Migrant Political Activists Support Reverend Paul Nicolson's Anti-Benefit Cuts Stance in Haringey

Sunday, 4 August 2013

Migrant Political Activists Support Reverend Paul Nicolson's Anti-Benefit Cuts Stance in Haringey


On Thursday 1 August I operated as Secretary of the non-party-political Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group that benefits Brent & Camden & Beyond, as we say in the KUWG. On Friday I was in Haringey Green Party branding, supporting council tax protester Revd Paul Nicolson of Tottenham outside Tottenham Magistrates Court. Clarence was the face of the KUWG for the photo-shoot attended by a photographer from the Haringey Independent and others — including Tottenham's post thundery shower midges that left me with souvenirs of the occasion today!

The police objected to the idea of people being photographed against the backdrop of the Magistrates Court, and so we had to be photographed with our backs to the main road.

Among those who attended, there was a family from Derbyshire who read of Paul Nicolson's stand in Wednesday's Daily Mirror: “Reverend Paul Nicolson: Retired Anglican vicar ready to go to jail in his battle for poor”. Paul was also supported by Haringey Housing Action/Haringey Solidarity Group people, Claire Glasman and Petra Dando of Camden United for Benefit Justice. Clarence of KUWG was also one of those who went into the court with Paul and Paul's son and daughter. Paul's son joked with me that he had come along to disown his father when Paul gets sent down. (I had told Paul's son that it was great that he was there in support of his father, in contrast with the way that one of Mahatma Gandhi's sons was so disgusted with his own upbringing that he became a Muslim.)

Before going into the court, Paul gave a great speech that follows in the pattern of Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech 50 years ago this 28 August, updating and relocating it to mention wiping out the meanness of sanctions, £71.60 a week JSA and low birth weight futures. (There is currently a low birth weight rate in parts of Tottenham that is higher than Turkey's.) Paul concluded by saying that he is prepared to go to prison or to only pay his Council Tax when Haringey Council start using it to genuinely help Haringey residents stay in Haringey. I summarised, "So you are keen to pay for Council services but not Council disservices.

"Absolutely!" he affirmed.

Epilogue: For information regarding what went on in the court, see Jaber Mohamed's report, “Reverend Paul Nicolson uses appearance at Enfield and Haringey Magistrates Court to appeal for leniency for victims of benefit cuts.” And more information regarding , what the Chairperson of Taxpayers Against Poverty's very public stance is about than Chairman of the bench Freddy Lawson could tolerate, go to the Taxpayers Against Poverty website.

By Alan Wheatley of Haringey Green Party and Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group originally published on http://haringeygreens.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/migrant-political-activists-support.html

Rail actions - 1st (East Coast Main Line) and 13th August (Fare Prices Announcement)

Rail actions - received today 1st and 13th August are key dates

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Romayne Phoenix via lists.riseup.net

"The UK already has some of the most expensive train fares in the world, but the rail companies plan to continue to hike the prices up, well above inflation. Over the next six years train operating companies are embarking upon a new programme of cost-cutting (refer to the McNulty report http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/12658.aspx) that could see:

• over 20,000 railway jobs put at risk,
• the closure of 675 ticket offices and
• a 50% increase in the number of unstaffed stations.

Are you, as a climate activist, willing to help campaigns for better RAILWAYS?

There will be many actions at stations on 1 August and 13 August.

 

1 August East Coast Main Line

The focus on 1 August is Keep East Coast Main Line public! Since 2009 this line has been in public ownership and has been performing better than the other franchises in terms of public satisfaction, lower subsidy and profits returned to the state to be reinvested in services. Yet the government is planning a rushed sell-off by October 2014. Join the email action here.

Actions are already taking place at these stations:

  Darlington

  Doncaster

  Durham

  Kings Cross

  Leeds

  Newark

  Newcastle

  Peterborough

  Stevenage

  Wakefield Westgate

  York

Please join us!

All are 8am starts apart from Wakefield Westgate which is 7.30am.

13 August – Fare Prices Announcement

 13

Are you able to do something in your area? If so please email us at our dedicated email account railways@campaigncc.org and let us know the name of your local railway station(s).

As local actions emerge we will tell you about them and put you in touch with organising networks. Detailed plans will be announced here.

Other Actions and support materials

Click here on the leaflet which has been produced by a consortium of community and climate groups; this tells you more about these Rail campaigns and our strategy.

Click here for a general  leaflet about Climate Change and Railways. The TSSA rail union 'ghost train' is visiting stations to highlight the plan"

Rail actions -  1st (East Coast Main Line) and 13th August (Fare Prices Announcement)

Support for Natalie Bennett's stance on migration.

