Hunger strike: Day 20.
Q. Firstly and most importantly, how are you feeling both physically and mentally?
A. I actually feel very good right now. I am clear headed, in no pain at all and as determined to finish this as the day I started.
Q. For those amongst us who are still unaware of what is happening, could you please outline the nature of your protest against the ConDem government?
A. In truth, I am NOT protesting against the CON/DEM government. I am protesting against those WITHIN the government that enacted these policies that are causing so much pain and who have the unmitigated gall to call them “compassionate.” There is, in my opinion, now way that you can inflict so much damage on the mentally or physically sick in this country that they kill themselves in huge numbers or are placed in destitution and claim to be, in any way humanly possible, a compassionate person. To think that a person could do such things and describe themselves in that way, betrays such a lack of a grasp of reality that I, as a lay person, would consider them to be insane.
If you took a donkey with a broken leg and forced it back to work, the people of this country would be up in arms about the cruelty of it. The media would be going crazy too. There is something very, very, wrong with a society and it’s leaders when they think they can take very seriously ill people and do as ATOS/DWP are doing to them while everyone looks the other way.
Q. What made you decide upon this course of action?
A. The decision was made for me in a sense. All my benefits had been stripped away leaving me with zero income. That ultimately meant homelessness and death on the streets. I decided if I were going to die it would be in my way, in the place of my choosing at my timing. I also decided I would not go meekly into that death bowing to my ‘masters’ and tugging my forelock, but rather, that I would make a heck of noise about it. The only question left, once that decision had been made, was how I would go.
In the beginning this was a personal protest about what had been done to me, but as I looked into ATOS and their activities I discovered that they had done this, or similar things, to too many other people and that some of those people were dying. That infuriated me. I realised that these policies were every bit as extreme as those brought to bear upon the disabled in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. The same kind of cold, dead hearts which were willing to kill the most vulnerable people in their countries and under those regimes had now arrived in the UK in 2013 and they have to be stopped.
Q. So far, how successful has your protest been, both with the general public and with the media?
A. I cannot answer this question yet as these are still early days. Ask me again close to the end of matters.
Q. How have ATOS and the Department of Working Pensions (DWP) responded to your protest?
A. My benefits have been restored completely, for which I am very grateful. However, this is not just about me. There are many other people out there for whom the misery and fear goes on. My fight now is about them.
Q. Personally, do you think they re-instated your benefits because you are legally entitled to them? If so, then what are your thoughts about why they denied you of them in the first place? Or do you think they re-instated them to prevent any further bad publicity from smearing their already tarnished reputation?
A. Honestly. I think a little of both. It is the nature of the self righteous and criminally corrupt mind that it thinks everyone else does, or should, think as it does. However, it also carries within a very strong sense of personal preservation and will rush to protect itself when it is under threat. It wants to give the impression of purity and hide its perversity. That is how it survives among us — by faking goodness.
Q. Ideally, what do you hope to achieve by the course of action you have chosen to take?
A. I want to see those benefits restored to everyone who has had them taken away wrongfully and I want the system of evaluation used by ATOS completely dismantled and reappraised. So that qualified personnel make the decisions about a person’s fitness or otherwise for work and not, as in my case, a physiotherapist diagnosing cognitive abilities she was not qualified to understand or make.
Q. Many of us are naturally concerned about your well-being and are of the belief that this government aren’t worthy of your life. You are such an inspiration to us all and give us the strength to stand up and fight against the cruelty inflicted upon us. We’re aware that you’re prepared to die for this cause and its possible outcomes and whilst we respect and support such a noble act, we’re also aware that you are more of a threat to this government alive than you will be if you die. What is your response to this?
A. Be as concerned as I am about the welfare of the mother with no benefits, or the single disabled dad in despair. FIGHT FOR THEM. Don’t copy me but use my protest as your symbol. Take your eyes off of me and put them, with all the energies you can muster, into the fight. Oh and fight an unconventional war. They have set up hoops for you that they expect you to jump through and are ready for that. By-pass those hoops and come at them from another direction. MAKE A VERY LOUD NOISE AND DO NOT BE SILENT UNTIL THE PEOPLE LISTEN.
Q. In the event of your death, how would you like to see this fight progress?
A. To victory because the alternative for our people is unthinkable.
Q. If you had the opportunity to be in the same room as David Cameron for 20 minutes, what would you say to him?
A. Get some psychiatric help. You have no idea how ill you are.
A very big “Thank you” to George for taking the time to allow me to get this interview, it’s much appreciated.
Other interviews:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/george-rolph-hunger-strike-after-1946899#ixzz2W0aoe11A
well George you have taken the words out of my mouth and spoke for all of the sick and disabled in the UK who at this time like me live and have lived for years in constant fear and I’m like so many with lost for words to say how grateful we are to have known you and will continue to support you in every way we are able to
george please stay with us and fight this government you are a very strong minded man that can help in so meny ways i honestly think you could run this country a lot better than con dem they are worthless where as you have a purpose helping the sick and disabled to get back there rights stay with us please
George Rolph , Your voice is deafening and just know that the nation recognise what you are doing and why you are doing it – know that we are all right behind you. You have turned the bastards spinning on their heads with this brilliant response to their injustice ……. cutting off your entitlement to assistance and then suddenly reinstating it to avoid the scandal of being negligent. I write with the tears of a great bearhug knowing it is with profound sadness we will lose you to starvation. Too many lives have been spent already , In solidarity George , love , respect and my outstretched hand , Esther