Public lobby at UCL for Juan Carlos' reinstatement - and how we can build it

 Public lobby at UCL for Juan Carlos' reinstatement - and how we can build it

* FOR THE WIDEST POSSIBLE CIRCULATION * Please attend: Public lobby of the UCL Provost for Juan Carlos Piedra's reinstatement 1pm Monday 21st Sept 2009 UCL Main Quad (off Gower St, London WC1E 6BT) Dear living wage campaign supporter, Juan Carlos Piedra Benitez has worked for Office and General, the cleaning contractors at UCL, for 11 months. Juan Carlos was transferred to work in UCL after being called into a disciplinary meeting and warned about his union activities, including campaigning for the London living wage.  He was told that his work was no problem and the only problem was his attitude—that he told people about the union, about their right to go to tribunals if they were badly treated.  Two days after being transferred to UCL he was called into a meeting and told that he had been seen at SOAS protesting against the immigration raid and at union protests. Then he was told "there is no job for you here"  and was made redundant. Juan Carlos is demanding his reinstatement and that O&G be investigated.  He has the support of the UCL trade unions.  You can back his campaign in specific, practical ways. WHAT YOU CAN DO: 1. Contact Juan Carlos directly (07837949884 / elitejuan_loja@hotmail.com).  Offer to help build the campaign by doing any of the following: 2. Attend the public lobby.  Bring a friend and make a placard. 3. Help Juan Carlos build the lobby, which means leafleting - both printing (A5) and distribution - tomorrow, Friday and early Monday.  Contact Juan Carlos for the list of exact times and places (UCL, SOAS, etc).  A4 posters need to be printed (ideally in colour) and UCL and Bloomsbury plastered with them. 4. Ask to add your name to the open letter (below) by emailing reinstatejuancarlos@yahoo.co.uk. Include your full name, trade union and any position you may hold and place of work or study as you wish these to appear in print. 5. Ask others to add their names. Workmates? Someone you handed a leaflet? Anyone with a bit of profile?  Union leaders, politicians, religious leaders, academics, journalists, people at the TUC conference happening in Liverpool in right now? Where else can you circulate this request? 6. Help get the open letter and the story into the media - English and Spanish language. Print, radio and electronic. 7. Join the Facebook group at http://tinyurl.com/ramfy4 and invite others. In solidarity, Jesse Oldershaw *** OPEN LETTER STARTS *** Professor Malcolm Grant, Provost UCL Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT Cc: Fernando Martins, manager, O&G offices at UCL Dear Professor Grant, We are appalled that cleaning contractor O&G have illegally created a false redundancy at UCL in order to dismiss union activist Juan Carlos Piedra, a member of Unite. Juan Carlos was transferred to UCL on 24th August and two days later was called by his manager to a meeting at which he was told that his trade union activities (organising in the London Living Wage campaign at SOAS and other sites) had been recorded and would not be tolerated. He was then told that there was no job for him at UCL. He was given a letter on 9th September (which O&G had dated 2nd September) saying he was redundant from 17th September. As trade unionists, students and living wage campaign supporters, we will not tolerate members of our campus communities being treated in this way and victimised for exercising their democratic right to engage in legal trade union activities. O&G are one of the major contractors in the cleaning industry who are now bullying, harassing and victimising workers, many of whom are migrants, in order to break trade union organisation and keep wages at the lowest possible levels. All workers, including those on low pay and migrants, have an equal right to organise. We demand that Juan Carlos be reinstated, and that O&G be investigated for violation of trade union rights at UCL. Sincerely, <YOUR NAME HERE> *** OPEN LETTER ENDS ***

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MUTINY @ Resistance Gallery

MUTINY invites you to put MONEY ON TRIAL...

Mutiny presents a series of carnivalesque evenings providing live entertainment and meaningful debates. We are a network of activists who have come together to create an exciting, safe space for discussion, critical theory and alternative media.

Our debut event, Money on Trial, takes place on Thursday, September 24.


There will be three main themes:
Has money destroyed the music business;
Can the money markets deliver on climate change and
Can the government be trusted with our money?

A taste of what can be expected: leader of Pirate Party UK on the implications of filesharing and the onslaught of government reforms trying to be introduced; a showing of the brilliant Greenpeace film A Time Comes about the occupation of Kingsnorth directed by Nick Broomfield; the latest Vestas film from Reel News, a cameo performance from Victory, a hip hop star from the People’s Army collective and comedy from Kate Smurthwaite.

