Hackney Unites Blog

Hackney Borough of Sanctuary - Be a part and sign the pledge!

2012-01-17T03:16:00.000-08:00

BEMA, FOCUS & Arcola Theatre Present Arts Fundraiser

2011-12-06T03:54:00.001-08:00

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

2011-12-06T03:13:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-06T01:32:00.000-08:00

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....

2011-11-06T02:58:00.000-08:00

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. Itâ€™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)

2011-11-06T02:49:00.000-08:00

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

2011-10-20T05:45:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-07T12:29:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-05T11:53:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

Hackney Unites - update

2011-09-13T07:18:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-13T06:23:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-31T10:26:00.000-07:00

Hackney - 1 week on - Clarence Road Tea Party

2011-08-17T03:45:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-08-16T02:55:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-09T03:05:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-07-20T02:42:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-06T09:38:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-07-01T01:41:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-06-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-31T03:24:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-05-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-05-26T07:26:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-12T09:16:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-19T07:09:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-18T07:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/equalities/

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.

2011-03-28T09:19:00.000-07:00

Hackney Women’s Forum have launched a project to help women survivors of violence tell their stories.

We are looking for inspirational stories that may involve terror but also involve themes of strength and survival.

From women who have escaped domestic violence, to women that have escaped trafficking or stalking. Stories from survivors of rape and incest to those affected by sexual violence or female genital mutilation. There are many forms of violence against women and we want to help women tell their life stories.

So if you are a woman willing to share your story – or you know a woman that may want to, then please get in touch.

Through interviews, poetry, women’s essays, memoirs and other written forms, we want to tell women’s stories of survival.

Through publishing a book and establishing a web-site we want to get those stories out there to serve as inspiration to other women. We also hope this project will help affect policy in Hackney and ensure that the necessary resources for women affected by domestic violence and other forms of violence against women are made available.

ALL CONTACT IS CONFIDENTIAL

PUBLISHED STORIES WILL BE ANONYMOUS

We are also looking for illustrators, photographers, designers, editors and other creatives to volunteer their time to this project so if you are interested then please get in touch.

If you can help us with this project or would like more information then please email: womenfreefromfear@gmail.com or call: 07956 546110

Photography book launch – Monday 28th March

2011-03-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

Photographer Tara Darby (Jack Wills, Aubin & Wills, Dazed & Confused) is hosting a launch night at the Golden Heart, 110 Commercial Street, E1 6LZ this coming Monday to celebrate the release of her new book We Are Only Humans – a project which documents Hackney for an eight year period from 2001 – 2009.

The night is free and open to all, and there will be a reading from Heidi Jones who wrote the forward for the book.

The series offers a fascinating insight into Hackney, East London and the people that live there – a beautiful document for the future.

The event takes place on Monday 28th March and starts at 7pm.

Book here if you would like to attend: http://www.miniaturelovebooks.com/

A great short film showing there IS an alternative to the cuts...

2011-03-25T03:07:00.000-07:00

Hackney film-maker Oonagh Cousins has made a short film exploring the alternatives to austerity.

A positive, inspiring and informative film it is aimed at building support for the alternatives and tomorrow’s national demo.

It has just launched on the Guardian site and is also supported by the Coalition of Resistance, TUC, Robin Hood Tax, UK Uncut etc....

Oonagh collected some of the voices for the piece from other local Hackney residents.

Hackney Unites are delighted to support the film which can be viewed here: http://vimeo.com/21438134

FREEDOM TO PROTEST – TEN PROTESTER’S RIGHTS

2011-03-24T04:41:00.000-07:00

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
Abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass

Our trade unions have a long and distinguished history of using peaceful protest to voice dissent from the excesses of authority, gain rights and change laws. Many of the rights and freedoms we enjoy today were won because people were prepared to protest – from women’s right to vote, to the right to be protected from discrimination and workers’ right to be part of a trade union. Trade union leaders are planning and mobilising a national anti-cuts protest on 26 March 2011, which is planned to be the largest since the anti-Iraq war demonstration. We urge Hackney residents to attend the march and show solidarity.
Given the rise in police powers in recent years regarding public protests and the increasing encroachment on civil liberties, protestors should be aware of the rights and restrictions of protesting.

TEN RIGHTS AND REGULATIONS FOR PEACEFUL PROTEST

1.    The right to freedom of expression.
2.    The right to assemble and protest on the public highway without permission from the police, council or other authorities (different rules apply to the area around parliament square).
3.    Trespass on private land is not a criminal offence unless the trespasser is deterring, disrupting or obstructing someone else carrying out a lawful activity. If so, the trespasser may be guilty of “aggravated trespass”.
4.    Unless you are arrested, or driving and involved in a road traffic accident there is no obligation to give your name and address to an officer on the street unless:
a)    You are reasonably suspected of acting in an “anti-social” manner (protesting peacefully should not be considered “anti-social”)
b)    The police want to issue a summons or Fixed Penalty Notice to you.
5.    Police can stop and search a protestor without suspicion that you have committed an offence or that you are carrying illegal items only if there is a notice in force under s.60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act. Otherwise, the police need to reasonably suspect you of being in possession of illegal items or items for use in illegal acts.
6.    Officers should inform you (if asked) under what power they are stopping and searching you, the reason for their suspicion, their name and provide a stop and search receipt if you request one within a year of the stop. Always ask why you are being searched – there is no such this as a “routine stop”.
7.    Intrusive surveillance and the retention of photographs of you by the police whilst you are at a demonstration could be a breach of your right to privacy.
8.    Peaceful protestors have the right to photograph police officers providing they are not obstructing the officer.
9.    “Kettling” (which the police refer to as containment), is a police tactic which may deprive you of your liberty. If kettling is used it must be:

a)    Resorted to by the police in good faith;
b)    Be proportionate to the situation in hand; and
c)    Be in place for no longer than necessary.
Also, a recent report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary said about kettling that there should be:
i)    ‘No surprises’ (i.e demonstrators should be made aware if the police are going to kettle a crowd and for how long it will last);
ii)    A release plan to ensure vulnerable people (including children, people with disabilities and pregnant women) are released as soon as possible;
iii)    Easy access to information about the duration of the detention; and
iv)    Clear signposting to basic facilities like toilets and water.

10.    You have the right to make a formal complaint against any officer who acts unlawfully but you must do so within 1 year of the incident.

Shamik Dutta is an experienced civil rights lawyer at Fisher Meredith LLP. He specialises in taking action against the state on behalf of the victims of police and Home Office misconduct. He can be contacted on 0207 091 2785.
He is also Chair of North and East London Anti-Racist Alliance.

WHO RUNS LONDON? event on 31 March

2011-03-21T03:54:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends

With the extraordinary financial climate the country is in, now more than ever, people might be asking themselves: WHO RUNS my city? How do I influence and shape the debates taking place? How can I communicate effectively with those that make decisions on my behalf?

WHO RUNS LONDON event on 31 March will answer these very questions.

In what is set to be one of the most important dates in the 2011 calendar, the WHO RUNS event organised by Operation Black Vote will give the Black and Minority Ethnic communities of London the chance to listen, contribute and engage in a debate with those decision makers that affect all of our day-to-day lives, and find out how they can get more involved in the important decisions being taken in their local areas.

Speakers and Q+A session will include leaders from across the political spectrum, as well as high profile civic leaders from national charities, the BME third sector and the media. Special guest to be announced.

Details: Central London location.

Places are limited.

Please register here for a place: ashley@obv.org.uk

Venue details will be confirmed when registered.

WHO RUNS LONDON

6.30pm

31 March

To find out more contact: 0208 983 5474

TUC 60 seconds ad contest - vote for us

2011-03-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

Teena Lashmore from Hackney Unites has made this video for the TUC 60 seconds ad contest. Now we need your votes! Please visit: http://www.tuc60seconds.org.uk/gallery/
and look for the video by fuzzyme007

Free film tickets for In the Land of the Free

2011-03-11T06:42:00.000-08:00

Hackney Unites have just received a block of free tickets for tommorows screening of In the Land of the Free at the Rio cinema in Hackney, 2.30pm.

To secure a ticket people just need to email

lauren@mobfilm.com. There will be a guest list on the day at the box office.

Info on facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=192940744067355

More information about the film:

www.inthelandofthefreefilm.com

The film has just been nominated for Best Documentary by The London Evening Standard British Film Awards.

You can watch the trailer here:

http://www.inthelandofthefreefilm.com/trailer.aspx

For more information about Robert King and his book “From the Bottom of the Heap”

http://www.kingsfreelines.com/

For more information about the international campaign to free the Angola 3:

www.angola3.org

BARAC anti -cuts meeting @ Bernie Grant Centre (report)

2011-03-04T02:40:00.000-08:00

Building on the success of the recent Hackney Unites meeting with BARAC - we report on a BARAC anti-cuts meeting in our neighbouring borough of Haringey.

by Teena Lashmore

It was an incredible night at the Bernie Grant Centre in Tottenham Green, London on Sunday 28 February 2011. Over two hundred people attending the Round Table discussion, exploring the impact of the Governments’ cuts to the public sector and local communities.

In the space of three weeks a small group of community leaders were able to draw upon their own resources not only to organise a platform to introduce Black Activist Rising Against the Cuts (BARAC) to the people north of the river Thames, but to provide a forum to local residence to ask questions and increase their understanding about consequences to public services – should the cuts go unchallenged.

On the top table was Althea Grant a local solicitor, Gary McFarlane from the National Union of Journalism, Rev Errol Hines a local entrepreneur and small business developer, Zita Holbourne Co Chair of BARAC, Lee Jasper fellow co Chair of BARAC, local Labour MP David Lammy, Educationist Jenny Sutton from Conel College and Arpita Dutt an eminent Employment Solicitor. They were supported with Find Your Voice DJ Douglas Williams who not only chaired the evening, but was a key player in organising the event.

The audience was just as impressive with teachers, staff from the civil services, mothers, fathers, students, small business owners, community activist, local Council worker and the elderly. Sharon Grant, the wife of the late community activist Bernie Grant, the man whose political campaigns resulted in the commemorative Bernie Grant Centre, was also in attendance.

The evening began with the inspirational short film which captured the essence of an earlier campaign where local community activists along with Mr Lammy successfully prevented the gambling chain Paddy Power from erecting yet another gambling shop in the deprived area of Tottenham’s West Green Road.

This was followed by Ms Holbourne who detailed the foundations of BARAC and the need for communities to join her and BARAC on 26 March in London for the TUC demonstration against the cuts. Mr Jasper provided a brief historical narrative to explain why these cuts are ideologically driven and the need for communities to place their differences to one side and come together to mount a successful campaign against them. His radical call to over throw the Government because they have mismanaged the global financial crises and have chosen to address the deficit by attacking the working classes, the elderly and those most vulnerable in our communities clearly ignited an already agitated audience.

Mr Lammy was welcomed with mixed feelings, with many finding it incomprehensible that a Labour MP would participate in the process of implementing the Tory led coalition cuts programme onto his community. It became clear he had underestimated the level of anger local people have with Labour leaders delivering the Cuts agenda and his early involvement in the campaign against Paddy Power did little to redeem his political standing among this community. Mr Jasper was soon to his side reminding the audience of the need to work together and only then did the Round Table return to the agenda.

Ms Sutton detailed some of the consequences of the loss of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) on local young people, adding that over eighty percent of students in Conel College qualified for the full EMA. Such statistics confirm the level of poverty of local families and the need to financially support young people into education.

