BEMA, FOCUS & Arcola Theatre Present Arts Fundraiser

Flyer design Zofia Walczak  You are invited to join us Sunday 11 December to celebrate an afternoon of experienced and emerging artists from all walks of the creative industry – music, dance, spoken word, theatre and comedy. Hosted at the Arcola Theatre - now one of the most respected arts venues in the UK, blazing a trail in artistic excellence and innovative management since day-one – this event promises to be jam-packed full of artistic delights.    The Black & Ethnic Minority Arts (BEMA) Network is an informal alliance of arts organisations, individual artists, promoters and producers who have an interest in developing cultural activity as a means of promoting tolerance, equality and education. Dance: Emashi (African dance, drumming and more) Djs: Bogossy Freshfrency & Oya Bun Spoken word: Cezanne (Painter and poet), Hyacinth Myers (Poet), Ngoma Bishop (Poet, novelist and edutainer), Stephanie (Poet & artist) Live music: Farafina Crew, Black Slate, Casey, Naldo, John Blood & The Highlys Comedy: Gantan (Stand up comic) Theatre: Judith Jacob (Casualty, EastEnders, No Problem) Only £3 entry. From 3-7pm Arcola Theatre 24 Ashwin Street Dalston E8 3DL

Public Meeting: Together for Transport - Monday 12 December, 6.30pm

Hackney Unites is proud to be supporting the Together for Transport initiative which wants to protect Hackney’s local railway stations from staffing cuts. There is a public meeting on Monday 12 December, at 6.30pm at the Old Fire Station, 61 Leswin Road N16 7NX.

There will be speakers from:

• Disability Backup (highlighting the value of station staff to disabled people using rail transport)
• The TSSA (rail workers’ union),
• Jennette Arnold (Labour Party GLA member covering Hackney) and
• Anna Hughes (Green Party candidate for the GLA).

This will be an opportunity to hear about the government’s ‘McNulty Report’ and its recommendations which if carried through will see the closure of ticket offices at six of the borough’s railway stations and reductions at a further three (the government is also planning above inflation fare increases).

However, this meeting is not intended to be just a ‘talking shop’ we want to establish rail user groups (similar to the park user groups already active in the borough) for each railway station in Hackney. Elsewhere, rail user groups have been active in their communities and have worked with train operating companies to win improvements to stations, and have campaigned successfully to maintain staff on their stations.

This meeting will initially focus on Stoke Newington, Stamford Hill and Rectory Road, and we have invited speakers from the company Abellio which will be operating the train services through these stations from next year, (but if you use any station in Hackney and want to get involved, please come along).

Bring your friends and bring your ideas about how we can create a voice for passengers in the borough.

The meeting is supported by the N16 Magazine: http://www.n16mag.com/news/latest-news/974.html

Help us promote this meeting by forwarding this email onto friends, neighbours and colleagues who you use Hackney’s rail stations, by forwarding this email on, by sharing it on social networking sites, and by promoting our facebook event https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=552496836&ref=notif&notif_t=friend_confirmed#!/events/248155985240504/

If you have any time over the next week, and can help by leafleting outside one of the stations, then please email woodsg@tssa.org.uk

Please consider forwarding this email to Hackney people who may be interested. Hackney Unites is a coaltion for social justice, if you are not already on our mailing list, you can sign up on-line (http://eepurl.com/bPJDH) to receive regular updates.

Many thanks

John Page
Secretary
Hackney Unites

Money for Old Prose

On Saturday, December 11, at 7:45 pm, a group of 
renowned actors and musicians will give a special 
performance at Old St Mary's Church, Stoke 
Newington, in aid of a great local cause.
 
Hackney residents and stars of stage and screen 
Selina Cadell, Paul Bradley, Paul Jesson, Carrie 
Quinlan, Maggie Steed, Michael Thomas, Jane 
Wymark and The Occasional Choir are stepping 
forward into the spotlight to help save the 
beautiful, 400-year-old church from closure.
 
All proceeds from their performance - an evening 
of festive readings and song called Money for Old 
Prose - will go towards the fundraising effort to 
transform Old St Mary's into a vibrant arts 
centre for the whole community.
 
