DPAC

DEAD PEOPLE DON’T CLAIM – DISABLED PEOPLE AGAINST THE CUTS AT TORY CONFERENCE

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By Robyn Banks

Last week’s Conservative Party conference in Birmingham was met with sizeable protests, as you’d expect given the party’s actions in its eight years in power. Groups such as the People’s Assembly opened the weekend with their usual rally and march against the continued austerity measures being implemented across the country, to the detriment of many in society. I was lucky enough to witness and be involved in one of the most powerful protests, on the final day of the conference, when Disabled People Against the Cuts (DPAC) led action against the continued rollout of the failing universal credit system and the ongoing cuts to benefits by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

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ART OF NORWICH: DOING WHAT YOU CAN TO MAKE CHANGE

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by Jan McLachlan

On a chilly December evening I went to St Margaret’s Church of Art in Norwich for the opening of ‘Enlightening the Eye’s Mind’. Rus Ki, the organiser of the exhibitions there, has a history of hosting thought provoking, inclusive exhibitions that are open to all artists and with no funding from the Arts Council or any government/corporate body. As Rus Ki says ‘providing our artists the freedom to articulate and express themselves however they choose’. This was no exception, with interesting and beautiful work by local artists, several of whom are disabled artists.

I was particulary looking forward to seeing (and hearing) Vince Laws’ work. Vince is an artist, a poet, a political campaigner and an activist. His politics often inform his artwork, but recently, as he says ‘I wanted something brighter to work on alongside some of the campaigning’.Continue Reading