Tuesday, 31 March, 2009 5:29 PM
From:
"derek wall" View contact details
To:
greenleftdiscuss@lists.riseup.net
#yiv1898985902 .hmmessage P
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PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, April 31st 2009. 3 p.m.
G20 SUMMIT: PUBLIC OUTRAGE AS UNIVERSITY OF EAST LONDON CLOSES CAMPUS TO EDUCATION AND DEMOCRACY
* The G20 Alternative Summit must go on! Classes and lectures must go on!
* In only a few hours a petition to Keep UEL Open receives over 1400 signatories from across the world, including well-know academics and writers, e.g. Naomi Klein.
* University is a crucial centre of democracy. Democracy is now the only safe path for the world out of the current multifaceted crisis.
London – Following the decision of the University of East London’s Corporate Management Team to close down the entire university on Wednesday, April 1st and Thursday, April 2nd, staff and students have launched a petition to keep the university open, arguing that they “would feel ashamed of UEL if this institution […] were to become known as the university that had closed its doors to democratic debate and education in times of crisis such as these.”
The University of East London was scheduled to host the G20 Alternative Summit on Wednesday, April 1st, intended as a popular assembly for everyone engaged in current struggles for social justice. Amidst fears over ‘security’ in light of these G20 protest events, management first withdrew its support for the Alternative Summit and subsequently decided to shut down the entire campus for the duration of the G20 summit and protest events, cancelling lectures and classes and shutting the library.
In the petition, staff and students are arguing that such ‘security’ considerations are a “classic excuse for every historic attempt to curtail free speech. Instead of seizing the opportunity to become a common space thriving with creative energies, [the University of East London] plans to become an empty shell for two days.”
The petition states that,
“It is time for the university management to become accountable not only to the government funding bodies, but to the wider public to whom it owes both its livelihood and a duty to fulfill its role as a part of civil society. The past 3 decades have seen public spaces such as universities hollowed out by the state and by corporations, as more and more of our common resources are transformed into sterile commodities, valued only in cash terms. In universities this has led to a policy regime which increasingly sees ‘employability’ in the ‘creative industries’ or in ‘business and finance’ as the only benchmark of success by which a university education can be judged; which sees research separated from teaching; which sees ‘knowledge transfer’ to the commercial sector as the only legitimate destination for the fruits of inquiry."
The signatories to the petition, which include a number of well-known academics from universities across the globe, including writer and activist Naomi Klein, are urging UEL management to “reconsider [their] decisions and take this unique opportunity to open the university as a crucial centre of democracy, since democracy is now the only safe path for the world out of the current multifaceted crisis. We must keep our university open to staff and students, rejecting the claims and ‘risk assessments’ that reproduce fear instead of promoting dialogue. We urge you to take responsibility for enabling the university to act as a truly public space for debate in a time when nobody can doubt that radical new ideas are needed.
Ends.
__________________
Press enquiries:
* Dr Jeremy Gilbert, http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=j.gilbert@uel.ac.uk, +44 (0)7745886735
* Dr Eva Turner, http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=e.turner@uel.ac.uk, +44 (0) 7940537794
*Prof. Massimo De Angelis, http://uk.mc250.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=m.deangelis@uel.ac.uk, +44 (0) 7951991754
Further information:* http://www.petitiononline.com/openUEL/petition.html; http://www.altg20.org.uk/
Dear all
this petition has been put online for all to sign. Please read it, circulate it and hopefully sign it.
Best Massimo
Massimo De Angelis Professor of Political EconomySchool of Social Sciences, Media and Cultural Studies
University of East London Docklands Campus
4-6 University Way
London E16 2RD
tel: 020 8223 2254
email: m.deangelis@uel.ac.uk
room: EB 1.54-----
URGENT PETITION TO KEEP UEL OPEN DURING G20 SUMMIT THIS IS URGENT!!Please sign immediately at http://www.petitiononline.com/openUEL/petition.html
Friday, 20 March, 2009 6:08 PM
From:
View contact details
To:
"peter murry"
hi Pete
Did u know we're on strike next week Tue.and Wed. 24 & 25 March. See last week copy of Will. & Brent Chronicle.
Its about harmonisation of pay in line with most other colleges nationally except 4 inc. CNWL, who have failed to implement a national agreement since 2004.
Vagg awarded herself a huge pay rise within the last year.
Other colleges have been petitioned for support.
