Give Our Kids a Future! A North London Unity Demonstration

http://hackneyalliance.wor​dpress.com/2011/08/11/give​-our-kids-a-chance-north-l​ondon-unity-march-saturday​-13th-august-1pm-gillet-sq​uare-dalston/

This march is called by The North London Assembly, a temporary Assembly which saw 70 local community activists meet at the North London Community House on Tuesday 9th August to discuss our reaction to the riots of early August in Tottenham and Hackney. It includes people from many Turkish and Kurdish community groups, like Day Mer and Gik Der, and also the Haringay and Hackney Alliances for Public Services who are all supporting this march.
We state that this is not us seeking to represent the community but it is our attempt to try to bring unity to the community in which we live. There are many different views on the events but we are seeking the most positive outcome from them.
This will be a positive and peaceful march with an Assembly at the end for people to express what they are thinking about recent events

ONLY CLICK ATTENDING IF ATTENDING PLEASE

Statement 10/8/2011

A North London Unity Demonstration

Saturday 13th August
Assemble Gillet Square, Dalston, N16 at 1pm. March to Tottenham Green, N15

Our communities need a united response to both the riots and the causes of despair and frustration that can result in riots.

We demand:
• A CULTURE OF VALUING, NOT DEMONISING YOUTH AND UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE.
• SUPPORT FOR THOSE AFFECTED BY THE RIOTING, INCLUDING THE IMMEDIATE RE-HOUSING OF PEOPLE MADE HOMELESS AS WELL AS GRANTS FOR AFFECTED
SMALL BUSINESSES.
- COMMUNITY LED REGENERATION AND RESTORATION OF DAMAGED AREAS.
• REVERSAL OF ALL CUTS TO YOUTH SERVICES IN OUR BOROUGHS
• NO CUTS TO PUBLIC SERVICES! INSTEAD, INVESTMENT INTO AND REGENERATION OF OUR COMMUNITIES, INCLUDING HOUSING, JOBS, EDUCATION AND SPORTS
FACILITIES.
• AN INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY INQUIRY INTO POLICING METHODS IN OUR BOROUGHS. AND AN END TO STOP AND SEARCH.
• AVAILABILITY OF LEGAL SUPPORT FOR ALL THOSE PEOPLE ARRESTED BY POLICE - YOUNG PEOPLE FACE POTENTIAL SENTENCES THAT WILL AFFECT THEM, THEIR FAMILIES AND THEIR WIDER COMMUNITIES FOR YEARS TO COME.

We are responding to the events of the last few days, in particular the Tottenham protest over the killing of Mark Duggan and the riots that followed in Tottenham and Hackney.

By coming together and calling for unity we want to encourage all sections of our local communities, young and old,
black and white, residents and workers, to work together to find solutions to some of our long-standing problems.

We know there are all kinds of strong feelings and differing views. We do not claim to represent the whole community, but merely seek to promote unity in the communities in which we live.

Simply labelling rioters as opportunistic criminals does little to relieve tensions and provides a poor explanation for the worst riots in decades. While the shooting of Mark Duggan provided the trigger, against a background of oppressive policing, especially towards ethnic minorities, the root causes are deeper.

Our communities have been blighted by high levels of deprivation, poverty and lack of opportunity for decades. Inequality is growing and recent funding cuts to local services, particularly youth facilities, along with rising unemployment, and cuts to EMA and benefits have exacerbated the conditions in which sections of frustrated young people turned to rioting, which unfortunately has resulted in people losing their homes and small/family businesses losing their livelihoods.

Britain is a wealthy country, but the economic crisis created by greedy bankers and financial speculators is further impoverishing already poor areas like Tottenham and Hackney. The £390 billion of combined wealth of the richest 1,000 people in Britain should be redirected to fund the services we all need.

In the last few months we have seen mass local protests against cuts, student occupations to defend free education, half-a-million strong demonstration on March 26, and 800,000 public service workers out on strike on June 30th.

We need to build on these and other inspiring local and national struggles. Let's work together for a decent society, based not on greed, inequality and poor conditions, but on justice, freedom, sharing and co-operation.

North London Unity Demonstration supported by the Haringey Alliance for Public Services, Hackney Alliance for Defending Public Serices, Day-Mer (Turkish and Kurdish Community Centre), NLCH (North London Community Centre), Day-Mer Youth, Alevi Cultural Centre, Fed-Bir, Kurdish Community Centre: Roj Women, Halkevi, Gik-Der (Refugee Workers Cultural Association). Britania Peace Council: Hundred Flowers Cultural Centre. TOHUM. Socialist Party, Youth Fight For Jobs, Right To Work, Red Pepper.

