Stroud Against the Cuts - come to our Public Meeting, Save the Independent Living Fund

Stroud Against the Cuts supporters update

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Dear Stroud Against the Cuts supporters,

In this email:

More details for our "After the Election - Where Next?" meeting - Thursday 2nd JULY
Disabled People Against the Cuts parliament protest to Save the Independent Living Fund
Reports from the 20th June "End Austerity Now" Protest
Information about upcoming events and actions
A selection of articles you will hopefully find of interest

"After the Election - Where Next?"
Stroud Against the Cuts public meeting

Thursday 2nd July, 7.30-9.30pm - Stroud Old Town Hall, GL5 1AP.

Apologies for any confused caused by our previous announcements regarding this event. The meeting is next Thursday 2nd JULY (not June). If you use Facebook, please join and/or share the Facebook event, if you use twitter, please tweet about the event or retweet Stroud Against the Cuts' tweet advertising the meeting.

The plan for the meeting is to have an informal discussion and hear from as many people as possible about priorities for cuts and privatisation we should fight, tactics we think and most effective, and ideas for how we can make Stroud Against the Cuts bigger.

We fought NHS privatisation locally and won in 2011/12 - and we're confident that we can support each other, fight back, and - with the right approach - win more victories! Come with your ideas. Get in touch via contact@stroudagainstcuts.co.uk if you need more information.

Reports from the 20th June End Austerity Now demonstration

Thanks to everyone who joined us or supported us in organising three coaches from Gloucestershire to the national People's Assembly demonstration last weekend. Apologies again to those of you affected by the confusion with the return coaches.

Jamie Wiseman from the Stroud News and Journal, who travelled with us, has written a report with pictures for the paper: "Protesters from Stroud join mass Anti-Austerity march in London". The article features quotes from County Councillor Sarah Lunnon, District Councillor John Marjoram and SATC co-ordinators James Beecher, Caroline Molloy, and Hannah Basson. In recognition of Hannah's hard work organising the coaches we arranged a small token of our appreciation).

Apparently there were 136k tweets on the #EndAusterityNow hashtag.

Here's a report from the BBC on the London protest: "Anti-austerity demonstration: Voices from the crowd". There was also a demonstration in Glasgow, see "Protesters in [Glasgow] anti-austerity rally"

We have a short report about the June 20th protest on the Stroud Against the Cuts website. If you have photographs or would like to contribute a quote about why you attended or what you made of the day, please email: contact@stroudagainstcuts.co.uk

"End Austerity Now! 250,000 March - You Count them" - static video camera shows the entire demonstration march past

Events and actions:

Thursday 25th June

8pm, Global Footsteps Cafe, Portland St, Cheltenham: Cheltenham & Gloucestershire Against Cuts invites representatives from all groups & individuals to discuss a common strategy for countywide campaigning.

Saturday 27th June

12.30-1.45pm, Stroud Subcription Rooms: Launch of the Compassionate Revolution - a new online platform where people can pledge to undertake acts of ‘art, heart and civil disobedience’.

Thursday 2nd July

7,30pm: SATC Public Meeting "After the Election - Where Next?", Old Town Hall, Stroud, GL5 1AP

Wednesday 8th July

People's Budget Protest - People's Assembly National Day of Action - Budget protest in London (at Parliament) and elsewhere. Can you help us organise an event in Stroud? Email contact@stroudagainstcuts.co.uk

Tuesday 28th July

Stroud Green Party Monthly Meeting, Star Anise Cafe, Gloucester St.

Save the Independent Living Fund

The Independent Living Fund (ILF) is a vital form of support to enable disabled people to live independently (video explaining the ILF).

Today, 24th June 2015, Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) held a protest in the Central Lobby of the House of Commons, while Prime Minister's Questions was taking place. The protest included severely disabled people who are set to lose their Independent Living Fund support in just seven days time. The group attempted to break through into the commons chamber and almost succeeded in interrupting Prime Ministers Questions (PMQs).

The police response was at first confused, and then described as “rough” but none of the protestors was reported as being hurt and there were no arrests reported.

After leaving the House of Commons, the protestors continued to block roads around Westminster.

Kate Belgrave who took part has published a report on the Save ILF protest, with photos and videos.

Journalists tweeted that they were prevented from recording (ITV: "Police now telling reporters all audio recordings are banned in central lobby now too, this is a farce in 21st century democracy"; BBC: "Commons officials have banned all broadcasters from filming the protest by disability campaigners in Parliament central lobby"), but audio and video was recorded before this, and the event was successful in winning greater coverage for the campaign to Save the ILF than has been given previously:

The BBC: "Disability fund protest at Prime Minister's Questions" (the channel cut away from it's PMQs coverage to show this clip: "Disability protesters storm into parliament")
The Guardian: "Disability campaigners clash with police inside parliament over benefit cuts"
The Mirror: "Disabled protesters try to storm Commons chamber during Prime Minister's Questions forcing police lockdown"
The Independent: 'Where is the Paralympic legacy we were promised?' asks one of the protesters in Parliament. 'Is this it? Being beaten up in the House of Commons?'

Last year, we spoke to Paula Peters from Disabled People Against Cuts, who took part in the protests today. Watch: "We are you, you are us, and we fight together"

"We are NOT in this together: the story of the closure of the Independent Living Fund" is a film featuring a series of disability activists sharing how the closure of the Independent Living Fund will affect their lives, and how not qualifying for the fund is already impacting some of them. Made with False Economy and the Daily Mirror.