I went to a food bank today for the first time in my life. I didn’t expect much, it’s charity after-all.
They gave me 2 big carrier bags - I couldn’t stop thanking them and carted them home.
When I opened them at home I noticed chocolate. I cried…cos I hadn’t even thought of buying myself chocolate in months cos it seemed so frivolous. But they put some chocolate in. It was so kind. 🥲
There’s so much suffering out there. It can happen to anyone. I founded and ran two companies in my 20s. High flying career and was making £50 at my last job in tech.
All fell apart 2 years ago. Been struggling to piece my life together ever since.
@Fudoshin@DessertStorms I'm involved with a local food bank, and when we have little extras like that or flowers to give out, it really makes our day too!
@Fudoshin@DessertStorms@Tooden this reflects my experience of needing a food bank for a while last year. They even did their best to accommodate dietary needs.
@Fudoshin@DessertStorms
I volunteer with a London charity that provides food to Foodbanks. We get food from farmers, high end restaurants, supermarkets etc. It very good quality and we are mindful when we pick orders from foodbanks, schools, play centres and hubs that we are picking for individuals, children and families . Of course we add in sweet treats xxx
@Fudoshin@DessertStorms My roommate and I will be visiting a food bank for the first time in our lives, this week, too. I was fired right before Xmas, and my UI hasn't kicked in yet, so I suggested we go and try to get some frozen veggies and some chicken or something. I'm celiac so I doubt they'll have much in the way of dedicated gluten-free, but if they have something we'll be grateful.
@Fudoshin every few months we are usually back at ours. We try to go as little as possible. Sweetest people, when I was younger and a dependent I volunteered there. It sucks but I am glad they have the same mission and have stuck to it so well all these years.
I had to go to a food bank once. Because I have dietary issues they gave me a Tesco voucher, everyone was so kind. It was a really humbling experience but not an awful one.
I’m doing much better these days and you will be soon too.
I'm sorry to hear you've been having a hard time but glad you were able to get some support and compassion locally.
We shouldn't need food banks, but their existence is proof that communities will look out for each other with or without central government telling them to or even funding them, and while they represent a failure of our current system, I also see them as representing hope for what a future could look like without outside of a for-profit existence.
But even (or especially) when you feel like it won't happen to you, you should be kind to others and help them. Helping each other doesn't have to be reciprocating.
@Fudoshin@DessertStorms
I understand the way you feel about the chocolate. I’ve been using commodities program all year; I too once had money, was ‘middle class’ & how delighted I was they included a cake in Dec. commodities. This month it’s mostly potatoes and nuts. I did get 2 dz eggs a and 8 grapefruits too. And a sack of 60 lbs of potatoes, 11 lbs. of walnuts, 6 lbs of almonds & 4 lbs of raisins.if I didn’t have dried beans left over from before I’d be living on trail mix .
@Fudoshin@DessertStorms May brighter days be timely. So many of us have needed that core generosity at one time or another, we were gifted shoes and wardrobes and a pantry from the Salvation Army after Hurricane Irene in Vermont USA, I kept walking around trying not to show I was crying by hiding in the clothes racks. Best of luck.
@Fudoshin
When I drove a "food rescue van" for a local food pantry collecting birthday cakes from the grocery stores' bakeries was the height of my day. People who shopped at the pantry were registered; when they checked in volunteers checked for kids with birthdays coming soon & notified the volunteers assisting shoppers to give them a cake.
I sometimes hung around to watch the faces as folks left with them. There was almost at least one every day. I sometimes got 4 or 5 cakes on a trip.
Rather than try to take away ballot options that would better represent the interests of the American public, perhaps the Democratic Party should focus on passing legislation that would actually help struggling people such as a universal single payer healthcare program or guaranteed housing.
I love when people act like the Democrats have unilateral control over all 3 branches of Government and just gloss over how the party that controls the Courts dismantles Obamacare at every opportunity, and the same party that controls the House and will refuse to pass bills that even they like because of the chance it might make Biden look good.
Sadly, both major political parties in America are fully beholden to the corporate interests which fund the political system.
Of course, topping it off with a little “both sides”.
“I hear from disabled people about the slow, grinding, torturous impact that the disability benefits system has on them, often over months or even years.”
John Pring is a journalist and editor of the Disability News Service (DNS). Pring has reported on disability issues in the UK for nearly 25 years.
The website explains that Pring “launched DNS in April 2009 to address the absence of in-depth reporting in both the specialist and mainstream media on issues that affect the lives of disabled people. The news service focuses on issues such as discrimination equality, independent living, benefits, poverty, activism and campaigning and human rights, but also covers employment, transport, education, housing, crime, and arts, culture and sport.”