Sen, our new hyperactive (but right on) branch secretary, asked me to contact u to see if you could mobilise any support for a picket at Wills. that coincides with the college's annual 'Industry Day' allegedly to be opened by Lord Young. They're reputedly flying in a helicopter (hire cost £12,000) for the occasion.
Do you think Trades Council and/or Greens would be interested?
We're also looking for musicians to entertain the troops.....
(and artists to capture the occasion in paint?!)
venceremos
Kate
17/3/2009
Hi,
Having taken expert legal advice and considered the views of others, I have reluctantly decided to withdraw my Aldermaston appeal, due to be heard at the High Court in London this Friday. This is due to fears expressed only very recently by others that parts of the case could set damaging legal precedent in the hands of unsympathetic judges.
I'm very sorry if you are inconvenienced or disappointed by this decision, but I'm afraid I really had no choice in the end.
Peace,
Dan
From: dviesnik
Subject: Dan in High Court Aldermaston appeal, London - new date - Friday 20 March
To: dviesnik@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Thursday, 5 March, 2009, 10:01 PM
Hi folks,
Just to let you all know that my High Court appeal against my conviction in March 2008 for plonking myself down outside Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment for a rest in July 2007, during the Footprints for Peace walk from Dublin to London is going to take place on Friday 20 March (rather than Wed 18 March, as previously stated). The previous date was given to me (in writing) by my solicitor (from Bindmans), but is incorrect, I today have learned. I'm sorry for any inconvenience caused.
I have still not been informed what time the hearing will commence, either by my solicitor or by the court, but my legal team seems to think it would probably start around 10.30am, in which case it would be great to have lots of supporters with banners, musical instruments, etc outside from around 9.30 / 9.45am. I shall invite the press along. The hearing could last half a day or all day - who knows? The law is a law unto itself. I will let you all know when I receive any further information.
If you turn up to court late, look for Viesnik vs Director of Public Prosecutions in the listings.
The address of the court is:
Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand, London. WC2A 2LL (nearest tube: Temple)
Map: http://tinyurl.com/alkzq3
Peace,
Dan
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2009
From: dviesnik@yahoo.co.uk
Subject: Dan in High Court Aldermaston appeal - Wed 18 March
This is a substantive hearing relating to my sit-down with fellow walkers outside Atomic Weapons Establishment Aldermaston in July 2007 during the Footprints for Peace walk from Dublin to London. I was found guilty last March, at Newbury Mags, of obstructing a highway (access road at Tadley Gate). Support outside and inside court would be great! Hopefully some media will come along, too.
Dan
Tolpuddle in London - 25th April 2009
Help mark the 175th anniversary of the Grand Demonstration
In 1834 some 100,000 people joined the Grand Demonstration that marched from Copenhagen Fields to Parliament and on to Kennington Common to demand the release of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. Six Dorset farm workers had been sentenced to seven years' transportation into slavery in Australia for forming a trade union. The attack on early unions had to be challenged.
A 200,000 strong petition was carried shoulder high and many more poured in from all over the country. The demonstration was just the start and the government eventually backed down and gave the six men free pardons.
Join us to remember those who fought for our rights. An afternoon of music, key speakers, procession and banners. Activities for children and young people organised by the Woodcraft Folk, Kate Greenaway Nursery and local schools. All next to the Tolpuddle Martyrs' mural at Edward Square, near King's Cross.
PROGRAMME
Times are likely to vary slightly
12.30pm
Clocktower, Caledonian Park, Market Road - assemble from noon, entertainment and refreshments.
Plaque to be unveiled by Frances O'Grady TUC Deputy General Secretary, organised by Islington Trades Council.
1.30pm
March to Edward Square at junction of Caledonian Road and Copenhagen Street.
2pm
Councillor Stefan Kasprzyk the Mayor of Islington, opens the celebration
Megan Dobney SERTUC Regional Secretary
14.20pm
Martin Carthy, England's pre-eminent traditional folk musician
14.45pm
Alun Howkins, historian tbc
14.55pm
Graham Moore Tolpuddle Man Dorset singer/songwriter
15.15pm
Raised Voices choir
15.25pm
Leon Rosselson, radical singer/songwriter
15.45pm
Emily ThornberryMP for Islington South
Frances O'Grady TUC Deputy General Secretary
16.00pm
Billy Bragg Tolpuddle favourite needs no introduction
More speakers to be confirmed
16.30pm
Northern Celts Band
17.45pm
Come to Tolpuddle,
Nigel Costley, South West TUC Regional Secretary
For more see:
http://tolpuddlekx.wordpress.com/
www.tuc.org.uk/tolpuddle
Supported by the South West TUC, Southern and Eastern Region TUC and London Borough of Islington
For more information contact
David Renton davidkrenton@googlemail.com
Megan Dobney, SERTUC, Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS
mdobney@tuc.org.uk 020 7467 1220
Briefing document (400 words) issued 12 Mar 2009
Vincent Salafia posted an announcement to the cause 'SAVE TARA!' - TaraWatch campaign to save Hill of Tara from the M3 motorway in Ireland.
