Autonomy - Issue 2

7/30/2019 Autonomy - Issue 2

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Issue # 2 Autumn 2013

AUTONOMYAUTONOMYAUTONOMYA Scott ish newssheet for socia l change f rom below

Stirling Council workers

in UNISON were on a one-

day strike on 27th August,

in response to what would

amount to an effective pay

cut of 4.5%, to be imposedin November. The Labour-

Tory coalition in charge

has threatened workers

with dismissal if new

contracts, which require a

1.5% pay cut plus an extra

hour per weeks work,

aren't signed by individual

workers. Whilst the GMB

union at Stirling Council

announced a ballot for

industrial action on thesame day and the smaller

Unite and UCATT unions

are also considering

action, it looks like a

united response has not

been co-ordinated. If

Stirling Council manage to

successfully impose these

new contracts then this

will send out a message to

other councils that an

imposition of austerity can

be got away with and it

may be the beginning of a

similar cuts across the

country. The support forthe strike on the day was

strong but council workers

thatAutonomy spoke to in

the run up to the day of

action questioned whether

unified, cross-union action

would be forthcoming.

Certainly, without

concerted action involving

all workers at the Council,

regardless of union, the

administration will steam-

roller a workforce already

subjected to the salami-

tactics of the trade union

chiefs. Whether Labour-affiliated union officials will

be willing to seriously

challenge their political pals

remains to be seen and it will

require rank and file

initiative to make sure that

the fightback isn't

undermined.

Free/Donation

Work in

education? Join

the Scottish

EducationWorkers

Network

UKBA

intimidation

in Glasgow

Extreme gasproduction in

the Forth Valley

Events and

groups around

the country

Stirling council workers strike against pay cut

Bedroom Tax: Edinburgh Council continuesattacking disabled people

must be removed.

City of Edinburgh Council is

attacking people with severe

disabilities by unfairly

denying them

Discretionary Housing

Payments. The Council

is counting Disability

Living Allowance and

Personal IndependencePayment as income when

calculating if a claimant

needs DHP. This is

completely wrong.

(continued overpage)

Jamie Oliverdoesnt have a

clue about

eating on a low

budget

Anti bedroom tax

campaigners from round

Lothians met in an

emergency meeting in

August and issued a

statement condemning City

of Edinburgh Council's policy

of quizzing people on their

expenditure on alcohol,

cigarettes and satellite TV

and using this information in

deciding whether to award

tenants Discretionary

Housing Payment. This has

led to newspaper reports

portraying DHP claimants

as scroungers and wasters.

In fact research by the

Scottish Government and

COSLA reveals that at

least 80% of households

affected by the bedroom tax

contain disabled people,

state the LothianFederation of Anti Bedroom

Tax Groups. We believe

this policy is an incitement

to hatred against disabled

peoplethese questions


2/6

We are education workers organising

to strengthen ties within the education

sector here in Scotland, throughout theUK, and around the world.

We represent an alternative, rank-and

-file, industry-wide model of

organising.

With the support of the Industrial

Workers of the World and other like-

minded groups, we are in the process

of building a network of workers and

students who are interested in fighting

for our rights and in developing and

sharing anti-capitalist teaching andlearning practices through education

forums, films, conversations, and

writings.

Those of us who are members of the

IWW will function within our TUC

unions as dual carders and will work

with other radicals to form caucuses

within these unions. The Network also

welcomes those with connections to the

education sector but who are not

currently permanently employed

within it, or not members of any union.

Join us if you agree that

workers and students, united non-

hierarchically throughout the

education sector, have every right to

make and carry out decisions about

curriculum and working conditions.

the skills agenda and corporate

control, at all levels of education,

have to go.

there is no place in our sector for a

division between mental and manual

labour; or on the basis of gender,

religion, ethnicity, or physical ability.

