An analysis of Sleaford Mod’s 2007 track ‘Jobseeker’ and how this narrates the motivations for those who sought to act against the austerity measures bought in by the 2010 coalition government and those who for a variety of factors, couldn’t.
SECTION 1: WHY?
Anti-austerity protests and marches sprang up in Britain after the 2010 election which formed a coalition government of the lib dems and conservatives. These occurred in tandem with other action across Europe after the beginning of the recession in 2008, with other groups tackling the taxes on the general population that left the richest exempt. Such as the Indignados/ 15M protest campaigns that took place after the economy crashed in Spain and Greece. In Britain, the austerity measures introduced by the coalition between leaders Nick Clegg and David Cameron sparked outrage after it became clear that the cuts were affecting the general population of Britain and leaving the rich power holders unscathed. Cuts to local council budgets, increasing of university tuition fees and reduction of public spending on welfare, education, health and policing exposed the inequity between those actioning the cuts and the people the cuts affected.
The Occupy movement, for example, adapted existing tactics from the US Occupy Wall street movement, who famously coined the notion of the 1% benefiting from the suffering of the 99% who felt the worst of the economic turmoil. In Britain, methods by the claimants (the 99%) to fight against the power holders (the 1%) included demonstrations, strike action, sit-ins occupations and rioting. this creates a ‘them’ vs ‘us’ rhetoric that was used within the left leaning ideology which saw society divided between two opposing classes; ‘them’ the economic and political elite and ‘us’ the unjust victims of austerity measures. (Peterson 2015) This element of anti-austerity protest appeals to a traditional labour movement sentiment of uniting the working class struggle which revolved around claims to a working class identity. As Della Porta rightly reminds us, the nature of work in post-industrial Britain is less connected, meaning that people are alienated from structural position and organise their protection on that basis. (Della Porta 2017)
This meant that protesters had to grapple with the social and cultural position of precariousness. Austerity measures directly affected fundamental access to public facilities of healthcare, housing and education. The great mass of ‘us’ therefore, was built upon its own coalition of people with different socio-economic background and were united by their joint aims in opposing the cuts to crucial services. The austerity measures impacted the everyday person, so mass protest and mobilisation became a crucial way in which people could protest in visible unity. this meant taking up space on the street and tackling corporations who were symptomatic of the hypocrisy of economic measures which did little to tackle those who swindled the system for profit in a time of extreme instability.
Anti-Austerity activity had to produce a message that dissolved boundaries between middle and working classes by regarding class identities as united against the 1%. This figure was important for confirming the moral superiority of the protesters (Peterson 2015) and united protesters in their struggle.
https://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2011/10/16/occupy-london-are-we-free-to-protest-or-is-this-a-police-state/
SECTION 2: METHODS
Occupy London was an example of alternative models of protest which developed through grassroots activism. (European Anti-Austerity Protests – Beyond “old” and “new” social movements? Peterson 2015)
The protests that took place in Britain are considered a form of popular protest, as they are undertaken by the ‘ordinary person’ to change the decisions made by government. But they were also supported by UK trade unions and the movements gathered such momentum that organisations formed to support the causes such as The People’s Assembly Against Austerity to tackle the perceived double standard of the economic measures introduced through government cuts to public expenditure. Additionally, organisation UK Uncut established a network of a network of protest groups to directly expose and condemn the aforementioned cuts to public services and tax avoidance in the UK, in line with its left leaning political orientation. The group encouraged direct action to expose and attack businesses that were emblematic of this tax avoidance. As exposed by Private Eye, Vodafone were able to wriggle their way out of paying in full the back taxes of £6 billion by cutting a deal with HM Revenue and customs to reduce that number to 2 billion. The same swindling was rampant by (surprise surprise) the banks themselves who were ultimately perceived to have caused the financial crisis. HSBC were called out to have channelled profits though the Netherlands to avoid £2 billion worth of tax. The toolkit at the disposal of journalists in publications such as Private Eye show how a peoples coalition can form between those dispersing information not revealed in mainstream newspapers and the fast tracking call for action generated by social media platforms such as twitter, which developed forms of protests called ‘bail ins’ turning these bank branches into services they considered were threatened by the cuts.
