Tuesday, April 19, 2011

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.
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
Nick Lowles

Monday, April 18, 2011

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






Equalities Act under attack

 

The Government has set up a website to encourage the public to tell the Government where to cut red tape.  One of the first areas to be examined is the Equality Act – and one of the suggestions inviting comment is to scrap the Act altogether to cut unnecessary bureaucracy on business and the public sector. How this would square with their obligations under European law is not articulated.
We invite members to respond to this to demonstrate support for maintaining and improving the equality legislative framework. This is another attack on equality from this coalition Government and must be challenged.