London Met. Students Union gov speaks b4 mtg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkfKYbZALnk

And here's one of the police dragging people out:

Sent from my iPhone

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

How many cops in the BNP?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLdeA3sb6n0

Sent from my iPhone

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

Netanyahu war criminal protest-more photos & videos soon

Today's protest called at less than 24 hours notice was lively, vibrant and determined. Mutiny TV was there recording protesters, police and general passers-by. Following the murder of Ian Tomlinson by police being caught on camera the police were clearly on their guard although some of them still acted like idiots.
I cant quite work out youtube channel for Mutiny TV but HERE is the link to Elly getting arrested. Originally they tried to charge her with 'unlawful protesting' which didnt hold any weight because we had permission to protest (I KNOW, having to get permission to protest is bad enough). They then charged her with obstructing the highway. She is to appear in court next week. Will keep you posted.


A little later on, after the protest had dispersed, loads of Israeli supporters turned up with Israel flags. The remaining protestors started up again. Anika, who you can see HERE, and her sister were also arrested. Not sure what their status is at the moment. We managed to get them all solicitors immediately.


Ian, who is visiting from China, came along to add his voice to the support for Palestinians. His video will be uploaded soon. As will a great interview with Rabbi Elgahan Beck.

More on all this soon. And if you are a wizz at Youtube/Ustream/Livestream/Qik etc please get in contact. Mutiny TV is looking for more people to jump on board.

Video of police breaking Thomas Cook occupation. Smashed Windows to enter

"This is a non-violent occupation." Stealth Videoing. Comrade Donal must have slept outside all night. Awaiting updates.

Thomas Cook Breaking news: Irish police raid Dublin shop, arrest protesting workers

'The World is changing'. Brilliant video explaining why they are occupying and what they want us to do. They've had messages of suport from Vestas and are in constant communication with them.

Sent from my iPhone

In a scene all-too-familiar to people living under dictatorship, the police choose the early hours of the morning to break down the doors.

But what happened this morning didn't take place in North Korea or Burma.

It was Irish police who chose to raid the Thomas Cook shop in Dublin at 5 AM today to forcibly remove workers engaged in a peaceful protest.

Some 20 workers and officials of their union were taken out one by one, including at least one pregnant woman.

According to newspaper reports, the defiant workers clapped and cheered as they were taken out.

As one union official put it, this morning's removal of workers from the Thomas Cook store as "a dark stain on the history of industrial relations in Ireland ... These are ordinary working people standing up for their rights. They have a right to be treated with respect."

For full coverage of this breaking story, go here:

http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Ireland&langcode=en

The union's website is here:

http://www.tssa.org.uk/

Please spread the word -- forward this email to your fellow union members.

Thank you.

Eric Lee

Miss England protest kicked off with body search

VIDEO OF SPEECHES COMING SOON FROM KATYA

Check out the jealous comments of the clearly homophobic sexist pig below in the 'comments' (this is the sort of thing we usually get when campaigning against sexism)

Arriving slightly early I looked for a loo. Just as walking down Edgeware Rd I was sprung upon by 2 coppers. A really tall male one literally jumped in front of me and shouted in my face. I nearly jumped out of my skin.

They said they had reason to believe i was about to commit a crime and wanted to search me. Naturally, since i had nothing on me, i resisted. I know my rights but then when you're up against the law who knows what your rights really are? (We need someone to write a pamphlet and wallet sized card for us to carry round with us).

It says 'Subject was seen by a member of the public with ink which was believed to be used to cause criminal damage. Subject searched. Negative result.'

And a near on full body search ensued. When I had a go at them for making me jump I asked if this is a new tactic; to try to give people heart attacks like they did to Ian Tomlinson. The pig called me stupid! Me, stupid?!

Anyway, clearly they were worried about us storming the building, occupying the stage and causing a bit of embarassment for their pathetic little operation. They needn't have been. We were only there for a peaceful protest.

5 mins later and Ellie was also subjected to intrusive questioning.

Mind the Gap had even had the protest authorised with the police in advance. They tried to shove us into a pen about 50m away from the entrance to the hotel! We resisted again. We ended up doing speeches and chants right on the corner of Edgeware Rd and Praed St. They had clearly alerted all the attendees of the pagaent to either arrive early or come in through a different door because we hardly anyone arrive.

Many people stopped to talk and join in. Got some really good contacts from young angry women who were just passing by. 'Damn straight it's sexist' said one. Loads of men also stuck around. A lovely old woman in hijab chanted with us too. A car full of teenage girls with their mum hooted and waved.

