Tribute to Brian Orr: Passionate climate campaigner before the rest of the world woke up to the threat

 

Brian Orr

Republished with permission from Brent Greens blog

Brian Orr of Brent Green Party and a former activist in the London Federation of Green Parties died on Monday 12th June, after an illness which began in Autumn last year.

Brian played a crucial role in re-starting Brent Green Party as an effective political body and went on to steer it through the early decades of this century. He was unstinting as an organiser of campaigns and as a campaigner. As Party Chair and Election agent he ensured that the party stood candidates in local, regional and national elections, and also stood as a candidate himself.

 

Brian Orr's election address to voters in the Stonebridge by-election 2007

Brian also worked with the London Federation of Green Parties as Treasurer during the time Noel Lynch was Chair of the Federation

Brian had a scientific background and training which informed his deep commitment to Green politics and ideas. Long before many others he was aware of the potentially catastrophic impacts of human-caused global climate change and its environmental feedbacks. He argued that this was manifesting itself in loss of biodiversity, especially of insects as the basis of the food chain. However he combined this understanding with a determination to enact these ideas politically as can be seen here 

So, it is no surprise that he welcomed the intervention of Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion in the climate crisis campaign. In fact, he loved the development of ideas and politics through debate with his colleagues and comrades both in person and online. We will sorely miss provocative and insightful discussions with him.

He made a significant contribution, and we will miss him. We send our sympathy and condolences to his partner Liz and the family.

Peter Murry and Martin Francis

Brent Green Party sends message of solidarity to striking Brent NEU members

The news that National Education Union members in Brent will be striking on February 1st is welcomed by Brent Green Party, who together with  the Green Party of England Wales as a whole, support all workers taking part in the current strike actions.

We recognise that NEU members are making just claims for pay increases that at least give some respite from the pressures of inflation which is outpacing the incomes of many except wealthy cabinet ministers and donors to Tory party coffers.

We know that the issue is not just pay, the NEU strikes and others are in defence of proper public provision in such vital areas such as education, health and transport. A viable low carbon economy can only be built on these foundations, so the strikes of the NEU members in Brent and many other trade unionists are an important part of wider struggles which are vital to us all.

SOLIDARITY TO THE NEU! SOLIDARITY TO STRIKERS!

Peter Murry, Trade Union Liaison Officer, Brent Green Party

Brent Green Party's Election Manifesto for the May 5th Council Election

 

The Green's Emma Wallace tops GLA Hustings straw poll after Brent Friends of the Earth hustings

 

Emma Wallace of Harrow Green Party, and out GLA constituency candidate for Brent and Harrow, convinced many environmentalists yesterday evening at the hustings organised by Brent Friends of the Earth.

Labour's Krupesh Hirani slumped to 26% after the hustings compared with 54% before he had spoken.  Emma Wallace gained 11% to take the lead and  Liberal Democrat Anton Georgiou quadrapled his vote from a meagre 4% to 17%.

The Conservative  candidate was invited but did not attend.

Brent and Harrow Greens launch crowdfunder to help Emma Wallace change London for the better - please support her

 Brent and Harrow Green Parties have launched a Crowdfunder to help Emma Wallace, our candidate in the GLA election, in her campaign. DONATE HERE

This election is held under a fair voting system so every vote counts, which makes it one of the most important election campaigns the Greens can fight.  

Greens have a great record of delivering on the London Assembly.  From getting the Mayor to declare a Climate Emergency to winning £45 million worth of funding for youth clubs.  Sian Berry and Caroline Russell, our two Green Party London Assembly members, get stuff done and we can get more Greens in the Assembly to do more!

We just need your support and hopefully your donations, because we are committed to using our platform in the Assembly to demand real change.  

We will fight for action on the climate emergency so we can create the greenest city in the world.

We have a clear plan to keep London moving. We’ll move past polluting cars and invest in the future of travel public transport, walking and cycling.

And we will bring fresh thinking to housing, aiming to make sure no one is struggling to put a roof over their head.  Every donation to this Crowdfunder is about reaching voters locally.    

In Brent and Harrow we need to reach and win over as many residents as possible.  Your donation will help us reach Londoners on social media, via the post and over the phone. 

We can’t rely on billionaires and corporate donors like the other parties.  We are a grassroots movement and your donations can help get our message through and win the support we need. 

Thank you so much,

Emma Wallace, GLA Brent & Harrow Candidate

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO DONATE

P.S. Because we're a political party

·       Please note all donations will go to Harrow Green Party to help our campaign to elect Emma Wallace to the London Assembly.