----------------
Tara group plans St Patrick's Day protests
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0309/1224242514544.html
TIM O'BRIEN
CAMPAIGN GROUP TaraWatch says that it plans to “mobilise 50,000 supporters worldwide” to demonstrate against individual Ministers as they attend St Patrick’s Day functions around the world.
The group is hoping to embarrass individual members of the Government by drawing attention to the building of the controversial M3 close to the Hill of Tara in Co Meath. Last week, the National Roads Authority (NRA) said that the motorway was so close to completion that calling for the rerouting of the motorway at this stage was “ridiculous”.
But yesterday TaraWatch said that it would use the schedule of Ministers’ foreign travel, recently released by the Government, to plan demonstrations.
A spokesman for the group said that demonstrations were already in place for Chicago, where TaraWatch Chicago will have a float in the city’s annual St Patrick’s Day parade.
Similar action was planned for San Francisco, and New York, where Minister for Energy and Communications Eamon Ryan will be representing the Government.
Efforts were also under way to ensure that Meath TD and Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey is picketed when he visits Toronto, and that Minister of State Trevor Sargent receives “a cool welcome” in Paris.
A TaraWatch spokesman said that the Irish abroad were “especially furious about the M3 going through Tara, and this is becoming an annual ritual, in cities around the world”.
He added that an article in the Smithsonian magazine earlier this month, which featured Tara as one of 10 must-see sites in the world before they disappear, had provoked a massive response internationally.
“Minister Dempsey and the Green Party are the primary targets, but every Minister in almost every city will be hearing about Tara again.”
“If the Government wants to engage the diaspora, they [should] seek help in finding a solution to the M3” he added, rather than travelling the globe “saying there is no problem there at all”.
Meanwhile, a separate group of protesters who have been holding a vigil at the Hill of Tara are to celebrate the first anniversary of the protests at Rath Lugh in which a woman protester called Squeak locked herself into an underground chamber.
Heather Buchannan told The Irish Times that the anniversary on March 13th, “is a big date for us”.
Among the activities will be a picnic on site during the day.
Vigil protesters will also take part in the St Patrick’s Day parade in Navan.
WRITE TO lettersed@irish-times.ie
-
If you want to join in demonstrations, or have one planned, please let us know info@tarawatch.org
http://www.tarawatch.org
The National Pensioners Convention (NPC) in the UK organises a Pensions’ Action Day on 6 April 2009. After 100 years of the state pension, Britain still has at least 1 in 4 older people living below the official poverty line, and millions more struggling with the rising costs of living. The pensioners of tomorrow also face an uncertain future, as pension funds have lost a lot in the economic crisis and employers reduce the generosity of their occupational pension schemes. That is why all generations need a decent state pension. NPC calls on the government to immediately raise the basic state pension above the poverty level for all pensioners, and increase it every year in line with either average wage rises or inflation. To find out more, please contact NPC at info@npcuk.org or visit:
www.npcuk.org
Adult Learning: the UCU Vision
A one day conference 30th April 2009
Birkbeck College Malet Street WC 1
Programme
10am-10.30am Registration
10.15am-10.30am Welcome
Sasha Callaghan UCU President
Master Birkbeck College Professor David Latchman
10.30am-11.00am Adult learning: what is and what is could be
Professor Bob Fryer
11am- 11.30am Adult Learning: the UCU vision
Sally Hunt UCU General Secretary
11.30am-12noon The Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning
Tom Schuller NIACE Director of Inquiry
12noon -1pm Workshops considering the UCU vision
1pm-2pm Lunch
2pm–2.30pm John Denham Secretary of State DIUS
(to be confirmed)
2.30pm-3.30pm Panel: Adult learning in the sectors
FE: to be confirmed
HE: Pam Coare, Director of the Centre for Continuing Education University of Sussex
ACL: Dr Ben Charles Head of Lifelong and Community Learning London Borough of Enfield
Network for Black Professionals: Robin Landman Chief Executive
Workplace Learning: Liz Smith CEO TUC unionlearn
3.30pm-4.00pm An overview
Alan Tuckett Director NIACE
This programme is subject to change both in terms of speakers and timing
Adult Learning: the UCU Vision
A one day conference 30th April 2009
Birkbeck College Malet Street WC 1
Application form
also available for on-line registration on the UCU web site www.ucu.org.uk
NAME: …………………………………………………..