This is the fourth year that the group has joined 
together at Christmas in support of the project, 
St Mary's Arts Centre for the Community. Actors 
Selina Cadell and Michael Thomas say:
 
'It is such a pleasure to perform in the old 
church. For an actor it has a warm acoustic, and 
the audience sit like friends in a front room. 
And a tiny church like this, in the middle of a 
busy city, feels like a stolen treasure. When the 
great new church was built for an exploding 
population, this quiet old church next to it 
could have been demolished. But it wasn't, and it 
stands for all demolished buildings; the one that 
got away.'
 
Fundraiser Sarah Robson says:
 
'We are thrilled that Selina, Michael and the 
whole troupe are coming back for what promises to 
be another wonderfully entertaining evening, and 
for helping to raise funds for the work needed to 
save and transform the church. As well as being a 
gem of a theatre for our community, Old St Mary's 
could become a place to bring our children for 
art classes, an affordable venue for our 
teenagers' first gigs, a space to book for a 
special occasion and a treasure trove of history 
for pupils to explore.'
 
Tickets for this very special event are £12 / £10 
concessions and are available on the door. To 
reserve a ticket email artsmanager@smartn16.org
 
For further information about Money for Old Prose 
and the St Mary's Arts Centre for the Community 
project, please contact John Field on 02076907449
 
Details about the project are also available at http://www.smartn16.org/

Transition Hackney presents....

Transition Hackney presents.... Swap shop, mending skillshare and 'The Story of Stuff'
on Tuesday 15th November, 7pm
at Passing Clouds, 1 Richmond Road, Just off Kingland Road behind the Haggerston Pub
Presenting positive pictures and providing a discussion space for people to be inspired, proactive and positive members of our flourishing Hackney community. It’s a space for learning, sharing ideas, and finding solutions to challenges that our locality faces such as peak oil, climate change, and an unsustainable economy in ways that strengthen community.

With Christmas fast approaching and Buy Nothing Day almost upon us, it's the perfect time to be thinking about all the 'stuff' we buy and all the things we throw out. Transition Hackney is hosting a lively evening about consumerism with a swap shop, skillshare on mending clothes, the screening of 'The Story of Stuff' and speakers from inspiring projects - Chris Hardy from Upcycle and Hannah Lewis from the Remakery.
Join us for our 6th and final event for 2011 and bring along:
- A dish for the food share
- Any unwanted clothes and books (in good condition please, and washed if it's clothing!)
- A sock to darn, a jumper to mend or a pair of jeans to patch. If you have an item of clothing that is in need of repair, bring it along and we will help you to mend it

Programme for the evening
7.00pm - Food share - bring a dish and take a little from the many dishes provided by others
7.30pm - Film screening
8.00pm - Presentations
8.30pm - Skillshare, swap shop and time to exhange ideas
transitionhackney@gmail.com
www.transitionhackney.org

The Earth Course (from Friends of the Earth)

The Earth Course is a space to learn, share, discuss, debate, and ultimately come to your own conclusions about the environment. It is designed for residents of Hackney and Tower Hamlets who know a little but not a lot about the environment, and would like to explore the issues more.

The Earth Course consists of six evening sessions at weekly intervals with the following themes.

Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: The Natural World
Week 3: Climate Change
Week 4: Green Economy
Week 5: People Power
Week 6: What can we do?

Between each session there will be thought-provoking readings on the theme of the next session, as well as recommendations for further readings on the issues covered. The sessions themselves will be participative, with an emphasis on co-learning rather than traditional ‘teaching’.

The sessions will run on Wednesdays 11, 18 and 25 January, and 1, 8 and 15 of February.

For an application form, please email earthcourse@foe.co.uk by 30 November.

Public sector unions challenging the government's cuts agenda

The trade union Unite has a Battle Bus that will be touring round the hospitals and town halls of London next Monday October 24th, to build a Yes Vote for the public sector strike scheduled for November 30th. They will be stopping at various sites in Hackney, and would love to have a group of people to come and greet the bus when it arrives at the stops.

They will be at Hackney town hall at 2.30pm, and at Homerton hospital at 3pm.