Pring brings his expertise to bear as Specialist Advisor & Co-Editor in a ground-breaking installation, Museum of Austerity (MoA), which recently opened at the HOME arts complex in Manchester and will tour at other venues in the UK next spring.
WSWS reporter Dennis Moore interviewed Pring about the Museum of Austerity, his involvement and the issues it raises.
Dennis Moore (DM):
What motivated you to want to bring these individual stories out to the public in this format?
John Pring (JP)
Sacha Wares first approached me to work on this project more than three years ago. She told me about a new project that would use state-of-the-art mixed reality technology to bring back to life the last moments of some of those whose deaths were linked to the austerity era, and particularly to the failings of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Sacha knew that it was the perfect medium to tell some of these awful stories, which I had been reporting on for nearly a decade by that time. She wanted to find a new way to hear the voices of those who were left behind, but also to bring back those who died through this technology. The idea was that it would have such a visceral impact that it would leave no audience member unmoved, and I think that’s what Sacha and the amazing team who have worked on MoA have achieved.
It’s about the harm caused by years of austeritythis harm has been described by Dr. China Mills, who I’ve worked with on a couple of research projects, as “slow bureaucratic violence”, because the harm is not caused instantly, it happens slowly, often over many months, or even years. It’s also about the terrible human cost of decisions taken at the heart of government.
DM:
I read that it was not that easy to get the exhibition put on in other venues?
JP:
It has been frustrating that it is taking so long to find venues willing to host such an openly political piece, particularly because I think it is so urgent that more people see it. But I’m not the best person to ask about this, because I come from a background of journalism rather than the theatre. But it’s probably not just because of the politics. MoA is a bleak piece—it has been described as stark and unflinching. It probably needs a leap of faith to believe that people will come to watch it. But from the reactions of those who have seen it so far, we know it’s powerful, thanks to Sacha, and all the incredible creative and technical talents who have been involved.
DM:
Walking around the exhibition listening to each of these tragic stories, would you say that the experiences of benefit claimants with disabilities in a wider sense are more prevalent than is generally reported? Is this just the tip of the iceberg?
JP:
Absolutely. I usually say that the DWP is responsible for hundreds, and probably thousands, of deaths. The reason I start with hundreds is that there is research that linked DWP’s actions with about 600 suicides between 2010 and 2013, and there has so far been no other cast-iron evidence we can point to beyond that, other than the grim trail of one death after another that has been revealed over the last decade.
It surprises me that so little attention is paid to the evidence that does come out. Often it is only the most appalling horrors—such as Errol Graham starving to death, and the other tragedies we’ve represented in MoA—that grab the media’s interest. But every week I hear from disabled people about the slow, grinding, torturous impact that the disability benefits system has on them, often over months or even years. It’s that slow violence again. It’s one of the great scandals of 21st century UK society (with its roots in the early 1990s) and it’s happening pretty much in clear sight. The deaths are linked to the widespread disablism in our society, and then the failure to report properly on this scandal is also linked to that same disablism.
DM:
Many people have described the current benefit system as being draconian in its attitude to claimants, leaving them at serious risk of destitution and financial hardship.
JP:
Draconian is the mildest word I would use. The grim, awful truth--and I write about this in my book, The Department, which will be published next summer by Pluto Press--is that hundreds, probably thousands, of disabled people have been failed by our country’s social security system in their moments of greatest need, and that politicians, senior civil servants and private sector contractors averted their eyes and let it happen again and again and again. It’s no less than a horror story.
Blaming Biden for not using his power and influence as literal President of the United States to stop police brutalizing, arresting peaceful student protestors and violating their first amedment rights***
I know, poor little guy is totally powerless. I bet they forced him to come out and make public statements dragging students as antisemitic. Probably gave him noogies until he did it.
Got a link for Biden calling them antisemitic (without also speaking against all forms of hate speech)?
I’ve heard Biden and others say that the protesters shouldn’t be using antisemitic, anti Muslim, or any hate speech. I haven’t heard him blanket call all the protestors antisemitic and only that. That’s what they do on FOX “News.”
Liberals claiming Biden is powerless to do anything isn’t the best argument for supporting him. ‘hes totally defenseless from republicans, let’s reelection him’
Disingenuous ml lying about the situation however is a good reason to support him. Things aren’t good, but ML will absolutely make things just as bad or worse.
Was that your same response when those same local and state police were mass arresting, assaulting, and tear gassing George Floyd protesters under trump?
As long as Biden keeps conflating opposition to Zionism with antisemitism, and calling protesters violent, while repeating Zionist lies, he is complicit in the actions of local police forces.
