Sheila Robin: fellow activist and friend

Sheila Robin

A wave of disbelief swept through friends and fellow activists of Sheila Robin on Wednesday when  we heard of her death after a short illness.

Sheila combined energy, commitment, thoughtfulness, courage and a love of life in a unique way that makes her loss particularly painful.  Fiercely politically independent, she not only supported many campaigns but did much of the detailed  hard work that made them successful.  

Characteristically my last email from her was about the Brent Stop the War meeting that is being held on Monday. She was concerned that the title  of the talk 'Don't bomb Syria' was rather boring and uninspiring and urged people to come up with something 'brilliant'.

That nagging at the detail to get the most out of a political action was very much a Sheila trait and the annual Stop the War-Brent PSC Fundraising Garden Party was an event that brought her organising skills to the fore. She managed to persuade Julie Felix to perform this year which made it our most successful fundraiser to date.

Sheila never shrank from difficult issues, thinking exhaustively through all the principles involved, before reaching a position. I saw this close up when we were involved in the controversy over the Tricycle Theatre's decision not to accept Israeli government funding of the Jewish Film Festival.

It wasn't all hard work though, Sheila enjoyed having fun whether at the theatre, cinema, comedy club, choir or sailing!

Below are tributes from those who both worked with Sheila politically and enjoyed socialising with her:

Sheila with Brent Stop the War Banner

From Brent Stop the War Facebook: I am sorry to have to pass on the very sad news that Sheila Robin, the immensely hard working secretary of Brent Stop The War, active in the Red/Green socialist choir and many more labour movement and international campaigns died suddenly on Tuesday. 

Sheila has been absolutely central to Brent Stop the War, making it the priority of her political activity for the last few years. We will miss her immensely.

We felt that Sheila would have wanted us to proceed with Monday’s meeting and to do all we can to keep the group going, although she will be impossible to replace.

Sheila had been unwell for several months and was awaiting an operation, but we all expected her to recover in the near future, so this has come as a huge shock to us all. Our thoughts are with her daughter, Anna, and all the family at this very difficult time.

Sarah Cox (Brent Stop the War)

 
Sheila contributed so much to so many - individuals and causes.... Here is a photo of her, taken a few years ago, with her friend (and my partner) Ian Saville.  Sheila was always a person to go to for good advice. She absolutely committed to thinking and thinking and thinking again about the best way to go about things - whether it was buying a new hoover or organising a campaign or supporting family and friends with some difficulties to sort out.

Pam Laurance
  

Sheila was a dedicated and hard-working member of Brent Stop the War from its inception, taking on the role of Secretary in recent years. She worked tirelessly on fund-raising intitatives and to make our monthly meetings a success. In recent months, she was especially inspired by Jeremy Corbyn’s bid to become Labour leader, contacting repeatedly her local MP to get her to nominate him. Her persistence succeeded and Jeremy got the requisite number of nominations, allowing him to achieve today’s stunning success. It is highly poignant that Sheila is not here to share in the celebrations today. More than that, she will be greatly missed by activists in Brent who will remember her anti-war and anti-cuts campaigning and her unshakeable belief that a better world was possible. 

Mike Phipps, Chair, Brent Stop the War.

Sheila was inspiring to work with, a human Dynamo as described by Diane. 

I was inspired by Sheila to implement strategies /ideas/suggestions that were originally thought impossible or impractical. She did not follow 'a party line' and was always questioning.

She initiated contacts with a variety of community and political groups as well as individuals such as Joan Baez.

Sheila had a wide range of friends and interest.  I always enjoyed going with Sheila to mainly non mainstream theatre, comedy, concerts and cinema, although I never sailed with her  or accompanied her to distant places!

Sheila would proclaim each year she would withdraw from organising meetings and fund raising but each year she would be involved as enthusiastically as before. She was always direct and honest. 

Despite her medical problems and the associated pain and exhaustion Sheila would persevere.

We will miss her.

Liz Lindsay (Brent and Harrow Palestine Solidarity Campaign) 

There was a sense of unbearable shock to hear the news of Sheila Robin’s death. She had not been struggling with a long term illness but had died after a short period of ill health.  It was not as if she was a close friend, but it was as an activist in Jews for Justice for Palestinians that I came to know her.  She was someone who could be relied on to be open and forthright, to address issues with a passion and with commitment.  

