60,000 Invisible to the Media

On Saturday 28 September 2013 there was a gathering outside the Houses of Parliament.  It was, in fact, a ceremony of remembrance led by the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral.  It was organised by 10,000 Cuts & Counting ( #10Kcuts ).  It was a profoundly important event and it happened in Parliament Square in the centre of London.  BUT...  if you watch the BBC news, listen to the BBC radio or read any of the main stream UK press you wouldn't know it had happened.  The country was not supposed to know!  How could this event go unreported?  It was a remembrance service for the 10,600 people who died within 6 weeks of being put through the Atos Work Capability Assessment in just the first 10 months of it being imposed on the sick and disabled in the UK. (GOV.UK: Incapacity Benefits: Deaths of recipients)  These figures are for a period between January and November 2011 and there have been two more years of unrecorded death and destruction since then.  The situation is not only devastating but very disturbing.  The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for these circumstances and have, on all accounts, stopped recording the related deaths.  They are also, unbelievably, refusing to act legally according to statutory obligations to provide information they do have through FOI (Freedom of Information) requests, falsely claiming these requests are vexatious and therefore they do not have to respond. (see: Vox Political: Will the DWP do ANYTHING to avoid revealing the true extent of the Atos deaths?)

This gathering included many disabled activists, Occupy, Mohammed Ansar, Michael Meacher MP, John McDonnell MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP an others.  The grass area was strewn with 10,000 white flowers representing 10,000 of the severely abused victims of this policy.  The fact that this event was so significant, in such a significant place, attended by significant people but was NOT REPORTED by main stream media is indicative of the power of the sinister forces at work in the UK at the moment.  It is almost beyond belief that the government, or rather the controlling influence behind the government, has such malevolent power to enact such a news blackout in this day and age.  If you have any doubts about the devastating effects of this policy I personally know three people whose lives have been profoundly damaged by the offensive, threatening and degrading abuse of Atos and the DWP system.

And if you have any doubts about the severity of the propaganda machine in action today I suggest you think again because the Conservative Party Conference has had hours of news time devoted to it but many people are unaware of the 50,000 protestors who demonstrated against the government outside the conference hall on Sunday 29 September 2013.  This was stunningly under-reported by the BBC and the main stream media.  A protest of 50,000 people in Manchester NOT REPORTED!  Unbelievable - until you understand how sinister this government has become.  Many people in the UK remained unaware of one of the biggest protests ever witnessed in Manchester!

Here are some references to the two events that the UK media was presumably banned from reporting.

10,000 Cuts & Counting references:

This is a truly compassionate and disturbing video.  Watch it, think about it.  Then pass it on and spread the news before it is too late.  And remember what Martin Niemöller said:
...they came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . and by that time there was no one left to speak up.


Human Cost - #10kCuts #Atos from You and I Films on Vimeo.

Please sign this petition:
HM Government e-petition:
We call for a Cumulative Impact Assessment of Welfare Reform, and a New Deal for sick & disabled people based on their needs, abilities and ambitions.

Lest We Forget (a poem written and read by Paula Peters in honour of loved ones lost through stress, disability and illness while trying to cope with the process of the Atos Work Capability)

The few (2) mentions of the ceremony I could find on the web:

DEMOTIX: London Remembers over 10,000 dead after Atos Work Capability Tests

Kuriositas: Human Cost: 10,000 Cuts and Counting (... and it doesn't even make the front page of the papers!)

Here are some prior announcements:

It appears the Mirror could announce the event was scheduled but didn't report on the event - I wonder who got to them?
Mirror: 10,000 Cuts and Counting: Protest campaign in memory of victims of welfare reforms

teifidancer: Petition and Protest, 10,000 Cuts and Counting: A Ceremony of Rememberance and Solidarity

the void: 10,000 Cuts and Counting : A Ceremony of Remembrance and Solidarity
http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/tag/parliament-square/

OCCUPY LONDON: 10,000 Cuts & Counting

Human Rights & Political Journal: 10000 Cuts & Counting: Our Supporters

References to the 50,000 demonstration against the government in Manchester:

This is an impressive speech by Owen Jones outside the Tory Party Conference on Sunday 29 September 2013.

Here are some pictures of the protestors in Manchester:

Here are some of the remarkably sparse references on the internet:

International Business Times: Manchester: Police Praise 50,000 Protesters at Conservative Party Conference

BBC News Manchester: 50,000 march in NHS cuts protest in Manchester

mancunian matters: Police praise 'peaceful' behaviour of 50,000 protesters in Conservative Party conference rally

ITV: Police: 50,000 protesters and only two arrests

The Guardian: 50,000 attend Manchester protest against austerity

The Independent: Tory Party Conference: 50,000 march in Manchester rally against austerity

Manchester Evening News: Pictures and video: 50,000 join Manchester anti-cuts march as Tory conference begins

The Huffington Post: Union Rally Draws 50,000 To Tory Conference