Gathering for Action Welfare Cuts and Inequality October 25-27th 2013 at Woodbrooke
58 Friends from all over the UK came together for this gathering. All were passionate about doing something to alleviate the problems caused by inequality and the welfare cuts.
On Friday evening we were addressed by Judith Moran of Quaker Social Action, an anti poverty charity founded in 1867 which does 80% of its work in London and 20% outside London. You can read or listen to her talk by going to the link .
Some alarming facts I noted were that a person on minimum wage today would need to work 375 years to earn the annual salary of FTSE 100 chief executive. Iif you are poor in a rich area the cost of living is higher. Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) advise approx. 7800 clients on debt per day in the UK. 3 new food banks are opening each day in the UK, benefit payment delays and sanctions being the main cause of the need for the food banks. Only 3% of the demand for 1 bedroomed accommodation, driven by the bedroom tax, can be met. The life expectancy of a person born in the deprived, east end of Glasgow is nine years less than in India. Poverty is not confined to those on benefits but there is great in work poverty too.
There are over 9000 organisations trying to make the world a better place, e.g. One Way Up Project run by QSA helps to increase the resilience of people in poverty by giving them mindfulness and meditation coaching. There is a need for more coaches to spread the project across the UK. Responses need to be multifaceted, researching the causes and campaigning to change them, targeting action, equipping people to manage the money they have, helping them to become more resilient.
Inequality diminishes all of us.
What can we do?
Be kind, listen to people and get to know them. It is important to treat people well and show them that they are not worthless even if they are poor. There is an inclination for professional to talk down to them and demean them which makes things worse.
We can support other organisations in the work that they do, e.g. link into Citizens UK to help people work with power. Volunteer with CAB to gather information to lobby to change structures that cause the problems. QSA runs financial and emotional literacy coursed “Made of Money” to help people become more confident and savvy, get a sense of power, counteract the bombardment of adverts and change attitudes. QSA offers training for those who would like to run these courses. We can inform ourselves about the problems so that we can point out inconsistencies with the knowledge we gain. Share correct information to counteract the incorrect publicity. We could invite the Parliamentary Outreach Service for discussion.
We need to decide whether we want to deal with small things rather than the bigger movements. e.g. a successful lobby to delay the implementation of bedroom tax by 1 year for those who have had a bereavement in their household. We also need stand up together to get our voices heard and share ideas. Those who observe the situation could try to suggest solutions to improve the situation locally e.g. lobby and inform local authorities.
We need to remember that governments are not entirely in charge, but are affected by global influences such as banks, energy companies etc.
We need to nurture ourselves so that we can be effective in our campaigning and looking after others.
On Saturday morning we spent time looking at what meetings and individuals are doing to try to alleviate the problems.
Many were collecting for food banks. There was a comment that this was a “sticking plaster“ policy. But it was also pointed out that if you are bleeding you’ll need a sticking plaster whilst something is done to stop the cause of your injury.
Petitioning to stop children’s centre and CABs closing down because of cuts.
Helping to fund Homeless Action.
One AM’s pensioners, who could afford to, donated their winter fuel money to pay into a “Relief of Poverty” fund which through AM which raised £2000 and gave £1500 to CAB who assessed the extreme need and paid out small amounts of this restricted fund to help those clients. e.g. helping to pay fares to attend interviews, assessments or tribunals.
Helping with form filling and accompanying people to ATOS assessments and benefit tribunals. (Saffron Walden)
AM Economic Justice group organising lectures on money systems and housing policies.
Supporting Cyrenians, austerity and refugee support groups.
Taking a mobile library to homeless shelters and day centres.
Allowing advice givers free rooms in the Meeting house. Also free use of computers for public access.
Supporting City of Sanctuary to fund help with income, fares to get to tribunals etc. Supporting Red Cross helpers.
Supporting Credit Unions.
Researching and teaching each other about the causes of poverty. Being involved with the production of the Myth Busters information. Challenging misinformation and policies. UsingT shirts with information and a pie chart on them to show the percentages of welfare for publicity.
Setting up a listening project for people to share their stories and support each other. Collecting and analysing issues to support campaigns.
Campaigning to increase income tax by 1 penny.
Street School Economics educating people about how our economic systems work and what causes the problems and corruption. Encouraging civil disobedience e.g. refusing to pay taxes bur spending the money on what is needed. (Nailsworth Meeting).
Looking at where our testimonies fits in with the work we want to do.
We then were given a talk about what BYM, Meeting for Sufferings and QPSW are doing. We were told that 7 AMS had sent in minutes of concern about the welfare cuts to MfS and MfS had collected information by surveying 250 meetings about what they are doing. Again the text of this talk can be found on the website . It is quite wide ranging.
Suzanne Ismail gave us a talk about Structural Drivers and Response.
This contained lots of statistics about inequality (see website). She maintained that the trends towards inequality happen because society and governments allowed them to happen, that the present goal is an efficient economy to grow profits without any views on who gets the profits and how they get them. An amoral society, failing to set moral or environmental parameters and to protect vulnerable workers. The government believes that cuts are needed to boost the UK’s credit rating, but reputable economic analysts say these policies are economic myths. There is no more collective responsibility and this gives rise to the creation of the “other” in society, which makes the cuts popular with the electorate. We need to campaign and support campaigns already organised, withdraw our participation in bad policies; bring back an economy that has values and human dimensions. She suggested we support Tax Justice and highlight companies that don’t pay their taxes, could use Facebook. Make the decision makers uncomfortable by collectivism which worked in the 19th century. Need to create an umbrella movement consisting of Friends who are doing what they are good at.