If you are available why not greet the bus and show your support for one of the many public sector unions that are challenging the government's austerity agenda.

http://www.unitetheunion.org/images/voteyesfooter.jpg

Stokey local campaign

The Stokey Local campaign is battling an unwanted Sainsbury development which locals believe will destroy the local economy and unique feel of Stoke Newington's independent shopping streets. Last weekend they organised a zombie parade to demonstrate the support they had and to show that even the dead were against this proposal. Everyone had a great time, and the event received excellent coverage including in the Evening Standard. A great example of creative thinking by a growing campaign. To see a great video follow the link: http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=GB#/watch?v=LVCow6-o51A

Free Bicycle Repair Workshops

Fix your bike for free

A series of local workshops aim to help you fix your bike (rather than fix it for you). They supply tools but you need to bring your own parts. Other than that its free (donations for tool and rent costs are very welcome), and run by volunteers.

Workshops run from 7 to 9pm in two locations:

London Fields:

1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month at Frampton Park Baptist Church, Frampton Park Road E9 7PQ (just east of Mare Street and North of Well Street)

Stoke Newington

2nd Tuesday of every month at St Michael and All Angels Church on Northwold Road N16 7ED (just east of Stoke Newington Common)

Unemployed Workers Project latest poster

Please help us promote the Hackney Unemployed Workers Project's conference, jobs and training fair. by printing off a copy of the flyer and displaying it in your community or faith group, on your union notice board etc. If you can help with leafleting the borough's Job Centre Plus's then please email Hackneyunites@btinternet.com

Hackney Unites Unemployed Workers Project

Hackney Unites - update

http://tinyurl.com/6xtbfpl


On Wednesday of last week we took delivery of 25,000 copies of the latest Hackney Unites tabloid newspaper. In a remarkable week we have already distributed 18,000 of these. However, we still need some additional help to complete the distribution.

The paper celebrates our community’s coming together in response to the recent riot, but also promotes efforts by our communities to organise in a way that gives us some power to shape our lives and future. Examples of initiatives featured in the paper include: the Borough of Sanctuary project http://www.cityofsanctuary.org/hackney, the campaign to re-open the Haggerston pool: http://www.haggerstonpool.com/ and the stokey local campaign which is seeking to defend the local economy from the devastation that a proposed Sainsbury development would cause http://stokeylocal.org.uk/



We need a final push to distribute these papers. If you can help (even if it is just 300 in your street and a neighbouring street, or through community, faith or commercial outlets) please email hackneyunites@btinternet.com. Let us know your address (so we can drop the papers off) a phone number and the streets you can distribute in (so that we can avoid any risk of duplication).



Upcoming events.

Please also help us promote the following events through cascading this email onto your own networks.



Sunday 26 September

As part of the Uprise anti-racist festival we are hosting an informal discussion on how we challenge racism in the coming 12 months. There will be contributions from the HOPE not hate campaign, from the borough of sanctuary initiative, and a discussion on how we organise in advance of the 2012 GLA elections to maximise voter participation. We will be at the Studio in the Arcola Theatre from 2pm to 4pm. But check out the festival and ensure you enjoy this day long celebration of multiculturalism: http://uprise.org.uk/ taking place across Dalston.



You can help by promoting this event to your friends and posting the link above on your facebook page



Wednesday 26 October

The unemployed workers project (which meets every Friday between 11am and 2pm at the tenants room, Navarino Mansions on Dalston Lane) is organising an unemployed workers conference on the 26 October. For more details or if you want to attend the conference please visit: http://huuwp-eorg.eventbrite.com/



You can help by volunteering to leaflet outside one of the Job centres for an hour over the next few weeks, and by cascading this email onto people you know who are unemployed or qwho work with the unemployed and inviting them to attend the weekly sessions or the conference.



Sunday 30 October

The CLR James legacy project http://www.clrjameslegacyproject.org.uk/ is celebrating the life of one of the 20th century’s greatest advocates for social justice with a meeting at the Open the Gate Cultural Centre. Although speakers have yet to be announced it is highly likely that this event will be oversubscribed. So if you want to attend, please sign up http://clrjameslegacy.eventbrite.com/. If you have any reminiscences of CLR James, or can contribute to the website, please let us know.Please also cascade details of this event onto your networks.



CSV Young Hackney Volunteers

Finally, a big thank you to the Young Hackney Volunteers Project whose members came out and helped deliver our paper in the Stoke Newington area over the weekend. These young people are the future of our community and we are proud to have worked alongside them. If you can promote their work please do:



'CSV Young Hackney Volunteers is a new youth-focused programme funded by Hackney Youth Services, which encourage and support young people in Hackney aged 13-19 (up to 25 with learning difficulties or disabilities) to volunteer across Hackney in a variety of ways. Opportunities may range from football coaching to photography and befriending to fundraising just to name but a few.