Rev Hines was unapologetic in his objective - to encourage local residents to start their own business to service their own communities and beyond. This was well received forcing the Chair to agree to explore whether the Bernie Grant Centre could be made available to the local community on a monthly basis - to develop local talent into business and personal development.

The formal speeches concluded with Hackney Unites’ Ms Dutt detailing the success of using the Equality Duty to challenge local governments. She paraphrased the successful journey of a local resident who used the Equality Duty (where there is a need for local authorities to undertake an Equality Impact Assessment before imposing fundamental changes that would change the fabric of a community), to challenge the development for another shopping centre that would wipe out small independent businesses; many which were owned or run by members from minority and ethnic communities. The floor was opened to the audience and from their questions it became clear that many of the objectives for the evening were met.

What is becoming increasing clear is that as the weeks leading up to the national TUC demonstration against the cuts on 26 March 2011 in London, the people are coming together and defining their own Big Society. Community groups are actively developing their campaigns against the cuts and strategies are evolving on a weekly basis.

Mr Cameron has been unable to explain clearly what he meant when he talked about Big Society and this effectively created a void in communities. In light of the peoples’ anger about the cuts, the global community’s poor financial management of the banking systems and the successes of ordinary people coming together to rid their governments’ of poor political leaders in the Middle East, The Tory’s call for a Big Society may have in fact unleashed an unstoppable movement in England - where Big Society will not rest until they too remove from their government poor political leaders.

The OffMarket collective - invite to their new open space

2011-03-02T10:24:00.000-08:00

The OffMarket collective, take disused buildings and turn them into open resources.

They recently moved to Lower Clapton Road and want to invite supporters of Hackney Unites to ‘come and check out the place, meet us and have a cuppa :)’

‘OffMarket is an open squatted space, a small shopfront on 111 Lower

Clapton Rd E5 0NP. It is not-for-profit and run by volunteers who all live

in or around Hackney. The aim of the space is to be an open resource for people living in the

area and activists, as well as promoting and defending squatting.

We're open Sundays 12-6pm, Mondays 12-6pm, Tuesdays 12-8pm if you want to browse our InfoLibrary with books and zines, and our FreeZone where you can bring what you don't need any more and take what you need!

We are keen on having regular activities/skill-sharing sessions. At the

moment, there is (subject to changes!) French conversations (Sun

6-7.30pm), Gardening (Mon 12onward), Bike fixing (tue 2-6), Juggling (Wed 6-8pm), Clowning (Wed 8-10.30pm), Legal drop-in for anti-cuts and students arrestees (Thu 6-7pm), Practical squatting evenings (1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month 7pm)...Special events like movie screenings, infonights, reading groups etc. also happen on a more irregular basis.

All our events are free/on donation and everyone is welcome (there is a

small step at the front and unfortunately the toilets are not wheelchair

accessible).

You are very welcome to contact us or to come to our open weekly meeting

on Mondays 7pm if you have any comment or proposal about how to use the

space!’

OffMarket

111 Lower Clapton Road, E5 0NP

offmarket@riseup.net

077 0627 9299

http://london.indymedia.org/groups/offmarket

Further Education AT RISK - Public Meeting Thurs March 3rd

2011-02-28T03:25:00.000-08:00

A sneak preview of the new Hackney Unites anti-cuts tabloid

2011-02-17T09:30:00.000-08:00

Labour Councillors on the cuts - Another View

2011-02-16T04:24:00.000-08:00

Cllrs Ian Rathbone, Linda Kelly and Deniz Oguzkanli

Six Hackney Labour Councillors share their views on how we should fight the cuts..

The Con-Dem Coalition is attacking the fabric of a civilised society: NHS jobs and services are being cut and wholesale privatisation is planned. 3,500 young people in Hackney will lose Educational Maintenance Allowance and student fees are tripling. Access to legal aid is being choked off. Housing benefit restrictions threaten people's homes. Disrepair stemming from cuts in the Decent Homes programme will affect health and increase stress.

Money available for local councils is to be cut back for four successive years. Some think we should protest - and wait for the next election. Our view is that we cannot wait until the damage is done. Nobody voted to privatise the NHS or make our communities pay for the bankers' crisis. The government has no mandate. The bankers' greed caused the crisis - they and their rich friends should pay for it through targeted taxes and a crack down on the tax loopholes used by millionaires and big corporations. As Labour Councillors, along with supporters of the Labour Representation Committee, we support a campaign to defeat the policies of this government through public protest, opposition and defiance.

We would like to see local Councils across London leading the charge and refusing to adopt cuts budgets as a result of government enforced policies and producing a Needs Budgets to show what should be funded. This won't give local Councils the money to keep services running - but it would give a big boost to the campaign to defeat the government.

Labour needs to reinvent itself as a political movement - not just a party of management and government. Local residents and community organisations need to share their concerns and inform local councillors of the impact of cuts particularly where women, older people, the young, people with disabilities and Black and Minority Ethnic communities will be disproportionately affected by the cuts.

We are facing a national and international emergency and this calls for exceptional measures to mobilise our people and defeat the Con-Dem Coalition. If we do not speak out, our silence will be taken for agreement.

Cllr Barry Buitekant

Cllr Michelle Gregory

Cllr Linda Kelly

Cllr Deniz Oguzkanli

Cllr Ian Rathbone

Cllr Patrick Vernon

Hackney LRC can be contacted at: PO Box 2378, London E5 9QU hackneylrc@hotmail.co.uk We also support: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Their-Cuts-Not-Ours/178128612200341

An edited version of this statement appears in the Hackney Unites tabloid against the cuts.

Cuts to ESOL funding - Ali Aksoy (HRF) speaks out

2011-02-15T07:16:00.000-08:00

Ali Aksoy, Chair of Hackney Refugee Forum (HRF) writes about the cuts to ESOL funding – and why we need to fight them.
CUTS, CUTS, CUTS and now ESOL cuts and it will affect all of us very seriously.

We all know it is very difficult to integrate in to this society without speaking the host community’s language. Therefore ESOL education is an investment by the government to help migrant and refugees to improve their skills, find jobs, pay taxes instead of getting financial support from public funds as well as accessing the available services before their problems becoming chronic or expensive to solve.

ESOL education is not only good for increasing the chance to find employment for migrant and refugee students, it also means employment for hundreds of teachers and better communication with other communities. All this is very important for cohesion, seeing the importance of diversity and learning more. Sharing experiences with other communities helps avoid the racism created by ignorance.

Yes there will be free classes, but only for 20% of RASM communities who gets active unemployment allowances (dependants might have to pay). People without active allowance and low income can not have free classes and have to pay fees from between £550 to £1250. Teachers will lose jobs and learners to help their children.

The colleges will have bigger classes (now 17 students in a class), fewer choices of levels and less flexibility. They have to cut their ESOL provision 25% in next 4 years and less and lesser place will be available.

At the moment there is a £4.5million fund available to help ESOL students who pay fees, but next year there will be no support fund. That means fewer students from low income people, the closing of courses and more teachers will lose their jobs.

There is no harvest without invest and it is time to raise our voices for ESOL investment now before this cuts will harm all our communities.

The next Hackney Refugee Forum open meeting will be on Friday 18 March (1pm-3pm) at HCVS in Dalston. The topic will be ESOL cuts and the impact on employment and health and integration. For more info email ali@hcvs.org.uk

BEMA - Art of the Big Society Conference February 24th 2011

2011-02-14T09:34:00.000-08:00

BLACK & ETHNIC MINORITY ARTS (BEMA)

(THE ARTS IN HARMONY NETWORK)

Do you represent a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) arts organisation working in the voluntary sector?

Are you a BAME artist working in the voluntary sector?

Does your arts organisation work with or support BAME artists?

Then you are invited to BEMA’s Art of the Big Society Conference

Date: Thursday, 24 February 2011

Time: 9.30am - 4.30pm

Venue: Graeae Theatre Company, 138 Kingsland Road, London E2 8DY

Designed to address issues of concern to those involved in art creation, provision and marketing, the conference will look at how BAME artists and arts organisations can confront the many challenges facing them in voluntary sector in the current financial climate.

So much of national strategy being developed today is within the context of the so called ‘Big Society’, or in order to persuade more people to ‘volunteer’. Yet at a time of austerity and severe financial crisis, voluntary sector arts organizations are perhaps suffering more than most other areas.

Investment in the arts, already low, is being steadily reduced, with the hardest hit being the already under-funded Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic voluntary led arts groups and organisations.

With panel discussions and workshops, the conference will discuss how best BAME arts organizations can make the most of funding opportunities, market themselves and support each other.

With speakers from the Arts Council, Hackney’s 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Unit and various arts groups, this will be an ideal event to get information, discuss and network.

Food and refreshments will be available free of charge.

Booking: http://bemaarts.eventbrite.com/

For more information visit www.bemanetwork.org.uk

or telephone 0207 923 1962

A statement on the cuts from Hackney Ecumenical Borough Deans

2011-02-08T09:47:00.000-08:00

We are concerned that both direct Government cuts, and indirect cuts through the Council’s support grants, will leave many people in Hackney suffering and hurting. The Government has moved much too fast and needs to spend more time talking with and listening to people in poverty and on its borders, and base their policies on combating the real problems the poor and vulnerable face each day.

There needs to be a clearer understanding of the injustice and humiliation of poverty in all its forms. Telling people the answer is to get on a bus to get a job is to insult and frustrate people.

In a caring society each person should contribute what they can, and be valued regardless of their contribution, as the person they are. That’s how God sees every one of us.

All people regardless of their status should have access to the law, and the cutting of legal aid will mean many Hackney folk will be left unable to defend themselves when faced with a bad landlord, or discriminatory employer etc.

Churches should not be asked to take over some of the jobs of the state in any ‘Big Society’ situation. Their role is essentially complementary to state services.

Large corporations and wealthy individuals should understand that they should make a full contribution, and not set a bad example by finding ‘legal loopholes’ through which they can avoid paying tax.

The Government should find ways to claw back this tax to offset the financial deficit we face, rather than making poorer people pay.

We support the statement made by national church leaders on November 11, 2010, which raised concerns that the proposed welfare reforms are based on inaccurate assumptions about the poor. (see http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/13530 )

Hackney Ecumenical Borough Deans are a group of church leaders representing major Christian church denominations in Hackney.

Report on Hackney Unites public meeting on the cuts

2011-01-31T06:34:00.000-08:00

Hackney Unites is a community empowerment group and it is leading the way in organising people and developing grass roots campaigns to fight the government’s cuts to public services.

by Teena Lashmore

On Sunday 23 January 2011 at the Open Gate Black Cultural Cafe in Stoke Newington Road, an audience of over eighty people joined Hackney Unites to watch a play by the anti racist theatre company called Arts4Real. Entitled Hard Times, the play looked at the consequences of the cuts to an average urban family over a six months period.

The message of the Cuts is clear, as women make up a large proportion of the public services; it is this group that will be the first in line at the job centre competing for work in a shrinking economy. This street theatre production looked at how relationships within the home will change, as a consequence of parents loosing their jobs, self-esteem, housing and economic independence. The audience were captivated by the performance as the realisation of the cuts in their homes begins to take shape - where parents and those old enough to work become exhausted by the lack of economic and employment opportunities.

This moving performance was followed by public speaker Lee Jasper the Chair of BARAC, talking about the need for a range of strategies to fight the cuts. Sharing the platform with Mr Jasper was Andrea Enisuoh from Hackney Unites who reinforced the importance for a diverse approach to campaigning. Ibrahim Avcil a community coordinator working for Hackney Refugee Forum enlightened the audience with the shocking observation that await the soon to be unemployed: the government plans to extend the Voucher system that is currently applied to asylum seekers, to all those signing for Job Seeker Allowance.