As Secretary of Green Left and Secretary of the Green Party Trade Union Group I wish to add support from these groups to Natalie Bennett's stance on migration. The letter from Sandy Irvine et al grossly misrepresents opinion within the Green Party and indeed wider opinion on this topic, (has nobody heard of the work of authors such as Fred Pearce and Danny Dorling (not as far as I know, GP members) who suggest that population alarmism is misplaced).

When combined with despicable attempts to whip up anti-immigrant xenophobia, population alarmism lends itself to a first world first agenda  and distracts attention from the real cases of global economic and ecological crises. I now look forward to being accused of attempting to 'shut down' debate on population which is the usual response of Irvine et al to any criticism of their obsessional stance.

RMT confirms protest at Kings Cross, Doncaster, Leeds, Wakefield, Newcastle, Berwick, Edinburgh Waverley this Thursday in fight to keep East Coast in public hands

RMT confirms protest at Kings Cross, Doncaster, Leeds, Wakefield, Newcastle, Berwick, Edinburgh Waverley this Thursday in fight to keep East Coast in public hands

RAIL UNION RMT said today that it will be holding protests between 8am and 9am this Thursday (18th July) the length of the East Coast Mainline as the fight to keep the route in public hands steps up a gear.

In 2009 National Express handed back the franchise for the East Coast Mainline (ECML) to the government, abandoning the contract in a disgraceful negation of their operator’s responsibility, causing huge uncertainty and disruption. It was the second private sector failure on key the key route, following the earlier collapse of GNER.

Since National Express threw the keys back, public ownership (in the form of Directly Operated Railways Ltd) has provided an improved service and vastly more revenue for the Treasury.

In fact, according to answers to questions tabled by the RMT Parliamentary Group, Directly Operated Railways Ltd has (since November 2009) paid £602m in premium payments. This is £232m more than National Express paid back during its tenure and over £209m more than the amount paid in by Virgin/Stagecoach on the West Coast Mainline since 2009-10.

And ECML in the public sector is virtually subsidy free. Public subsidy accounted for only 1.2% of ECML’s total income in 2011-12, compared to an average of 32.1% of the income of the private train operating companies on the 15 other passenger rail franchises.

Despite this, the Conservative-led government is ideologically wedded to returning ECML to the private sector and are preparing to bulldoze through a re-privatisation of the line before the next election, with a third expensive and reckless gamble at the tax payers expense.

As part of the fight to stop the Government plans, on Thursday 18th July RMT is holding a Day of Action to press for East Coast to be kept in the public sector. Between 8 and 9am there will be demos and leafleting at Kings Cross, Doncaster; Leeds, Wakefield, Newcastle, Berwick, Edinburgh Waverley

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

“The truth is that out of pure ideology, this government is prepared to take a third gamble on their big-business friends in a desperate bid to privatise the East Coast Mainline before the election, even though they are well aware that the whole reckless exercise will cost the British public hundreds of millions of pounds in lost income.

“RMT’s research shows that the money currently being reinvested by publicly-owned DOR will go straight into the back pockets of whatever bunch of chancers are given the chance to plunder the East Coast after the previous two private collapses left the public sector to pick up the pieces.

“On Thursday we will take our case to the East Coast passengers and RMT will continue to fight not only to keep the East Coast in public ownership but to renationalise the entire network, ending the great rail rip-off once and for all.”

ENDS

acknowledgements to Ken Montague

RMT confirms protest at Kings Cross, Doncaster, Leeds, Wakefield, Newcastle, Berwick, Edinburgh Waverley this Thursday in fight to keep East Coast in public hands

NASUWT AND NUT CONFIRM NEXT PHASE OF INDUSTRIAL ACTION

Alex Kenny

Immediate

12 July 2013

NASUWT AND NUT CONFIRM NEXT PHASE OF INDUSTRIAL ACTION

The two largest teacher unions, the NASUWT and the NUT, representing nine out of ten teachers, are today confirming the next phase of their jointly coordinated campaign to Protect Teachers and Defend Education.

Following the continued refusal of the Secretary of State to genuinely engage with the NUT and the NASUWT to seek to resolve our trade disputes with him, plans are in place for the next stage of industrial action which will include*:

·         continuation of the current action short of strike action instructions;

·         further national rallies in September;

·         a second phase of rolling national strike action in the week beginning 30 September;

·         a third phase of rolling national strike action in the week beginning 14 October; and

·         a one-day, all-out national strike before the end of the Autumn term.

This follows on from the day of strike action taken on 27 June in the North West of England which resulted in the overwhelming majority of schools being closed or partially closed.

The huge support for the strike is a clear indication that the teaching profession has had enough. Faced with an Education Secretary who refuses to listen, teachers have no option but to continue with their action to defend their profession.

Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said:

“The Secretary of State needs to take seriously the very deep concerns and anger of teachers and school leaders.

“The relentless attack on the teaching profession is damaging the morale of teachers and undermining the education of pupils.