Plus art exhibits from Anna Logophobia, Green artist Kat Austen and the Young Unknowns.

The best part, however, is the audience. I mean, what do we know about anything? We need you to join the Mutiny.

Doors and bar open at 6pm with music and the performances start at 7pm so get there early.

For updates and playlist go to blog at http://jointhemutiny.org/blog 

For map and venue details go to http://resistancegallery.blogspot.com

Stop the War planning mtg tmrw

Stop the War planning mtg tmrw,Mon 14 to build Oct 24 demo.

Indian YMCA, Fitzroy st, WC1.
6.30pm.

Nice vege food too

All welcome

Sent from my iPhone

http://solomonsmindfield.net
http://twitter.com/solomonsmfield

Mutiny's Money on trial looks a treat. Joint the Mutiny, jump aboard.

Mutiny presents Money on Trial on Thursday, September 24.

Karl Marx described money as the “universal pimp”. But the grumpy German philosopher is dead and the Queen’s head is still on the £10 note. Having no money is depressing. Money means food. Money means paying the rent. Money means getting a round in. But even those with stacks of cash spend their whole lives desperately trying to make more. Money perverts everything it touches. So do we need money? Is it a fact of life the same way as water, gravity or syphilis. Can we run the world without it?

Money on Trial is an evening of engaged debate and entertainment.

There will be three main themes..

Music and resistance: Has money destroyed the music business;
Green money: Can the money markets deliver on climate change and
Government and our money: can the government be trusted with our money?  

Doors open at 6pm with music and the performances start at 7pm so get there early.

Mutiny has adopted and adapted the Red Room meeting format for a series of events themed Money on Trial, Violence on Trial and Love on Trial. Each event will feature live performances, film showings and music. The performers are invited to a round table discussion with speakers and members of the audience.
Each event begins at 6pm and ends at 11pm starting and finishing with an hour of live music and DJs.

The heart of the meeting will be three sessions of 45 minutes which will feature short films, poems, talks, plays and other performances along with discussion around a central “dinner table” with microphones and questions and statements from the audience.

The first event is titled Money on Trial. The first discussion session will open with an examination of the impact of money on the music industry. We will hear from a new generation of rap artists who have rejected the cliché of drugs, guns, cars and sexism in favour of politically engaged performance. This  session will also be examining copyright laws and hope to have a speaker from the appropriately named Pirate Party.

We will then examine Green Capitalism with a short film from director Nick Bloomfield called A Time Comes about the Greenpeace occupation of Kingsnorth; a video on the Vestas occupation and a discussion about whether green investment and legislation can prevent climate change.

Finally, there will be a video performance before a discussion about money and democracy which will look at the issues around MPs expenses, welfare not warfare campaigns and whether the human race actually needs money to exist.

There will be a twitter wall, an exhibition mezzanine and a goody bag of leaflets and information so that everyone can express their creativity, their ideas and their standpoints. We are still open to new ideas to make the event as stimulating and informative as possible.

Here's a glimpse at some of the contributors...

Photographer Anna Logophobia (great name)
Green artist Kat Austen
Reid Dudley-Smith presents on Music and the Internet
People’s Army General VICTORY
War on want campaigns director

and many more...

See the line-up at the News Update section of the blog

DSEi arms dealers dinner TONIGHT.

Meet them at the Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane, LONDON UK. 

 

Assemble outside 6pm!
 

Meet and greet the arms dealer scum who make their money from massacre, torture, rape, forced migration and environmental destruction wherever they go.

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY

Save Green Jobs at Vestas

Vestas workers keep lookout for bladerunner arrival

Tripod set up at Vestas, Isle of Wight. More coming

As look out for BladeRunner boats set to come and remove blades from
one of the factories. Report on Socialist Worker v soon. Thx jake.

Defend Harrow mosque from anti-Muslim racists

unite against fascism

email bulletin, 9 September 2009 – www.uaf.org.uk – unite@ucu.org.uk

Defend Harrow Central Mosque from anti-Muslim racists

assemble 4pm, Friday 11 September, Harrow Civic Centre 

 

Speakers include: Tony McNulty MP, London assembly member Navin Shah, NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear, Jo Lang from Harrow Teachers Association, Unite convenor and bus worker Abdul Omer Mohsin, Weyman Bennett from Unite Against Fascism

 

>>> download the leaflet HERE

>>> download the poster HERE

 

Racist bigots including the BNP-linked English Defence League and "Stop the Islamisation of Europe" are planning on holding an anti-Muslim protest outside Harrow Central Mosque on the evening of Friday 11 September. Unite Against Fascism has called a solidarity vigil in response to defend the mosque from racists and fascists.