Rhasan Brunner from Hackney’s Youth Parliament linked the impact of the cuts to the loss of a whole generation - his generation, our young people. Finally, Arpita Dutt, an employment lawyer by day, closed the platform led session with the most empowering speech ever delivered in a public forum. She explained the responsibilities local authorities have to the Equality Duty and presented this as the most effective tool for every Hackney citizen to challenge its local government on the planned cuts, citing the success of Haringey residents opposing a shopping centre as a case study.

Her speech had resonance with the audience, and as they moved into the workshop sessions to explore what images would most reflect the cuts, it was clear they had been inspired. Flip chart after flip chart was filled with images that looked at the impact of the cuts on housing, the impact on unemployment, the loss of public health services, the loss of EMA for young people accessing education, the loss of young people services and those for the elderly. Where people lacked art skills, they filled the charts with nouns and adjectives just as powerful as the images.

As the event came to a close the eighty that had arrived were seen networking their way out of this stylish graffiti art cafe, keen to ensure they had secured contact details not only from Hackney Unites but from their peers in the audience. The objective of the event was not only to inspire the community to join together to fight the cuts, but to bring home to every citizen in Hackney the physical realities of the cuts.

As the Mayor of Hackney Jules Pipe prepares to wipe out £26 million from Hackney’s local economy in the coming weeks, he may find he has to stop and pause in line with the Equality Duty, as he fights off a deluge of request to see Hackney’s Equality Impact Assessments on the cuts. And unlike BARAC who requested the same documents from the treasury last year and were told that in the interest of the public the information will not be disclosed, Hackney citizens know that Equality Impact Assessments is a public document and they are intimately aware of where the town hall is located should the find the need to collect the documents in person.

Rhasan Brunner from Hackney’s Youth Parliament (HYP) discusses an alternative to the Spending Review.

2011-01-21T08:22:00.000-08:00

He is young, articulate and dedicated to social inclusion. His aspiration is to get all young people, all over the UK involved in helping their local communities - as he believes this will prevent many from falling into crime. He held office as the Vice Chair of Hackney Youth Parliament (HYP) in 2008, finally taking up the Chair’s position for the last twelve months. He’s the winner of the Hackney Youth Award and the Special Youth Award of 2008. His own articles have been published extensively in Contrast – a youth magazine that looks at the challenges and achievements of Hackney’s young people. All this and still only fifteen, Rhasan Brunner displays all the hall marks of a future leader.

by Teena Lashmore

We met on the brisk sunny Sunday morning of the 24 October last year, outside Hackney Town Hall and immediately headed off to the Corner Café, where we found comfort and space in the window seating. We perched ourselves proudly on the high wooden stools and observed the sunlight as it cast strong shadows over the wooden benches outside. Our hands wrapped around our large mugs and quickly began to warm, as I cradled my latte and he his hot chocolate.

He recapped over his ever changing lifestyle and community work. Most significant was his attendance at St Matthias Junior School, where he experienced his first public speaking event. He received peer recognition and respect, with the entire hall applauding his speech. He recalled being overwhelmed with emotions. Cardinal Pole School brought new challenges and along with family support, he actively changed his trajectory, engaging with youth activities and participating in youth clubs and theatre groups rather than the ‘which ends you at’ street life. His appetite for his community work has not wavered, and he continues to be an active member in HYP and also at the Hackney Volunteer Centre.

We discussed in detail some of the benefits and losses to the community as a consequence of the Government’s cuts and he suggested a clear idea of how to plug the gap,” All people need to help in society. It’s not the end of the world if a few rich people have to loose one of their many houses - as they can afford it.” His views are evolving and are informed by his youth, his education and by the many alternatives to the spending cuts which are currently being discussed in communities and voluntary organisations up and down the country. Of the many options available Mr Brunner found the 2% Wealth Tax for the richest 10% of the population, as being most attractive. Such a proposal is likely to raise as much as £78 billion in just one year, and in eighteen months it would address the Spending Review’s objective of needing to raise £81 billion over four years.

Currently, the ConDem coalition is promoting one way of addressing the country’s deficits, which will ultimately impact on those members of society in most need. The loss and changes to disability benefits will leave many vulnerable adults without support and for some - this will see the end of their independence. Many families will have to move to cheaper and most likely over crowded properties, because private landlords are free to charge rents that cannot be met by Housing Benefits; especially now these payments are being capped.

The full potential consequence of the Spending Review is too grim to explore over coffee and hot chocolate and we both recognised the need for a wider debate. Although young people’s views have largely been absent from these discussion, Mr Brunner promised to address this by taking the Spending Review to Hackney Youth Parliament’s Residential weekend.

We finish our drinks and headed back to the rendezvous. As we parted, he reminded me to send his support to Hackney Unites and pledged his commitment to get involved and to encourage other young parliamentarians to attend future meetings - to give their support and views.

Mr Brunner is a strong believer in social inclusion and his views are reflected by many other young people in Hackney. The Spending Review attacks not only our lives but the life chances of the next generation; especially with the increases in university tuition fees. The irony here is that our political leaders - who are imposing these cuts, benefited from free education yet here they are denying the same opportunities to the next generation. And within the same narrative, the banking industry which has been largely responsible for the global financial downturn and our country’s deficits remains unchanged, unchallenged and under taxed.

One of the many unintended consequences of this Spending Review is that these cuts may become the catalyst that join Hackney residents, young people and community leaders closer together, bringing the younger generation and their voice to the table, to negotiation a better community for all.

Let's Speak Up for Hackney - a message from Hackney Unites

2011-01-21T02:55:00.000-08:00

Hackney Unites are asking for your help in producing and distributing a tabloid newspaper which showcases the best in Hackney while urging our communities to unite against the budget cuts that threaten our services.

We also urge you to register to join ‘the Hackney contingent’ on the national demonstration against the cuts on 26 March.

Please cascade this message on to friends, family, neighbours, and to colleagues at work and in faith and community groups in the borough and thereby help us get our message to the wider community.

We cannot accept these cuts

The government is cutting public spending at an alarming rate. Hackney Council is talking of cutting £44 million pounds from its budget in the next 12 months; money that pays for social services, housing, pest control, refuse collections, libraries, the noise service, trading standards, planning control and food safety among many other services.

Our children’s education is threatened, by cuts to schools budgets, by the withdrawal of the Education Maintenance Allowance and by the legislation which will see Universities charge students £9,000 per year.

Meanwhile Hackney GP, Dr Tomlinson, has spoken out on behalf of the BMA against the government’s planned ‘£20 billion of cuts to the health service over four years and the conversion of the NHS from a public service to a commercial market’.

Public transport has seen rapid fare rises at a time when busses are to be reduced and tube jobs are being cut.

Not only is unemployment set to rise, but if you lose your job through redundancy, you may find that the reductions in housing benefit mean that you can no longer live in Hackney and are forced to relocate to outer London, far from your friends, family and support networks.

The Government insists these cuts are unavoidable, yet senior economists warn that far from solving the deficit the cuts could drive the economy into a recession which will starve the treasury of income and actually make the deficit worse.

We need to act as one

Hackney Unites is not primarily an anti-cuts organisation. We aim to bring people together from across our various communities in the belief that we can achieve more for our communities by working together. (to find out more about us, visit www.hackneyunites.org.uk) However, the biggest immediate challenge to our communities is the effect of these proposed cuts: which will hit women, ethnic minorities and lower income families the hardest.

Cuts on this scale can have the effect of fracturing communities and lead to the scapegoating of vulnerable communities. We have teamed up with the HOPE not hate organisation and intend to produce a tabloid newssheet which celebrates what we have and alerts our communities to what we might lose.

There will be articles from trade unionists, faith leaders, tenants’ reps, health workers, legal aid practitioners and dozens of small community groups. This is your opportunity to add the voice of your group or campaign to the thousands of others in Hackney demanding that these cuts are stopped and our services protected.

The tabloid newspaper will celebrate Hackney, but will also call on people to participate as part of a Hackney contingent in the national demonstration called by the TUC on the 26 March. However, 26 March will not be the end of this initiative. We need to build a local Hackney based network capable of organising our communities and focussing effective opposition to individual cuts as they impact on our communities.

We have booked a print run of 25,000 copies and over the next few weeks we will need help both in writing and then distributing them.

If you want to help in either the production or distribution (or have any other comments) please complete our very short on-line survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/speak_up_for_Hackney

If you want to join us on Saturday 26 March then sign up for the Hackney Contingent, which we hope will be over 1,000 strong.

http://thehackneycontingent26march.eventbrite.com/

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, please help us unite Hackney, by forwarding this message on to friends, family, neighbours and colleagues in Hackney who may want to help build a strong united community coalition that challenges these cuts and celebrates Hackney.

And don’t forget we have an anti-cuts meeting this Sunday (see http://hackneyunites23jan2011.eventbrite.com// for details)

If you are not already on our email list and would like to join you can sign up at http://eepurl.com/bPJDH

Thank you

John Page

Secretary

Hackney Unites

New Cross Fire Victims - Lest we forget...

2011-01-10T10:20:00.000-08:00

Lest we forget...

Andrew Gooding (18.02.1962 - 18.01.1981)

Owen Thompson (11.09.1964 - 18.01.1981)

Patricia Johnson(16.05.1965 - 18.01.1981)

Patrick Cummings(21.09.1964 - 18.01.1981)

Steve Collins (2.05.1963 - 18.01.1981)

Lloyd Hall (28.11.1960 - 18.01.1981)

Humphrey Geoffrey Brown (4.07.1962 - 18.01.1981)

Roseline Henry (23.09.1964 - 18.01.1981)

Peter Campbell (23.02.1962 - 18.01.1981)

Gerry Paul Francis (21.08.1963 - 18.01.1981)

Glenton Powell (18.01.1966 - 25.01.1981)

Paul Ruddock (19.11.1960 - 09.02.1981)

Yvonne Ruddock (17.01.1965 - 24.01.1981)

Anthony Berbeck (17.08.1962 - 09.07.1983)
Thirty years ago on Sunday 18 January 1981 14 black teenagers tragically lost their lives in a house fire in New Cross, South East London. The police's refusal to investigate the likelihood of it being a crime of arson as well as dismissing a racial motive led to one of the biggest protests of black people this country had ever seen. Parallels can be drawn with that of the murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence in that, to date, nobody has been convicted of these heinous crimes.

This Friday 16 January an evening of remembrance will be held at The Albany Deptford Way. There will be music, film, spoken word and discussion and it is hosted by actor and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah.

One of the short films, Blood ah Go Run (1982), documents what happened in the aftermath of the fire. The event is planned as an evening of upliftment that commemorates the lives of those 14 children tragically taken away. Contributors also include Alex Pascall, Professor Gus John, Menelik Shabazz, spoken word from Courttia Newland, El Crisis and Albany Associate Artist Zena Edwards and music from The Queens of Lovers Rock Carroll Thompson and Janet Kay.

Friday 14 January 2011, 7.30 - 11pm at The Albany, Douglas Way, Deptford, London, SE8 4AG

NEW CROSS FIRE VICTIMS

HONOURED WITH MEMORIAL BLUE PLAQUE

The Nubian Jak Community Trust in partnership with Lewisham Council is to install a Blue Plaque at the address where the tragedy took place.

The ceremony will take place at 439 New Cross Road, Lewisham, London, SE14 6TA, on Tuesday 18th January, 2011 at 2:00pm.