This tactic is an eye catching way to highlight the threat the banks actions created. They made tangible the danger of the syphoning of funds had on crucial services to the public and made clear the double standard of the government’s priorities of protecting the banks while simultaneously making drastic cuts to public facilities such as libraries. UK Uncut would lash out against this injustice across London in 2011 by turning these banks into libraries. This direct action allowed the public to partake in an activity together and encouragement to bring children to the action was widespread, a poignant reminder of how reliant families are and were to these services. The protest form was simple, allowing people to act within their means, bringing books and protesting in public spaces to highlight the claimants aims and bringing the beneficiaries (children and those who rely on library spaces) to expose directly the population of people who are being affected in an attempt to garner compassion for those affected by cuts.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12514687
Kerbo 1982 famously analysed movements born from affluence in contrast to movements of crisis. In times of relative affluence, movements directed to a particular cause are expected generally to be: Stronger, larger, longer lasting, pragmatic, optimistic and more successful. In these conditions, they are organised better and less likely to use violence. Movements erupting from times of crisis be that extreme unemployment, food shortages and dislocations living conditions are challenged and the conditions of protest often reflect this. Della Porta applied this to the austerity movement actions to consider how through Kerbo’s framework, they would be predicted to be more spontaneous, smaller, shorter, weaker, radical, pessimistic and more unsuccessful. Though as she successfully illustrates, austerity protests prospered in their intensity and benefited form the more innovative practices and forms. (2013) We can see how new social movements of anti-austerity succeeded in the fusion of old channels, e.g. trade unions and the new forms of protest such as Occupy London culminated into a need of taking to the streets in defence of social justice, developing at local, national and international levels across Europe.
Neil Cummings, St Pauls 2011 https://www.flickr.com/photos/chanceprojects/6250578408
SECTION 3: ALIENATION
Della Porta wrote in her study focusing on the socio-economic conditions for protest that their is an assumption in scholarship that contentious politics need dense networks of relations to generated support for the cause however due to the fragmented nature of work explored above, many 2010 movements were triggered by the ability for protest movements to aggregate individuals rather than by organisational networking. (della Porta 2017) New social movements such as these rely less on leverage proffered by unions, though they certainly did their bit to protest the measures (Wennerhag 2015) this combining familiar ‘old’ tactics with the new to fit the needs of the time show how movements evolve its tactics to encourage change when one singular route is no longer effective and instead requires a fusion of approaches.
I argue that the lyrics in Jobseeker by Sleaford Mods capture this struggle to motivate support from those most incapacitated by welfare cuts and disillusionment. Collective identity is built upon existing solidarity (Snow 2004) but what of the limitations inflicted through a late stage capitalist society which removes the collective? Precarious workers, the unemployed and the impoverished had long been pushed into debt they could not repay. Marginalised people lack the material recourses necessary for building collective identity and are rendered vulnerable by time spent protesting.
A study of mass mobilisation in the UK against the state as employer and welfare provider shows the dissolution of conflicts framed by workers and capital and where this leaves the disillusioned other and how new social movements inspire some and alienate others. The push back against the power holders represents a disenchantment and repudiation of the political parties that seemed to offer no respite from the increasingly difficult living conditions resulting from the recession. Some felt empowered to act against these parties, and others retreated to apathy or powerlessness and felt they couldn’t act and actions of others were helpless. Those who had the financial stability at this time to not work and instead take to the streets were in a privileged position and could at that time afford the loss of income. Those who were already affected by the failings of the government leading up to the recession were already so affected by financial instability and uncertainty that protest would be an unaffordable effort away from immediate responsibilities such as providing for family and maintaining already precarious housing and job security.
” Can of Strongbow, I’m a mess
Desperately clutching onto a leaflet on depression
Supplied to me by the NHS
It’s anyone’s guess how I got here
Anyone’s guess how I’ll go?
I suck on a roll-up, pull your jeans up
Fuck off, I’m going home!”
Immediately Williamson’s barking lyrics highlight the effects of government spending on health care. People are struggling and are left to rely on leaflets of information to cope on their own with their struggles with mental health. Underfunded public services and the impossibility of existing in world so geared toward having a stable income culminate into the crisis we are experiencing of an epidemic of people alienated from help or unable to express the need for help in the first place. Cuts to mental health services and the impact of poverty on mental health in the first place means that rather than relief being offered to alleviate people form a position of disadvantage, response to mental distress remains heavily focused on medical interventions (Ian Cummins The Impact of Austerity 2018) rather than structural change to welfare systems and social services. This renders those most vulnerable to a dependence to medication or self-medication through substance abuse, creating a revolving door of hospitalisation and sectioning under the Mental Health Act 1983.
Marginalised people without support networks find themselves every day demonised by popular culture, excluded from debate and ridiculed for helplessness. How are people so detached from society in a position to take to the street to take it up with the power holders? They are consumed with an individual struggle of applying for help from a welfare system that is continuously reworked to be more inaccessible and condescending, monotonous and time consuming. The feeling of participation in a united struggle is incompatible with an alienation from the government and society.