Sheila was someone who could be relied on to make a contribution to debate and to take on the humdrum tasks that any organisation needs.  We kept bumping into one another at meetings, at events and at protests.  This is how many of us came to know and appreciate Sheila, a sound helper and comrade active in the grassroots of the movement for Palestinian self determination.   Her courage and good humour were always in evidence and it is almost impossible to absorb the fact that her vibrant personality is no longer with us.  It was a privilege to know her

Diana Neslen (Jews for Justice for Palestinians)


 I was very shocked and saddened to hear about about Sheila. She was always one of the people I could guarantee to bump into on any protest and campaign, and we waved hello to each other at the crowded Jeremy Corbyn meeting in the Camden Centre just a few weeks ago. I also used to see her occasionally in her work capacity in Islington. Wishing long life to her family and close friends.

David Rosenberg (Jewish Socialist Group)


Sheila was both a friend and a fellow activist. She was always a pleasure to work with for her enthusiasm, great ideas and energy. She was completely dedicated and an important part of a number of local, national and international campaigns and will be missed by all. I particularly appreciated her support and advice.

Aisha Maniar

Please feel free to add futher tributes as comments or by email.

It's simple: my taxes should not go to a war profiteer like Veolia

Presentation by Dan Judelson of Jews for Justice for Palestinians and a Labour Party member to Brent Executive 14 October 2013. The Executive voted to give the 9 year multi-million Public Realm contract to Veolia.

Collecting waste is one of the most basic, fundamental responsibilities of a council. Ask someone what they want in terms of local services and chances are high that they will begin any such list with “empty my bins.”

Over the last three and a half decades, there has been an enormous change in the delivery of these services and a particular upshot of that is that a waste collection contract may now be part of a lucrative business.

So it is entirely understandable that Brent residents should ask questions about where council money is being spent. One of the bidders – the remaining bidder – for this public realm contract is part of a company that derives income directly form illegal activity.

I do not want to rehash in detail all of the arguments about how this happens; I know councillors and executive members will already be aware of much of this thanks to the debate over the past few months. Yet it is worth reminding ourselves of the basics of what happens at the Tovlan landfill site, operated by Veolia, in the Jordan Valley.

It handles waste from illegal Israeli settlements on land that would form part of the putative Palestinian state. Not a pennyworth of licence fee is paid by Veolia to the Palestinian authority for this privilege. In the meantime, Israeli institutions from the government to the Army to local settlers are actively trying to take over and control the Jordan Valley.

The government of Israel financially promotes illegal settlement in the Jordan Valley. According to the Israeli NGO B’tselem ,”the average grant per capita to Israeli settlers in the West bank [has been] approximately 57% higher than the average expenditure per capita for Israeli citizens inside Israel.”

Furthermore, the head of the Jordan Valleys settlers group has stated explicitly that “Approving the programme [of expansion] will change the face of the Jordan Valley beyond recognition – beyond recognition – and attract returning sons and families from outside to come to the region. Although a political cloud – an interesting euphemism – hangs over the region, this is the way to attract residents. (Italics mark my emphasis.)

So it is crucial to recognise that we are not talking about some abstract or vague connection with illegal activity. Operation of the Tovlan site contributes directly to sustaining illegal settlements and their expansion in the Jordan Valley, something that has been acknowledged as illegal by governments around the world – including that of Israel – since at least 1968.

These are issues that have been raised during the campaign but I raise them now because they leave a number of questions unanswered.

1. We have heard that Brent Council Procurement and Legal Services have been determined to exclude such political factors from the bidding process on the basis of a legal opinion but we have heard also that this advice has been embargoed. Brent Council has to explain, why the exclusion, why the embargo?

2. We have heard, too, about the potential for legal action from Veolia should they be excluded from the bidding process. Yet they have been excluded or have not been awarded contracts in the West Midlands, in Ealing, Richmond and East Sussex. They have been denied business in Dublin. Utrecht and The Hague – not to mention, far closer to home, the North and the West London Waste Authorities. I would like to know if Brent Council consulted with any of these bodies to try ad establish the ground on which these contracts were not awarded or the bidder excluded from the tendering process.

3. Current EU guidelines state that the EU will not enter into any contract or relationship with a company or organisation that operates in the illegally occupied West Bank. This is sure to affect EU law across the 27 states over the duration of the public realm contract being discussed here tonight. Has this factor been considered by the council executive?

4. Given what we know about Veolia’s operations in the West Bank, what consideration has been given to attaching conditions or riders to this very long contract, offering Veolia an opportunity to divest itself of the illegal operations we have heard about tonight.

Councillors, there are members of the Green Party, the Labour Party, of Stop the War, of Brent PSC and I myself am a signatory of Jews for Justice for Palestinians. But we are here tonight to decide the best course of action for Brent residents no matter what their political allegiance of campaign affiliation.