By offering accreditation and training opportunities volunteering for young people can be worthwhile and provide useful transferable skills for the future. The programme works to recruit and place volunteers as well as offering the support and know how to groups or organizations to help develop their own volunteering initiatives.



Interested? Want more information or to get involved? Get in contact 020 8510 4900'


Help us build our network,

please forward this email on to others who you think will be interested.



Hackney Unites is a coaltion for social justice, if you are not already on our mailing list, you can sign up on-line (http://eepurl.com/bPJDH) to receive regular updates.



Many thanks



John Page

Secretary

Hackney Unites

Hackney Unemployed Workers Conference

Hackney Unites Unemployed Workers Conference & Jobs Fair  
   

Wednesday 26th October 2011 

10-4pm Morley Hall, Mare Street

                                                     Bookings: http://huuwp.eventbrite.com  

Hackney Tabloid September 2011‏

Hackney - 1 week on - Clarence Road Tea Party

Pictures credit: Tony Pletts

Tea Party with a difference

Clarence Road tea party has been organised by local residents. The hope is that people will get talking together, and begin to work on ways of taking the local community forward from the disruption of the disturbances.

There will be an opportunity for people to put up their views on ways forward in the future, on post-it notes on a board. The results of that will be fed back later. We are grateful for the support of the local Marks & Spencers shop in providing some of the refreshments and to Hackney Council for all their support.

Fr Rob Wickham, Rector of St John at Hackney, said: “We suggested the idea of an afternoon tea to bring the whole community, including local residents, businesses and faith communities, together exactly one week on from the Hackney riots.  Last week Clarence Road was a place of destruction, this week, I pray, Clarence Road will be a place of hopeful healing."

Sarah Pletts, of the Clapton Square User Group, said: “We all need to listen to one another and find out how we’re feeling about this area and how we can improve things. We have supported the Help Siva fund because his shop acts as place where everyone in the community can meet one another and he has been so helpful to so many people.“

Steve Lord, Chair of Pembury Tenants and Residents Association, said: “We welcome the street party. We have already had events this week on the estate to help people talk to one another and share any problems. This will help us to build up better relationships in the wider area and support our local shops.”

Siva Kandhia, shopkeeper, said: “I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has been helping me and all the many people in the community who have given me their sympathy for what has happened and wished me well. My response is – I’ll be back and back soon!”

Ian Rathbone, Chair of the Friends of Siva group, said: “Our streets have been subjected to violent disorder with people subsequently not feeling safe. That is not right in a democratic society. So this is the first stage of ensuring that people do feel safe, and that they also feel listened to and have some ownership over what happens in their area.”

Meg Hillier, the local MP, said: “"This event shows the real spirit of Hackney. Just a week after the area was overwhelmed by violent disorder this event has been organised. The organising residents are here for the long haul. I now ask that the media leave us alone to get on and do what we do best and to sort out our own affairs. I must say thanks to all those involved in organising the street party and the Help Siva fund including Fr Rob Wickham and St John at Hackney for all their help with tables, volunteers and other things.”

Vincent Stops, local ward councillor, said: “The Pembury Estate is fine, there was very little damage to the fabric of the estate. The residents I know are resilient. There are a lot of good people on it who have been working hard to build up community. I am sure these disturbances will not hinder them from continuing their good work. I will be working with all residents to see what we can achieve in improving our community life.”

Youth from Emashi share their thoughts on the Hackney disturbances...

Last week Hackney CVS hosted a meeting with Ed Miliband to talk about the reasons for last week's disturbances and what can be done. Here Adwoa and Djanomi from Emashi share with Hackney Unites their thoughts and plans they are making to bring communities together.

A message to the youth of Hackney

In the aftermath of the riot in Tottenham, and with the violence on the Narrow Way, we call on the youth of Hackney to show restraint and urge you not to get caught up in rioting.

We ask this because a riot is not good for you and it is not good for our community.

We know your anger:
• at the lack of education, training or jobs in the borough
• at the slim life chances that are afforded you;
• at the police who so often fail to protect young people, but who appear relentless in their determination to ensure that you ‘know your place’.