Solidarity, communication, and

compassion within the working class

is essential.

we need to take militant direct

action against job cuts, department

closures, give-backs on pensions and

benefits, and excessive workloads.

the crisis in education is part of a

global assault on the public sector, so

building relationships and

coordinated actions across national

boundaries is very important.

we dont support mainstreampolitical parties, including the Labour

party and the SNP, since their

interests and methods are at odds with

our principles of education for

liberation.

Please contact us at

[email protected] if you

have questions about the Scottish

Education Workers Network, or

would like to join our email group([email protected]).

For information on upcoming SEWN

actions and events, check our

website iwwscotland.wordpress.com

/scottish-education-workers-

network.

We look forward to your participation

in this exciting project.

Introducing the Scottish Education

Workers Network

PAGE 2 AUTONOMY

DLA and PIP should be completely

disregarded as available income,

because it is paid to cover thesubstantial extra costs incurred by

people with severe disabilities.

Recently Bill Scott, manager of

Inclusion Scotland, described this

policy as plainly

discriminatory (Herald 16.8.13).

Faced by a challenge by disabled

claimants, Glasgow City Council

recently changed its decision and

disregarded DLA in such a DHP case.

The anti-bedroom tax federation

maintain that City of EdinburghCouncil must do the same.

Councillor Cammy Day told north

Edinburgh campaigners on 17 June

that he disagreed with DLA being

counted for DHP purposesthis

needs changed now. This

discrimination against the disabled

must end.

Instead of attacking disabled

claimants the Council should be using

its powers to increase the amountavailable for DHP by 2.5 times, urge

the Lothians Anti Bedroom Tax

Federation. The Evening News

recently reported that 72% of

Edinburgh Council tenants hit by the

bedroom tax are in rent arrears.

More, properly trained staff are

needed to make sure Discretionary

Payments reach all in need.

The campaigners have further

charges. City of Edinburgh Council

have admitted they are not assessing

claimants individually to check if they

are entitled to an exemption from the

Bedroom Tax. As a result the Council

hounded a disabled tenant for rent

arrears despite the fact that she had

overnight carers stay every night and

was thus exempt. Eventually this

tenant, Margaret, became so ill that

she had to give up her tenancy.

Despite the Council's welcome no

evictions policy, in other respects theLabour-SNP administration seem to

be enthusiastically implementing this

totally unjust Tory/ LibDem

legislation, say the Anti Bedroom

Tax Federation. Extra staff are

being deployed to phone and harass

tenants about rent arrears. A

seriously ill disabled tenant who has

overnight carers on average 2-3 times

per week, has been refused an

exemption on the grounds that her

carers are not staying regularly.

We urge all who care about justice tojoin with us in opposing this unfair

attack on the poor and disabled.

Bedroom Tax

(continued from front page)

From the Lothian Federation of Anti-

Cuts Groups:

www.edinburghagainstcuts.org.uk
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://iwwscotland.wordpress.com/scottish-education-workers-network/http://iwwscotland.wordpress.com/scottish-education-workers-network/http://iwwscotland.wordpress.com/scottish-education-workers-network/http://www.edinburghagainstcuts.org.uk/http://www.edinburghagainstcuts.org.uk/http://www.edinburghagainstcuts.org.uk/http://iwwscotland.wordpress.com/scottish-education-workers-network/http://iwwscotland.wordpress.com/scottish-education-workers-network/http://iwwscotland.wordpress.com/scottish-education-workers-network/mailto:[email protected]


3/6

Extreme gas extraction: the situation in Scotland

PAGE 3 AUTONOMY

The town of Airth, between Falkirkand Stirling could be the site of the

first unconventional gas

development if energy company, Dart

Energy, gets its way. Test drilling

has already been carried out and after

both Stirling and Falkirk councils

refused to grant planning permission,

we are waiting to hear from official

reporters appointed by the Scottish

Government if its plans for coal bed

methane production get the go ahead.

They are due to begin hearing

evidence in October.

Coal bed methane extraction is

related to, but slightly different from

the shale fracking (or hydraulic

fracturing) which is being opposed

right now in Balcombe, down in

Sussex. Instead of pumping

extraordinary amounts of water into a

shale layer, forcing gas or oil out,

water already present in coal beds is

pumped out which gets the gas

flowing, although sometimes fracking

and other methods are required.