ADDRESS: …………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………..
TEL: …………………………………………………..
FAX: …………………………………………………..
E-MAIL: …………………………………………………..
Institution/Organisation…………………………………..
UCU BRANCH: …………………………………………………..
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:
Mobility ______
Braille ______
BSL Interpretation ______
Other, please specify: _______________________________________________
The event will be running 2 workshop sessions. The morning session will be considering the UCU draft vision for adult learning. These workshops will be ‘mixed’ with participants drawn from all the sectors working in adult learning. The afternoon session will be focused on the sectoral themes discussed in the pervious panel. Please then indicate which workshop you would wish to participate. Please state your order of preference. We will endeavour to ensure you get your 1st choice but we cannot guarantee this as each workshop will have a maximum number depending on the size of room
Afternoon workshops. Please put in order of preference
Higher Education _____
Further Education _____
Adult and community education _____
Equality issues in adult learning _____
Workplace learning _____
Please send completed form to: Dan Taubman UCU 27 Britannia Street London WC1 X9JP by 24th April
Cost: £30 UCU members trade unions, learners/students voluntary organisation All others £50 Cheques made payable to ‘UCU’
Mark Serwotka of PCS
John Mc Donnell MP
Anne Gray speaks for the Green party
See copies of Ann's speech here and “Writing off workfare:For a Green New Deal, not the Flexible New Deal” by Alan Wheatley and Anne Gray posted on this Blog 30/11/2008
WELFARE LOBBY SPEECH 3 MARCH
The Green Party is associated with campaigning for action to stop climate change. But it’s not just about that, the Green Party is also about social justice and keeping public services public. The Welfare Reform Bill is NOT about social justice, it’s a charter for INJUSTICE. We already sent the government our criticisms of it at the Green Paper stage (see http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/workfare-is-not-the-answer.html).
Around 3 million redundant workers, thrown out of their jobs as an indirect result of bankers’ greed, are going to be cannon fodder for the privatised back to work contractors, who will make big profits out of the redundant workers’ misery.
The whole idea that intensive placement services are the solution to unemployment is a bad bosses’ charter anyway. It makes people compete harder with each other for the few vacancies that are left in the economy, and thus reduces labour standards. If that creates new jobs, as the neo-classical economists tell us, it’s only because some employers respond to the availability of cheaper labour. But they only do that if there is demand. Supply side economics just doesn’t work if demand for labour has collapsed. So the government’s solution to rising unemployment just won’t work now.
The Green Party offers three solutions:-
1) Green Party policy is to create new jobs. We brought out the Green New Deal jointly with the New Economics Foundation. (For further details see (http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/z_sys_publicationdetail.aspx?pid=258). ) It’s a plan to create jobs by investment in wind power, solar power, insulation of homes and other buildings, growing more sustainable food, care services, health services, better public services generally. If the government can spend all that money on propping up the banks, why not spend it for jobs that will meet real social needs and help us combat climate change ?
2) We advocate shorter working time. Our Green MEPs have struggled vigorously in the European Parliament to end the UK’s opt out form the 48 hour week. There is a wealth of continental experience, in France, Germany, Denmark and Belgium, about how negotiated reductions in working time can create jobs, by sharing work, through subsidised short time working, extra leave and so on. We need to learn from these and do it.
3) Rather than make conditions for getting JSA tighter, as the government proposes, we should be reducing conditionality. We should be moving in the direction of a guaranteed basic income for everyone, with no conditions, no means testing. The Green Party has been advocating this for years. (See http://younggreens.greenparty.org.uk/AboutUs/Policy/CitizensIncome) A basic income without conditions would mean people could take what part-time and temporary work they could get without losing benefit. At present, if a friend asks you to paint her bathroom, dig an allotment, clear a garden, help in the local pub on a busy night, you can’t, it’s illegal. But unemployed people need to take what they can get and build up to a proper job again gradually. There is so much money now being given out in different kinds of tax credits in addition to JSA, child allowances and the new disability benefits that the government might as well do it, wrap them all up into one benefit. In fact the Parliamentary Select Committee on Work and Pensions suggested this in its 2007 report. It proposed a Single Working Age Benefit. It would save a fortune in administrative costs. But David Freud and his colleagues didn’t listen.