·       We're required to run permissibility checks on donations over £500. These will be completed as pledges are made. For the same reason, we cannot accept anonymous donations over £500.

·       If you make multiple donations to us, they may be aggregated for our reporting purposes.

·       Your details will appear in our election returns if valued over £500, and if you donate over £7,500 your identity will appear on the Electoral Commission website

Promoted by Martin Francis on behalf of Emma Wallace and Brent and Harrow Green Parties c/o 23 Saltcroft Close. Wembley, HA9 9JJ.

Greens Support Dawn Butler Solidarity Demonstration

Brent Trades Council, Brent Central Labour Party and Stand Up To Racism organised  a demonstration in solidarity with Dawn Butler MP (Brent Central)  after she and her staff received racist threats and windows were broken in her Walm Lane office  contributing to her decision to close it down.  She has also been attacked relentlessly on social media.

Brent Green Party, Green Party Trade Union Group and Green Left supported the demonstration and I spoke on their behalf about the importance of challenging racism and sexism and the need for democratically elected representatives to work unhindered for their constituents. It is about democracy.

I went on to warn about the need for opposition to fascism as well as racism in a new era of 'strong men' in Europe, South America  and the USA as we face possibly the worst ever econonic recession.

We have our political differences with Dawn but it is essential that  unite across parties to challenge these threats,

Brent Young Green writes on how the Green Party harnesses the radicalism of the school strikers

This article by Brent Young Greens member Macsen Brown was first published on the Bright Green blog LINK  yesetrday and is republished with the author's permission.

The campaign for the 2019 General Election is well underway, and the parties are well into the rhythm of things. The Lib Dems are cranking out their dodgy bar charts, the Tories are hitting the scene with a steady stream of lies and deception – and everyone is insisting that they’re the only party that is taking the climate emergency seriously.

But it seems to me that there is only one party that is even remotely close to understanding the radical political, economic and social change that beating this civilisational crisis requires – and that is the Green Party. This is of course my personal opinion, and by no means an endorsement of the party on behalf of the wider school strike movement or the UK Student Climate Network.

This snap election, originally called to resolve an artificial crisis of Tory/Liberal creation, comes at the end of a year of change. It is the cumulation of decades of neoliberalism, privatisation, greed and austerity – which is in itself a continuation of centuries of colonialist and capitalist exploitation of the Global South and of workers everywhere.

This crisis began centuries ago, but every day that goes by it increases in intensity. We missed our last chance to save the world decades ago, what we are trying to do now is to limit the death count and build a sustainable society that can better resist the catastrophe this system has unleashed. Friday the 29th is a Global Climate Strike, but here in the UK it is also opportunity for disenfranchised young people like myself to make our voices heard. We strike monthly because as it stands the government is not meeting our demands, the government is failing to keep us safe.

Today thousands of us will be striking to demand that the UK economy is completely decarbonised by 2030 through a Green New Deal. Integral to this is a worker-led just transition away from the fossil fuel industry and others that contribute to this climate crisis. The Green New Deal calls for the rewilding and the restoration of habitats devastated by the capitalist class’ rampant search for profit, it also calls for the elimination of inequality on a local, national and global scale. The political and economic system that gave us this crisis is responsible for the destruction of communities and lives across the UK, but also across the planet. The Green Party manifesto recognises this, pairing radical environmental policies with a social transformation on a scale that is simply not met by other parties.

The work of Labour for a Green New Deal has been phenomenal, and that the membership did indeed pass a GND resolution at their most recent conference – the fact remains that Labour’s Green Industrial Revolution (though miles ahead of the Tories’ farce of a climate policy) has been watered down by the leadership and as it stands lacks the ambition and scope of a genuine Green New Deal. They will often point to their success in getting parliament to declare a climate emergency as proof of their worthiness, but words don’t cut it alone – and besides, it was Green councillor Carla Denyer who got the first climate emergency motion passed in Bristol.

The Lib Dems similarly fall short of the line with a failure to commit to decarbonisation by 2030, and a continued endorsement of the neoliberalism and austerity that continues to ravage our climate and our communities.

We are also calling for a radical reformation of the way young people are educated about the climate crisis – that the government Teach the Future. The Green manifesto calls for an English Climate Emergency Education Act (just like TTF) as well as putting schools back into the hands of our communities, building links between students and the world around them – both human and natural. We need to start preparing young people for the new world that is coming, for better or worse; and the Green Party’s evidence-based, pragmatic policy is a step towards we need.