In a society that chooses not to respect you, participating in a riot can appear like an act of rebellion and a response to a complex series of problems: giving the police a hard time for once, and adopting the stereotypes of recklessness, criminality and brutality with which you are so often labelled.

However, a riot destroys what little we have in terms of our community assets, it also places the rioters, as well as bystanders at great risk.

The use of petrol bombs and the burning of buildings is not only devastatingly destructive to the institutions and businesses in our community. It puts peoples lives at risk. In Handsworth in 1985, two people died when trapped in their flat above a shop, in 2005 a similar tragedy occurred in the Lozells district of Birmingham. On Saturday night in Tottenham families with children had to flee through a burning building to escape.

Burning, destruction, and putting the lives of members of our community at risk is not the way to express your legitimate anger at being left behind in the boom years and expected to pay with your future when the economy crashed. You are capable of more imaginative and more effective ways of demanding economic and social justice.

You may feel that in the aftermath of a number of high profile deaths particularly from the black community in police custody, a riot is inevitable. But a riot is the response of those who have no alternative channel for their anger. In America, following the assassination of Martin Luther King, the black ghettos erupted. Yet, where the Black Panther Party organised, the most militant of black radical organisations, they called on the community not to riot, but to organise for justice. We urge you to do the same.

Finally, please consider the risks you are exposing yourself to. The police are sophisticated in tracking down rioters. CCTV cameras mean that you can be tracked; covering your face simply won’t protect you. The maximum prison terms for rioting is ten years and it is unusual for sentences for riot to be any less than five years. Even lesser offences of violent disorder receive very stiff penalties from the courts.

It is not just the risk of imprisonment: in 1981 during the Toxteth riot the police used vehicles driven at high speed into crowds to disperse them. One young man, not even involved in the disturbance, was killed when he did not move fast enough.

In this statement we have not joined the long list of politicians and police officers who race to condemn rioters, as if their own policies and failings were not a major ingredient in the toxic mix that creates the context in which riots occur. We have not pretended that you are ‘outsiders’ but have spoken to you as members of our community, who we want to remain in our community. Please do not let your anger blind you to the madness that is rioting.

Our new Unemployed Workers Project meets every Friday (till September) 11-2pm. Please download flyer and circulate to anyone you think will be interested  - the unemployed, community groups and anyone that could support.

 

Unemployed Workers Project meets this Friday, July 8 at 11am

With unemployment rising, and with fewer jobs becoming available, many people in Hackney are facing the prospect of long-term unemployment and the consequent isolation and poverty that accompanies it. As a community we have an obligation to support the unemployed, not least because in the current economic climate, none of us can feel secure.

The first meeting of our unemployed workers project will be this Friday 8 July at 11am, at the Community Hall, 8 Navarino Mansions, Dalston Lane E8 1LB.

The first session will be an open discussion about what an unemployed workers project looks like in Hackney. We will explore:
·      which support agencies and community institutions we need to approach and how to win their support
·      how to bring unemployed people together to create a voice that will be listened to
·      how to win longer term funding for a permanent unemployed workers centre in Hackney.

Lunch will be provided

The initial project will run for 13 successive Fridays, and will conclude with a conference for the unemployed.

You can help by
·      Coming along on Friday if you are unemployed
·      Sending messages of support if you are part of a community organisation prepared to work with Hackney’s unemployed
·      By cascading this email on to friends, neighbours and former colleagues who are unemployed.

Sending us your ideas for how to sustain an unemployed workers project in the borough.

No Sainsbury in Stokie!

DOWNLOAD POSTER HERE

No Sainsbury in Stokie!
Sainsbury are seeking planning permission to build an enormous new store behind Wilmer Place. With parking for 90 vehicles and a development that is five stories high (a number of ‘affordable housing’ units will be plonked on top of the superstore in an attempt to demonstrate some benefit to the community). At a time when the government is concerned about the dereliction of high streets, an enormous Sainsbury on Church Street/High Street, would suck the life out of the independent stores in the areas, including the independent food stores, the newsagents, local off licence etc.

The proposals are also a vast overdevelopment of the site, with enormous issues regarding traffic management (delivery lorries will enter the site from Church Street/Wilmer place) while a terrace of Victorian properties on the High Street (with their existing businesses) will be demolished.

The thriving village of Church Street will be devastated if this development goes ahead. Hackney Unites are supporting the community campaign to ensure that these proposals are not just rushed through against the wishes of the local population.