I couldn't take the best pictures coz i was holdin megaphone but loads of others did. Will link to them once uploaded. Katya videoed speeches. The BBC and Evening Standard came and took both pictures and video's.

As per tradition we followed protest by a few pints to 'discuss and plan to ensure the next ones are even bigger and better'!

We found out whilst in the pub that Vestas factory has gone into occupation. We whipped up a couple of eloquent placards in solidarity.

BREAKING NEWS: Our first speaker Hicham Yezza has been charged and sentenced to 9 months.

Our first speaker for our Internet for our Internet for Activists conference has been sentenced to nine months

I have just received a call from his agent who has given me the small bit of information above. Of his nine month sentence they expect him to be incarcerated for 4 1/2. The charge is “securing avoidance of immigration control using deception” and comes under the Immigration Act.

This is an absolute outrage. What sort of civil liberties do we have when a well known activist and columnist is charged with this farce of an excuse.

His blog will be updated soon.

We would like to send a message of solidarity to him and thank him so much for going out of his way to find time for us for our conference.

Please also send messages to: emailaprisoner.com

Police WILL be on Campus-join the protest.

I cannot believe what the school have done. A couple of months ago the City of London Police, working through the CEMS department, approached the Students' Union to co-host an event with them.

They posed it like this:

The SOAS Centre for Ethnic Minority Studies (CEMS) is hosting a chance for students to ask these questions and discuss contemporary policing with experienced and senior police from the Metropolitan and City Police.

We didnt believe that it was this innocent so asked for more information. 

In further proposals they said they wanted to establish "lasting partnerships" with "senior members of counter-terrorism operations" for "future collaboration" with SOAS students through the Home Office's PREVENT programme and SOAS's CEMS.

The SU exec saw this as an attempt to introduce undercover and not-so-undercover police informants on campus as they have done in many other universities. So they voted against it.

The Police and Paul Webley took one of the Presidents out to a posh lunch to try to win them over.

I submitted a motion to UGM but  unfortunatley due to bureaucratic reasons it didn't make it on the agenda. Read it HERE.

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THEY DID WITH THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE EXHIBITION THAT WE OCCUPIED THE BRUNEI GALLERY OVER. See initial blog post HERE

We invite you to join us in a protest outside the room.

Date: 9th March 2009

Time: 7.15-9pm

Where: G52

Count the protesters...

The police 'counted' 12,000
BBC say 55,000
Organisers said the 55,000 mark passed at 1.30pm.
I saw loads of people still arriving to Trafalgar square at 2.30pm

YOU count them...

Paul Hanes filmed the whole protest as it passed and speeded it up to show the number of people on the march - brilliant.

The Greek December

Journalist at greek embassy protest gets stop and searched for pen in pocket!

Anti-terror police 'need Muslims' ...

An article in the Times today reports that the police force, in response to the 'increase in terrrorism' needs to recruit more Muslims 'with a cultural, religious or linguistic understanding of the individuals most likely to be involved in these groups'

...oh, perlease. Why? So Muslims can be arrested in their 'own language'? Just as Enoch Powell studied Urdu at SOAS in order to be able to continue the Imperial rule in the Sub-continent, this is nothing more than a false attempt to present the police as a caring force for the community.

Why not teach other police that not all Muslims are the same, or that not all brown people are Muslims (think John Charles de Menezes) . Employing more Muslim police officers will not detract from the fact that the police force is institutionally racist (See the National Black Police Association's call for recruitment boycott ).

why don't they spend more money on arresting the real criminals in society-tax evaders,brutal police, war criminals, State terrorists, exploiters, racist/homophobic/sexist bigots.

I have written this in a rush so please continue my train of thought below...

“They call this Black Friday. We say it's fightback Friday "

Sweating like a pig!!, originally uploaded by solomonsmfield.
Sweating like a pig...See more of my pics at my flickr stream here

“They call this Black Friday. We say it's fightback Friday and from this day we are letting it be known that we will be calling more protests”.

I'm still recovering from last nights March on the Banks-what a bloody brilliant demonstration.

Read full reports here at Socialist Worker, The Financial Times, Channel 4, Lenin's Tomb, Ady Cousins and google for many, many more-we certainly made an impact and created an element of revolutionary fervour.

The City of London police, who clearly are not used to this sort of demo, didnt have a clue how to respond. Bright red, huffing and puffing and sweating like mad they were rounding round in circles. They tried to block roads but didnt have enough police. Their dogs turnt on the handlers, the horses (only 2) were shying away. A comrade pointed at one police in front of his face-the officer said "don't wag your finger at me" oooh, how scary!