Dart Energy proposes to to build 14new well pads with 22 new wells,

around 20 km of pipelines to connect

the sites, a gas processing facility and

an waste outfall into the Firth of Forth,

near Airth between Falkirk and

Stirling. According to campaigning

group, Frack Off, this could be just the

thin end of the wedge. There is said to

be enough gas in the area for 600 wells.

The threat posed by this type of gas

extraction is very similar to shale

fracking. The major problem is watercontamination. De-watering involves

pumping out millions of gallons of

contaminated water (which has been

marinading in coal for years) and

disposing of it. he produced water can

be up to 5 times more salty than sea

water and may contain a variety of

toxic and radioactive materials

including heavy metals and

hydrocarbons. They plan on dumping

this water in the Firth of Forth, and

there has already been reports of waste

water with high benzine levels (a

carcinogen) being disposed of fromthe testing wells.

Add to this the industrialisation of

the countryside,air pollution,

increased traffic, accidents, spills

etc. And all for the extraction of a

non-renewable source of energy

when we should be pushing for a

fast transition to renewable energy.

This is a development which makes

lots of money for companies like

Dart Energy but forces the long-

term costs on the people who live inthe area affected.

We need to take follow what the

protestors in Balcombe have

been doing. Their amazingly

positive and popular campaign

is now has now reached its 40th

day and caused real disruption

to Caudrilla who dont care if

absolutely everyone opposes

them. If the Airth development

is given the green light we need

to organise and resist!

For more information, check out:

frack-off.org.uk

And the following groups in

Scotland:

Falkirk against Unconventional Gas

www.faug.org.uk

Frack Off Scotland

frackoffscotland.org.uk

UKBA intimidation in Glasgow

Weve heard reports that UK Border

Agency immigration enforcement

teams have been operating in

Govanhill, Glasgow. They left

without detaining anyone althoughthe police later arrived because

people had been shouting out to warn

others, and tell them of their

immigration rights.

Immigration control teams perfrom

speculative spot checks on the street

but sometimes also raids on

peoples houses. It seems like they

have been out in force recently in

the south of England. This is about

intimidating communities andtargetting Black and Ethnic

Minority peoplei.e. it is

incredibly racist. These teams rely

on people thinking they have the

same powers as the police: they

dont, and individuals dont have to

answer their questions.

Refugees and asylum seekers are

one of us. We believe in peacefully

confronting these attacks on our

communities like the Southall

Black Sisters have done in London.

If news arrives of teams operating

we should shout them out andmake sure those theyre targeting

know their rights. In the meantime,

weve reprinted the Unity centres

poster on immigration rights. Cut

it out and put it up at bus stops.


4/6


5/6

Food has always been characterised

with angst, guilt, and worry for me. As

a teenager I was dangerously

underweight and tried to remedy this

by stuffing my face with processed

food, fizzy drinks, cakes and chocolate,

in the hope that I'd develop a body

shape other than that of an etoilated

ten year old. I mostly just passed out a

lot after the sugar rush hadplummeted away.

In my early twenties I was diagnosed

with a chronic and incurable illness

called endometriosis, which is

characterised by pain and fatigue, and

has had only a limited response to

surgical and medical interventions. As

a result, I work part-time in a pink-

collar job that's so far tolerated my

inconsistent good days and bad days,

and I earn a little more than I did last

year when I got by on housing benefit

and three casual jobs. But food is stillan issue.

A few years back, desperate to try

anything that might help me manage

my illness, I saw a nutritionist that

specialised in my condition, who

recommended up to 12 different

supplements a day (at 75 a month,

this was... unlikely), recommended I

cut out gluten, avoid all red meat, eat 6

portions of (preferably raw, fresh,

organic) fruit and veg per day, and a

whole load of other measures that I

kept up with for a few months. I feltbetter, but this feeling of elated control

over my body was short-lived. I worked

shifts, and split my food shopping with

my partner. And slowly but surely my

neurotic meal planning slipped, the

carrot sticks were replaced by chocolate

bars, the milk was fatty and laden with

bovine hormones, and I felt a creeping

sense of guilt that I was making myself

ill, that I had failed to do the only things I

could do to try and keep my illness at bay.