You can take the stance that POTUS should be trying to influence state leadership, for whatever good that would do; or at least take a public stance on the matter, which he hasn’t.
You’re getting the downvotes probably because it sounds like you believe POTUS is a king and can force governors to do his bidding. However, I agree that he’s been remarkably consistent in kissing Israel’s ass, and refusing to show any real concernv or sympathy for the Palestinians beyond “maybe Israel is starving too many Palestinian children.”
This whole article boils down to “some people are re-tweeting an article we wrote. Let’s read some of the tweets together.” A little disingenuous to say this means opposition is growing.
Third party candidates just hurt the candidate to whom they most closely align in a first past the post system. We should be fighting for ranked choice voting or similar. Only then do third parties do anything other than hurt the most aligned candidate.
That comment assumes every grave was a prisoner, yet the article outlines one case where the man was found dead in a hotel room and one case where the man was murdered.
I get the idea of a potter’s field, but aside from all the other issues here, why was the next of kin not notified for the identifiable bodies? OK, the one that got run over by a police cruiser, I get that one “slipping” by, but the others? Maybe the police didn’t want the hassle of investigating the murder of a citizen they didn’t give a shit about?
Is the DOJ going to drop the hammer on this or what?
You have unknown people that can’t be identified. More common than you think. They generally get buried in these locations because you don’t want to lose the body in case their identity is discovered. Then you have quite a few more that they don’t initially know their next of kin and it can take months to find them. These are people that pretty much have distanced themself from their family and it even friends or could be elderly and have few associates. No one claims then. In this case they need to bury them because you can’t wait months to find someone. It is the respectable thing to do. And often when relatives or friends are found, they may be happy to leave them in that location. Then you have prisoners. I would be curious on the average age. If the average age is say 50, and life expectancy for a prisoner is 70, then you would expect a 5 percent attrition rate. That is not nefarious.
Point being there is not enough info in this article to determine if this is at all unusual. And your anger over finding friends and relatives might not be justified.
I personally had a brother in law died that was a heavy drug user. He stopped contacting family ten years earlier. It took agencies about a month to determine who he was related to. It is not that simple.
“I hear from disabled people about the slow, grinding, torturous impact that the disability benefits system has on them, often over months or even years.”
John Pring is a journalist and editor of the Disability News Service (DNS). Pring has reported on disability issues in the UK for nearly 25 years.
The website explains that Pring “launched DNS in April 2009 to address the absence of in-depth reporting in both the specialist and mainstream media on issues that affect the lives of disabled people. The news service focuses on issues such as discrimination equality, independent living, benefits, poverty, activism and campaigning and human rights, but also covers employment, transport, education, housing, crime, and arts, culture and sport.”
Pring brings his expertise to bear as Specialist Advisor & Co-Editor in a ground-breaking installation, Museum of Austerity (MoA), which recently opened at the HOME arts complex in Manchester and will tour at other venues in the UK next spring.
WSWS reporter Dennis Moore interviewed Pring about the Museum of Austerity, his involvement and the issues it raises.
Dennis Moore (DM):
What motivated you to want to bring these individual stories out to the public in this format?
John Pring (JP)
Sacha Wares first approached me to work on this project more than three years ago. She told me about a new project that would use state-of-the-art mixed reality technology to bring back to life the last moments of some of those whose deaths were linked to the austerity era, and particularly to the failings of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Sacha knew that it was the perfect medium to tell some of these awful stories, which I had been reporting on for nearly a decade by that time. She wanted to find a new way to hear the voices of those who were left behind, but also to bring back those who died through this technology. The idea was that it would have such a visceral impact that it would leave no audience member unmoved, and I think that’s what Sacha and the amazing team who have worked on MoA have achieved.
It’s about the harm caused by years of austeritythis harm has been described by Dr. China Mills, who I’ve worked with on a couple of research projects, as “slow bureaucratic violence”, because the harm is not caused instantly, it happens slowly, often over many months, or even years. It’s also about the terrible human cost of decisions taken at the heart of government.
DM:
I read that it was not that easy to get the exhibition put on in other venues?
JP:
It has been frustrating that it is taking so long to find venues willing to host such an openly political piece, particularly because I think it is so urgent that more people see it. But I’m not the best person to ask about this, because I come from a background of journalism rather than the theatre. But it’s probably not just because of the politics. MoA is a bleak piece—it has been described as stark and unflinching. It probably needs a leap of faith to believe that people will come to watch it. But from the reactions of those who have seen it so far, we know it’s powerful, thanks to Sacha, and all the incredible creative and technical talents who have been involved.