About 70 SOAS students attended and all were really militant-some said it was their first demo and they loved it. Well dont to Elly and co for getting in with the SOAS banner-shame i couldnt get some pics.

See SOAS Alex and Hannah centre stage here on AP (whatever that is...)

Can't wait for the next demo. Vive la revolution...

Watch Martin Smith on Channel 4 on 'Come back Communism'! Ignore the smarmy presenter-she doesn't add anything enlightening.

UK Border Agency given Police powers

There is an article in the free paper 'Metro' today, in the series entitled [ironically so, (see below)] 'Real People', in which a 28 year old Arrest Team Leader from the UK Border Agency describes her work..

Vikki Lacey says, "If I felt sorry for everyone I wouldn't get out of bed. I just have to treat them as cases rather than people".... "The raids are fun. I'm not tied to my desk and every day is different".

Describing how things have changed for the better since the time when, "We were very restricted in what we could do as we had to rely on the police", she tells Metro readers how, "Now we can be more proactive and go out with our own teams".... "I've been trained to use a baton and handcuffs" .... "Sometimes, however, you can get violence".

She explains how the emphasis now is on workplace raids but they still raid people's houses, an action which "We tend to do very early in the morning".

She does not reveal whether she is a member of either the PCS union or the Immigration Officers house 'union'. Of course, some of the people doing this work are indeed PCS members.

Support the pigs in their fight for the right to strike...

...so we can kick the shit out of them on their picket lines.

Complaining that it will be 'now clearly impossible' to negotiate 'fair pay' in the future with people like Jacqui Smith and Gordon Brown in charge, either the chair of the Metropolitan Police Federation, Peter Smyth, has gone all left-wing on us or he has forgotten what it was like for striking miners under a Tory government.

Amidst their fight for the right to strike they have been told to 'work to rule' at the Labour Party Conference this weekend. They are advised not to feel obliged to do photoshoots or show goodwill; 'would you want to smile or pose with pickpockets who had a hand in your pocket?' said Chris Burrows, chair of the Police Federation.

However, i'm not quite sure how to react to the police going all union-friendly. At the Stop the War demo this Saturday do we salute them or give them extra agro to see if we can get them to go over and above the call of duty? I prefer the later...

Either way, I hope their next demonstration is not headed, once again, by the real fascists. On January 29^th, the BNP candidate for Mayor of London lead a 22,500 strong police demo. Unfortunately I was in Berlin otherwise I would have gone to harass them with our very own un-FIT team. I wonder how many copies of the Socialist Worker we sold on this demo?

?

Pigs publish racist 'Crime Maps'

How dare they.

How do they even categorise 'crime' in the first place? Do they record every incident of tax evasion, police brutality, war crime, exploitation, racist/homophobic/sexist oppression, deportation, empty property, over-crowded state school, crimes against the environment and the such like? Do they eckers like...

These maps only show where poverty and deprivation are at it's worst. Where kids can't get a job coz they are the wrong colour or refuse to work for £2.50. Where schools and housing are so run down that the councils sell them off to private developers for yet another flat-pack high street of Starbigbucks, Costa-lot-coffee and Mc-bloody-Donalds.

With the police under ever increasing targets to book or arrest a certain number per day, it's no wonder that there is growing resentment to the governments policies of 'getting tough on crime'.

I know many police officers and ex-officers (my Dad for one) who join the police because they want to help the community. But who soon realise (see the bottom paragraph of this link) that they are not there to solve problems in society but to protect the rich. I have encountered many police who, after years in an innercity area, become more and more racist because all they see is poverty and somehow make the link that minorites are to blame rather than blame the system.

Arrests up at Notting Hill Carnival as police given new search powers

Why was i suprised by the 11,000 police drafted in to Nottinghill Carnival this year?

Getting tough on criminals is a constant refrain of the police and the government. The police announced that the Notting Hill Carnival last weekend would be a "hostile environment" for criminals.

But like every other clampdown on crime, it did little to stop crime but much to add to the climate of alienation and racism felt by young people.

Up by an extra 8,000 from last year, it's no coincidence that arrests were also up given the numbers of pigs and methods employed.

One black professional said how he was stopped and searched no fewer than 5 times. Chief Inspector Jo Edwards said: “The number of arrests is up on last year, but that is predominantly because of proactive policing.” Even early in the day we had witnessed many arrests being made-all of them were young black males. The governments Stop and Search policy is as racist now as it was when first introduced.



