Friday, December 31, 2010

Hackney Unites Forum with Lee Jasper - Black activists against the cuts

Hackney Unites are organising a joint meeting with the organisation Black Activists Rising Against the Cuts. Lee Jasper will be our guest speaker alongside local community activists. See Lee Jasper speaking against the cuts here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY-WoSet9AE

The meeting is from 2pm – 4pm on Sunday 23 January at the Open the Gate Black Cultural Cafe, 33 – 35 Stoke Newington Road, London N16 8BJ.
See http://www.openthegate.org.uk/ for the venue.

Please help us promote by downloading and circulating the flier (right). 

Monday, December 20, 2010

Hackney Unites Forum: guest speaker Lee Jasper (Black activists Risng against the Cuts)

Hackney Unites are organising a joint meeting with the organisation Black Activists Rising Against the Cuts. Lee Jasper will be our guest speaker alongside local community activists. See Lee Jasper speaking against the cuts here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY-WoSet9AE

The meeting is from 2pm – 4pm on Sunday 23 January at the Open the Gate Black Cultural Cafe, 33 – 35 Stoke Newington Road, London N16 8BJ.
See http://www.openthegate.org.uk/ for the venue.

The meeting will consist of two sessions, a round table discussion about the impact of cuts on our communities and how we as Hackney Unites can work with groups such as BARAC to develop a strong united community response. Speakers in the round table will include, Lee Jasper, Andrea Enisuoh, and Arpita Dutt.

The second half of the meeting will be a set of workshops that will help us to explore ways that we can mobilise our communities.

There will also be a session of Hackney Unites' Workers Advice Project - for any workers requiring employment advice.

Please help make this event a success by:


• sending details of this event to friends, colleagues and neighbours to ensure that people know about it

• offering to leaflet your street, or a number of streets to publicise the event (mailto:info@hackneyunites.org.uk
• getting a poster displayed in your place of worship, on your union, tenants, or community centre noticeboard,


Monday, December 13, 2010

Help to keep Preacher of Hate Pastor Terry Jones OUT

Pastor Terry Jones, the man who wanted to burn a Koran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, is due to speak at an English Defence League (EDL) rally in Luton in February. The EDL are a bunch of racist thugs and football hooligans who have sought to incite hatred against Britain’s Muslim communities by staging confrontational rallies in multi-racial areas.

The presence in Luton of one of the most controversial anti-Muslim preachers in the world will be incendiary and highly dangerous. It will provide a boost to every racist in this country and spread fear among Muslim communities. The hatred whipped up by Jones and the EDL can only lead to more extremism and violence.

That's why the organisation Hope not hate are calling on the Home Secretary to prevent him entering Britain. Will you add your name to the letter?

Everywhere the EDL have gone they have caused trouble. The last time they were in Luton 250 of them rampaged through a predominantly Asian area smashing windows, attacking people and overturning cars. With Pastor Jones at their side the EDL could whip up even more trouble next time, not just in Luton but all over the country.

We must stop the EDL tearing our communities apart. That is why the HOPE not hate campaign says the Home Secretary should ban Pastor Jones from entering the UK. If you agree, then please sign their letter at: http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/page/s/Preacher-of-Hate

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Reminder: Hackney Unites' & Hackney Refugee Association Workers Advice Session this Saturday...

The Workers Advice Session, organised jointly by Hackney Unites and the Hackney Refugee Forum is on Saturday, 11 December: 2 - 4pm, at 18 Springfield House, 5 Tyssen Street, E8 2LY
The session will include an introduction by Wilf Sullivan: TUC Race Equality Officer, plus the opportunity for individual employment advice from local trade unionists and professional employment lawyers.
- There will also be advice for job seekers including interview skills and practice. Finally, there will be advice on benefits for working families.

All of this is free to those who live or work in Hackney


Please help make this event a success by forwarding on this message to individuals, groups and organisations who may be interested in supporting the event, or who may benefit from the advice available.

For more information on the workers advice project visit: http://www.hackneyunites.org.uk/search/label/WorkersAdvice

Hackney Community Census
You can also help us by taking part in the Hackney Community Census. This is an independent on-line census, undertaken by Hackney Unites seeking the views of Hackney people. We want to know what you think about the challenges facing our communities and what we can do together that will help protect our communities. The census takes approximately 10 minutes to complete.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/hackneycommunitycensus
We are aiming to translate the census into community languages. If you could help with this, please drop an email to andrea@hackneyunites.org.uk

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/hackneycommunitycensus

Hackney Unites is a coalition for social justice, please cascade this email on and help us build a network for social justice across our communities.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Their Cuts – Not Ours

Their Cuts – Not Ours


Labour councillors in Hackney have launched a campaign against the government’s cuts to public services and funding.

They say the whole country has started to live in fear. Fear of losing our jobs, fear of losing our benefits, fear of losing our homes. Some already have lost their jobs.

Day after day there is some new assault on people by this government. Headlines in the newspapers, on the radio, internet and TV keep blaring out the web of misery being spun by this government.

No-one feels safe any more. Far from obtaining some ‘Churchillian’ feeling of a ‘we will fight them on the beaches’ mood, this government has reduced people to feelings of helplessness, of victims of bullying. Frightened of the future. Fearing they have no real future except the dole queue and poverty.

Someone has to stand up to these economic bullies. Someone has to say enough is enough. This is our country for all the people regardless of race, creed or politics.

Not the place of the divine right to rule by out-of-touch millionaires like Cameron and Clegg, supported by media billionaires now running our media and supporting the Tory Party.

This is the place where we live and belong together using a democratic way of finding solutions together to our common problems.

We say: It’s their cuts – not ours. This is not the way to do things. They
are using ideological cuts, not based


on financial reasons, aimed at the poor and vulnerable in our communities.

They need to stop what they are doing and start listening to reason. To start seeing they have no mandate for this, to start talking to those on the ground locally and put an end to such damaging decisions.

Cllrs Linda Kelly, Deniz Oguzkanli,
Ian Rathbone, Patrick Vernon and
other Labour councillors


• If you want to know more about this growing campaign against the cuts, call 07890 654 068 or email ian.rathbone@tiscali.co.uk

_____________________________________

Printed by Ian Rathbone of 31 Stevens Ave, London E9 6RX, Promoted by Luke Akehurst of Flat 1, Button Court, 177 Victorian Grove, London, N16 8GL on behalf of Leabridge Ward Labour Party of 26 Wattisfield Rd, E5 9QH.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

An appeal for solidarity from the students occupying UCL.


As UCL students continue their occupation of UCL’s central campus against the reductions in state funding for education, the broader scheme of cuts and supporting the London Living Wage for UCL employees, they appeal for support. Hackney Unites fully supports their actions and appeals to everyone to send them messages of solidarity too.


We want to build links with all other groups involved in the struggle against the catastrophic government cuts now threatening all areas of society. Using our time as a united group in occupation, we want to meet leaders from sympathetic groups and help build an alliance against the cuts.

We are sending representatives to every meeting that will welcome our support, allow us to learn from their action and organize what action to take next.

But we also want to appeal to you to support our action against the university management and government policy that states that indiscriminate cuts are unavoidable. We are holding events in UCL until the next planned demonstration on Tuesday 30th and as long we can remain in occupation. There will be ongoing open discussions, talks and debates tonight and over the weekend, on Tuesday and beyond. Any support you can offer would be massively helpful.

If no one from your organization can appear in person, we are collecting a wall of solidarity and any contribution you can make will help us gain further support and achieve our demands.

Many thanks and best of luck fighting the cuts,

UCL Students

Follow our progress on Twitter: UCLOccupation