As my circumstances changed and I found

myself scraping by for weeks, months,

probably forever, I got increasingly

annoyed at the suggestions and advice

offered to me by everyone from medical

professionals to smug student hippies

who implored me to stop using poverty as

an excuse (there's bins to

raid), to think about the

ethics of my shopping habits

(don't you know why that

chicken only costs 2.50?!),

that if I just shopped

around/planned thingsbetter/cared about my health

more/was more of a self-

righteous hippy cunt I

wouldn't be in this situation,

I'd be healthy and full of the foresight

required to pre-soak pulses and turn a tin

of sardines into a main course and desert.

The control I'd once felt from targeting

my diet to alleviating my illness turned

into yet another unlivable, unrealistic

standard that just made me feel guilty

and personally responsible for my ill

health.

There's a general background noise of

sneering judgement about the food

choices of people on low incomes.

Sometimes the snobbery and hatred

towards the poor, the sick, and the fat

spews right into the open, for

exampleWestminster council proposing

benefits cuts for the overweight who

"refuse" to excercise. Those of us whose

bodies are supposedly a drain on the

welfare state and the NHS are

continually reminded that our

predicaments are of our own making, and

the organic-everything-you-are-what-you-

eat brigade are just as quick to tell us if

we'd only stop eating all that processed

sugar we'd be a lot healthier, and that a

good diet is perfectly possible on the dole.

But try making 71 a week last over a

month, a year, the next 20 years.

Combine that with a disability, factor in

all your other expenses, try replacing

some cookware or fixing your freezer, and

then talk about how easy it is. You might

not bother instagramming your lunch

once the novelty wears off.

Of course, food guilt and demonising the

sick and obese is tied up in layers of class,

race, and gender. Behold arch-feminist

Caitlin Moran keeping the kids quiet

during her hangover by feeding them

quails eggs, compared with the

predictable hand-wringing outrage

should some unfortunate benefits

claimant be seen buying her kids a

happy meal. Think of Gillian McKeith

flushing the fatty, stinking, shameful

shit out of some white-bread guzzling

prole on prime time TV, or Etoniansmall-holder Hugh Fearnley-

Whittingstall teaching single mothers

the importance of buying organic.

The fat acceptance movement has

critiqued the narrative that fat people

are unhealthy, undesirable, or

somehow morally repugnant, and the

fat acceptance

movement in

turn has

been critiqued

for being colour-

blind and

ignoring the

racial and class

dynamics of

fatness. But

whichever angle

you look at it from, the neoliberal shit

sandwhich of choice, personal

responsibility, and the ability to eat

your way out of poverty and illness is

laden with moral judgements about the

shopping habits of the poor.

In a climate where the working class,

and benefits claimants and the sick

and disabled in particular, are

constantly dehumanised and painted

as the architects of our own

misfortune, food and health become

another stick to beat us with. Food

blogger Miss South has written

eloquently on the snobbery of well-

meaning foodies advising us how to eat

on a "budget", and the frequency with

which "someone will take the chance to

opine on how poor people just need to

try harder, be less lazy, just read the

labels and realise you can buy a weeks

veg for two quid if youre a good enoughmember of society". And she's pretty

much nailed it - the reality of juggling

chronic illness and a low budget is

difficult enough, without adding in

helpings of guilt and individualistic

ethical consumer bullshit, that helps

no one and reinforces the idea that if

only we knew what was good for us, we

would find a way to avoid those battery

eggs. Because it really is bullshit:

What you eat may have an impact on

your dietary fibre, but it has bugger all

to do with your moral fibre. Itspatronising and reductive to suggest

otherwise and to focus on the actions of

an individual, rather than those of the

food industry, helps no one and hinders

many, while causing massive divisions

in society.