(my sons very own 'Stop and Search'
document-apparently hanging around on the
South Bank with brown-ish skin means
you are likely to be 'causing trouble')




Violence broke out in the final 30minutes over the police's heavy-handed approach to closing down the music. Around 40 angry revellers pelted the pigs with bottles and other missiles hitting one in the face and grounding another. One witness said "it was a full-scale riot. Bottles were flying everywhere. The mob weren't scared, they were running towards the police chanting 'one, two, three' and charging at them...it reminded me of the Brixton riots'.


Read Carnival crackdown hits young black men

Amongst the usual tables and stalls selling food, drink, souvenirs etc there were a few with a distinctly political message. Our Socialist Worker table, covered in anti-BNP and #1 Terrorist posters was well received. The odd person moaned at us to 'take a day off will ya-this is supposed to be a festival'...the fact that Nottinghill carnival has for over 30 years, had a strong anti-racist message, had clearly passed them by.

The photo on the right shows an impromptu stunt we helped organise using police barricades with campaigners for Binyam Mohammed

Eurostar cleaners strike. "Pay London Living Wage-show us dignity"

I have never been up early enough to catch the sunrise unless i haven't been to sleep from the night before. But 5am yesterday morning I attended my first crack 'o' dawn picket line. Around 30 cleaners from OCS were on strike over pay and conditions.

"Good Pay, Good Cleaning" was the favourite chant of the morning.

At present the cleaners are paid a basic rate of £6.37 per hour. They get NO sick pay, no bank holiday pay not even extra pay for night shifts. They never get a pay rise either, no matter how long they have worked for the company.

OCS is the private cleaning contractor paid £6million to keep the London-Paris 400m long highspeed train clean. With no cleaners available the company will receive massive fines.

Being in the middle of the chants, whistles, banging, dancing and singing was a brilliant experience in itself. The cleaners, who come from all over the world, came together to fight for a single cause-fair pay, fair treatment, dignity and respect.

As we picketed we received news from the other depot in Leyton that the engineers had refused to cross the picket line.

We encountered all the usual arguments from toffy nosed prats who said stuff like 'i really don't care', or 'I dont get holiday pay either', not realising that being paid £100 per hour self-employed or as boss of a company is not the same as being paid £5.52 ph with no sick pay, bank holiday pay, night shift allounace or even getting a measley annual payrise no matter how long you have worked for the company.

The grandson of the owner of OCS, who is obviously a managers, was twitching with annoyance. He said the cleaners should have accepted the deal they offerd them on Friday of £6.50 per hour. No mention of all the other demands.

SOAS Justice for Cleaners campaign and Eurostar cleaners are now arranging a joint meeting to discuss the way forward. And in October SOAS will be hosting a party to bring together cleaners and activists for a night of music, food and dancing. Please contact me for more details.

On a side note, the British Transport Police who were drafted in to make sure we didnt overstep the mark were unusually supportive. One of them was telling me how after only 10 years in the 'service' (!) he hated being on his side of the picket. And cant wait to retire in a years time. He complained about how the police are now target driven so when, for example, he used to be able to let people off for minor offences such as 'pissing up a wall', now they have to have 5 arrests or bookings per day.

These are our streets

A shopping centre manager and security staff attacked the longstanding Socialist Worker stall in Wood Green, north London two weekends ago. This is the latest incident in a long battle for socialists and community activists to run stalls down a high street that the shopping centre increasingly claims as its property.

Police arrested the manager for criminal damage to our stall. This is not a regular occurrence. The manager was bundled into a police car to the applause of a large crowd who had gathered in the street to protest against his actions.

The damage to our materials included the destruction of an aluminium table and the ripping up of our newspapers and books.

It is important that street campaigners know the law and use it where they can. Whether a pavement is owned by a private company or not, people have a right to campaign and sell registered newspapers on all public rights of way.

The response from passers-by to the incident was fantastic. Many of them stood around for over an hour to shout at the manager and security staff that the pavement was not theirs and that we had a right to be there.

We had been petitioning against rising gas prices and demanding the renationalisation of British Gas. It seemed that this issue was linked in the minds of the public who supported us against the attack with their increasing concerns over the privatisation of public space.

When private corporations begin trying to claim that something as public as a pavement is now private property, they can arouse anger among people who may previously have had little sense of politicisation.

We know it and the public know it – the streets are ours, and the corporations can expect a long and bitter battle if they attempt to take them away from us.

We will continue to return to the same pitch to sell Socialist Worker and agitate for a society in which greedy capitalists own nothing.

Adam Lambert, North London

http://socialistworker.org.uk/art.php?id=15715