DM:
Walking around the exhibition listening to each of these tragic stories, would you say that the experiences of benefit claimants with disabilities in a wider sense are more prevalent than is generally reported? Is this just the tip of the iceberg?
JP:
Absolutely. I usually say that the DWP is responsible for hundreds, and probably thousands, of deaths. The reason I start with hundreds is that there is research that linked DWP’s actions with about 600 suicides between 2010 and 2013, and there has so far been no other cast-iron evidence we can point to beyond that, other than the grim trail of one death after another that has been revealed over the last decade.
It surprises me that so little attention is paid to the evidence that does come out. Often it is only the most appalling horrors—such as Errol Graham starving to death, and the other tragedies we’ve represented in MoA—that grab the media’s interest. But every week I hear from disabled people about the slow, grinding, torturous impact that the disability benefits system has on them, often over months or even years. It’s that slow violence again. It’s one of the great scandals of 21st century UK society (with its roots in the early 1990s) and it’s happening pretty much in clear sight. The deaths are linked to the widespread disablism in our society, and then the failure to report properly on this scandal is also linked to that same disablism.
DM:
Many people have described the current benefit system as being draconian in its attitude to claimants, leaving them at serious risk of destitution and financial hardship.
JP:
Draconian is the mildest word I would use. The grim, awful truth--and I write about this in my book, The Department, which will be published next summer by Pluto Press--is that hundreds, probably thousands, of disabled people have been failed by our country’s social security system in their moments of greatest need, and that politicians, senior civil servants and private sector contractors averted their eyes and let it happen again and again and again. It’s no less than a horror story.
Netanyahu and his political allies assassinated Israeli pm Rabin and stalled out the nearly completed peace talks in the mid 90s. Then they funded Hamas to oppose the secular organization in Palestine named Fatah, the other that had gotten the closest to peace when negotiating with Rabin.
Right wing zionists in Israel literally created the background setting for shit like this to happen. It’s entirely accurate. You just have been primed to associate criticism with bigotry.
That’s ironic since this conflict is tanking him politically for it happening in the first place. But even if your statement is true, that is does not change that is is false to state “the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence."
Nobody said it was a smart strategy, just that it was his strategy
To a racist exterminationist, picking your main enemy to represent your “other” as rabid religious fundamentalist terrorists is a pretty solid choice.
Problem is that the security security security rhetoric worked a little too well as a dog whistle and now Israelis are turning on him because the attack he has wanted to provoke all along turned out to look more contradictory to security than like an opportunity to rally around the flag.
It’d be like if all those conspiracy theories about Roosevelt letting Pearl Harbor happen were actually more or less true.
I’m not saying that. I’m just saying it’s ironic. I don’t understand how folks are reading into this as being a statement of for or against any position. It’s just pointing out that there is going to be reckoning for this attack (which a lot of new sources have alluded to from interviews with other officials). So it is ironic that a guy who allegedly sabotaged peace to hang onto power will end up having it be his downfall to lose power. That is ironic. I am not saying it is either good or bad, or justifiable or unjustifiable. Just ironic.
He knows he needs to be in headlines... I highly doubt he actually gives a shit, this is just a way for us to talk about him and a way to rile up his base...
I wonder to what extent something similar applied to the early nazi-leadership though. How many of them truly believed the crazy conspiracies, lies and hate-mongering, and how many of them were “just pragmatic” and appreciated how these could be used to “rile up the base”.
As a native Floridian please no. There are some of us still fighting here. And with the recent immigration stuff there's a chance Florida will lean a little more blue this next election. I hate it though, my job is pretty inextricably tied to Florida, so it's a bummer since I'm super progressive.
Asked by a reporter on Monday, “What’s your message to the protesters?”, President Joe Biden replied, “I condemn the antisemitic protests.”
The charge of “antisemitism” is Biden’s “Big Lie.” It has no basis in reality. His remark Monday followed a statement Sunday in which he denounced the “reprehensible and dangerous” antisemitism, which has “absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country.”
Proud anti-semite checking in here then, I guess. Also a proud anti-muslim and proud anti-christian.
While the headline is laughable and demonstrably false, the quote above is legitimate and shows exactly why Biden will lose in November. I hope he does. Because when the Trumpets move in and swiftly declare a new Gilead, then and only then will Americans realize how closely related all these cults are, and how much oppression they actually have in common.
Maybe then we can finally set about purging the cancer that is religion from existence once and for all. By any means necessary.
Nah bruv. What happens then is that you get purged. What, you thought you didn't go to the wall in that case? You go to the wall in that case. See you there, I guess, but at least you'll have smug satisfaction when they kill us both?
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