In 2006 a new student bursary scheme was created, in memory of the New Cross Fire Victims. The scheme awards annual grants to two current or former students of schools and colleges in Lewisham, wishing to study at Goldsmiths University of London. The scheme, which was initiated by Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham, has the backing of all the families who lost loved ones in the New Cross Fire. It is a positive lasting legacy which will continue to help future Lewisham students. After the plaque unveiling on Tuesday, there will be a ceremony at Goldsmith College to celebrate the recipients of the 2011 Bursary awards.

NB - Anthony Berbeck died two years later of injuries sustained.

Planning meeting for Hackney Borough of Sanctuary movement tonight @6.30pm

2011-01-06T03:09:00.000-08:00

Hackney Unites are supporting the campaign to make Hackney a Borough of Sanctuary. A place where community groups open their doors to refugees and asylum seekers so that Hackney’s community organisations gain from their skills and experience and they are rapidly assimilated into Hackney.

If you would like to read more about the ‘City of Sanctuary’ Movement in general (upon which we are basing our move towards becoming a ‘Borough of Sanctuary’) please take a look at the excellent website at: www.cityofsanctuary.org

‘Hackney: Borough of Sanctuary’ will launch

Saturday 12th February 1pm -3.30pm – venue to be confirmed.

Dr Inderjit Bhogal , the national figurehead of the City of Sanctuary Movement will be the guest speaker.

If you are interested in helping make this event a success then come to a planning meeting tonight - Thursday 6th January 2011 6.30pm-8.30pm

Venue: Room 18, Springfield House, 5 Tyssen Street E8 2LY.

If you can’t make tonight but want to be involved in the campaign then please email: cathybird@blueyonder.co.uk

Challenges to the Cuts - an alternative proposal

2011-01-04T09:39:00.000-08:00

Hackney Unites blogger Teena Lashmore on an alternative proposal to challenging the cuts...

The Fawcett Society, which is a leading feminist group, challenged the Con-Dems Government Spending Review Package in the High Court in December 2010.

Their main argument is that the spending review impacts on women and minority citizens more than it impact upon men. In summary and using statistics from a range of sources over time, they suggested that the cuts favour white male middle classes or family structures over the country’s reality – where many do no live according to that structure - because they simply cannot afford to do so. The challenge to obtain an application for a Review failed as the Royal Courts assessed at this time, there is no case for the Government to answer.

Students have undertaken public demonstrations against the Cuts. Community based groups such as the WAC pack (Women against the Cuts), have also undertaken public events in London to raise the issue that the cuts affect mostly women. Workers and supporters of the NHS along with trade unions are either developing grass root supports from community meetings or engaging with developing the collective campaign in time for the planned demonstrations in early 2011.

Locally, Hackney Unites are preparing to have Lee Jasper attend their public meeting on 23rd January (for further info visit: http://tinyurl.com/3ydqjop
Mr Jasper is but one of many political leaders from the Black and Minority and Ethnic groups (BME). He will discuss further the consequences of the Cuts for BME residents, children, mothers and families.

These efforts and clearly well focused and are fuelled by the public’s anger about the Cuts. The Con-Dem leadership has proven effective; especially where their strategies and policies build upon ‘shared’ values. These shared values between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives political parties, clearly include the tripling of University Tuition fees. While one can understand the Conservative’s agenda, as this is not new, one is left simply assuming that the Liberal Democrats have traded in their manifesto pledge in return for a little piece of power.

While reflecting over the challenges against the Cuts, a resource or tool that does not appear to have been utilised (so far) is the lessons learned from the achievement form the Southall Black Sisters (SBS). SBS successfully challenged Ealing Council in 2007, when the Council attempted to remove their funding. The Council argued that under the equality bill, a generic diversity project would meet the communities needs better than a group focussed on black women only. Such an argument failed to acknowledge the history and legacy of racism in public services and most importantly and according to the judgement, failed to acknowledge fully the duty in the Race Relations Act, which is to promote community cooperation.

The full judgement can be access on line: www.navca.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/.../SouthallBlackSisterstheJudgement.pdf

The Con-Dems policy for cuts appears equally dismissive of the public duty in the Rae Relations Act, which is to promote community cooperation and eliminate racism. Cutting budgets without assessing the impact on the community, which is made up of BME citizens, appears to be a similar argument to that presented by the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing lost that argument and SBS were awarded 102,000.

Equality is not that all groups are equally disadvantaged, it is about understanding the county’s legacy and commitment for social integration. The challenge in the High Court on 6 December was by women but perhaps the strategy by SBS is what should be applied as after all it worked the last time.

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

2010-12-31T02:45:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-20T08:32:00.000-08:00

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:

• signing up online for a ticket http://hackneyunites23jan2011.eventbrite.com/ or via facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000672381533&v=app_2344061033

• 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,

Help to keep Preacher of Hate Pastor Terry Jones OUT

2010-12-13T09:58:00.000-08:00

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

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

2010-12-09T07:20:00.000-08:00

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.

Their Cuts – Not Ours

2010-12-03T09:16:00.001-08:00

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.

An appeal for solidarity from the students occupying UCL.

2010-12-02T03:02:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-23T10:04:00.000-08:00

Hackney Community Census Launch - Tues 23 November

2010-11-22T03:37:00.000-08:00

Hackney Unites is holding an open meeting (all welcome) on Tuesday 23 November at 7pm in the basement of the Café Z Bar, 58 Stoke Newington High Street, N16 7PB.

We will be formally launching the Hackney Community census, and discussing how we get people involved in it. Our target is to get 1,000 people in Hackney to participate in the Community Census. After just a few days we have reached over 150, so a good start but still some way to go.

To participate in the census please visit:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/hackneycommunitycensus If you have not done so already, please cascade this email onto others and encourage them to participate and also to pass on the details.

We will also be discussing the next workers advice session which will now be held on Saturday 11 December (more details to follow). We will need help with pre-publicity, in particular leafleting and arranging the display of posters to publicise the event.

You can also help publicise Tuesday's meeting by visiting the facebook event and then inviting your friends:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=127911430601167

Please help us publicise not just the launch but the census itself by cascading this message onto friends, sharing this info on any blogs you are on, as well as Twitter and facebook etc.

Why not take the survey now, and help us reach the target of 1,000 respondents:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/hackneycommunitycensusMany thanks for your support
John Page
Secretary
Hackney Unites

Vigil for London’s Advice Services - Lobby of London Councils Grants Committee Meeting 25.11.2010

2010-11-18T02:06:00.000-08:00

The Grants Committee of London Councils will be meeting on Thursday 25th
November to make its final recommendations to the Leaders Committee on
proposed cuts to the London Councils Grants Programme.

BAN (BME Advice Network) is co-ordinating a lobby of this meeting:

10.30am, Thursday 25th November 2010Outside the London Council offices
591⁄2 Southwark Street
London SE1 0AL

BAN opposes cutting services funded by London Councils because:
• Vulnerable Londoner’s will be hit hardest and the impact of this has not
been fully considered
• The categorisation of services as local, sub-regional and pan-London is
inaccurate
• There is no guarantee repatriated funds will be ringfenced for the
voluntary sector
• The proposals are not cost-effective as many advice services are
significantly cheaper to provide on a pan-London basis

We are calling on London Councils to honour the grants it provides until
the end of the original contracts to allow organisations enough time to
find alternative funding for the future

All London Councils funded projects including staff, volunteers and
service users are invited to join us at this lobby to ensure the voice of
those affected is fully represented and heard by the decision makers.
Whilst many of us have taken part in the London Councils consultation,
there have been limited opportunities for us to show our unified
opposition to the proposed cuts and the manner in which the consultation
process has been conducted.

The lobby will also be handing in a petition, which can be signed at
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/londoncouncilsfundingcuts• BAN is a network of over 40 quality assured advice services delivered by
and for people from London’s BAMER migrant and refugee communities. More
details about BAN and why we oppose the cuts can be found at:

www.bmeadvicenetwork.org.uk/stopthecuts.htm

For queries about the BAN lobby, the liaison contact is Estelle du Boulay,
Newham Monitoring Project 020 8470 8333 / spw@nmp.org.uk

Please Sir, a little less profit - just for a bit!

2010-11-03T05:12:00.000-07:00

Last week Hackney Unites, the TSSA (Transport Salaries Staff Association) and Hackney Trade Union Council came together to organise a meeting about Public Transport and the challenges ahead. The purpose of the meeting was to allow for a discussion on exactly what the cuts in public transport are likely to mean to residents, workers, young people, families and businesses in Hackney. Teena Lashmore reports..

A representative from the RMT (Rail, Maritime and Transport Union) gave a brief summary on the potential consequences of 800 job losses which are currently on the table for London Underground’s ticket staff. In summary, the losses and gains for transport users may mean less staff to help you if you are trying to get children and prams up stairs or need assistance with mobility. Although many stations do have escalators or lift facilities not all do.

Now that transport in London is mostly covered by Oyster - with ticket machines available in most stations, it seem wholly reasonable that we need less ticket staff, but this becomes a little different when you want to journey outside the M25 boundary. Finally, the escorting of passengers down the train lines and back into stations when the trains breakdown. With less platform and ticket staff, this is likely to mean passengers will have to wait on the train in the tunnel until staff are ferried in from other locations.

Unite supports a hybrid of workers across a range of services and their representative spoke mainly on the changes of Arriva Busses. He explained the loss of the ‘bendy bus’ (route 38 and 149), has already had an impact on the bus workers, users and the environment. He explained the capacity of 40 bendy buses is met using approximately seventy double-decker buses, causing more pollution and resulting in more vehicles on the roads. The biggest losses are to people with prams, those carrying heavy shopping and those with mobility needs. Finally the salary losses to the individual bus drivers is about a 25% drop, as they are removed from the articulated buses and put back on the double-deckers.

Whatever the back issues to the ‘efficiency savings’ are, it is clear that those with the better ‘spin’ will get greater support from the public; however, what appears absent is the user’s voice. My journey on the 149 from Stoke Newington to London Bridge used to take just over half an hour on the bendy and on the double-decker it is closer to forty five minutes. I understand this is due to the ‘dwell time’ which is how long it takes for all the passengers to enter and exit the two doors where as on the bendy there were multiple entries.

Unlike all the other areas being cut or undergoing efficiency saving, public transport is different. It has unique business characteristics. In particular, it continues to make profits. So much so that Chief Executives in these ‘transport’ businesses are reportedly receiving salaries beyond one hundred thousand pounds every year. So when we talk about ‘cuts’ in public transport running costs, what we are actually discussing is making less profits. This being the case, perhaps its time to ask public transport providers if they could be so kind as to make a little less profit from us this year?

Reflections on the Rallies against the cuts...

2010-11-02T10:53:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy time of late in terms of community engagement and Hackney Unites’ Teena Lashmore has been on tour… here is her round up of a few days of protest...

Tuesday 19 October 2010 saw the lunchtime rally in Westminster, where members of the public attempted to gain an audience with their MP’s to discuss alternatives to the Spending Review. Wednesday saw the evening rally: No to billions in cuts, Defend our Welfare State. This was organised by Camden Trades Council, Camden NUT and St Pancras and Holborn Constituency Labour Party. Speakers included Tony Benn, Lee Jasper and others, and the message was unrepentantly: No to cuts.

Many at Wednesday’s evening rally appeared oblivious to the chill in the air. It was as if their inner bodies were warmed by their rage at the savagery of these cuts. Speaker after speaker identified the current political leaders’ programme as being ideological. Workers and students were unanimous and united in their views, that those in most need will be hit the hardest, and that what is being attacked is essentially the Welfare State and public services.

