[Resistance-precarity] Report back on action 10-11 March

[Lydia Molyneaux]

Report back — E,mployment ministers summit 10-11 March

About 30 people met outside the Department of Trade & Industry on Victoria 
Street, with eye-catching banners (‘G8 ministers — get a proper job!’ and 
‘New Deal for the Dead — you’ve rested in peace — get back to work you 
scrounger!’) and zombie makeup to mark the launch of the latest 
Jobcentreplus compulsory work scheme, New Deal for the Dead.  See 
www.nodeal.org.uk) — the scheme is bound to be a smash hit among all the G8 
governments seeking to further exploit their human capital.

Though the actual G8 ministers meeting was at Lancaster House near the Mall, 
there was a lot of activity around the DTI conference centre. Police seemed 
most concerned about guarding the conference centre rather than the offices 
over the road, so we suspected some aspects of the summit may have been 
taking place there as well. There was a heavy police presence that 
outnumbered demonstrators.

Police searched one protestor under suspicion that he had stolen his Royal 
Mail bag, amid questions like ‘are you English?’, ‘do you or have you ever 
been an employee of the Royal Mail?’ After samba-drumming, noisemaking and 
passing out flyers about the G8, work and capitalism as well as Dissent! 
leaflets, we moved on. After stopping for at a DWP office and jobcentre, we 
made our way across the park to Lancaster House.

Since we found Lancaster House to be an isolated and easy-to-cordon 
sidestreet setting, we moved off and marched through central London to 
Kingsway in Holborn. There we gathered outside a ‘secret’ Benefit Fraud 
Investigation office and let them know ‘we’re on to you!’ — turning around 
the slogan of their recent paranoia-mongering TV and poster campaign. This 
drew a lot of interest from passers-by, including a brief conga-line by a 
group of office workers. Construction workers working on an empty ground 
floor office in the block found it very funny; the people peering out the 
windows upstairs were definitely less amused!

Though we were down to about 12 or 15, it got very spirited and we made up 
for lack of numbers with the amount of noise made. Due to low turn-out the 
action was really a mobile noise-demo and not all hopes for the day were 
realised. But still, at the end we felt like we were having some impact just 
by exposing this shady operation. When there has been no collective 
opposition to outfits like the benefit fraud agency, just a little bit was 
significant. It was definitely good that we visited a few places and didn’t 
just stick to Lancaster House.

The next day, Friday 12 March, people in Brighton picketed and leafleted in 
front of Tomorrow’s People, a private Job Club/New Deal thing operated by 
the owners of Gleneagles. Brighton folk had a fine leaflet — could someone 
post the text because it’s definitely worth recycling!

However, the low turn-out to actions at ministerials in London (amount of 
publicity doesn’t seem to make much difference) leaves some questions to be 
raised for our next one in June.