We are calling on everyone in London who opposes the racists and wants to stand up for Harrow's multicultural and multiracial society to assemble on Friday at 4pm outside Harrow Civic Centre on Station Road, just north of the junction with Rosslyn Crescent (postcode HA1 2UA, nearest tube Harrow & Wealdstone). Please bring union banners.

The vigil starts at 1.30pm, so please get there earlier if you can. We want a dignified but determined demonstration that will show the racists that they are not welcome in Harrow. There will be a public rally with speakers starting at around 6pm. 

Sign the unity statement

Anti-racist activists in Harrow have drawn up the following statement which has been signed by local MPs, trade unionists and community activists. Send an email to uafbrentandharrow@googlemail.com to add your name to the statement.

"We the undersigned strongly oppose plans by the 'English Defence League' - a group linked to the fascist BNP - to demonstrate against Harrow Central Mosque. The EDL is a racist group out to attack Asians. It is trying to provoke and intimidate Muslim people by organising its 'protest' on a Friday in the holy month of Ramadan.

"Islamophobia - bigotry against Muslims - is as unacceptable as any other form of racism. Its aim is to divide us by making scapegoats of one community, just as the Nazis did with the Jews in the 1930s. Today they threaten the mosque, tomorrow it could be a synagogue, temple or church. Today they threaten Muslims, tomorrow it could be Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, blacks, gays, travellers or Eastern Europeans. There is no place for Nazis, racists or the BNP in Harrow's multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-religious community."

Signatories so far include: Tony McNulty, MP for Harrow East; Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North; Navin Shah, London assembly member for Brent & Harrow; Jo Lang, president of Harrow Teachers Association (NUT); Nick Grant, NUT national executive member for outer London; Martin Francis, Green Party candidate for Brent North; Abdul Omer Mohsin, union convenor for Unite at Harrow and Edgware bus garages; Raj Gill, branch secretary, GMB Harrow general branch (pc); Pete Firmin, president of Brent Trades Council; Alf Filer, UCU Harrow College; Indro Sen, UCU branch secretary, College of North West London; Milad Ahmed, Muslim Youth Helpline

 

Please distribute this email bulletin as widely as possible, especially in workplaces and trade union networks. Apologies in advance for any cross posting. If you have any comments or suggestions, email them to unite@ucu.org.uk or call the UAF office on 020 7801 2782.

 

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Stay up to date with UCU by signing up to our weekly web update, news feeds, twitter or facebook services: http://www.ucu.org.uk/stayupdated

Want additional support? The College and University Support Network (CUSN) offers UCU members a range of services - from factsheets to counselling. Access these services online http://cusn.info/ or through the 24/7 telephone support line, Freephone 08000 329952

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Disclaimer
The information contained in this communication from unite@ucu.org.uk sent at 2009-09-09 13:45:04 is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for use by revolution@soas.ac.uk and others authorised to receive it. If you are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. This email message has been scanned for viruses by Mimecast. Please add ucu.org.uk to your safe senders list to ensure that you continue to receive UCU e-mail

Lessons in life

Couldn't help myself posting this well known motto to my son's door.
Although I have to add what a fantastic son he is-he's just had a life
changing experience after reading Orwell's 1984!

Drew McConnell, Babayshambles, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly play Beats Beat Bullets on Thursday

Tickets were sold out last month so get there early.

Another amazing lineup for September:

Get Cape Wear Cape Fly
They did a breakfast gig before the G20 demo last April, Sam Duckworth has debated Ken Livingstone and they have been called the highlight of Glastonbury 2009. Get Cape Wear Cape Fly at Vibe Bar is not to be missed!

Drew McConnell, Babyshambles
Plus you’ll be treated to a solo accoustic set from STW special guest musical politico Drew McConnell, bass guitarist and vocalist from Babyshambles & Helsinki.