The week ended with a Saturday demonstration consisting of a march from Charlton Street to the Trade Union Council’s building in Congress House. Synchronised with this was the strikes over London the Fire Fighters. This began at local stations at 10am.

The afternoon was spent in Congress House reflecting on the 150 year history of the London Trade Council, which was created to bring all the trade union movements together in solidarity. The session was chaired by Brendan Barber with guest speaker John McDonnell, a Labour MP. He recapped on the week’s events and on the importance of organised resistance as being the most effective means of raising an alternative narrative to the Spending Review.

As debates continue around the country, the ConDem coalition continues to hold firm, that there is no alternative to the package they published on Wednesday. And if Sunday’s newspapers are anything to go by, it appears that both Nick Clegg and David Cameron have agonised over their decision to address the country’s deficits in this way. Clearly, these ‘agonising’ moments must have been during a later period of reflection, as the male-bonding and joyous shoulder slapping of George Osborne by Mr Cameron after his austerity speech on Wednesday in Parliament was not the behaviour normally associated with agony.

As I reflect over the week here in the UK and in France and throughout Europe, I cannot help but notice the lack of debate in our media, on an alternative narrative to the Spending Review. For example, a 2% Wealth Tax on the richest 10% of the population would raise £78 billion in one year. Over four years such a tax would obliterate all deficits with extra money stored for insurance against future rainy days of poor banking practices – why is this not plausible? Changes to Private Finance Initiative (PFI) could see a net saving of £56 billion – why is this not worthy of commentary from our media?

The internet is awash with alternative narratives for the Spending Review and even the governments’ own think tanks (Institute of Fiscal Studies), have argued that those ‘in most need’ will find the changes to the benefit system difficult to negotiate, leaving many families struggling to survive.

The critical debates on the cuts appear to be slow in building their momentum, leaving many to believe there is no alternative. But Britain is a wealthy country and our history teaches us that there is always more than one way to address our finances. “We are all in this together’ is the rhetoric, but as the days pass and the potential impacts are explored further, the evidence is beginning to suggest to the contrary. Under the current review, the rich become a little less rich and the poor fall by the roadside, and those fortunate enough to be caught in between – well, they are left hoping that the private sector will deliver jobs to fill the void.

Although the Trade Union Council are discussing protests and campaigns for the spring of 2011, it is likely that community groups will take independent and coordinated approaches of campaigning against the cuts. In the interim, perhaps it is time to suggest a little reading. The Spirit Level, Why Equality is Better for Everyone is a book that has been reviewed by The Economist and they state: “The evidence (in the book) is hard to dispute.” The book explores the theory of one group looking after its own economic interest above the needs of others and the writers Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett make it very clear that such practices deepen inequality and actually hurt everyone. Lets hoped signed copies can be sent to our leaders.

Fight for our NHS Public Meeting Thurs 4 November, 7pm @Lauriston School

2010-10-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

Rally to Stop the Cuts

2010-10-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

As the 20 October 2010 looms closer, so does George’s Osbourne’s Spending Review and its almost certain depressing outcomes.

One cannot help but feel overwhelmed with the Coalitions’ plans to cut, cut, cut public services. The Spending Review has been discussed and debated over the last few months; however, what has had little press and air time is whether and how viable are the alternatives.

There are alternatives and these will be discussed at this evening’s rally, beginning formally at 6pm on 20 October 2010 outside number 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, London.

The rally has been organized by the Coalition of Resistance and their details and further information can be explored by clicking on to the following website: http://www.coalitionofresistance.org.uk/?page_id=2

Speakers include Tony Benn who stated recently in the Guardian: “The time to organise resistance is now. We reject these cuts as simply malicious ideological vandalism, hitting the most vulnerable the hardest. Join us in the fight”. Also in attendance will be the likes of MP John McDonnell, Zita Holbourne (Black Activists Rising Against Cuts), Paul Brandon (Right to Work Campaign), students, the elderly and speakers defending the NHS from privatisation.

Students in London are set to meet up at Malet Street, London WC1 at 4pm and then move on at 4:30 pm to Lincoln’s Inn Fields, where they will join together with others and the main rally. Other demonstrations are set to take place simultaneously in outer London Boroughs - outside their respective town halls.

As Tony Benn has already stated, these cuts will hit the vulnerable and the well less off the hardest. For Hackney – these cuts will most likely be devastating and affect us all regardless of our employers. We may or may not have elected the ConDems personally, but they are our elected leaders and they must have regard for our wishes to stop the savage cuts in public services.

Your voice only impacts if you are heard speaking. The greater the attendance the more powerful our voice becomes.
by
Teena Lashmore

Have your say on how best to defend public transport at Hackney public meeting

2010-10-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

Hackney Unites is supporting a meeting on Tuesday, 26 October at 7pm at the Stoke Newington Library Gallery on the issue of public transport. The aim is to give a voice to public transport users in the borough.

London Underground has announced 1,600 job cuts on the tube. Transport for London have begun to announce cuts in bus services. All of this before the government’s announcement of its cuts to the London transport budget (expected to be between 25% and 40%).

Hackney people rely on public transport; to get to work, to visit relatives, to take children to school and to undertake day to day tasks such as shopping. Statistically people living in Hackney have less access to cars than the average, we also have a significant pensioner population and an above average number of residents living with disabilities. Public transport is not a luxury for us.

The meeting will hear from tube workers involved in a battle to stop the cuts in tube station jobs and a speaker from the group ‘Campaign for Better Transport’. However, the success of the meeting will depend on how many Hackney public transport users attend and whether they commit to organising a forum to defend the public transport services we have. Bus routes are already being cut in Hackney. We are not being consulted. We intend to create a campaigning voice in Hackney to defend our public transport.

How can you help?
Come along to the meeting with your ideas.

You can help publicise the meeting by:

Cascading on this message to friends, neighbours, family and workmates

Signing up to the event on facebook (and then inviting friends to do the same): http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=167077869975293&id=684939084&il=0&ref=notif¬if_t=share_reply#!/event.php?eid=154406061264154 (you need to be logged in for this link to work)
Taking some leaflets to distribute to yoru neighbours in your street.
Getting a newsagent to display a leaflet in their window.
Joining us for leafleting at Manor House or Stoke Newington stations (details to be arranged).

Please drop us an email info@hackneyunites.org.uk if you can help.

The meeting has been called jointly between Hackney TUC and the transport union TSSA.

Campaigners succeed in saving the name of Dalston’s CLR James Library - News - Hackney Gazette

2010-10-08T09:12:00.000-07:00

Save the name of CLR James library

2010-10-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

We are meeting with Hackney Councillors tomorrow (Thurs) evening to put our demands to leave the name of CLR James library alone. We now have close to 2,500 signatures on the petition – let’s have another push so we can prove just how much support we have in Hackney and around the world.
Please circulate the petition and get others to sign: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveclrjameslibrary/
And for those that don’t know what this is all about: http://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2010/10/04/storm-over-clr-james-set-to-rage-through-black-history-month/

Hackney Youth Parliament’s first debate in Hackney’s Town Hall

2010-10-06T07:58:00.000-07:00

As the world pays homage to the survivors of nine eleven and the victims of seven seven, Hackney’s Youth Parliament undertook their first ever Conference in London’s Hackney Town Hall.

It was a fun filled day with the conference kicking off at 11am. Rhasan Brunner, the current Chair of the Hackney Youth Parliament, gave a rundown of the day’s events. There was a range of workshops looking at issues affecting young people from tackling drug misuse, teenage pregnancy and obesity to exploring social expectations around gender and behaviour.

There was an open debate in the Council’s main chamber that looked at the recent burning of the Quran in the USA which has given rise to facebook discussions with young people in Hackney. Those in the council chamber were able to explore the potential consequences for Hackney, as there is a large Jewish, Muslim and Christian community. Others pointed out there are many religious beliefs in Hackney and that all young people should be allowed to explore these identities without fear. Leroy Logan who has worked as Hackney’s Met Police Deputy Borough Commander, was able to offer reassurance by pointing out that as every year passes, from nine eleven to the seven seven bombings, Hackney’s hate crimes have remained low, suggesting community work by other organisation are largely successful with achieving social cohesion.

This conference rides on the success of Hackney’s youth members visiting America and having access to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Although one of the key focuses for this conference was to bring young people in the Borough together, another was to establish a Youth Manifesto. Rhasan reflected that many young people in Hackney are involved in positive things such as politics and that he is keen to come along to Hackney Unites to see how he can participate so that young people’s views and needs are included.

As the day come to a close there was a hot buffet and an opportunity for reflection. Hackney has many young people actively participating in community events to make their environment better. As I walked away from Hackney Town Hall, on to my next job, I could not help but think I had been in the company of tomorrow’s leaders.
by
Teena Lashmore

Hackney: Borough of Sanctuary initiative

2010-10-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Thanks to those of you who attended the second meeting last
night of the Working Group for the ‘Hackney: Borough of Sanctuary
initiative’.

The next meeting is Tuesday 9th November
7pm at Stoke Newington Methodist Church, 106 High Street, N16 7NY.

If you are interested in working towards making Hackney a ‘Borough
of Sanctuary’ please come along.

If you would like to read more about the ‘City of
Sanctuary’ Movement in general (upon which we are basing our move towards
becoming a ‘Borough of Sanctuary’) please take a look at the
excellent website at www.cityofsanctuary.org

Public meeting on government proposals for NHS

2010-09-22T05:50:00.000-07:00

PRESS RELEASE
15 September 2010

Hackney watchdog to hold meeting on
government proposals for the NHS
Hackney Local Involvement Network (Hackney LINk), the borough’s watchdog for health and adult social care services, is to hold a public meeting to coordinate a local response to the government’s proposals for the NHS.
The meeting will take place on Thursday 23 September at 6.30pm at Morley Hall, City Edge, 125-127 Mare Street, E8 3RH. Local MP Meg Hillier will be among the speakers.
Malcolm Alexander, Chair of Hackney LINk, said the LINk was aiming to lead the local response to the government’s recent NHS White Paper by bringing together MPs, councillors, the voluntary sector and the general public.
“There are concerns that this White Paper puts the National Health Service at considerable risk. We don’t want to wake up one day and find that our healthcare has gone to the private sector and that the NHS has been left as nothing more than a brand name. That’s why we need to organise a powerful response now. We must ensure that the NHS is fully accountable to patients and the public and is focused on their needs, not the need to make profits out of healthcare.”
The speakers at the meeting will include:
• Meg Hillier (Member of Parliament for Hackney South and Shoreditch)
• Patrick Vernon (Chief Executive of the Afiya Trust and local councillor)
• Dot Gibson (Keep Our NHS Public and General Secretary of the National Pensioners Convention)
• Malcolm Alexander (Chair of the National Association of LINks Members and Chair of Hackney LINk)

After hearing from the speakers the meeting will break into discussion groups to plan tactics for responding to the issues raised in the White Paper.

