{"id":3434,"date":"2015-03-25T15:48:31","date_gmt":"2015-03-25T15:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=3434"},"modified":"2015-03-25T15:48:31","modified_gmt":"2015-03-25T15:48:31","slug":"guilty-verdict-on-ids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=3434","title":{"rendered":"Guilty: ‘verdict’ on IDS"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

As part of a national day of action against benefit sanctions (March 19) Unite Community members in Southampton paraded \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Iain Duncan Smith\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 through the streets of the city before \u00e2\u20ac\u0098jailing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 the work and pensions secretary for \u00e2\u20ac\u0098crimes against humanity.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pretty strong stuff and with good reason. Unite believes the sanctions \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which have seen more than two million people have their benefits cut or stopped over the last two years \u00e2\u20ac\u201c are nothing less than \u00e2\u20ac\u0098grotesque cruelty\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Southampton and surrounding Hampshire has one of the highest rates of sanctioning in the entire country, so the colourful street theatre \u00e2\u20ac\u0098trial\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 was held in an appropriate location.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Helen Field played the police officer who arrested \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Duncan Smith\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. She said the aim was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bto get media attention so people know more about what benefit sanctions are.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Field feels the day of action was required as the wider public had not been fully aware of benefit sanctions and their pernicious effects.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI think the people who it actually hits, those who are getting sanctioned, do not have much of a voice because they are struggling to get by,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe last thing on their minds is to make a fuss \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which is what we want to do on their behalf.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anger that lies beneath<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Despite the hilarity at the plight of \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Duncan Smith\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 behind bars, Field was quick to acknowledge that real anger lies beneath. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government are blaming the wrong people\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said \u00e2\u20ac\u015bpeople who have got no resources at all \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the weakest in society.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bConservative Party ideology is to blame the poor and to demolish the welfare state. That is their philosophy and it just causes untold hardship and misery. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hateful.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The claim is hard to ignore, related as it is to the troubling way that sanctions are applied.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Intended as a means of encouraging people back into work they have been linked not only to increased levels of hardship and anxiety for those losing they benefits, but hundreds of deaths.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That was a point underscored by the activists in Southampton who staged a mass \u00e2\u20ac\u0098die-in\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 outside the Bernard St Job Centre, renamed the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Sanctions Centre\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 for the occasion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Barbara Lupton, an 82 year-old Unite member, said she had been determined to attend the event because in her eyes benefit sanctions are a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bterrible injustice\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She said \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so pleased that Unite organised this day because sanctions have got to be brought to wider attention \u00e2\u20ac\u201c these are crimes against people.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat I would like to see now is families who have lost people through benefit sanctions forming a group so they can get legal aid and take their cases to the Court of Human Rights. I really think they have got a strong case.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lupton blames the Conservative government for the rise in sanctions over the most trivial of offences \u00e2\u20ac\u201c such as arriving late a job centre, missing an appointment to go to a funeral, or failing to apply for a job while waiting to start a new job. She thinks ministers would \u00e2\u20ac\u015bbring back workhouses if they could.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Inhumane<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sanctions simply have to be stopped according to Mike Dukes, Unite Community chair in Southampton. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bHelp people to find jobs yes, but they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need to be using these sanctions. They are too harsh, they are unnecessary and inhumane\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe majority of people penalised with sanctions have mental health problems\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey find it exceedingly difficult to meet the commitments of going to regular meetings and so forth. We have got case studies of sadly hundreds of people, the most vulnerable people, who have been in the position of losing their lives prematurely as a result.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If somebody has fallen on hard times, if they have lost their job through no fault of their own, or they have become unwell then the stronger need to look after the weak. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what society is.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kelly Tomlinson \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Unite Community co-ordinator for the South-East \u00e2\u20ac\u201c described the pillorying of \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Duncan Smith\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 as \u00e2\u20ac\u015bbrilliant\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI think the street theatre was fantastic, it was such a fun way of highlighting something in a light-hearted way that is actually a really important subject\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI think people engaged very well with it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHowever we at Unite need to continue to use our voice so everybody understand how cruel sanctions are.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As part of a national day of action against benefit sanctions (March 19) Unite Community members in Southampton paraded \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Iain Duncan Smith\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 through the streets of the city before \u00e2\u20ac\u0098jailing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 the work and pensions secretary for \u00e2\u20ac\u0098crimes against humanity.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122   Pretty strong stuff and with good reason. Unite believes the sanctions \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which have seen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[231],"wps_subtitle":"Unite jails 'Iain Duncan Smith\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to \u00e2\u20ac\u0098make a fuss\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 over benefit sanctions","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3434"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3434"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3444,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3434\/revisions\/3444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}