As we end a decade of Tory rule with a prime minister who is more right wing than any in recent memory, the fightback is far from over. The SUWN was set up in response to the first year of Tory ‘Austerity’ and attacks on the unemployed, and although the situation today looks frightening on so many levels, we mustn’t forget the gains that welfare activists have won. It’s not just the immediate changes, such as embarrassing companies to withdraw from workfare programmes, or the very notable change of attitude shown by many of the staff at the Dundee Jobcentre. We have won the public argument. Despite an election result in the rest of the UK that was skewed by Brexit and a right-wing media, people are aware of the attacks on benefits, even when they are not themselves affected, and they don’t like what they see.

And, while we shudder at the actions of the right-wing and fascist regimes now dominating so much of the world, we have to take heart from the scale of the protests against them. Whether we are marching with thousands, or standing in the rain outside Dundee Buroo, we are all fighting that same neoliberal system, which is quite literally destroying people’s lives and destroying humanity’s future. So, see you at the stalls, or at the protests against the next inevitable attacks, and at the climate protests and the Indy marches.

We are fighting for a better world – but just in case you need a reminder of what we are fighting against, here is a short message from Sir IDS:

Iain Duncan Smith’s my name

A bold knight of the realm

Slaying welfare is my game

The weak to overwhelm

 

My Easterhouse epiphany

Taught me about the poor

Now bow the knee in front of me

You vagabond outlaw!

 

Oh, welcome me Sir IDS

All righteous lures I’ve spurned

To make you live on less and less

My title is well-earned

 

To tax the rich would count as theft

So just restrain your tears

The legacy that I have left

Will last a hundred years

 

And if you died in my crusade

A piece of glory’s yours

Your death has seen my future made

You’ve helped a noble cause

 

BEST WISHES FOR 2020 AND THE NEW DECADE OF STRUGGLE!