Theres a general background

noise of sneering judgement

about the food choices of

people on low incomes.

PAGE 5 AUTONOMY

Guilt, choice, and responsibility in the austerity kitchenMillionaire chef and TV celebrity,

Jamie Oliver, was in the news in

August for condemning people in

poverty for what they chose to eat.

Oliver, a supporter of right-wing

UKIP and the workfare scheme, said

hes spent a lot of time in poorcommunities, and [found] it quite

hard to talk about modern-day

poverty. People with large TVs live

off of ready meals and chips. Whereas

people in Sicily eat well with not

much money. His comments feed into

a wider narrative which emphasises

blaming working class people. In fact,

there are many things that people like

Oliver dont take into account

including time, disability and living

in a city. Research shows that peoples

diets improve with their income.

Heres Ramona from libcom.orgwith

her thoughts on food choices.


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Autonomyis produced byAnarchist Federation (AFed) Scot-

land. It aims to promote and link

together campaigns that empower

working class people and that

challenge capitalism and irrational

systems of power. We want to re-

port on positive, inspirational ex-

amples of struggle but also storieswhich motivate us to act. We will

emphasize things happening in

Scotland and also report on events

in Britain, and around the world.

Upcoming Events

The Anarchist Federation stands for organising

for social change through solidarity, direct

democracy and direct action. We have groups

and members across Scotland including

Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness.

Contemporary Arts, Glasgow. With RadicalIndependent Bookfair stall.

AFed Glasgow & Edinburgh monthly talksWere organizing monthly talks on different

aspects of social change from below. Were stillworking on the details, so keep an eye on oursocial media (details below)!

9th September: IWW Branch Meeting inEdinburgh. Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh, from7.30pm.

9th September: Stop the Home Office Poster-Campaign of Hate and Harassment: Demo @UKBA Offices (Glasgow Campaign to Welcome

Refugees) 200 Brand Street, Glasgow, G51 1DH4.30pm - 6pm

14th September: Bin the Bedroom Tax rally andprotest against the LibDems national conference.Assemble at Glasgow Green for 11.30am.

21st September: 101 Organiser training inEdinburgh. Book a place [email protected]

21st September: Hollaback! Edinburgh dayschool on intersectionality and street harassment. 1-4pm. See the flyer for more info.

8th October: IWW branch meeting in Glasgow.Electron Club, CCA, Glasgow for 7pm.

18th-20th October: Document 11 InternationalHuman Rights Film Festival. In Centre for

Housing

Glasgow Solidarity Networkglasgowsolnet.wordpress.com

Edinburgh Private Tenants Action Groupeptag.org.uk

Work

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)iwwscotland.wordpress.com

Scottish Education Workers Network

http://iwwscotland.wordpress.com/scottish-

education-workers-network/

Welfare

Edinburgh Coalition Against Povertyedinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk

Contribute your article or

let us know about a

grassroots iniative!

Get involvedAsylum/RefugeesUnity Centre Glasgowunitycentreglasgow.org

Glasgow Campaign to WelcomeRefugees

www.gctwr.co.uk

Feminism

Glasgow Feminist CollectiveSearch on facebook!

Hollaback! Edimburgh

edinburghhollaback.org

Social Centres

Autonomous Centre of Edinburghautonomous.org.uk

Disability rights

Black Triangleblacktrianglecampaign.org

Crutch Collectivethecrutchcollective.blogspot.co.uk/

Anti-cuts & Bedroom Tax

Edinburgh Anti-Cuts Allianceedinburghagainstcuts.org.uk

No2BedroomTax Campaignno2bedroomtax.co.uk

Greater Leith against the Cuts

On facebook

For regular updates on events in Glasgow, subscribe to:

[email protected]

facebook.com/afed.scotland@ScotAFed

afed.org.uk/scotland

Autonomy - Issue 2

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Transcript of Autonomy - Issue 2