I went to a social work conference this Saturday which was very interesting. The Social Work Action Network (SWAN) was running it; radical and critical social work an alternative approach. I had never heard of SWAN before and to be honest thought it would just be an academic exercise that would help me with my studies, I need all the help I can get.

I'll try to convey an overview. It was regional so all of the statistics were from Middlesborough. In an context of severe cuts affecting the poorest of our society especially in the North East, is there any alternative? Do we have to keep on cutting? Social workers have high workloads and job insecurity because of the cuts. As many social workers and youth workers see this happening to the people who need the services most and to their own profession, they face massive challenges to the values of their profession. Isn't it time to speak up since this is only the first wave of cuts. To speak up for the service users. Also the cuts are not uniform, the biggest ones are where the services are most needed. (I did not know this). They said something about an ideological attack on social work also which I think boiled down to people using the liberatory language of social work yet not doing anything. Hence SWAN's emphasis on Action.

SWAN is prepared to stand up to the government by

• Resisting neo-liberal ideas
• Resisting in theory and practice
• Partnership
• Modelling resistance

Since Britain has only just paid back the war debts to America there is no need to panic about debt. It is in proportion to what we have and produce (economy). Like a mortgage on a house. That is long term manageable debt. The most vulnerable people suffer so it is the responsibility of the profession to stand up. In lectures we have been learning about the two strands of social work. The status quo that consolidates inequality and those excluded from the history of social work who nonetheless were social workers and stood up and campaigned for justice. I think we were being prepared for Saturday!

There is an underlying resistance to managerialism. I think that's true because of the Munro report and also from shadowing a statutory social worker for the day.

So what is the new radical social work?
There is a hidden history of radical social work. Eg. 1970s, settlement movement etc. This is different to mainstream tradition.

• Opposition to the injustice of society, played out in action not compliance
• Against commodification.
• Global thing- see movements from all over the world happening at the same time.

Factors fuelling new radical social work

• Dissatisfaction- I didn't come into social work for this!
• Social work reduced to bureaucracy.
• Challenging the depth of the austerity cuts.
• Losing the values of Social Work and affiliated occupations.

How can we make a difference?
One of the things that struck me about the conference was solidarity. There was a movement passed that sent a message of solidarity and support to a youth worker in Gaza who was trained in Durham. Just to show that she isn't alone. There was an emphasis on collectivism; one individual will not make much of an impact but when organised together there is much more encouragement, a collective voice for change and many ideas. Also movements like SWAN are not isolated; there are many similar organisations across the globe who are reacting against austerity but more importantly on behalf of the most vulnerable in society. For some countries it may look like anti-austerity (Greece, Spain, Britain etc) but for others it may be standing up for service users, advocacy, encouraging self-advocacy movements etc.

There is a deep radical strand of social work running throughout British history and which is characterised by turning the 'norm' upside down. People who have questioned and kept on questioning until change came about and they were listened to. Unfortunately with this bravery came vast unpopularity in some cases. 'Norms' don't like to be challenged and will put up a fight. The one thing I think Social Workers must remember is why they came into the profession. Was it for a career or because they are passionate about social justice? And whether you believe social work to be political or not the aim is to support the most vulnerable, those whose services are being stripped away. So what can I do as a social work student and in the future as a practitioner? Watch SWANs space! I think social work is political and must be but that isn't to say people who don't believe that can't make a difference. The difficulty is the practice.

At the conference there were a lot of academics and a lot of students. Very few practitioners on the front line and I met none from the statutory sector. There was also an uneasiness about going into practice trying to protest both from students and the academics who teach because of the fear of loosing jobs. But knowing that you are not the only one and using ethics and the threat to social work's value base as tools is powerful and encouraging. But is there effective support from SWAN, does there need to be?