Two pieces of news: plans for a Dalston People’s festival and an update on the Borough of Sanctuary AGM (being held next Tuesday)
Dalston People’s Festival
Hackney Unites, a local coalition for social justice is starting to plan a week-long ‘Dalston People’s Festival’ in 2013 (dates to be confirmed).
The idea is to showcase what is good about Dalston over a full week of activities. We hope to be able to utilise existing community venues, spaces and networks and encourage every section of the community to put on an event. The vision is sufficiently broad to include arts, literature, film, cultural, local history workshops and community events.
With regeneration raging all around it would also be an opportunity to bring together the new and established communities in Dalston.
We would expect to produce a website which showcases the events during the week, and dedicate a full edition of our tabloid paper to promote the events.
At this stage, we are simply exploring whether or not there would be support for this initiative. We want to work with every section of the community, from local schools, faith groups, and tenants’ bodies, through to the creative arts.
We also hope to include a half day ‘community conference’ where we come together and reflect on what has been achieved in Dalston and how we can build a real sense of community that can actively engage with the issues we face.
Of course while the event will be based in the various squares, and public venues of Dalston it will be open to the wider Hackney community.
Sounds Good? But it won’t happen on its own. If you or your group are interested in playing a role, either by attending a planning meeting, or by organising an event that can feature in the program, then please let us know. You could also help us out enormously by sending us recommendations of who we need to speak to in Dalston to ensure that every section of the community is engaged.
We will of course also need help with fundraising, publicity etc, but for the moment, we just want to know: are you interested?
Let us know your views by visiting: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FFYKB56 and share your ideas.
Moving Towards becomig a Borough of Sanctuary (includes AGM)
Does it matter to you that Hackney is a place of welcome? If so then you will want ot attend the Hackney Borough of Sanctuary AGM. It is being held on Tuesday 13 November from 6.30pm to 9pm at the Offices of Hackney Council for Voluntary Service: 84 Springfield House, 5 Tyssen Street, E8 2LY London
The event will include our AGM , a Review of the Year and a special appearance by London Assembly Member Jennette Arnold.
Please come along to find out more about the move to establish Hackney as a Borough of Sanctuary and how you can get involved.
Refreshments Provided (donations welcome) All Welcome.
If you intend to join us, please register in advance (so we know how many to expect: http://hbosagm.eventbrite.com/
For footage of last year’s event visit: http://vimeo.com/31716287
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Regards
John Page
Secretary
Hackney Unites
Friday, November 9, 2012
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
The Sustainable Communities Act
Hackney Unites last night (Nov 6th) heard a very interesting presentation by Steve Shaw from ‘Local Works’ on the Sustainable Communities Act and how it might be utilised in Hackney for the benefit of the Borough’s residents.
Steve would urge all LBH residents to urge our councillors to commit the Council to using the Act. But further, Steve believes Hackney Unites could act as a community forum to bring projects that the Act can be used for and also as a means for the Council to consult on any project proposals.
Of course the SCA exists in the same world as the new Localism Act, and its controversial Neighbourhood Plan element, which a Hackney Unites related organisation (Hackney Planning Watch) are monitoring closely.
The New Economics Foundation (NEF) have produced a related report:
And the following is a guide from Local Works.....
A Very Short Guide to the Sustainable Communities Act
Philosophy: the need for the Act
1. There is overwhelming evidence for community decline: the decline of local shops, Post Offices, pubs, etc and the knock-on environmental and social effects. It is a national trend affecting the whole country. No community group or council can reverse it on their own.
2. Central government can, and should, help to reverse this community decline. Note they should HELP, not dictate the solutions.
3. Local people are the experts on their own problems and the solutions to them. They should therefore be driving the help that central government gives.
If you accept these three things then you must accept that there needs to be a process where local people and their elected councils can put forward ideas to central government to help reverse community decline and create the opposite - sustainable communities. The Sustainable Communities Act sets up that process.
The Act: A ‘Bottom-Up’ Process that Gives People Power
The Act sets up a process where people have real power. The ideas they put forward drive the actions that government must take. People who participate cannot be ignored, which too often happens in government consultations. This process is ‘bottom-up’ - because what people want at community level drives what government does.
Here’s how the process works, step by step:
1. The Act gives communities, together with their councils, the right to come up with proposals and to then submit these to central government. These proposals can be for any government action or assistance that would reverse community decline and protect or promote sustainable communities.