The unemployed need incentives to take part time and temporary work. Our approach is an incentives approach, not a workfare approach. But it is important not to let a basic income, like tax credits, subsidise bad employers and let them get away with low wages. Rather than pulling labour standards down we need to sustain and improve wage levels, and put money into the pockets of the poorest. We need to use the purchasing power of the public sector to ensure a living wage level in all contractors’ work, like the living wage policy the Greens have pushed through in the GLA – all GLA contractors must pay at least £7.45 per hour. We should be doing this sort of thing rather than paying people like Greedy Goodwin a pension worth the JSA of 200 people.
Caroline's back from official visit to Gaza - and calls for an urgent political solution to the conflict
Following a four-day visit to Gaza and the West Bank as part of a European Parliament delegation, Caroline Lucas MEP has warned that the Middle East peace process will fail unless political leaders recognise a Palestinian unity government – and insist on an immediate end to the blockade of Gaza.
Speaking about her trip to the region, party leader Dr Lucas said:
“The UK’s Secretary of State for International Development has today said it's crucial that Palestinians come together for reconciliation –and I would certainly agree with him. Yet the EU's refusal to recognise the previous unity government because it contained elements from Hamas – though democratically elected – was instrumental in dividing Palestinians and exacerbating tensions.
“If the Palestinians can put together a government of genuine unity, based on tolerance, pluralism, and a commitment to previous peace process agreements that include the recognition of Israel, then it is the responsibility of the international community to accept it – regardless of whether or not it contains members of Hamas.
“And indeed, a process of dialogue and reconciliation between the different Palestinian factions is already emerging. The political leaders gathering in Sharm-el-Sheikh this week for a conference on aid and the reconstruction of Gaza must recognise the need to support this political process and work towards bringing the West Bank and Gaza under unity control. More aid may provide short-term relief for the humanitarian crisis, but it is merely a sticking plaster on what is essentially a political struggle.
“There are already tonnes of aid piled up at the border into Gaza, but the continuing Israeli siege is preventing it from reaching the people who need it most. When I met with UN officials in Gaza this week, I was told that around 750 trucks a day are needed to maintain essential supplies. Currently, Gazans are lucky to see around 30.
“So, the international community must demand an urgent lifting of the siege of Gaza, and ensure the free movement of people, as well as goods, for the whole of the West Bank and Gaza Strip – in other words, the first steps towards ending the occupation, so that the Palestinian people can be allowed to start rebuilding their economies and communities.
Dr Lucas concluded: “Unfortunately, the main threat now to a two-state solution is the Israeli authorities’ continuing aggressive expansion of the settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the further extension of the apartheid wall. Israel must be brought to account for this continued flouting of its commitments under both the Oslo Accords and recent peace agreements.”
Apologies to non-Londoners but this looks like more fun than last week's Maggie telly. GP-TU stall?
Martin Francis (Brent)
(Rec'd via NUT)
Dear Brother/Sister
My name is Davey Hopper. I am the secretary of the North East area NUM. As you will be aware, it is coming up to the 25th anniversary of the miners strike (March 12) and as the focal point of the commemorations we are bringing the hit play Maggie's End to London.
Maggie's End is a dark comedy that starts with the death of Margaret Thatcher and deals with her being given a state funeral by New Labour (which has been mooted on a number of occasions).
The play is being sponsored by the NUM and nationally by the GMB, UNITE, UNISON and the RMT (see the union logos on the leaflets below).
Maggie's End runs from April 7 to 18 at the Shaw Theatre in Euston Road (next to King's Cross railway station) in London. It will be a fantastic event, with book launches, exhibitions (photos and banners) singers, comedians a brass band and other great attractions. It will be a celebration of the labour movement.
Please forward this email on to your shop stewards/branches/colleagues/family/friends. It would be great to see you there.
I have leaflets and posters if you want them to distribute (see below). Either email me via this email or telephone me on 0777 563 0398.
Fraternally
Davey Hopper
email to: ed.waugh@blueyonder.co.uk