We are also asking that the government Tell the Future, with a massive public information campaign that ensures everyone in the UK genuinely understands the sheer scale and scope of this crisis, and what needs to be done to fight back.

Finally, the future must be empowered. This means finally giving 16 and 17 year olds the vote, as a Green government would do, but it also means going far, far beyond that. I feel very strongly that everyone living in a country has a right to take part in that country’s democratic process, that suffrage must be genuinely universal. This means extending the franchise to prisoners and migrants as well as removing the barriers that prevent people without fixed addresses from exercising their right.

But what use is having a vote if it counts for nothing? What this crisis shows us is that now, just as we always have, we need a democratic revolution. This means electing national representatives by the fairest system (STV), organising ourselves horizontally with maximal direct participation from people in their communities, making decisions as a community. It’s not just Cymru, Alba and Éire, we all need independence from Westminster.

Of course, the Green Party is not perfect, but looking at the choice that adults will have to make in December it seems to me that they’re by far the best one you can make.

It’s time we stopped settling for second best, that we stopped picking the lesser of many evils. We are often sneered at and called idealists, but in reality I can think of no party more pragmatic and rational than the Greens. There can be no delusion that things can go on as they are, that we can compromise or find a middle ground between climate justice and genocide. We must do what reality demands, not what politicians can be bothered to do.

Header image credit: Stephen Smith – Creative Commons

'Wembley Park' deny that they intend to install facial recognition cameras but restrict political leafleting

'Wembley Park' Ltd (how did they manage to take over the name of our neighbourhood?), estate managers for the Quintain development have emphatically denied rumours that they intend to install facial recognition on their estate around Wembley Stadium.

In response to an enquiry from Wembley Matters they said:

We do not operate cameras with facial recognition and have no intention of installing them.

This is good news as installation of facial recognition cameras in the Kings Cross development has been extremely contoversial both in terms of their intrusion into privacy but also because of their inaccuracy.

The issue does highlight how much of what was once public space has been privatised and access open to restrictions.

This was brought home to me last weekend when I was part of a Brent Green Party group leafleting for support for the Climate Strike on September 20th. We were giving out postcards about the strike to passersby on the space between Olympic Way and Wembley Library and were  approached by a 'Wembley Park' security guard who asked us for our licence or written permission to leaflet. When we said we had neither he asked us to move out of the area. We could only leaflet on the narrow pavement on Engineers Way. Later when we leafleted on the pedestrianised road (Boulevard) that leads from Engineers Way we were again told to move on.

Not only have they taken over our neighbourhood's name but also our freedom to interact on political matters with local people.

The security notices define what is prohibited on the estate but end with a catch-all statement that gives 'Wembley Park' total control of what happens in the area:

When we queried this with 'Wembley Park' they replied:

Like every well-managed estate, we ask anyone who wants to distribute leaflets in #WembleyPark to approach our estate team for approval and to obtain the appropriate licence from Brent Council.

We responded:

There was a lot of controversy over the Brent Council leafleting licensing scheme. It was agreed the leafleting for political purposes was exempt: https://wembleymatters.blogspot.com/2012/04/now-its-time-for-james-powney-to.html

Our leafleting was for political purposes as defined by Brent Council. We were encouraging support for the September 20th Climate Action

We believe that leafleting for political purposes is a 'civic freedom' and vital for a healthy democracy. We hope you and Brent Council agree.  https://wembleymatters.blogspot.com/2013/05/petiti

There has been no  further response from 'Wembley Park'.

Brent Green Party backs striking Strathcona School staff

Peter Murry, Trade Union Liasion Officer for Brent Green Party and the London Federation of Green Parties has issued the following statement about today's strike:

Brent Green Party and London Federation of Green Parties send support and solidarity to the staff of Strathcona School  who will be going on strike today with the support of the NEU to oppose the closure of the school.

This closure which damages the education of students at Strathcona and the communities which it serves, is happening in spite of numerous objections from students' parents and other members of the public. Brent council should be acting to defend local authority education and not diminish it. 

Brent Green's Shaka Lish speak on 'War and the Environment' Monday September 10th

Saying 'No' to Trump is not enough - we need alternatives

Shaka Lish of Brent Green Party and Greens of Colour, spoke yesterday at Brent Stands Up to Trump! a meeting called to publicise the demonstrations on July 13th and 14th. The meeting was supported by Brent Central Labour Party, Brent Stand Up to Racism and Brent Stop the War. After hearing from panelists those at the meeting organised leafleting throughout the borough to publicise the demonstrations.