In the afternoon I went to 2 workshops.
The first was on Street School Economics given by Gail Bradbrook. This publicises and opens debates on the economy in their educational programmes and recommends actions to change how the economy works. I must admit I didn’t understand everything that was being said, so it’s probably best if you look at their website. They use a display to get the public to talk about economics in the street or in public places to help them to become aware. Ideas put forward were to encourage people to take back power by having a say, e.g. using the internet;peer to peer lending e.g. funding circles on line lending to small businesses, campaign for land value taxation to stop people keeping land and not doing anything with it etc.
The second was on Values by Richard Hawkins. He showed us a method of researching what people value by letting us experience it. Once we know our values it can help us answer the big questions. The research showed that the values were universal and those that came in the section of intrinsic values were the best at showing greater sympathy, lower prejudice, greater cooperation etc. and that repeated engagement in these leads to stronger values. The opposite values are extrinsic. Threat and fear shifts people towards extrinsic values. Policy feedback can change our perceptions of what is possible, desirable and normal. It impacts on our values. e.g. Mrs Thatcher used policy to change the heart and soul of the UK. If the media has a bias towards particular values, people believe that these are true of others. i.e. we may have intrinsic values but believe that others have extrinsic values. The language of media can frame our thinking and ideas of how things ought to be and our responses. I drew from this that what Quakers could do was to counteract the extrinsic values that the media encourage by telling people the truth. e.g. Myth Busters. We can spread the word to help people believe in their intrinsic values.
On Saturday evening we had a session called Open Spaces where we split into groups discussing various issues. Out these came the following ideas :-Organising an anti cutsdemonstration on Easter Monday to include those of all faiths and none, encouraging people to vote by educating and supporting them, sustaining our activities with dignity and joy, looking into the idea of “Citizens income”, linking within and outside Quakers to stop the brainwashing of the public and disabuse them of the myths and show outrage, form an umbrella organisation to oversee housing policies, encourage LM and AM to test concerns brought forward by MfS and for LM to bring forward concerns to MfS.
Sunday morning was spent in a Meeting for Worship first and then at a session called “Where Next” during which we discerned a minute to take us forward. This proved to be quite difficult as we had many different points of view and ways of approaching issues. However eventually a Minute was agreed which is at the end of this report.
I felt the gathering was very worthwhile and I hope some of the ideas that came forward will inspire SWAM and our LMs to do whatever they feel they can, to address and try to alleviate the problems of inequality and welfare cuts.
Gathering for Action: welfare cuts and inequality conference Woodbrooke October 2013
A weekend conference was held at Woodbrooke in October 2013 to consider the government cuts to welfare benefits and other expenditure which are hitting hardest those with the smallest incomes.
The conference explored issues such as:
• Should Quakers challenge the growing inequality in our society?
• Should we help individuals and, if so, how?
• Can we address the structural basis of this inequality?
• How do we question and change underlying social attitudes?
Some conference attendees were asked to attend by their Area Meeting, others participated as individual Quakers.
In the final plenary session, during a meeting for worship for business, the following minute was prepared.
Led Conference, Woodbrooke 25 – 7 October 2013
Gathering for Action: welfare cuts and inequality
Minute
We have gathered at Woodbrooke to consider Quaker responses to welfare cuts and inequality. We have heard from Friends with personal experience of the effects of benefit cuts and poverty. Our Gathering has reflected the fear, anger and despondency which the dismantling of a social security safety net has brought to many. We find there is still much work to do to make known the effects of the benefit cuts and low income on individuals, both in our Meetings and more widely.
While some of us are supporting a number of local actions on housing and food distribution, we are outraged that this is necessary. Such inequality diminishes us all.
There is much energy for urgent action. We ask that the numerous proposals for action from this meeting be communicated to QPSW Central Committee and to Meeting for Sufferings. These include collaborating with faith and other groups in a march; an activist network able to work on strategy with Turning the Tide; short serial boycotts of corporations with a history of tax avoidance advertised through social media; and stronger links between Parliamentary Liaison and activism within Meetings.
Friends, and the Economics Sustainability and Peace committee, are also investigating and informing ourselves about the structural causes of inequality and the influences on our political system which exacerbate it. Much more work on this is needed, so that we can envision a better system and promote an economy and society in which our testimonies can flourish.
We recognize that we need to return regularly to our testimonies to ask what we are called to do in the current situation; and to affirm Quaker values explicitly in our opposition to the treatment of vulnerable and disadvantaged people.
We ask Local and Area Meetings to consider where collective action is possible in solidarity with those affected and to challenge and improve structures; and to support individuals in their engaged work. We hope these matters will be considered by a Special Interest Group at Yearly Meeting in 2014.
We send this minute to QPSW Central Committee and ask them to forward our concern to Meeting for Sufferings.
Margaret Bennett, QPSW Central Committee
Gill Westcott, QPSW Economics Sustainability and Peace Sub Committee
Clerks at this event