Media portrayals continuously marginalise those relying on welfare tabloid headlines such as ‘Anti-social Feral Youth,’ ‘Vile Products of Welfare in the UK’ and ‘One in Four Adolescents is a Criminal’. (Blackman 2017) This fuels a fire to direct an anger not to the makers of austerity but to the product of it. While people take to the streets to shout ‘us’ vs ‘them’, the media produces its own rhetoric to distort lived experience of austerity and divide people away from a collective identity. Lyrics such as these highlight the disillusionment that these systems are in any way there to provide respite from the gruelling reality that is life under neoliberal capitalism. The feeling that participation in protest and political activity is futile becomes clear in light of the hostility society projects onto those struggling. Additionally, austerity measures were peddled by politicians and some major news outlets as unavoidable making people feel as though there was no real alternative – what is the point of fighting? General distrust in politicians is also a major factor, as people all felt the cuts to varying degrees, and those who were already struggling felt them the most, to mobilise against the power holders requires leverage that some people simply did and do not have. This sentiment of hopelessness therefore has a direct correlation to decline in political participation. For those most affected by austerity, the cuts to recourses that facilitate political participation as these opportunities are diminished. (Harrison 2020)
“So Mr. Williamson, what have you done in order to find gainful employment
Since your last signing on date?
Fuck all
I’ve sat around the house wanking
And I want to know, why you don’t serve coffee here?
My signing on time is supposed to be ten past 11
It’s now 12 o’clock
And some of you smelly bastards need executing”
This verse underlines the insular experience of those on the outside, they see no solidarity in their struggle. There is no united uprising in the walls of this jobseekers office, only the condescending tones of the advisor can be heard. There is no motivation to comply with a unfeeling system that wants you in and out of the door so as not to further burden a crumbling service. Despite anti-austerity movements best efforts to encompass those stuck in the fruitless cycle of this system, this is the reality- the monotonous, repetitive, tedious exchange of failing bureaucracy to receive a pittance to live on or a pittance to work for leaves little energy for action to a better future. What use is it to shout in the streets when you’ve spent gruelling hours to justify your existence?
“Mr. Williamson your employment history looks quite impressive
I’m looking at three managerial positions you previously held with quite
Reputable companies, isn’t this something you’d like to go back to?
Nah, I’d just end up fucking robbing the place
You’ve got a till full of 20s looking at you all day
Well I’m hardly gonna fucking bank it
I’ve got drugs to take and a mind to break”
Resources like time and money are needed for political participation and our protagonist is rejecting the idea that in order to participate in the machine which relies on his cheap labour. Previous to austerity and within it, purpose is jaded and removed an oblivious and removed existence is an easier battle. He rejects the job seekers office and he rejects the idea that things could get better if he accepts what the system has to give. Those from disadvantaged backgrounds have already lost out the most – they already have no time – no money and no resilience. (Harrison 2020) Austerity measures eat away at the little resources there were left.
And yet, is there something to be said for the location of this barking of contentious politics? The full price of a 2015 Glastonbury ticket was the hefty sum £275 for general admission.
The crowd here are nodding their heads to the beat of a song narrating an experience they have and never will undergo? Is it a good excuse to do some po-going like the good old days of youth? Quite possibly.
But there is something in the lyrics of this song that transcends just the overt subject matter, it is an anger registered and echoed in a crowd that forms a protest in its own way, a music form that unites across boundaries to mobilise a mass of seething bodies in a climate that is ever worsening at the onset of the cost of living crisis. The music is cathartic, the duos stage presence picks you up and absorbs you in an anger most internally shout into the abyss.
Sources:
Blackman, Shane, Rogers, Ruth. Youth Marginality in Britain. 1st ed. Policy Press, 2017.
Kate Harrison https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/uk-muted-response-to-austerity/
Peterson, Abby, Mattias Wahlström, and Magnus Wennerhag. “European Anti-Austerity Protests – Beyond “old” and “new” Social Movements?” Acta Sociologica 58, no. 4 (2015): 293-310.
Della Porta, Donatella. “Political Economy and Social Movement Studies: The Class Basis of Anti-austerity Protests.” Anthropological Theory 17, no. 4 (2017): 453-73.
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/lup/publication/52372205-87f0-4907-a0dd-07147900f1a6
Eggert, Nina, and Marco Giugni. “Does the Class Cleavage Still Matter? The Social Composition of Participants in Demonstrations Addressing Redistributive and Cultural Issues in Three Countries.” International Sociology 30, no. 1 (2015): 21-38.
The London Bail-Ins
Granberg, Magnus, and Katarina Giritli Nygren. “Paradoxes of Anti‐austerity Protest: Matters of Neoliberalism, Gender, and Subjectivity in a Case of Collective Resignation.” Gender, Work, and Organization 24, no. 1 (2017): 56-68.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jul/05/sleaford-mods-interview-key-markets https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/mar/03/lost-decade-hidden-story-how-austerity-broke-britain
Cummins, I. (2018). The Impact of Austerity on Mental Health Service Provision: A UK Perspective. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(6). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15061145
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