Hello. My name is Dan Judelson. I have lived in Algernon Road, Kilburn for the past 15 years and as a Brent resident and council-tax payer, I object most strenuously to my taxes going to fill the coffers of a war profiteer like Veolia. It’s as simple as that.

Jewish support for Bin Veolia in Brent Campaign - the letter not published by local press

Neither the Kilburn Times nor the Wembley and Willesden Observer published a letter sent a few weeks ago on the issue of Veolia and the Brent Public Realm contract. In the light of the barring of discussion of a Lib Dem motion on the subject at the last Brent Council meeting and subsequent coverage in the Times of Israel LINK I publish the the letter below.

Despite a Freedom of Information request Brent Council have still not answered two of the three questions posed  LINK  They have confirmed that the three short-listed companies for the £250m 16 year contract are Veolia, Enterprise and Serco.

LETTER TO EDITOR Human rights and the public realm contract

We are writing to ask your readers to support our campaign to persuade Brent Council to act to defend justice and human rights. The Council is about to award a contract worth more than £250m over 16 years for the collection and recycling of waste, street cleaning and parks maintenance. This is  money paid in general taxation and council tax by Brent citizens that could go to a firm accused of grave misconduct in its abuse of justice and human rights in the occupied territories of Palestine.

 

Veolia, one of the  bidders  for the contract supports Israeli settlements  on Palestinian  land, which are illegal under international law, by:

 

1. Sharing in the building and running of the Jerusalem Light Railway between West Jerusalem and the illegal settlement in Pisgat Zeev.
2. Running bus routes that link illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank to Israel and that discriminates against Palestinians.
3. Owning and operating the Tovlan landfill site that dumps rubbish from Israel and its illegal settlements on to Palestinian land.

 

We have presented legal evidence on these issues to Brent Council in a campaign to persuade them to exclude Veolia from the current procurement on the grounds of its ‘grave misconduct’.

 

This included a statement from Richard Falk of the UN which said: “Veolia is an inappropriate partner for any public institution, especially as a provider of public services.”

 

However, Brent Council has gone ahead and short-listed Veolia, along with Serco and Enterprise for the contract. Council officers have refused to answer our questions on the procurement process the most important of which are:

 

1. Why did you decide not to exercise your discretionary power to exclude Veolia?

2. What legal or other advice led you to this decision?

3. Have the allegations of grave misconduct been put to Veolia and if so what was the response?

 

We think these are reasonable questions that deserve an answer. In a number of recent procurement cases Veolia has withdrawn from the bidding process when the third question has been put.

 

Our campaign is cross-party and community-based and involves people of many faiths and none. Readers can get involved by signing our petitions on line or on paper which are available at http://www.brentpsc.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Brent Council, representing a borough with a diverse population from many ethnic and religious backgrounds, should stand up for human rights and social justice and exclude Veolia from the procurement process.

 

Beryl  Maizels

Leon Rosselson

Sheila Robin

Jews for Justice for Palestinians on behalf of the Bin Veolia in Brent Campaign.

Jewish Boat Sailing Soon for Gaza

In a harbour in the Mediterranean (we're not yet disclosing which one) a small vessel is waiting for a special mission. She will be sailing to Gaza. In order to avoid sabotage, the exact date and name of the port of departure will be announced only shortly before her launch.

"Our purpose is to call an end to the siege of Gaza, to this illegal collective punishment of the whole civilian population. Our boat is small, so our donations can only be symbolic: we are taking school bags, filled with donations from German school children, musical instruments and art materials. For the medical services we are taking essential medicines and small medical equipment, and for the fishermen we are taking nets and tackle. We are liaising with the medical, educational and mental health services in Gaza..

''In attacking the Freedom Flotilla, Israel has once again demonstrated to the world a heinous brutality. But I know that there are very many Israelis who compassionately and bravely campaign for a just peace. As broadcasting journalists from mainstream television programmes are accompanying our boat, Israel will have a great chance to show the world that there is another way, a way of courage not fear, a way of hope not hate'', says Edith Lutz, one of the organizers and passenger on the ''Jewish boat''.

The ''Jüdische Stimme'' (Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Near East), along with her friends of EJJP (European Jews for a Just Peace in the Near East) and Jews for Justice For Palestinians (UK) are sending a call to the leaders of the world to help Israel find her way back to reason, a sense of humanity and a life without fear. ''Jewish Voices'' expects the political leaders of Israel and the world to guarantee a safe passage for the small vessel to Gaza, thus helping to form a bridge towards peace.

Contacts:

Edith Lutz, EJJP-Germany  +15204519740

Kate Leiterer, EJJP- Germany  +1629660472472

Glyn Secker, Jews for Justice For Palestinians (UK)