If you want to get involved then please attend the meeting on Wednesday 13 July at 7pm, St Mary’s Church Community Centre, Defoe Road (Church Street end) also visit http://stokeylocal.org.uk/

We have some leaflets to promote the meeting. If you drop us an email, then we can either send you a link to the leaflet or drop some off to you.

Hackney Coalition to Save the NHS - working together to save our health service.

Hackney doctors, Unite L&E 524 branch, Keep Our NHS Public, Hackney LINk, Hackney Labour Party,
Homerton Hospital workers, Hackney Coalition to Defend Public Services, Derman Turkish and
Kurdish well-being group, Hackney NPC) Contact: hackneykonp@aol.com, 07896 303 207.
1 pm onwards
Line up and link
hands around
the Homerton
Join hands to support the Homerton
Calling all Hackney citizens
Saturday
16 July
Assemble 12 noon
in the park that runs between
Brooksby’s Walk and Wardle St,
opposite the Homerton hospital.
Hackney’s citizens
love the Homerton
x x x
HANDS AROUND
THE HOMERTONShow the government we love our hospital
and we won’t let it go
The Health & Social Care Bill threatens our
local hospitals with privatisation & closure
The government's Health & Social
Care Bill threatens the entire future
survival of the NHS.
n All local hospitals (like the Homerton)
face cuts in services and threats of closure.
n Your GP will be forced to ration
your healthcare.
n Hospitals can now take as many
private patients as they like (previously
the number was limited).
n The whole NHS is thrown wide
open to exploitation by big private
healthcare companies.
The recent "pause" in the government's
driving through of the Health Bill did not bring a
pause in the massive top-down restructuring
of the NHS which has carried on regardless.
There has been no change in the policy to
introduce more "competition" (i.e. big private
healthcare companies) into the NHS.
Hackney needs a health service which puts
patients first, and not profits.
URGENT This is all happening at a time
when NHS funding is being cut by
around £20 billion. It can only
result in further healthcare rationing
and cuts to services.
The government has finished its
pause and now plans to ram the Bill
through before the end of July.
This is your chance to show the
government that Hackney
citizens will not accept
privatisation and cuts to our
NHS services - before the Bill
passes through parliament.
Join us on 16 July at 12
noon to hold hands around
the Homerton.
Show the government we
love our health service and
we won’t let it go.
Show the government - Hackney citizens
will defend the Homerton - and the NHS

Hackney Unites - mapping our progress

Dear all,

Hackney Unites is entering an exciting period of development. We recently held a very successful event with Friends of the Earth to promote their 'Power up' training: (more details from http://www.foe.co.uk/news/power_up_27151.html)

We are gearing up for the 2012 GLA elections (where we hope to generate a positive 'Manifesto for Hackney' and mobilise an anti-BNP vote)

We are exploring establishing a pilot unemployed workers centre, and our CLR James project is coming on stream.

However, before making any big decisions, we are taking the opportunity to review our progress and to explore the views of our supporters.

Please take the time to complete our on-line survey and let us know your views and ideas.

Visit the survey here: http://www.surveybob.com/surveybob/s/3a030ec1-c50b-40f9-9274-ebfbc546c37f.html

 

 

Meeting tomorrow: Planning, the law and your right to have a say about your environment

Planning, the law and your right to have a say about your environment

Wednesday, June 01, 2011 from 7:15 PM - 8:45 PM

Friends of the Earth runs training on planning, the law and campaigning to support community groups working to have their voice heard on decisions made about developments - from housing to supermarkets, from airports to food growing spaces. Everyone has the right to live in a fair, clean and healthy place. We believe the ‘Environment’ isn’t separate from us, but it is where we live, where we work, where our children play.

In Hackney planning policy, regulation and enforcement has at times been a divisive issue. This session is focussed on empowering residents so that they can have their voice heard.

This event, run by Friends of the Earth and Hackney unites, will be a small taster of the training and resources offered by Friends of the Earth’s Rights and Justice team. It is also part of Hackney Unites on-going strategy of bringing experts and residents together to providing training that allows our communities to get their voices heard. Whether it is the controversial proposals for areas of exception, or the wholesale redevelopment of estates, residents’ views and needs have often been ignored and marginalised.