Itch, King Blues
And if that wasn’t enough we have a very special guest in the form of King Blues front man Itch who will also be doing a solo set. King Blues have been called ‘the most exciting live band in Britain’ by Kerrang and ‘rough, radical music that should unsettle the rulers of this country’ by Tariq Ali

Keeping you dancing all night long will be DJ Neotropic aka Riz Maslen.

September 10th 2009.

Flyers available from 0207 801 2768

London Student Feminist network activist day. Is this a return to Feminism?

It's interesting how many more young women, and men, are becoming once again interested in what has classically been called Feminism. But what does feminism mean today? Are we still fighting for the right to work, for equal pay, for equal position in society? Well, yes, it seems so. Women, although we are now encouraged out of the home, to work for a boss, to be free to wear what we like in reality this is by no means equal. What sort of work are we allowed to do? Who do we want to be equal to? Who are we trying to emulate? Certainly we are not really equal. The media is littered with sexist images and propaganda which encourage women to behave in certainn ways. Fro example, I was astounded by this article on the launch of the new Pole Dancing doll. 

I don't want to here go over the well argued positions in the many feminist strains but to draw your attention to the fact that feminism the word is back on the agenda and is attracting a new layer of activists.


Although as a Marxist I do not see the struggle for womens rights as seperate from the struggle for equality for all I welcome any moves which encourage people to join in the fight. It is through these campaigns that many people become full blown revolutionaries.

In 1909 Alexandra Kollontai, a leading revolutionary, wrote a fabulous pamphlet entitled  'The Social Basis of the Woman Question'


Here is a quote which encaputlates the opposition to feminism as seperate from class struggle:

The feminists see men as the main enemy, for men have unjustly seized all rights and privileges for themselves, leaving women only chains and duties. For them a victory is won when a prerogative previously enjoyed exclusively by the male sex is conceded to the “fair sex”. Proletarian women have a different attitude. They do not see men as the enemy and the oppressor; on the contrary, they think of men as their comrades, who share with them the drudgery of the daily round and fight with them for a better future

 and further:

For the majority of women of the proletariat, equal rights with men would mean only an equal share in inequality, but for the “chosen few”, for the bourgeois women, it would indeed open doors to new and unprecedented rights and privileges that until now have been enjoyed by men of the bourgeois class alone.

 It is on this basis that '[a] woman can possess equal rights and be truly free only in a world of socialised labour, of harmony and justice.'  We can only have equality once the conditions from which oppression are founded have been removed. And this means we must continue our struggle, our fight and our campaigns against an unjust system which places profit before people, which places competition at the heart of all movtivations and which justifies class inequality. You should read her whole article; she puts it much better than me!

Anyway, a suuprising development has arisen surrounding the iminent Feminist Activist Day to be hosted at SOAS: MEN are allowed to attend. And a welcome addition this is. The day will be guided by women; all votes and decisions will be made by women but men can come as observers. Great.

I am providing a short introduction to the political uses of the internet and demonstrating some of the tools of internet activism. I welcome any comments and advice on this.

The day will be kicked off by JUDITH ORR- author of Sexism and the System, former editor of the Socialist Review and veteran speaker at SOAS feminist events and rallys. She will be giving the opening speech on the challenges for feminism today and the backlash against feminism.

The full timetable can be found at the London Student Feminists Network blog

Whilst this is a dayschool for student activists, I'm sure non-students can attend as observers. Please email them to request a space.

Also, if you wish to have a stall there feel free to also contact Elly.

I look forward to seing you all.

OPEN PLANNING MEETING for HANDS OFF MY WORKMATES CONFERENCE Wed 9th Sept 2009

Dear friends

SOAS UNISON, SOAS UCU and SOAS Students' Union would like to invite you to take part in an open planning meeting to discuss our campaign to bring back our cleaners in-house, and how to build the teach-in on migrant workers that we are organising for Saturday 17 October 2009 following the brutal UKBA raid on our cleaning staff in June.

Details of the meeting—at which we want to plan how to build the conference—are below.

Please feel free to forward this invitation.

Read the rest of the plans at the Free SOAS Cleaners blog. Provisional agenda included. Plus photos, videos and reports from occupation.

Thank you for all your support. let's try to make this a broad, proactive campaign. If this can happen at SOAS it can happen anywhere.We need to pre-empt moves by the government and management to let them
know we are watching and will fight back

Speak soon.

In solidarity

This morning at Vestas camp at Marina Quay

Early doors. Not much news.