Sustainable communities is defined in the Act as incorporating 4 things:
· local economies, e.g. promoting local shops, Post Offices, local businesses and local jobs
· environmental protection, e.g. promoting local renewable energy, protecting green spaces
· social inclusion, e.g. protecting local public services and alleviating fuel poverty and food poverty
· democratic involvement, e.g. encouraging local people to participate in local decision making
So communities and councils can put forward any proposal that a) can be shown to promote sustainable communities as defined above, and b) requires central government action or assistance. Communities and councils can submit proposals whenever they choose to.
2. If councils choose to use the Act by submitting proposals, they must first involve communities and citizens in their area. They must not just consult them, but also try to reach agreement with them on what proposals the council will submit. How councils do so is up to them, though it is recommended that councils set up (or recognise, if they already exist) a panel or panels of representatives of local people. These should include people from under-represented groups: ethnic minorities, young people, older people, tenants etc.
3. Upon receiving proposals, central government must consider them and decide whether to implement them. If they decide not to implement a proposal they must give reasons why.
4. Any proposal that is not given an initial ‘yes’ by the government can be taken up by the Selector. The Selector is an external independent body (currently the Local Government Association) that central government must try to reach agreement with on whether the initially rejected proposal is implemented. This means an iterative dialogue, discussion and negotiation where the final decision is taken together by government and the Selector on whether and how each proposal will be implemented. So the results of this process can lead to reconsideration or compromise from the government on proposals that they initially said ‘no’ to.
VERY IMPORTANT: Reaching Agreement, NOT Consultation
The process the Act has set up is one where reaching agreement is paramount. It is NOT merely consultation. The Act sets up a truly ‘bottom up’ process where councils must try to reach agreement with their communities on proposals to put forward. Government must then try to reach agreement with the Selector who represents all the proposals that are made. This form of decision-making is new and unprecedented in law and it is why the Act has real teeth.
The Act’s Story: how it happened and what has happened
2002-2007: Local Works, a coalition of over 100 national organisations, was formed and campaigned for the Act to become law. They mobilised tens of thousands of people to lobby their MPs to support the campaign and organised over one hundred public meetings across the country. The public meetings were packed, with average turnouts of 150-200 people, with some attracting up to 500 people - MPs were astonished.
23rd October 2007: The Sustainable Communities Act became law with full cross party support. Local Works resolved to continue campaigning in order to help citizens and councils use the Act and to ensure it is properly implemented by government.
October 2008 to December 2010: The first round of the Act is carried out. 100 councils submit a total of 300 proposals. After reaching agreement with the Selector, the government began to implement those that had been agreed to. Results included new powers, rights and government policy to help local shops and businesses, Post Offices, green spaces, local allotments, local renewable energy and local pubs. More details of what the Act’s results are on the ‘Achievements’ section of our website: www.localworks.org
15th December 2010: The government announced the second invite for proposals.
June 2012: The government made new regulations improving the Act’s process and re-establishing the rights of citizens and councils that use it.
Ideas for proposals: Things the Act could help communities achieve
Here are some examples of what the Act could be used to help communities achieve:
§ Keeping community services like Post Offices open
§ Promoting small businesses by increasing the rate relief they receive
§ Requiring large out of town superstores to pay a local tax on their huge car parks
§ Promoting local renewable energy, e.g. by removing the restrictive barriers relating to the local grid
§ Promoting local food and other products, e.g. by giving rate relief to businesses that earn 50% of their turnover from selling local food and goods
How You Can Get Involved
1. Sign up to Local Works on our website at www.localworks.org or by sending your contact details to steve@localworks.org, or Local Works, c/o Unlock Democracy, 37 Gray’s Inn Rd, London WC1X 8PQ.
2. Lobby your council to use the Act. It is absolutely crucial that councils hear loud and clear from their communities that they should use the Act. So please write to your councillors and the leader and deputy leader of your council asking them to “Please resolve to use the Sustainable Communities Act’s process by submitting proposals to government for action and assistance to promote sustainable communities.”
3. Make this public! Write to your local paper, local newsletters, tell friends and colleagues about the Act and urge them to also write to their councillors in the same way as above.
4. Get involved in your local panel that your council should set up when it decides to use the Act.
Note: details on how to apply to be a panel representative and how to put proposals to your local panel will be available from your council once they decide to use the Act.
lots more information at www.localworks.org
Local Works, c/o Unlock Democracy, 37 Gray’s Inn Rd, London WC1X 8PQ office: 020 7278 4443 email: steve@localworks.org
DL 07.11.12
A Future That Works: Ending the Low Pay culture
On Saturday the 3rd of Nov, two of the Committee members attended an excellent conference on low pay that was hosted by Southern and East Region TUC (SERTUC)
There were a range of excellent presentations from:
A clear consensus seemed to emerge that might be summarised as:
Pay Inequality in the workplace has been increasing at an exponential rate, this means that the pay gap between people at the top of companies and those at the bottom is getting bigger and bigger.