Green Party Willesden Green Election Action Day Sunday June 17th

Action Day for Willesden Green by-election. Join us, take pics, help out, ask questions, grab posters & find out about @TheGreenParty! Sunday 17th June 11am-1pm Willesden Green station.

Sian Berry (Green Party Assembly Member) and Rashid Nix (Green party activist from Lambeth) will be joing us. 

Our candidates are Shaka Lish (above), William Relton and Peter Murry.

Brent Green Party launches its Manifesto for the Council Elections

Some of the eighteen Green Party candidates standing for election in Brent

Brent Green Party launched its comprehensive manifesto for the Council elections at the weekend. Candidates are standing on a platform of challenging the 'One Party' Brent Council pledging to hold the Council to account for its decisions, ensuring that its policies and decisions are robustly scrutinised, extending democracy so that all councillors have a share in decision making and putting forward imaginative and radical new ideas to improve the quality of life and life chances of Brent residents.

You can read more about Green candidiates for Brent Council HERE

The full Manifesto is available here and can be downloaded (page symbol menu bottom left):

Green councillors make a difference. Why you should vote Green on May 3rd

Brent Greens ask Council for assurances on Paddington Cemetery asbestos dump

Brent Green Party in an open letter to Carolyn Downs, Brent Council Chief Executive, has posed questions about the contaminated waste at Paddington Green Cemetery:

OPEN Letter to CEO London Borough of Brent, Councillor Butt,

Councillor Southwood cc Councillor Duffy

As Green Party Trade Union Liaison Officer for Brent and for the London Federation of Green Parties, and as a council tax paying resident of the London Borough of Brent, I am very concerned to hear from Councillor Duffy’s email, that there are contamination problems arising from the dumping and disposal of asbestos contaminated soil in Paddington Old Cemetery. 

As I am sure the CEO of Brent and the Brent Councillors dealing with this matter, are aware asbestos is relatively safe when undisturbed, but if it is caused to give off dust, which is harmful if inhaled, that dust can give rise to severe health problems which may not be apparent until years later.

I would therefore like assurances that the Council did not deliberately send asbestos contaminated waste to Paddington Old Cemetery, and that once Council became aware of the presence of such waste, it ensured that:

1.  all workers dealing with the waste were fully briefed as to its potentially hazardous nature and advised to inform their GPs of possible exposure.

2.  all workers dealing with the waste were fully equipped with appropriate protection

3.  measures were taken to ensure that the waste would affect members of the public visiting the Cemetery and the students and staff of the school which neighbours the Cemetery.

4.  the school and the NEU Health and Safety representative was notified of the presence of the waste and warned when it was likely to be disturbed.

Yours sincerely Peter Murry

Butt and Brent Momentum at loggerheads over HDV & academisation

Cllr Butt has co-signed the letter criticising the Labour NEC over their intervention on the Haringey Development Vehicle LINK. That, combined with his letter to Village School staff criticising union members over their strike action LINK, has intensified criticism from Brent Labour Party members and Brent Momentum who took to Facebook and Twitter over the weekend to express their views.

Brent Council urged to end pension fund investment in Fossil Fuels - how you can support the campaign

Green Party London Assembly Members Caroline Russell and Sian Berry with Brent Green Simon Erskine

Climate change campaigners are urging Brent Council to take its money out of fossil fuels.

A new campaign group, Divest Brent, launched this week. The activists hope to put pressure on the Council to “divest” from the fossil fuel industry by withdrawing any money they have invested in companies involved in digging for or burning coal, oil and gas.

Industry

Recently published figures indicate that the Council has over £37 million invested in the fossil fuel industry through its pension fund.

Campaigner and Green Party activist Simon Erskine explained that the divestment movement had already scored many victories in recent years and has become a powerful method of forcing organisations to consider their contribution to human-made climate change.

He told Wembley Matters: 

It sends a message to the industry and it raises awareness of the issue.

People may not already be aware of where their money is going and might be concerned to learn they are helping to finance the fossil fuel industry.

Fossil fuels belong to the past; they are not the answer to climate change, they are the problem.

In the same way, people no longer want to invest in tobacco or the arms trade.

Earlier this month a protest was staged outside City Hall to call for the Greater London Authority to divest from fossil fuels. The London Assembly has already passed a motion requesting the London Mayor to do exactly that.

Organisations in the UK that have committed to fossil fuel divestment so far include Oxford and Bristol city councils, the University of Glasgow and the British Medical Association. A number of London Boroughs have also committed – including neighbouring borough, Hammersmith & Fulham.