Come and:

 Share your experiences getting involved in decision making in the borough

 Get an introduction to what your rights are in this area and why they matter

Here about changes proposed to the way planning decisions are made in the Localism bill and how to get involved in campaigning for better rights to participate

Find out about resources available to help you work on environmental issues you care about

The session is a ‘taster’ or introduction to the forthcoming training provided by Friends of the Earth’s residential weekend Power Up, in Mile End, London on 1^st - 3^rd July

http://www.foe.co.uk/news/power_up_27151.html  and watch a little video about Power Up here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClfvYYrzdoM

Hackney Rugby Club will be holding their first charity run...

Hackney Rugby Club will be holding their first  charity run, Hackney 1000 in Well Street Common on June 4th. Starting at 10.30am, participants can get around the course in any way they want, what matters is that together Hackney will travel 1000km to raise for this brilliant local children's charity. Hackney Quest, Hackney RFC and the London Fields Triathlon Club have already begun pledging. Anyone who wants to help support this cause can do the same, simply visit www.hackney1000.com

The Visionary Trading Project - a series of public actions, events and an exhibitions, dedicated to Broadway Market, Hackney.

 

 

 

 

Please find below information about The Visionary Trading Project -

a series of public actions, events and an exhibitions, dedicated to

Broadway Market, Hackney.

For this project we have commissioned 7 new art works, inspired by the

market and they are all presented in the show at Guest Projects.

We hope you and your members will be interested in the project. The show is on

till 26th of June.

With kind regards,

Margarita Dorovska

curator

The Visionary Trading Project

28 May – 26 June

Opening: 27th May 2011 | 6pm-9pm

Open on Friday-Sunday from 12pm to 6pm, free admission

Guest Projects, 1 Andrews Road, London, E8 4QL

Public information: http://visionarytradingproject.com

Tel: 07885766556

The Visionary Trading Project brings together seven new commissions, events and interventions, addressing the socio-economic changes that the Broadway Market area of East London has experienced in the last decade. Proposing imaginative narratives and alternative models of trade and exchange, the projects ascribe fictional elements to the real stories and structures of the area. Borrowing content and imagery from myths, fables and popular culture and inscribing it into the existing ‘idylls’ of the Saturday Market, the artists breach common cultural conventions and offer uncanny visions of social transaction.

On 14th of May artist Greta Alfaro’s edible and perfectly shaped black apples were sold to the market crowd. Her deceptive offering was conceived as an exploration of the ambiguous nature of commercial goods, bringing back the old myth of the apple as a false promise.

Around the same time, posters reading 'Your dust is cash. Each Oz. is money' appeared around Broadway Market. Behind this idea were Mexican artists Alfadir Luna and Antonio Vega Macotela, who had developed an exchange scheme for the Visionary Trading Project in line with their long lasting interest in currency as a mediation device through which social relations are established. They buy dust from homes of residents of the area and pay them in sterling pounds. To consolidate the process the acquired “valuables” will be stored in a bank safe, and documents of the exchange exhibited in the Guest Projects space.

On 21st May Petko Dourmana sold Bulgarian rose oil at the market. His customers had to pay him with a highly personal possession; their body odour. The lucrative offer, accepted at first as a joke, made them feel uncomfortable upon realising that the technique employed and his specially prepared chair were part of East Germany's Stasi methodology for odourologic collection and analysis, still used in countries like Russia, Cuba and Bulgaria.

Heman Chong and Anthony Marcellini's radio drama Public Allergies, broadcasted on Resonance FM, tells the story of  fictional artist Simon Tam, who has been invited to create a public art project in Broadway Market. For this commission Tam proposes a performance that consists of situating one hundred riot policemen along Broadway Market. However, the piece triggers a reaction from the public that results in a full-scale riot.

Harry Meadows has been commissioned to make new designs for manhole covers around Broadway Market. Embedded in the texture of the street, these unnoticed relics of municipal design and heavy industry become, for once, a canvas for the artist's commentary on the schisms and unlikely combinations sitting uneasily together in the market.

Laura Oldfield has developed for the project a series of guerilla style posters looking into the history and context of the area. Her psychogeographic investigations capture the city in its intensive state of movement and flux deliberately seek the point of transition from an aesthetic practice to a radical analysis.