This was borne out this week as research found that: Senior executives in the UK's biggest companies have seen their average earnings go up by more than a quarter in the past year (Share incentive schemes boost top executives' earnings)
Not only is this unjust and unfair, but is actually detrimental to the economy as a whole as well, this is because as the cost-of-living is rising and pay (at lower and middle levels) does not rise to match, means workers’ disposable income decreases or disappears thus sucking demand out of the economy – particularly local economies.
Thus less spending, means a knock-on effect on businesses who then decrease staff levels to match, all resulting in a down-ward spiral.
Some solutions to the problem were:
· A wage cap or maximum wage
· Increased trade union membership and collective bargaining
· Full employment
Certainly low pay is a problem for many in Hackney and should be a concern to all irrelevant of income levels for the reasons given above and spelt out brilliantly in the book: The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone
Concerns about inequality and calls for a Living Wage are certainly gathering momentum as is criticism of the government’s mad-cap experiment called ‘Austerity’, it therefore seems a good time for campaigners, community activists, trade unionists etc to get behind these issues and increase the pressure on the government and the neo-liberal economic model as a whole!
For more information on some of these issues please see the TUC’s Touchstone blog
And if you are interested in finding out more about joining a trade union or Unite’s Community Membership initiative.....
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Better Banking in Action: A Credit Union Open Day. Sat 6th October, Hackney
As scandal after scandal blows up in the papers, and the behaviour of our big banks goes from bad to worse, it’s easy to get despondent about the state of our banking system and the colour of our money.
Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way. There exist financial institutions that will look after your money, reinvest it responsibly, and support the economy and society we would like to see.
One such option are the Credit Unions . Little know in the UK, Credit Union are well established across much of the rest of the world, including America and Ireland.
As not-for-profit financial cooperatives, with a mandate to support their members and grounded locally, they represent a genuine people-focused alternative to the big banks. They are at the forefront of the fight against financial exclusion, keep money circulating locally, and we need to shout about them!
Move Your Money has teamed up with London Community Credit Union to bring you:
Better Banking in Action: A Credit Union Open Day
London Community Credit Union, Hackney Branch, 225 Mare Street, E8 3QE
Date: Saturday 6th October, Speakers 12.00-13.00*
Refreshments provided. Facebook Event .
** £10 for every new account opened on the day ** ID required.
This is an opportunity for anybody interested in the alternative local banking sector and wanting to find out more. Our exciting line-up of speakers will guide us through the history of the Credit Union movement, how Credit Unions work, what they do, and the important role they play in the community, especially in the current economic and poitical climate.
LCCU will also be launching it’s new ‘Credit Champions’ project, working to bring the Credit Union further into the local community and workplaces. Followed by tea and cake.
While politicians and regulators fail to come up with the goods, we can take action to make banking better. Since January 2012, MYM estimates that 50,000 people have joined the Credit Union network, taking membership to over one million.
If you live in Tower Hamlets, Hackney, or any of the surrounding boroughs, invite your friends, bring your family, and we’ll see you there. It’s time to change banks.
