Nablus (Copyright: istock Getty Images)
The Labour Group have tabled a motion for the Full Meeting of Brent Council to consider twinning with the city of Nablus in the Israeli Occupied West Bank.
The meeting is on Monday 18th November at 6pm and the motion is number 9 on a 19 item agenda so will probably be debated between 7pm and 8pm. You can watch live HERE or attend in-person at Brent Civic Centre.
The Motion:
Brent Twinning with Nablus
This Council notes:
That Brent currently has a single twinning relationship, that with South Dublin, established in 1997, at a time when Brent had the largest Irish-born population in mainland Britain.
That Brent currently has the second highest Arab diaspora in England and Wales, within which there is a significant number of residents of Palestinian heritage.
That like Brent, Nablus in Palestine – as one of the oldest cities in the world – has a long and rich history of culture, diversity and dynamism, ranging from historical architecture, a lively economy and a youthful population.
That Brent has a long history of internationalism, including conferring on Nelson Mandela the Freedom of the Borough.
That a growing number of community and charitable organisations, including Brent Trades Union Council, Brent NEU and Brent Friends of Palestine have developed productive relations with Palestinian organisations and diaspora, further strengthening bonds to the city of Nablus.
That through the joint work of Brent Trades Union Council, Brent NEU and of Brent and Harrow PSC, CADFA and the Palestinian Forum in Britain, opportunities have been provided to young Palestinians to meet Brent young people, Councillors and MPs, and share and develop a bond over their experiences in education, sports and culture. Opportunities for visits to Palestine by young Brent residents are being planned.
That the establishment of the “Brent-Nablus Twinning Project” organisation provides an opportunity for Brent to explore the potential of a formal twinning arrangement with Nablus through community engagement.
That community organisations and official representatives in Nablus have shown a desire to develop a more formal arrangement of partnership with Brent and have communicated this desire with their partners in Brent, leading to this proposal.
This Council believes:
Twinning enhances bonds and improves relations between communities, creating friendships through what we have in common, as well as learning from other cultures, traditions and experiences.
Twinning allows avenues for growth through togetherness, improving understanding and ability to tackle issues through collaboration, knowledge and skill shares.
A successful twinning relationship would promote initiatives like educational collaborations, sports programmes, and heritage preservation workshops, creating long-term connections between residents and institutions and engages with local communities, cultural organisations, and leaders in both twinned regions to support the establishment of the partnership.
This Council resolves to:
Consider a formal twinning agreement between Brent and the city of Nablus, which sits under the governance of the Palestinian National Authority, and receive a report considering the proposal at a future council meeting.
Explore immediate steps to foster connections, such as cultural exchange programmes, student and school collaborations, and shared community projects, to create a foundation for future growth.
Engage with the “Brent-Nablus Twinning Project” organisation to develop a framework for the potential twinning, whilst engaging with local communities, cultural organisations and leaders in both Brent and Nablus to support theestablishment of this partnership.
Councillor Ihtesham Afzal
Wembley Hill Ward
21 comments:
Any chance the council can repair our pavements before swanning off on freebies?
I have no objection to Brent twinning with Nablus, but one item in the wording of the motion in particular did not reflect the truth about Brent Council.
'This Council notes:
That like Brent, Nablus in Palestine – as one of the oldest cities in the world – has a long and rich history of culture, diversity and dynamism, ranging from historical architecture ....'
Yes, we do have some historical architecture in Brent, including the beautiful locally listed heritage 1870s Victorian Italianate-style villa "Altamira", at 1 Morland Gardens in Stonebridge, which Brent Council owns and in 2020 planned to demolish!
Those plans were only thwarted when the 2020 planning consent (which five Labour members, out of the eight Planning Committee councillors, agreed to) expired at the end of October 2023, without construction work on the development having commenced (despite Cabinet awarding Stage 1 of a Two Stage Design and Build contract, worth around £1.5m, to Hill Group in summer 2022!).
It is now twelve months since Brent Council Officers started a review* of what the future of 1 Morland Gardens should be, and their report on this has still not been published.
