An exhibition by Haringey Claimant Justice Campaign
Government “welfare” policy penalises people for being poor, losing their job, being low paid, struggling to pay inflated rents, being sick or disabled. The news and media tell us we're all in it together — but many of us know full well that we're not! The gap between the rich and the rest in this country is huge and getting worse all the time.
So while the media tells one story about us, we are going to tell our own truth about what life is really like on benefits and how we can fight back.
The exhibition
The exhibition will feature real claimants from the past and the present, describing how things are, how they have changed and how we want them to be. With a combination of photographs and words we will tell our stories in a way that cannot be ignored. We will take this message to the places people go: to community centres, churches, mosques and synagogues, libraries, council offices and doctors' surgeries. We will grab the attention of journalists and politicians, and we will look carefully at their responses.
The content
The exhibition will consist of separate A1 panels featuring a person and their story. The photograph will be the centrepiece and will be accompanied by a short statement, drawing attention to a particular aspect of the social security system that the person has experienced. Some of these will show the difficulties and repercussions of living on benefits; others will demonstrate the resilience of claimants and the ways in which they have overcome or dealt with the problems they face. Other panels will take the form of a claimant's manifesto, showing what we want from a social security system and how a decent and reliable safety net benefits all of us.
An accompanying booklet will tell these stories in more detail, giving claimants the opportunity to show the full impact of the social security system on their lives, their health, and their children's future.
Participants
The idea comes from Haringey Claimant Justice Campaign, the stories come from claimants that we have contact with, and the photographers are local people, professionals and activists. Together we can produce a lasting educational, political and cultural resource, for use by campaigns in Haringey and throughout London, and for all of us who hope to bring about change.