* The Credit Union will be open from 10:00 – 14:00 with live product demos and the opportunity to open a new account. Anybody living, working or studying in Tower Hamlets, Hackney, City of London, Islington, Haringey, Waltham Forest or Newham can become a member and open an account. Please bring proof of address (x2) and a piece of ID.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Hackney Fairtrade Meeting tonight
| Hackney Fairtrade Steering Group are holding an event this evening, Wednesday 26th September 2012. Time: 8pm Location: Council Chamber, Stoke Newington Town Hall, Stoke Newington Church Street. The format of the meeting is a Question Time-style debate on the theme of 'Can Your Shopping Basket Change the World?' The debate will be chaired by George Alagiah. Hackney Fairtrade Steering Group have invited a panel of speakers from the world of politics, business and the local food movement who will debate and answer questions from the audience about how the way we shop can affect the lives of people across the world. Some of the issues they hope to cover in the debate include: · Is it necessary for us to pay more to shop ethically? · Does supporting overseas producers come at a cost to local producers? · What difference does it make where and how we shop? · What is better - fair trade produce or organic produce? · What is more important - supporting local ethnic shops (with fewer fair trade products) or buying from the large national super markets (probably with more fair trade products)? The full panel of guests is:
Please help spread the word Hackney Unites is a coalition for social justice, please cascade this email on and publicise its contents. If you are not already on our mailing list, you can sign up on-line (http://eepurl.com/bPJDH) to receive regular updates. You can also follow us on twitter and join us on facebook. Many thanks John Page Secretary Hackney Unites |
Monday, September 17, 2012
Inspire Hackney: Saturday 22 Sept - book your place
If you care about Hackney and the issues our communities face, then this Saturday’s Inspire Hackney is for you. It is at Morley Hall, City Edge, 125-127 Mare Street, Hackney, E8 3RH from 1pm to 5pm and you can register (for free) here: http://inspirehackney.eventbrite.com/ Dance performance, followed by workshops The event kicks off at 1pm prompt with a performance from African Dance troupe: EMASHI, followed by a presentation from Emmanuel Amevor from Centreprise (the community bookshop with a long history in promoting local writers which is facing closure) followed by a discussion of the power of communities organising together The aim of the day however is not to have a series of ‘long boring speeches’, but to break into workshops to explore urgent issues for our communities. The afternoon will be tailored so that you can chose to attend two of the eight workshop sessions (they will be running in parallel). There will also be a final informal ‘meet and greet’ session where you will be able to make those all important contacts with others who share your vision of Hackney. Workshops include: ‘Digs’ a new organisation set up by private tenants to support each other at a time when renting in Hackney is becoming harder. The group aim to set up a mutual self-help network and to challenge bad landlords and bad practice from rental agencies. Youth & Policing the relationship between our youth and the police is poisoned by a sense of suspicion and the feeling that the police view all young people as potential criminals. Experts from the legal profession and from working with young people will explore stop and search in our community. Unions and Communities with the government’s policies hitting jobs hard, and with youth unemployment hitting an all time high, is there scope for trade unions and communities to identify common objectives and to support each other? Dr Jane Holgate has been studying community trade union alliances on three continents and believes there is. Borough of Sanctuary Hackney’s Borough of Sanctuary initiative is determined to make Hackney a consistently welcoming place to people who have been driven from their homes by oppression, war or civil unrest. The campaign is gaining support, but wants to see Hackney to be the first London borough to be formally accredited as a ‘borough of sanctuary’, come a long and find out more. Public Transport: the government’s plans for transport will see ticket prices soaring above the rate of inflation and more and more rail workers losing their jobs. In particular we are likely to see less and less ticket office and platform staff, with the risk that stations become unsafe and unused outside of the rush hour. Come along and get involved in an attempt to set up a public transport user group for the borough. Community Learning as unemployment soars and as job opportunities decrease, there has never been a better time to ‘upskill’. A new initiative in the borough is seeking to develop a network of trained ‘community learning champions’ who will be supported in identifying learning opportunities, formal and informal, that can assist our communities access learning. Whether it is to improve your CV or merely to develop a new interest, if you are interested in learning opportunities then come along to this session. Unemployed Workers Hackney Unites is proud to have a strong unemployed workers group that has consistently challenged the myth that unemployed people contribute nothing. The group is currently working on a survey of unemployed, identifying the extent to which unemployed in Hackney are volunteering in our community, and also looking at a skills share project so that the unemployed can put their skills to good use. Environment Hackney has long had a strong environmental movement. But we now have a government that appears to think that the way out of recession involves relaxing any targets on carbon emissions and abandoning planning rules. The discussion will focus on what we can do to limit the power of the ‘gamblers’ at the investment banks whose greed got us into this crisis, and whose solution is likely to make matters worse. A time to discuss issues Alongside the workshops, there will be a series of information stalls and time to discuss issues on a one-to-one basis. Among the confirmed stall-holders are: POhWER Whose skilled and trained advocates work with individuals who need information and support to be heard. They work with people who are disadvantaged, isolated and/or have complex needs. This service is available to anyone over the age of 18, who has a mental health condition and/or learning disability, who is