“The Secretary of State has the opportunity to avoid further national strike action by demonstrating that he is willing to engage seriously on the issues that we have put to him.

Christine Blower, General Secretary of the NUT, said:

“Michael Gove is well aware that under his time as Education Secretary, teacher morale has plummeted. Teachers are angry at the Government’s continual undermining of their pay, pensions and working conditions.

“Strike action is always a last resort for teachers and they are very well aware of the difficulties that this causes for parents and pupils. Teachers, however, have been left with no option. If we do not take a stand now to defend the profession, then the consequences for teacher recruitment and education will be disastrous for all.”

ENDS                         pr124-2013

*Note to editors

In the week commencing 30 September, members will take part in strike action in the Eastern, East Midlands, West Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside regions and in Wales (regions to be confirmed).

In the week commencing 14 October, members will take part in strike action in the North East, London, South East, South West regions and in Wales (regions to be confirmed).

NUT Press Office contact:

Caroline Cowie 0207 380 4706 / 07879 480 061

NASUWT Press Office contacts:

Ben Padley 0121 457 6269 / 07785 463 119

Amanda Williamson 0121 457 6239 / 07741 246 202

Green Party condemn plans to sell of Royal Mail

11 July 2013

Responding to the announcement yesterday by Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable that a majority stake in the Royal Mail would be sold off by the government, Green Party leader Natalie Bennett said:

"The privatisation of Royal Mail is the latest ideologically driven, disastrous step by this government which is doing nothing to start the essential reshaping of the British economy, but is determined to hand over the last bits of the family silver to multinational companies.

"The approach of privatisation has proved disastrous for our water system, disastrous for our electricity and gas supplies, and particularly disastrous for our railways. Yet still the push towards it, from Margaret Thatcher through Tony Blair to David Cameron continues.”

Bennett added: "Green MP Caroline Lucas, with her private members' bill to bring the railways back into public ownership is leading the way to reverse this trend. What we need is for the Labour Party to show that it has broken with its New Labour past and back it. That would add a sense of verisimilitude to Labour’s criticisms in parliament today of the Royal Mail move."

Bennett offered congratulations to the CWU and the Royal Mail workers, who are resisting the government's attempts to buy them off with a share handout to staff.

"They understand that privatisation is a devil's pact that inevitably results in damage to staff pay and conditions, cuts to services, and profits stuffed into shareholder's pockets, all too often through the conduit of tax havens.”

acknowledgements to

http://greenparty.org.uk/news/2013/07/11/green-party-condemn-plans-to-sell-of-royal-mail/ & http://www.wembleymatters.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/green-party-condemns-royal-mail-sell-off.html

Coalition of Resistance: European Assembly against Austerity, London 23/6/2013

Coalition of Resistance: European Assembly against Austerity, London 23/6/2013

Video clips on http://greenleftblog.blogspot.co.uk/p/coalition-of-resistance-european.html

Youtube addresses given below.

Introduction (Kate Hudson CoR) and Yannis Baskosos (Syriza: Greece) http://youtu.be/HTdqB1Ot3t8

Cagdas Canbolat (Daymer Turkish and Kurdish Centre, London) http://youtu.be/keWl86Iq1tk

David Perez (Corriente Roja, Spain) http://youtu.be/Sgkcg74E5Zc

Questions and Discussion: Session 1 part 1 http://youtu.be/JmNbvqejY7I

Questions and Discussion: Session 1 part 2 http://youtu.be/Zhi4qiOhKQ0

Session 2 Introduction (Jude Woodward (CoR) and Chris Nineham (CoR) http://youtu.be/xz-mxSBhOHY

Session 2 Michael Burke (Economists Against Austerity) http://youtu.be/3V7amDJZ9iU

Session 2: Felipe Van Keirsbilck, CATDM, Belgium http://youtu.be/2ZoMUfAgVZM

Session 2: Questions and Discussion, part 1 : http://youtu.be/z0v84G_XuUs

Session 2: Questions and Discussion, part 2 : http://youtu.be/G1RdxrkEjTY

Session 3: Introduction Romayne Phoenix (Coalition of Resistance) and Hugo Braun (Attac, Germany) http://youtu.be/Lz15mgY3Sgo

Session 3: Andrew Burgin(Coalition of Resistance)  http://youtu.be/hVhj_p9zbZ0

Session 3:Walter Baier (Transform Network) : http://youtu.be/eJo0_tlCX04

Session 3: Alexandre Gonzales (Front de Gauche) http://youtu.be/8idjF7dyCTw

Session 3: Rachel Newton (Greece Solidarity Campaign) : http://youtu.be/aqvPPf5Ett0

Session 3: Luisa (Socialist Liberty Party and Rio de Janiero University Students)   http://youtu.be/pxP9dwanx6E

 Session 3: Questions and Discussion  http://youtu.be/BW0XjBUtHOk