The position of Hackney LINk is that it:
• Aims to provide leadership on the White Paper bringing together MPs, councillors, the voluntary sector and the general public;
• Is committed to securing the NHS as a publicly funded body free at the point of use;
• Opposes privatisation of health and social care services and the transfer of taxpayers’ money to private healthcare companies;
• Notes that the main thrust of the White Paper is to privatise both the commissioning and providing of services;
• Is concerned that the government has no mandate from the recent election for the further privatisation of health and social care services;
• Welcomes the government’s desire to promote shared decision-making between doctors and patients, and believes this will be best achieved by letting GPs concentrate on treating patients rather than becoming commissioners and bureaucrats;
• Welcomes the government’s concern for accountability, but fears the transfer of commissioning from PCTs to GPs will harm the doctor-patient relationship, reduce accountability and require the use of expensive consultancy services and private healthcare companies;
• Believes that 50% of the people on all NHS commissioning/planning boards should be patients and members of local HealthWatch;
• Fears the White Paper proposals will lead to the NHS becoming bogged down in another round of reforms causing havoc to patient care for the next five years;
• Wishes to support the growth and development of the voluntary sector, but not at the expense of public provision of health and social care;
• Regards the massive cuts in the voluntary sector as inconsistent with the government’s notion of a ‘Big Society’;
• Supports ring-fencing of public health expenditure and believes that public health provision should be integral to the planning/commissioning of healthcare;
• Believes a major role for local HealthWatch should be to develop, support and collaborate with patient participation groups in every GP practice;
• Believes HealthWatch England must be adequately funded and wholly independent of government, local authorities and the Care Quality Commission, and its Board must be elected by local HealthWatch groups.
ENDS
For further information about this story contact Mark Hope, Hackney LINk Policy Manager, tel: 020 8510 1973, email: mark@hackneylink.org.uk.
For further information about Hackney LINk see www.hackneylink.org.uk or contact Esther Norman, Hackney LINk Support and Development Manager, tel: 020 8510 1975, email: esther@hackneylink.org.uk.

Swords of Justice AND Civic Pillars

2010-09-17T06:30:00.001-07:00

Just finished reading a very interesting report commisioned by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) as part of its Active Unions Active Communities programme.
Entitled Swords of Justice and Civic Pillars, the report uses Hackney Unites as one of its case studies. An excerpt can be downloaded here (right)but if you would like to see a copy of the full report then email: andrea@hackneyunites.org.uk

Our Adiaha Antigha Community Achievement Award!!

2010-09-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

As some of you already know Hackney Unites are the winners of an HCVS Adiaha Antigha Community Achievement Award 2010 - for being the voluntary and community organisation which has been the most enterprising in adapting to current challenges. Just thought you'd like to see the Award and our certificate..

Another Successful Workers Advice Session for Hackney Unites

2010-09-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hackney Unite's resident blogger Mz Lashmore reports on another successful Workers Advice Session for Hackney Unites...

Although there was strong competition with Hackney’s Youth Parliament hosting their very first conference in the Town Hall, it was clear that members of the community are very concerned about jobs and impact the austerity cuts will have on their livelihoods.

The Community Centre on the Wilton Estate, Greenwood Road, Hackney E8 provided a comfortable meeting point. The session began with a brief overview of organisations and their rights to change employee’s working conditions. Of most interest was developing the understanding that changes to work do not leave the individual unable to do their job.

There was also an update from an advisor on Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Family Tax and Working Tax Credits. Crucial information was shared and most noteworthy was the fact that HMRC allow claimants up to three months to inform them of changes in their material circumstance before beginning proceeding for benefit fraud. Apparently there continues to be about £6 billion unclaimed from the Working Tax Credit purse. Those who are single and in full time jobs, but earn less than £14,000 are eligible to apply.

We then moved on to the private sector. Members of the public were able to inquire into the generic conditions of Constructive Dismissal before moving on to have private ‘one to one’ advice from employment lawyers and/or trained union employee reps.

Although these sessions are scheduled for two hours those who attend also have the opportunity to obtain a specialist’s employment law services, should they require. I find these public meeting provide a brilliant opportunity for Hackney residents to obtain support and advice about their individual work matters.

Tea Dance - 70th anniversary of the Blitz!

2010-09-10T08:17:00.000-07:00

Campaigners’ call for CLR James Library - News - Hackney Gazette

2010-09-10T06:34:00.000-07:00

Campaigners’ call for CLR James Library - News - Hackney Gazette

Greening Hackney Forum - this Saturday

2010-09-09T07:01:00.000-07:00

This Saturday at 11am is a ‘Greening Hackney Forum’. An open meeting at Hackney Town Hall. There is no set agenda - just bring your ideas and priorities.
Contact Ian Rathbone for more details: Ian.Rathbone@Hackney.gov.uk

New River Ward by-election-find out what the candidates have to say...

2010-08-29T02:09:00.000-07:00

Come and play candi-dating – the political equivalent of speed dating – also come to a hustings meeting on Tuesday 7 September to question local candidates standing in the by-election.

Hackney Unites believe that we need good quality representation prepared to answer to local communities. We have therefore called a candidating/hustings meeting on Tuesday 7 September at Stamford Hill Library. Each of the candidates have been invited and at the time of going to press three of the five have agreed to attend (we do hope to have all five on the night).

Candi-dating from 6pm-7.15pm
This is your opportunity, in the political equivalent of speed-dating to meet on a one-to-one basis with each of the candidates for two or three minutes and ask them any question you wish.

Hustings 7.30-9.30pm
We will also have a formal hustings meeting where each of the candidates will address us on their reasons for standing and listen to their views and answer your questions on your priorities.

How you can help make this a success
Let us knowing advance what you think the key issues are that will decide how you vote. We will compile these and send them to the candidates. Send in your questions in advance. If lots of people attend on the evening it may not be possible for everyone to ask their question. However if you send in a question we will ask the candidates to them and post the answers on our blog. Please also encourage your friends, family and neighbours to come along on the 7 September and have their say. Our publicity flier for this event can be downloaded on the right. You can help make sure our local politicians are accountable to local communities.

Please email questions to: info@hackneyunites.org.uk

The first Transition Town Stoke Newington Newsletter.

2010-08-20T02:39:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Welcome to the first TTSN newsletter.

It's not always obvious from our web site what is happening

in TTSN. so here is a short summary of to help keep everyone in touch with what

is going on and coming up. It's by no means complete or authoritative so please

get in touch if you have any questions or would like to find out more.

*Bike Maintenance Workshop*

This was one of the projects which sprang to life from the open space event. If

you haven't heard, we're planning on running bike maintenance workshops where

the idea is to teach people how to look after and maintain their bicycles

(rather than actually do it for you). The amazing Hackney Cycling Campaign have

been running workshops along these lines very successfully in east Hackney for

some time now and have offered us expertise in getting ours up and running and

to help out with tools.

The venue is likely to be St Michael & All Angels Church on Northwold Rd. We're

hoping to hold our first workshop in September and then on on a monthly basis.

If you're interested, drop Kate a line on kategobell at hotmail.com (who will be at

the Inclusion rounders game on the 15th).

*Levi Memorial Garden*

The spring plantings have flourished into a vibrant, colourful demonstration of

what can be achieved in urban, public spaces. Last weekend saw carrots, winter

lettuces and radishes planted for the coming months. Freya will be giving short

talk about the garden on 8th September at Hackney City Farm along with other

groups developing new green spaces in Hackney.

*Inclusion Group*

The Inclusion Group has had a number of meetings over the past few months to

explore at ways of involving a wider audience in Transition. In the near term

they're looking at events which appeal to a wider range of people. On that note,

one final reminder of the of the event they've organised this weekend happening

from 2pm on Sunday, in Clissold Park, somewhere near the ponds (look out for the

fabulous recycled home-made signs). If you're keen bring a dish to share and

maybe a rug to sit on.

*Hackney Harvest*

Another project which sprang to life from the open space event is already off to

a flying start. This project aims to map the fruit trees in public and private

spaces around Stoke Newington and Hackney and then making the best use of the

fruit and ensure that it doesn't go to waste. We will achieve this by helping

with the harvesting and then redistributing the excess fruit around the

community via community groups, local businesses and other partners. We are

being supported by the magnificent London Orchard Project

(http://www.thelondonorchardproject.org/) who are going to be

planting a community orchard in Haggerston Park this autumn.

So far we have had some very successful mapping days where groups of eager

mappers have hit the streets and found a huge number of fruit and nut

trees

(http://hackneyharvest.com/2010/06/30/first-stoke-newington-fruit-tree-mapping-day/).

Quite simply they're everywhere and when you start looking for them you

can't stop spotting them. One of the reasons for this is that Stoke

Newington has a long history as a market garden for London (see

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=10548#s)

Next phase is to start harvesting and redistributing the fruit. We

have harvesting and processing weekends planned

(http://hackneyharvest.com/events/) throughout the Autumn, culminating

in an Apple Day in the farmers market in Stoke Newington in October.

There is a lot of work to be done in the coming weeks and we need your help!

If you can spare any time on the harvesting weekends (and if anyone out

there owns some sort of cargo bike or trailer) then we'd love to hear from

you (http://hackneyharvest.com/contact/). Alternatively you can help by

spreading the word about the project and encouraging friends and neighbours

to register their fruit tree with us (http://hackneyharvest.com/tree-submission/)/

You can read more about the project on our website, hackneyharvest.com where

you will also find a map of the trees uncovered so far

(http://hackneyharvest.com/fruit-tree-map/).

*Buildings Group*

After a relatively quiet summer, the Buildings Group will be back up and

running as usual for the new heating season which is now just a couple of

months away (sorry!). Now it the time to be thinking about the energy

efficency measures which you will be doing this year so that you get them

done early and maximise the savings.

We'll be starting up our monthly meetings again where you will be able to

seek advice on how to cut your home's energy consumption. As ever we're very

keen to find people in the area who are considering improving their home's

energy performance so if you are thinking about doing this or know of anyone

in Stoke Newington who is toying with the idea, please put them in touch.

The RefurbN16 <http://refurbn16.com/> website is growing all the time with

practical tips on cutting carbon in our homes and if there is any subject

that you feel we should add then please let us know. There's lots of useful

information up there already so please check it out and feel free to add

comments or queries below any article.

After the success of the first Draught Busting

Saturday

(http://refurbn16.com/2010/04/02/first-stoke-newington-draught-busting-saturday/),

we're going to be rolling these out again this autumn. If you live in a leaky

house and are interested in learning how to make it much more snug and

comfortable, as well as saving money on your energy bills, then please come

along to one of these sessions. You'll be shown how to install draught

proofing (it's very easy) and will be given an opportunity to buy cost price

draught proofing materials

We are particularly interested in finding people who would be interested in

hosting a session in their home - please get in contact if you can help out in

this way.

We have other ideas for this winter bubbling away and we're very happy to

hear your ideas too so please get in contact via the

website (http://refurbn16.com/contact/) or email refurbstokey at gmail.com.

*London Transition Networking Event at London Permaculture Festival*

The London Permaculture Festival will be taking place on Sunday 22nd August

right by Regent's Park at Cecil Sharp House.

As part of programme there will be an informal networking event for Transition

Town groups from 11am to 1pm. If you are interested in meeting up and sharing

experiences with other Transition groups in London then please come along.

As part of the event there is a survey in progress to help get an overall

picture of Transition in London. A summary of results will be presented at the

start of the event (see http://www.london-transition.org.uk/survey-090810.html

for details).

The festival itself will be continuing until 11pm with a full programme of

workshops, talks, demonstrations, films, music and food and drink. For more

information please visit:

http://www.LondonPermaculture.com

*Get Growing at Home Workshops*

We've been talking so Hedvig Murray about running a series of practical home

vegetable growing workshops in the spring. Hedvig runs Get Growing

(http://www.getgrowing.org.uk/) and is an experienced Permaculture and organic

gardening teacher. The idea is we start early spring next with a workshop about

planning and preparing, followed by a more hands on workshop getting the garden

ready and then workshops on maintaining and developing the garden.

If you would be interested in participating in these workshops or have a garden

or space you would like to develop early next year (and would be prepared for

some TTSN people to come along help) please get in touch.

