickr, mainly black and white images of London – but also Hull and Paris and a few other places, and some in colour.

So far those images have generated over 4.5 million views and a considerable amount of feedback, though rather to my surprise much of this has been about the cars on the streets in some pictures rather than the buildings or people I was photographing.

I think though I’ve not checked that I’ve also managed to put a post here on >Re:PHOTO for every day in 2021, something I can’t promise to do for 2022. It takes up quite bit of my time, though it helps that I can write the posts a day or two in advance and schedule them to be posted.

There are no adverts on this site and it receives no sponsorship, and I like to keep it that way. But it does take a considerable amount of my time and thought, and if you enjoy reading it, please share on social media.
And small donations via Paypal – perhaps the cost of a beer – would be appreciated.

No to the Crook, the Toff, The Fascist or Cop

*Protesters kettled outside City Hall as the Mayoral election results announced in 2008*

London’s electors in a few days time will be faced with a rather bewildering array of candidates, with 20 names appearing on the ballot paper.

*Ian Bone of Class War and banner ‘No to the Crook, the Toff, The Fascist or Cop’* 2008

Current mayor Sadiq Khan is hoping for re-election and his chances are probably good and he has enjoyed a good lead in opinion polls with a roughly 20-25% lead over his nearest rival, the Conservative Shaun Bailey. He could even get the 50% needed to win on the first preference votes and is likely to end up with over 60% when second preferences are included.

*Anarchists raise the anti-fascist banner at City Hall* 2008

Bailey, like Conservatives standing in the various elections around the country, is rather likely to pick up votes because of the success of the Covid vaccination rollout, a rather unfair consequence as it was Tory incompetence that really got us into the huge mess – with bodies piling up in mortuaries if not on the streets, and the NHS, which they have been doing their best to privatise out of existence over the years, which got ahead and got on with the jabs – and fortunately the government, having perhaps learnt a little from the test and trace debacle, let them get on with it rather than giving jobs to their mates.

It’s a slightly unusual voting system, with the second round of counting including only the two leading candidates. But it does mean that if you are a Khan supporter you could safely vote for any other candidate than Bailey as first preference, knowing that you second preference for Khan would count for him in the end.

*Fitwatch hold their banner in front of the police photographer 2008*

Opinion polls suggest that on this basis YouTuber Niko Omilana might come out third on the first preference votes, well above either the Green Party’s Sian Berry or Lib Dem Luisa Porritt, either of whom would clearly make rather better mayors than him.

*Police TSG arrive to clear the area. 2008*

The 15 other candidates seem unlikely to gain much benefit from the voting system and will almost certainly all lose their £10,000 deposit. They cover a wide range from various fringe parties, serious single-issue candidates to various more or less entertaining idiots such as Count Binface. Even at odds of 800 to 1 it isn’t worth betting on him.

*Police arrest a man who had been sitting quietly by the river*

Back in 2008 there were fewer candidates, but it was sadder times as London was announcing the election of its worst mayor yet, though at least he did continue some of the previous incumbent’s policies, and some of the advisers he employed were competent. But the years Johnson was mayor were something of a disaster for Greater London – which he has gone on to repeat for the country as a whole.

Some of the protesters were surrounded and held for several hours

The ‘No to the Crook, the Toff, The Fascist or Cop’ protest by anarchists had its moments of farce, beginning with the police photographer taking an unusual interest in me as I sat reading a paperback. I just happened to be in the middle of John Updike’s ‘Terrorist’ at the time. Although I clearly watched him taking pictures, when I later made a freedom of information request about this an other occasions I’ve been photographed, the answer came back that there were no pictures of me.

*Others had escaped as police moved in and showed the banner from a balcony before going to the pub*

You can read more about what happened and see more pictures on My London Diary:
No to the Crook, the Toff, The Fascist or Cop

All photographs on this and my other sites, unless otherwise stated, are taken by and copyright of Peter Marshall, and are available for reproduction or can be bought as prints.