The fragile balance between aesthetic documentation and critique also inhabits the film by Ilona Sagar, which looks into development sites representative of an aspirational desire to improve, style and play-out an ideal way of living. On her work for the VTP, Sagar has worked in collaboration with Adam Nathaniel Furman, a designer, writer and lecturer at the Architectural Association and with sound designer  Doug Haywood.

Artist and hacker Paolo Cirio will exhibit for the first time in London his visionary credit cards, introducing the peer-to-peer gift finance system. Visitors will be able to get a counterfeit credit card during his public actions in the area or directly at the gallery.

The new CLR James Library

What a beautiful image this is. The new - yet to open CLR James Library in Dalston - with his name up there where it belongs. Well done to Hackney Unites and all who took part in the campaign to save the name of the library.

A message from Hope not Hate

All research shows that women are much less likely to vote for the BNP than men, with some studies indicating by as much as two to one. That is why we are focusing on encouraging women to vote in next month's elections.

Last weekend hundreds of HOPE not hate supporters were out delivering newspapers and leaflets into our key wards. Since the beginning of the year we have distributed over 500,000 pieces of literature in the wards the BNP hope to win. Now, with help from Unison and the Daily Mirror, we are about to become more targeted.

We have produced a leaflet aimed at encouraging women to turn out and vote next month but we need to raise the money to get it printed and distributed. The public sector union Unison are willing to match-fund any money we raise from our supporters.

Can you help us get out leaflet out?
https://donate.hopenothate.org.uk/page/contribute/womens-leaflet

Our women's leaflets can make the difference between the BNP winning and losing a seat. The more women we can encourage the vote the harder it will be for the BNP to win. The more money we raise the more leaflets we can produce and the more council wards we can cover.

Last year Nick Griffin, speaking on BNP TV, acknowledged that our women's leaflet was the most effective single piece of anti-BNP literature distributed in Barking and Dagenham. It made the difference last year and it can again this year. We have identified 35 key wards where we need to stop the BNP.

Can you help us get the leaflet into the hands of women voters in these wards?
https://donate.hopenothate.org.uk/page/contribute/womens-leaflet

For every pound you donate Unison will match it so your donation will be worth double.

By getting women to vote we can stop the BNP winning crucial council seats in this year's elections and put another nail into Nick Griffin's political future.

Thanks

Nick

Wanted: essays, videos and pics of CLR James for our legacy project

Many thanks to all those that have contacted us offering support for our CLR James legacy project – the response has been overwhelming. We have emailed many of you directly in response to your contact and will endeavour to keep everyone informed of the next steps for the project.

We currently have a web-designer working on a web-site for the project and also a trainee teacher on placement who will help with the teaching resource.

What we need from you:  

-         Essays, reviews or other articles We want to incorporate as wide a breadth of material on CLR James and his works as possible. So if you have access to anything we could publish then please send over to us.

-         Video reminisces – what did CLR James mean to you? How has his work influenced your work or thinking? Why not send in a short video telling us? We want to feature a whole number of people talking about what CLR meant to them. So, why not use your laptop or other video recording device and film yourself or colleagues talking about what CLR meant to you.    

-         Images – Do you have photos or other images that we could use on the web-site? Either of CLR himself or of something that illustrates what he stood for. If you have anything that we can use – and you own the copyright then please let us know.

-         Expertise – CLR James thought and activity covered so many areas that our small team can’t address it all. Do you have expertise in a particular area?  What can you contribute to the project that we haven’t thought about? All ideas gratefully received.

Teacher’s Pack/Resource meeting - Sunday 22 May  

-         To assist in the planning of the teaching resource we are holding a meeting of teachers and other interested parties to shape the resource in the most effective way possible. The meeting will be in Hackney at 2pm on Sunday 22 May and will be facilitated by Educational Consultant Mike Vance. Please email us if you would like to attend and share ideas. We will give full venue details by return email. Email: andrea@hackneyunites.org.uk   

Academics wanted to help with conference paper and session

  

We have been invited to participate in the conference Rethinking the Modern - http://bsatheory.org.uk/category/rethinking-the-modern and are looking for academics that would assist in preparing a paper and session on CLR James and his legacy. The conference takes place in July but anyone interested should register their interest or send us a short abstract as soon as possible.  

Once again thanks to everyone who has expressed an interest in being involved. Together we can not only keep CLR James’ legacy alive but also inspire a whole new generation.  

Andrea Enisuoh on behalf of BEMA & Hackney Unites