*Events*

The events group have taken a bit of a summer holiday but will be back later in

the year. Some of us went on a tour of to the Friends of Tottenham Mashes

Permaculture garden a few weeks ago, which was a fascinating demonstration of

the application of permaculture principles - letting nature do all the work - in

an unlikely setting. Many thanks to Phil for showing us around.

One event which is currently being looked at is a workshop/talk on home brewing.

*Documentary Feature Project*

Rowan asked if we could mention Just Do It, a feature length documentary in

production about climate change activism. It's an experiment in crowd-funding,

group production and community-engaged documentary filmmaking. See

http://just-do-it.org.uk/ for more information.

*Education Officer Job at EcoActive*

Some of you might also be interested in Part-time Education Officer position at

Eco Active (see http://www.ecoactive.org.uk).

Workers Advice Project - Saturday 11 September

2010-08-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

Out next Workers Advice Project is on Saturday 11 September 2 – 4pm, Wilton Estate Community Hall, Greenwood Road, London E8 1BE.

This will, for the first time, include additional advice provided by the ‘Raise Project’ who provide advice on benefits issues.

Please help us make this session a success by dowloading and displaying our poster (right) and passing the word around.

An evening of reflection and planning

2010-08-03T06:14:00.000-07:00

Hackney Unite's resident blogger Mz Lashmore reports on our recent evening of reflection and future planning...

An evening in late July. The venue is Café Mostra in Stoke Newington and Hackney Unites have brought together local residents, community group leaders and workers to reflect on the Celebrate Hackney community event and conference that took place earlier in the year at Stoke Newington School.

The register from the conference had 400 signatures. Initial feedback on the day was largely supportive, with people saying how inclusive they felt the event had been. Analysis from the feedback survey revealed about 25% of those in attendance came from the community’s younger generation, those usually under represented in politics and neighbourhood engagement.

The evening of reflection echoed further those sentiments captured in the feedback survey and from those supportive discussion that happened on the day. With lessons learned and agreed tweaks for future events, the meeting turned their attention to key areas affecting our Borough: one being the restructuring of the National Health Service (NHS) and the other, cuts in community services.

On the table was a Statement of Intent from the group which in summary is suggesting Hackney Council explores an alternative to the austerity budgets currently being promoted by the Con-Dems government. Should the cuts go ahead as planned, the impact for the London Borough of Hackney is unimaginable at this time. The Chief Executive of the Borough is reported to have said, if the council was to cut back all office staff by 50%, shut one swimming pool and a library, this would save £16 million. But this is merely a tip of the ice-berg on the planned cuts for £80 million. The scale of job loses and the reduction in local services is likely to affect every citizen in this Borough and those beyond.

The NHS delivers health services locally and is also a large employer. The NHS is now under review with Primary Care Trusts (PCT) being given the main responsibility to commission private health services. This may seem like a cost effective move and is indeed being promoted as such by the government. In reality private companies involved in delivering public services begin cheaply, but those introductory costs soon rise and the overall service deliver becomes more expensive for the tax payer.

The evening concluded with food, wine, beers and coffee. The date for future meetings is to be confirmed via the website, word and mouth and other informal networks. In the interim, plans are a foot to link Hackney Unites with other political and campaigning groups for a coordinated approach to campaign against the country’s deficits - where the collective feeling is: let the banks wait!

Academic and student researchers at Goldsmiths College working with community organisations in Hackney

2010-07-30T06:01:00.000-07:00

Hackney Unites is working to link academic and student researchers at Goldsmiths College with community organisations in Hackney.

The aim is to link community groups with researchers who can assist them in preparing an evidenced based argument for their particular concerns. We also hope to be able to bring all these small projects together to build an evidence bank for campaigners in Hackney and hopefully have an event where the research can be presented publicly.

Please see details from Anna Carlile, Lecturer in Inclusive Education at Goldsmith’s below and contact her to express your interest.

Research collaboration: Goldsmiths, University of London and Hackney Unites
The four ways in which collaboration would work would be:

A. An intern for your organisation: I place PGCE students (student teachers) with organisations one day a week. These are called 'enrichment placements', and are are intended to provide organisations with support to design resources, carry out projects, and support people, at the same time helping new teachers to become aware of and empathic about some of the issues they may come across in their classrooms. If your organisation would like to carry out a bit of research, a focus group project, or an arts-based investigation, this might be a good route. Placements do not necessarily need to be with young people or in education settings.

B. Collaborate with a school to carry out your research: The Illuminate Young Researchers Project trains young people in school in research methods. The young researchers then carry out their own research projects in school, at home and in the community. This may be a way to reach out to people not currently involved with your organisation, and will support young people to develop self advocacy skills, to make a reasoned argument, and to help their school become an active member of the local community. This might be a way to develop a collaboration between your organisation and a school, and to work with young people to carry out research into a particular concern. Recent Illuminate projects have covered safety on the bus route to school, lighting in quiet and secluded areas, racist bullying at school, and the role of the police in keeping school children safe on their route to school.

C. BA student research projects: I teach a course called 'Studies in Inclusion and Exclusion' on the BA Education Culture and Society at Goldsmiths. Their assignment is to carry out a case study of a person or organisation in terms of their experiences of and work relating to issues of inclusion and exclusion. I would like to invite four organisations to Goldsmiths to offer a research brief to these students, who would then carry out a piece of research and produce a research report for your organisation. The dates for these sessions are 20th January and 3rd February from 1pm-3pm, here at Goldsmiths. Please let me know if you are interested.

D. Research training and planning sessions for organisations: Illuminate researcher training can also be made available to adults in your organisation. I was thinking of starting this with the Workers Group, with other Hackney Unites people welcome to join. The training could take two half days and would help you to plan and carry out your own research project.

Please feel free to email me if any of the above ideas would work in terms of what your organisation is hoping to achieve within the Hackney Unites framework.

Best wishes
Anna

Anna Carlile, Lecturer in Inclusive Education
Head of Secondary Partnerships/MQA and Coordinator for CPD
Department of Educational Studies
Goldsmiths, University of London
e: a.carlile@gold.ac.uk

Give your views on Hackney to the listening project

2010-07-29T07:09:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

My name is Jaya Carrier and along with my colleague Jim Barlow, I am working at St. John-at-Hackney this month on a placement with London Citizens and TELCO, both of which use community organising in order to enact political change in local areas.

Our project involves creating a listening group to find out about life in Hackney, what some of the problems are, and how we might best respond to them. This is so that the coming works of London Citizens in Hackney might be better informed and so that we can begin to forge good relationships with different people and groups in Hackney. Our listening project involves conducting informal one-to-one conversations with people. They can be organised at the best convenience of people (be it in their homes, or anywhere else) and are no longer than 45 minutes. It would be wonderful to have as many people take part as possible, so please do get in touch if this is something you are interested in.

Should you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask either by email (jaya_carrier@hotmail.com) or by calling me on 07709495578.

Thank you!

Day-Mer’s 21st Annual Cultural and Arts Festival- Sunday, 4 July @ Clissold Park

2010-06-25T03:23:00.000-07:00

The activities of our 21st Festival have kicked off after a launch last week, and I am writing to provide information about the activities of our festival. Just as every year, the festival features activities for almost all sections of the community, with the major activity of our festival, the traditional Park Festival due to take place on Sunday, 4 July at Clissold Park.

Our multi-cultural festival is now the longest running festival in the borough and in the Turkish and Kurdish community. Just as every year, our festival activities once again brought to the fore strong messages of community solidarity and the need to create conditions in which the migrant communities and the rest of the society to work and live together.

At this year’s Park Festival, we will host the prominent Kurdish musician, Mikail Aslan, who have made a name for himself with his original synthesis of the traditional and contemporary Kurdish and Turkish music. Along with Mikail Aslan and his band, we will have Yeni Türkü, a band that has been bringing together Mediterranean and Anatolian melodies successfully over the last three decades, bringing forward the diversity of Anatolian culture. The programme of the event includes other performances bringing their own flavour of music for peace, unity and a better world for all. On the day of the park festival, there will also be stalls from various organisations giving out information, bookstalls and, of course, traditional food and drinks.

We would like to take this opportunity to invite you to the activities of the festival and the park celebration on Sunday, 4 July. Please see the attached leaflet for a detailed programme of the day.

Thank you very much for your time and hope to see you at festival activities.

In Solidarity,

Taylan Sahbaz

Centre Coordinator

Hackney Unites its residents!

2010-06-15T09:54:00.000-07:00

On Saturday 5 June 2010 some four hundred Hackney residents attended Stoke Newington School as part of the Hackney Unites Celebrate Hackney! Event.

Hackney Unites is a local group with members coming from the diverse range of community sectors. People have dedicated their time and effort to the project since October last year.

The aim of the event was to celebrate Hackney and everything the borough has achieved to date, while at the same time act as a catalyst to link local businesses and community organisations together so that they could work in the interest of local people.

The day was a success with stalls occupied by a range of community based businesses and voluntary organisations such as Open University, Hackney Migrant Centre, HCVS and the Community Empowerment Network. A range of food was on sale – sponsored by local business. One of the major highlights was the first ‘Hackney shorts film festival’ – so aptly named to reflect the range of short films shown throughout the day.

There were some fifteen workshops - all looking at issues that affect Hackney residents, community groups and businesses. The penultimate session on the day covered five key topics: young people and their needs, the struggles against racism and the need to build an effective campaign, the wider concerns with peace and war, community organisation and the need to work collaboratively with other community groups and the workers advice sessions – where community members could obtain basic advice on how to enforce their employment rights in the work place.

Under the coalition Conservative/Lib Dem government there are likely to be major changes to community groups with budget cuts affecting the services they provide. Speaker Andy Benson from the National Coalition for Independence Action detailed some of the impacts these changes may have, such as government becoming directly involved in organisations – affecting their autonomy and their ability to be impartial in the community work they do. Maurice Glassman discussed the work of London Citizens, a local group. Wendy Pettifor galloped though the recent cost cutting measures within the Law Society with the net effect that people in need of legal advice and support are unable to access it. Cathy Reay from Hackney Housing Group explained how their actions are about empowering individual tenants to engage with the processes to improve the quality of their accommodation. Finally Liz Hughes from Haggerston Pool Community Trust detailed their on going battle with the Hackney Council to keep a swimming pool within their local community.

The closing session was facilitated by John Page, secetary of Hackney Unites where initial feedback was extremely positive on the day’s events. I came away with an awareness that the pending cuts to Hackney’s local services will have an unquantifiable impact on Hackney residents and businesses.

By Mz Lashmore

Community Justice -A personal View by Teena Lashmore

2010-06-02T09:53:00.000-07:00

The UK's current prison population has topped over 84,000 people. While the debate rages on about being tough on crime, little is heard of recent changes to one of the key stakeholders involved in managing crime and diverting offenders away from criminal behaviours: probation.

As of April 2010 the Probation Service became a Probation Trust. Criminal justice services will now be delivered locally - mirroring the boundaries of Local Authorities. The change is designed to allow Probation to 'commission services' with other public and/or third sector organisations or voluntary agencies such as educational services and training providers. Links that help reduce further offending.

For people in Hackney, these fundamental changes in the criminal justice process create the possibility of a shift of emphasis towards community justice. This change has seen little political debate, or discussion on what it means (or could mean) for our communities. Anti-social and criminal behavior affects local communities and it is hoped that these changes in the Probation service will ensure offenders sentenced to community sentences will 'pay-back' locally to their communities for their offending.

If these changes are to be successful then the communities of Hackney need to participate in the process; for example, nominating meaningful and useful projects for offenders to undertake as part of their punishment. Meanwhile, community groups that seek to divert young people from offending will need to gear up for the inevitable changes in funding arrangements.

