No More Deaths by Welfare

Violence is a feature of the welfare state, not a bug ‘Brilliant ... Exposes how stigma and violence have been designed into the welfare state and demonstrates how we can abolish the current system and build life-affirming alternatives’ Imogen Tyler, author of Stigma ‘An enraging and energising call to action... Abolition means building something different and better together, this work helps us to think how’ Gargi Bhattacharyya, author of Rethinking Racial Capitalism ‘Hugely important’ John Pring, author of The Department No More Deaths by Welfare exposes the lethal mechanics of Britain’s social security system that has been weaponised against the very people it claims to support, and how people are beginning to imagine a new society, refusing the confines of a welfare system built on shame. China Mills traces the dark history of a government department rooted in state-sanctioned policing of who is (and is not) deemed deserving, showing how welfare is violent by design. But it is more than a chronicle of harm. Drawing on over a decade of activism led by disabled people and bereaved families, and from police abolitionists, the book delves into the power of collective imagination, healing shame, rebellious grief and cross-movement solidarity. From direct action on the streets to the quiet, powerful mutual aid practised from bed, the book is a call to action, not only to build solidarity and power against state violence, but also to imagine, practice and build welfare justice. China Mills is Head of Research at Healing Justice Ldn, where she created and leads the Deaths by Welfare Project, which builds on her involvement in disabled people’s movements and anti-austerity activism. She was previously an academic, researching how government policies harm and kill disabled people, and how the state produces premature death, including by suicide. She has published widely and is the author of Decolonizing Global Mental Health. No More Deaths by Welfare exposes the lethal mechanics of Britain's social security system that has been weaponised against the very people it claims to support, and how people are beginning to imagine a new society, refusing the confines of a welfare system built on shame. China Mills connects the dots between the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the arms trade, the immigration system, and colonial extraction. In doing so, she traces the dark history of a department rooted in state-sanctioned policing of who is (and is not) deemed deserving. But it is more than a chronicle of harm. Drawing on over a decade of activism led by disabled people and bereaved families, and from police abolitionists, the book delves into the power of collective imagination, healing shame, and refusing 'perfect victim' narratives. From direct action on the streets to the quiet, powerful mutual aid practised from bed, the book is a call to action not only to build solidarity and power against state violence but also to imagine, practice, and build welfare justice.