living in a hospital, in residential care or in their own home The People’s Kitchen (who run a weekly community kitchen in Dalston, serving delicious meals using surplus food. They aim to raise awareness of food waste, actively divert food from landfill, and bring people together through preparing and sharing a meal. Envision, a social action charity which supports 16-19 year olds to investigate local social problems and lead creative community projects. Hackney Community Law Centre recently nominated for two of the Law Society Excellence Awards, one of which was for innovation in the creation of their ‘pop up’ legal surgeries. To celebrate, they are bringing a ‘pop up’ legal advice surgery to Inspire Hackney Sante Refugee Mental Health Access Project provide Advice, Advocacy, Befriending and Casework to Asylsum Seekers to enable access to essential services such as reputable Legal Advice and Hosting or Destitution provision. Their Befrienders meet an asylum seeker once weekly and give practical support and encouragement. Education Africa Teaching a community venture to take 15 young people from various backgrounds, to Ghana to learn about the culture and history. They will then return and visit various schools and community groups in England sharing positive experiences with their peers Centerprise One of East London’s oldest and most famous community bookshops which is a centre of life long learning at the hub of a vibrant multi-cultural, multi-faith community. They are also behind WordPower – Europe’s biggest black literature Festival & book fair. Hackney Refugee & Migrant Support Group an independent campaigning and support group with a long history in the borough. Cultural Bridges and Nefes Folk Music Groups, a cultural group that uses traditional music to bring people together. Hackney Coalition to Save the NHS a group that unites NHS users and practitioners in opposition to the government’s privatisation agenda of our most treasured national asset. Workers Educational Association founded in 1903, the WEA is now the UK’s largest voluntary-sector provider of adult education. through adult education the WEA challenges and inspires individuals, communities and society. Don’t miss it! So if you have an afternoon to spare this coming Saturday, you could not do better than to join us, our workshops and our stall-holders to discuss what is good about Hackney, and what we need to do as a community to make it better. Please register in advance and please forward this email far and wide to ensure everyone who would want to know gets to hear about Inspire Hackney http://inspirehackney.eventbrite.com/ Please help spread the word Hackney Unites is a coalition for social justice, please cascade this email on and publicise its contents. If you are not already on our mailing list, you can sign up on-line (http://eepurl.com/bPJDH) to receive regular updates. You can also follow us on twitter and join us on facebook. Many thanks John Page Secretary Hackney Unites |
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Change the world, save Stokey and Inspire Hackney
| This email alerts you to two local events: a round table discussion on Fairtrade and the influence our spending choices can have, and the Inspire Hackney event on 22 September, and it also urges you to support the Stokey Local Campaign against an over-development of the Wilmer Place car park in Stoke Newington Can Your Shopping Basket Change the World? Stoke Newington Town Hall, 26th September from 8pm - 10pm. Hackney Fairtrade Steering Group are hosting a very special Question Time-style debate chaired by BBC newsreader and journalist George Alagiah. Figures from the world of politics, business and the local food movement will debate and answer questions from the audience about how the way we shop can affect the lives of people across the world. · Is it necessary for us to pay more to shop ethically? · Does supporting overseas producers come at a cost to local producers? · What difference does it make where and how we shop? A panel featuring the following guests will aim to answer these, and many more, questions from local residents: · George Alagiah, Chair · Diane Abbott MP · Julie Brown, Chair of Growing Communities · Kate Bull, Founder of the People's Supermarket · Professor Giles Oldroyd · John Page, Hackney Unites The event is free and open to all members of the public, so please do come and contribute to the debate. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Cllr Daniel Stevens, Chair of the Hackney Fairtrade Steering Group, at daniel.stevens@hackney.gov.uk. Can we save Stoke Newington from over-development? Last year, Hackney Unites supported the zombie parade that drew attention to plans to build a Sainsbury superstore on the sight of Wilmer Place car park. The proposals still involve building a housing estate on top of a supermarket and will overshadow Abney Park Cemetery and impinge on a conservation area. Commercially, the impact of yet another huge supermarket would be to suck the lifeblood out of the numerous local independent stores in the area. The campaign group Stokey Local have been keeping up the pressure to preserve the local economy and resist the development, but a planning proposal has now been submitted. They have produced a detailed guidance to objecting to the proposals, so if you live, work or visit Stoke Newington, please consider whether you wish to object to the proposal: full details from http://stokeylocal.org.uk/latest-news/ Inspire Hackney It is just a little over a week to go to Inspire Hackney, a community conference called by Hackney Unites (from 1pm to 5pm on Saturday 22 September). There will be over a dozen stalls from community groups and eight sessions (some running in parallel) including, speakers, debate and workshops on some key issues affecting our communities. We have also set time aside for the all important networking that allows us time to meet others with similar concerns and aspirations for the area. If you have not booked your ticket perhaps you should do so now? Full details from http://inspirehackney.eventbrite.co.uk The event is free, but places are limited, so please book up and encourage others to attend. Please help spread the word Hackney Unites is a coalition for social justice, please cascade this email on and publicise its contents. If you are not already on our mailing list, you can sign up on-line (http://eepurl.com/bPJDH) to receive regular updates. You can also follow us on twitter and join us on facebook. Many thanks John Page Secretary Hackney Unites |
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