As communities we will need to find ways to participate in local crime reduction partnerships so that the crime strategy for Hackney is focused locally. We can achieve different outcomes by diverting young people away from criminal behavior by breaking the patterns that exist in poor education, social exclusion, lack of employment and training and offending.

Community and restorative justice can be an effective way of reducing reoffending. Perhaps we in Hackney need to discuss how our communities play a role in ensuring that the policies that are adopted are the ones that work for Hackney rather than being imposed by 'opinion formers' elsewhere.

Unfinished Histories: Recording the History of the Alternative Theatre Movement

2010-05-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

The alternative theatre movement grew up primarily between 1968 and 1988 and saw a huge upsurge of theatre that sought out new audiences, experimented with new forms, artistically and organisationally, and began to represent the experiences of many groups marginalised in mainstream theatre. It saw the start of most of the first women's, Black and Asian, gay and lesbian, Disabled and community theatre companies and an upsurge in politicak, new writing, physical and visual and Theatre-in-Education work. Over 700 companies were formed from Cunning Stunts to Lumiere and Son to Black Theatre Co-op to Belt and Braces.
Unfinished Histories is a project that seeks to record oral history interviews with individuals, document the movement and ensure that archives are preserved. The project has a special releveance to Hackney, given the long-standing history of the borough as a home for artists and a home of dissent.
If you are interested in the project and would like to know more or get involved, come along to Celebrate Hackney or see our web site at www.unfinishedhistories.com
Susan Croft (Hackney-based Co-Director, Unfinished Histories)

Haggerston Pool Camapaign

2010-05-21T02:10:00.000-07:00

While we congratulated Haggerston Pool campaigners for their success in our tabloid newspaper, Hackney Unites would like to make it clear that the camppaign is far from over. Here Liz Hughes from Haggerston Pool Community Trust explains the current situation.

Work starts on 2.5 year project to re-open Haggerston Pool

Work has started on the re-opening of Haggerston Pool following a 10 year community campaign.

Haggerston Pool closed in February 2000 for Heath and Safety reasons when inspectors identified £300,000 worth of work needed to keep the pool safe. The council was in financial chaos, there was an overspend on Clissold Leisure Centre of many millions, and this funding request was denied.

The plan now is to re-open Haggerston Pool as part of a new Health and Wellbeing Centre, very much in line with the vision set out by users of the pool at the time that it closed. As well as the swimming pool and a hydrotherapy pool, likely facilities are a GP practice, dentists surgery, community kitchen, gym, youth space, computer suite, dance studio/sports hall and rentable units for community groups organisations.

Architects BDP have been appointed to the project and the estimated timescale is 28 - 30 months for design and construction. More time will be needed for the fit-out.

The Department of Children Schools and Families has awarded Hackney Council a £5.1 million “co-location” grant towards re-opening of Haggerston Pool as a project bringing health, education and children's services together under one roof.

The total cost estimate is £21million.

Work is being overseen by a Project Board led by the council’s Community Services Directorate liaising with GLL who hold the main leisure contract for Hackney. We have requested that there be a local community representative on this board.

Liz Hughes will be speaking about the campaign at Celebrate Hackney! on 5th June. To book your place visit: http://celebratehackney.eventbrite.com/

DRUG Awareness & Intervention event - this Saturday 15th May

2010-05-14T04:05:00.000-07:00

The Black Parent Community Forum (BPCF) is hosting a Drugs awareness event this Saturday as part of the Adult Learners' Week:

DRUG Awareness & Intervention

Remember, "The people perish through lack of knowledge" so come and join us, bring a friend and update your awareness on the dangerous drugs that are destroying the lives of our children, dividing family's and increase crime in our communities.

The event is absolutely free and refreshments will be provided.

Date: Saturday 15th May 2010

Address: Adeline Centre

20 Belsham Street Hackney London E9 6LG

Time: 11am - 2pm

"We all are affected one way or another".

Reverend Daley

The publicity is out, the banner is up..June 5th is going to be a great day...

2010-05-14T02:58:00.000-07:00

Book your place here for Celebrate Hackney! Saturday June 5th:
http://celebratehackney.eventbrite.com/

Celebrate Hackney: Tabloid

2010-05-11T23:08:00.000-07:00

If you click on the images on this and successive posts you will see the fabulous 8 page tabloid paper we have published to promote the Celebrate Hackney event on 5 June. Just click on the image and it will enlarge.

We have had 50,000 printed and we now need your help to distribute these.

If you can help deliver these door to door in and around the streets where you live, or if you are a member of an organisation that will take and display them, please drop us an email (info@hackneyunites.org.uk) telling us how many papers you need and where you can deliver them.

The paper is packed with news and information about local groups and organisations who are going to be involved in Celebrate Hackney. However, in the end we could not fit everything in so apologies if your group gets little more than a small mention.

Thanks to everyone who has made both Celebrate Hackney and this paper possible.

Page 2

2010-05-11T23:04:00.000-07:00

Page two features an article about Day-Mer a Turkish/Kurdish organisation that has been supporting people from their communities for over 20 years. It promotes a cultural festival to be held later in the year. The page also talks about fundraising for Hackney Unites (we are asking people to make a regular donation of £1 a month). Finally, it features the ‘city of sanctuary’ movement and encourages us to make Hackney a safe and welcoming place for those fleeing persecution.

Page 3

2010-05-11T23:00:00.000-07:00

Page three leads on the story of the Hackney Empire and former artistic director Roland Muldoon's blistering attack on the theatre board who have closed the beloved Hackney Empire 'for a period of reflection. It also features an article about Hackney's older residents. The article reminds us that we will all grow older in time and describes as a scandal the fact that older people in Hackney die on average 8 years earlier than their counterparts in Kensington and Chelsea.

Page 4

2010-05-11T22:58:00.000-07:00

Page four features the children's party organiser Sue Forrester-Brown of 'Birthday Dreams' who will be providing children's entertainment at Celebrate Hackney. It also reports on the Workers Advice Project' and invites people to get involved in both Hackney Unites and the HOPE not hate campaign.

Page 5

2010-05-11T22:53:00.000-07:00

The majority of page 5 is taken up with a full list of the speakers at the conference and the 15 separate workshops we will be holding. Everything from a question time of local politicians to a discussion of war and peace!

Page 6

2010-05-11T22:48:00.000-07:00

Page six previews the Changing Lives exhibition which will be a feature of the Celebrate Hackney event, celebrates the HOPE not hate campaign (and thanks those from Hackney who 'twinned' with Barking and Dagenham to defeat the BNP) and features a project interested in Hackney Routes.

Page 7

2010-05-11T22:45:00.000-07:00

Page seven features the Sam Hallam, Yum Yum restaurant, congratulates the Haggerston pool campaigners (we will be publishing a fuller article on this website) and announces that Celia Stubbs from the Blair Peach campaign will be speaking at the miscarraige of justice session.

Page 8

2010-05-11T22:43:00.000-07:00

Page 8 lists the stall holders and provides small features on a number of the participants.

Help needed with tabloid distribution

2010-05-11T06:18:00.000-07:00

With just over three weeks to go before the 5 June Celebrate Hackney event, we are eagerly awaiting the return of our 8 page tabloid newspaper which we hope to distribute to 50,000 homes in the borough (see front page on the right).

The event has speakers from 50 different groups, including Roland Muldoon from the Hackney Empire, and Cellia Stubbs from the Blair Peach Campaign. We have trade unionists, community activists and faith groups. We have children's activities from professional party organisers, 'Birthday Dreams', massage, a question time of local politicians, a choir from the Pedro Club, our own Hackney film festival, plus food from Cafe z, Lillys, Yum Yum and Vegan Peasant.

It is going to be a fantastic event, however we need your help to publicise it. Will you take a couple of hundred of these papers and distribute them to the neighbours in your street or block?

If you can help, please drop an email to info@hackneyunites.org.uk, tell us where you live and where you can post these papers.

The Pedro Club are coming to Celebrate Hackney!

2010-05-07T02:55:00.000-07:00

The Pedro Club is one of the oldest functioning youth clubs in London. They offer a wide variety of activities including boxing, singing with the Pedro Choir, fashion, music, dance and Art. They’ll be bringing their choir, dancers, salsa group and band to Celebrate Hackney! on 5th June – find out more about them here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/london/hi/people_and_places/2012/newsid_8665000/8665322.stm

..and don't forget to reserve your palce for June 5th: http://celebratehackney.eventbrite.com/

A message from Friends of Hackney Nurseries

2010-04-21T02:38:00.000-07:00

Apologies for short notice -- we have only just heard that about these huge cuts to nursery budgets in Hackney, and we want to mobilise people to help try and save them, so we are organising an emergency public meeting THIS THURSDAY 22ND APRIL 6:30 P.M. -- further details below. It is outrageous that Hackney Council/The Learning Trust should think that they can get away with attacking services to women and working-class people in this way, and just before the election.

We have local elections in Hackney, including for our elected mayor, as well as the General Election. Even if you don't live in Hackney, you can bring this up at any hustings meetings you go to, because this is part of a nationwide problem, and the Daycare Trust just published a report saying that childcare issues are almost the most important voting issue for women … now there's a surprise!

If you would like to help, but cannot make this week's meeting, please send us an e-mail -- FHN@live.co.uk.

Thanks, Friends of Hackney Nurseries

(After successfully fighting against huge cuts to council and community nurseries in the 1990s and early 2000s, Friends of Hackney Nurseries is being re-activated to fight against Hackney Council and the Learning Trust's plan to impose cuts of upto 60% in this year's grant to community nurseries, and indeed to fight for even more and better childcare provision locally. JOIN US!)

============================

Media release -- 20th April 2010, for immediate release

From Friends of Hackney Nurseries, FHN@live.co.uk

Just a couple of weeks before the election, Hackney Council and the Learning Trust have delivered a devastating blow to Hackney's community nurseries

Despite Diane Abbott telling us in her election address that "Only a Labour government will protect our schools, hospitals and public services", community nurseries have been told in the last few days that, with immediate effect, they will be having cuts in their budget of up to 60%. This means cuts of £40 to £50,000, which will lead to the serious threat of nursery closures, and hardship and distress for parents, workers and children.

Jules Pipe, who is standing for re-election as Labour mayor of Hackney, has been boasting recently that “For the fifth year in a row Hackney’s part of the Council Tax will not increase," and he claims that "Investment in services for Hackney residents is at the heart of spending plans for the coming financial year – at no extra cost to the tax payer."

The people of Hackney would like to know how he can square this with the devastation that is threatened to our nurseries. The withdrawal of public funds will affect all nurseries, and consequently our children's opportunities will be diminished, and nursery staff will have to spend valuable time struggling for their financial survival. Hackney's nurseries have always fought to remain inclusive, affordable, and professional, but it is impossible to achieve that by relying on parents' fees alone to meet all the costs.

Dawn Primarolo, Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families, said recently, "We are spending a billion pounds a year on early years education, and even in these tough times we have said we will sustain this over the next three years, because that's how crucial we think excellent early years provision is for children and families, and for our economy." In which case, we would like to know why our share of the money is not coming to Hackney’s nurseries.

Friends of Hackney Nurseries is organising an emergency meeting to campaign against these cuts. If you want to help us defend good quality, affordable childcare in the borough, for our children now, and for future generations, please come to our meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday 22nd April at The Bath House Children's Community Centre, The Old Warm Baths, 76 Shacklewell Lane, London E8 2EY. You can contact Friends of Hackney Nurseries at fhn@live.co.uk