* If you are interested, you can read my November 2023 guest post about this, including my submission to the review (Review of Options for Morland Gardens - getting it right this time) at:
https://wembleymatters.blogspot.com/2023/11/morland-gardens-brent-council-reviews.html
Under Labour Brent Council is facing a £10 million deficit in this year's budget and similar next year. Council reserves are being used up, Council services are being CUT and jobs will be lost. Should not Labour Councillors be concentrating in sorting our the finances of Brent Council and its services first rather pursuing childish and pointless posturing ideas which simply butter up their egos?
Regarding Lebanon's C19 name, it would surely be better named Phoenicia as that instantly gives it 6,000 years cultural heritage, a safeguarding advance on 163 years which in the present history based regional politics is yesterday. Then twin Phoenicia with Greece.
A welcome proposal. And it comes at an important to time show solidarity with Palestinians facing the genocide of the IDF. Hopefully Brent will also move to divest any investments from involvement in supporting Israel, as proposed in the petition presented to the Council. Those suggesting this move somehow conflicts with fixing potholes and other `domestic' tasks (important to me too, as anyone reading Wembley Matters will know) are being disingenuous.
What freebies?
Do you know how finances work? Nothing to do with Tory central government over the last 14 years?
All we are told everyday by Brent Council is that they have no money for our depleted vital local services and severe staff shortages so please advise (a) how exactly will this initiative be funded and (b) who exactly will manage it and do all the admin work?
To reflect large local communities why hasn't Brent Labour asked that Brent Council twin with cities in places such as India, Africa, the Carribean, Brazil, Poland, Romania etc?
Thank you for reporting this and bringing it to peoples attention but it might have been helpful if you told us when the full council meeting was taking place. It is on Monday the 18th November and it begins at 6 pm this item will probably start around between 7pm and 8pm.
Get twinning, nowadays a lot of the sharing involved for this can be done online.
Even if online it still needs funding and staff to do the work.
No matter who's to blame for the lack of finances if there is no money then there is no money so who's gonna pay for this???
Who said it’s going to cost anything???
Are you aware of the context or just plain ignorant?
The real question is why are you so against this? Do you not think tee should be doing all we can to support the most vulnerable who are literally being killed out of sheer greed and maliciousness.
Residents are supporting them by donating to the relevant charities who can help immediately and long term...
Red Cross Appeal:
https://search.app?link=https%3A%2F%2Fdonate.redcross.org.uk%2Fappeal%2Fgaza-crisis-appeal&utm_campaign=aga&utm_source=agsadl1%2Csh%2Fx%2Fgs%2Fm2%2F4
Disasters Emergency Appeal:
https://search.app?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dec.org.uk%2Fappeal%2Fmiddle-east-humanitarian-appeal&utm_campaign=aga&utm_source=agsadl1%2Csh%2Fx%2Fgs%2Fm2%2F4
The British government has already donated millions in funding and has pledged to match other funds raised by these charities.
The Brent statement reads "This Council believes:
Twinning enhances bonds and improves relations between communities, creating friendships through what we have in common, as well as learning from other cultures, traditions and experiences.
Twinning allows avenues for growth through togetherness, improving understanding and ability to tackle issues through collaboration, knowledge and skill shares.
A successful twinning relationship would promote initiatives like educational collaborations, sports programmes, and heritage preservation workshops, creating long-term connections between residents and institutions and engages with local communities, cultural organisations, and leaders in both twinned regions to support the establishment of the partnership." - so why haven't Brent Council entered into twinning agreements with cities in other countries considering the communities in our very diverse borough???
Children in Need could fund this initiative?
As soon as the NDC £50 million 'pot' arrived in 2001, the Oxford Kilburn Club employed a professional fundraiser to access that 'pot'.
Better to get costings done and funding in place for an importsnt project like this before starting on something you cannot fund in future.
Perhaps the millions of pounds wasted on fireworks could instead be donated to help fund impprtant projects such as this?
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