Bed blocking of an altogether different order as furious pensioners threaten to stage hospital sit ins at a recent meeting in Camden.
National Pensioners Committee general secretary Dot Gibson said: “This coalition government is throwing down the gauntlet to those who uphold social justice. We must mobilise, organise and fight.
“We, as pensioners, remember what it was like in 1945 and 1948. We are facing it again – and it is our responsibility to take forward the struggle.”
Having just read Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada, (whilst in Berlin) I was struck by Hannah Arendt’s reflection that evil is banal, committed by ordinary people just doing their jobs. Those responsible were very often petty careerists who refused to think about the wider impact. The resistance, on the other hand, was carried out by extraordinary people who thought of themselves as ordinary, who couldn’t avoid thinking about the wider impact of their actions. People like Dot Gibson and Wendy Savage will always be part of the resistance.
We should all be inspired.
http://www.camdennewjournal.com/news/2010/nov/occupy-wards-threatened-closure-say-oap-leaders
A Better NHS 