Globally more than 800 institutions (from government, faith-based, philanthropic and educational organisations etc), representing well over $5 trillion in assets, have committed to divest.

Ali Warrington, another Divest Brent campaigner, said:

It’s really exciting to bring the fastest-growing divestment movement in history to Brent. We need to act locally and ensure our representatives do what’s right and invest ethically. The companies they’re investing in are creating devastating climate change, and are insecure investments financially.

To support the campaign sign the petition HERE and email, Facebook and Tweet your friends urging them to sign.

This is the petition:

Brent Council should divest its pension fund from fossil fuel companies to protect the people of Brent. So we ask Brent Council to make a public divestment statement committing the Brent Pension Fund to:

1. Immediately freeze any new investment in the top 200 publicly-traded fossil fuel companies with largest known carbon reserves (oil, coal and gas)
2. Divest from direct ownership and any commingled funds that include fossil fuel public equities and corporate bonds in the top 200 list and shift these funds to lower risk, ethical investments within 5 years
3. Advocate to other pension funds, including the London Pension Fund Authority and Local Government Pension Scheme members to do the same
4. To do the above in a timely manner - by setting up a working group to report back on a strategy to bring about divestment within three months from the submission of this petition

Why is this important?

We believe divestment from fossil fuels to be not only ethically and environmentally correct, but also financially prudent.

Climate change is the greatest challenge humanity has encountered. The 20 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1981 and 2016 was the hottest ever [1]. Higher average temperatures are directly linked to extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, floods and storms.
Scientists have unanimously concluded that these changes are a consequence of human activity, arising from the burning of fossil fuels [2]. Moreover, this activity has resulted in unprecedented levels of air pollution, now regarded as a major world killer [3].

In a speech at Lloyd’s of London in September 2015, Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England said that by the time ‘climate change becomes a defining issue for financial stability, it may already be too late’. Carney warned investors that policies to address climate change ‘would render the vast majority of reserves ‘stranded’ – oil, gas and coal that will be literary unburnable’ [4].

In order to continue developing fossil fuel reserves – particularly in the difficult areas where the remaining reserves are located (including the Arctic, the mouth of the Amazon and tar sands in sensitive areas) the developing companies need investment – divestment is a way of cutting off the funds needed to carry out these damaging activities. It also sends a powerful signal to the companies and others that it is time to move away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy.

References:
[1] http://tinyurl.com/y9tkm4sn
[2] http://tinyurl.com/3e3zv
[3] http://tinyurl.com/pqgdd5q
[4] http://tinyurl.com/ycspl5sg

 

Brent Green Party backs Cllr John Duffy on waste services

Fly-tip in King's Drive, Wembley

Brent Green Party has announced that it backs Cllr John Duffy’s call for a public consultation on improving Brent Council’s environmental services.


A spokesperson said:

‘Leaving aside Cllr Duffy’s difficulties with the Labour Group we believe it is in residents’ interests to review environmental services, particularly waste collection and fly-tipping, with a view to improving efficiency and value for money.

'We know from speaking to residents that their daily experience of Brent as a ‘dirty borough’ littered with discarded mattresses, clothing and much else, is demoralising and degrading.

‘Cllr Duffy has expertise in this area that the Council should utilise rather than ignore.’

Cllr Duffy's waste strategy is outlined here
 

Greens challenge tree felling in Gladstone Park

The Green Party's parliamentary candidate for Brent Central, Shaka Lish, has challenged Brent Council about the felling of trees in Gladstone Park.

Accusing Brent Council of an act of 'wilful vandalism' she asked, 'What is the point of cutting down our beautiful, healthy, ancient trees?' She asked if the Council had any plans to replace them.

At the recent Brent Clean Air meeting at the Civic Centre, Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt, extolled the benefits of trees to combat air pollution but a closer examination shows this may be no more than hot air.

A Freedom of Information request by Wembley Matters LINK established that Brent Council keeps no records of trees lost, felled and replaced in its parks and that none of the 62 trees removed on Brent Housing Partnership estates Jan 1st-Dec 31st 2016 had been replaced.

Parks maintenance is contracted  out to Veolia as part of the Public Realm contract and Gristwood and Toms is contracted to deal with trees over a specific height.

It's ironic given all the above that Brent Council has received a Forestry Commission London's Trees and Woodland Award LINK:

Borough Tree Award - Brent Council Tree Planting Project, Sudbury Town, Barn Hill, Harlesden and Kensal Green 

The Trees and Development Award: Wembley Park – Arena Square and Wembley Park Boulevard.  Market Square (meantime planting). Quintain, London Borough of Brent