MEETING: In Gaza a 'live-streamed genocide' is ongoing: what are we doing? Tuesday 24th September. RALLY: Divest from Palestine Rally at Brent Civic Centre Thursday September 19th 5pm

 

Exploring what is happening in Gaza, the role of the UK government & media, and how the UK public is responding to 'live-streamed genocide'. Organised by Kensal and Kilburn Better 2023

St Lukes West Kilburn,  Fernhead Road London W9 3EH

Tuesday, September 24 · 7 - 8:30pm

 

 TICKETS

 

 SPEAKERS

Ahmed Alnaouq, Palestinian journalist based in London. Co-founder of We Are Not Numbers

Matt Kennard, Co-founder/Investigations at Declassified UK. Author, latest book, The Racket

Sheila Gudhadasan, Chair of Brent and Harrow Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Layla Carmey, Expert in international law

 

Israel is on trial at the International Court of Justice for the crime of genocide in Gaza.

This is the first time in history that people have been able to see daily atrocities, supported by Western democracies, in near real time.

This event will explore what is happening in Gaza, the role of the UK government and media and how the British public is responding to 'live-streamed genocide'.

EDITOR'S NOTE

 

📢 BRENT COUNCIL RALLY -  DIVEST FOR PALESTINE
🗓️Thurs 19th Sept
🕔 5pm Rally | 6pm Council Meeting
📍Outside Brent Civic Centre, Wembley Park, HA9 0FJ
Join Brent & Harrow PSC as we present our petition calling on Brent Council to divest for Palestine.

Use this e-action to email your Brent councillors ahead of the meeting (2 mins):
https://palestinecampaign.eaction.online/councilloraction
 

On Thursday September 19th a petition will be presented to Brent Council calling for the Brent Local Government Pension Fund to divest for Palestine. The petiton reads:

We ask Brent Council to stand on the right side of history and join the growing number of councils and other public bodies and institutions divesting for Palestine.

We, the undersigned, call on Brent Council to:

1. Divest all funds administered by the Council, including Local Government Pension Scheme funds, from companies complicit in Israel’s genocide and apartheid against Palestinians. This includes arms companies supplying Israel with weapons and military technology; companies providing infrastructure for Israel’s unlawful military occupation of Palestinian land; and companies conducting business activity in Israel’s illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land.
   
   
2. Use its influence as part of London Collective Investment Vehicle (CIV) to publicly lobby it to divest from companies enabling Israel's human rights abuses. 
   
   
3. Commit to end procurement contracts with companies complicit in Israel’s attacks. For example, end any banking arrangements with Barclays, which provides substantial financing to companies supplying Israel with weapons used in its attacks on Palestinians.

 

 

Is the Prevent Strategy protecting our liberty or threatening it? Have your say on Thursday

Prevent is the government strategy aimed at preventing young people becoming 'extremists'. It requires workers in education, health and social services to report them if they show signs of extremism. It hs been criticised for targeting the whole Muslim community and having the effect of closing down free expression in schools and colleges. Children as young as three years old have been reported for 'extremist' views.

There are fears that the strategy will be counter-productive, create suspicion and division and undermine the trusting relationship between teachers, parents and students.


The meeting will include speakers from education, the local community and anti-racist campaigns. Shahrar Ali will be speaking from the Green Party.

It is at London Interfaith Centre, 125 Salusbury Road, Queens Park, NW6 6RG. Queens Park or Brondesbury Park station or bus 206. 7pm-9pm December 10th

Demonstrate against austerity & in defence of unions this week

The General Election result demonstrated that the anti-austerity message failed to get through to the English electorate with the Green Party and TUSC getting nowhere near the kind of breakthrough achieved by the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales.

There is some comfort in the Spanish election result with Podemos doing well and the win by Ada Colau in Barcelona who was a leading activist in the anti-eviction Platform for Mortgage Victims but the grim truth for us is that we face 5 years of pro-austerity Tory government with no sign of an anti-austerity leftist standing for leadership of the Labour Party.

Ada Colau celebrates in Barcelona

Podemos celebrates in Madrid

In this context, as in Greece and Spain, people are turning to the task of building an anti-austerity coalition and a strategy involving direct action, civil disobedience and new non-sectarian ways of organising that arise from local struggles.

The big People's Assembly Against Austerity demonstration in Manchester's Piccadilly Gardens at the weekend (see below) which was supported by the Green Party demonstrated that there is an appetite in this country to build such a movement.

The Radical Assembly organised by Brick Lane Debates brought together more than 1,000 activists the previous week and it will important that they and the People's Assembly work together.

Here is the Brick Lane Debates statement and proposal for the General Assembly:

Why we have called this meeting:

The general election result has created a crisis. A hard-right austerity regime has taken power with the support of barely one in three voters and one in four of the adult population. The rich are celebrating: the stocks of banks, multinational companies and property developers are soaring. The rest of us will be made to pay.

The reaction has been massive. Thousands of people have joined angry anti-Tory protests, and thousands say they are coming to meetings to discuss what to do. A space has opened up for something that is truly democratic, bottom-up, radical, and based on mass action from below.

Our hope and aim is the creation of a new joined-up radical left movement or network. The movement will be shaped by all of us in the days ahead. But our initial proposals are:

• A movement made up of groups which keep their independence but come together to support each other’s campaigns and plan action.

• A movement rooted in real, localised campaigns and wider struggles, especially those in which the people themselves organise to fight back against injustice and oppression.

• A movement united on every issue – on unemployment and unaffordable rents, on fracking and climate change, on tuition fees and student debt, on the gentrification of our communities, on the privatisation of the NHS, on the violence and racism of the police, on the criminalisation of the homeless and the poor, and so many more.

• A movement controlled democratically, from below, with a loose federal structure which can accommodate an expanding number of independent radical groups and assemblies within it.

• A movement united around broad anti-capitalist aims, these to be formulated by the constituent groups, but agreed by general assemblies.

• A movement which aims to grow and unite people in active struggle against the system.

The People's Assembly is planning further action leading up to the big June 20th demonstration and beyond but it will be important that we are not limited to national demonstrations that like the Grand Old Duke of York lead us up to the top of the hill and down again with little to show for the effort. Action will need to be taken at local level.

Speak Out Against Austerity, Harelsden, Saturday

Progress and success will need to be measured in concrete gains: government measures thwarted, evictions prevented, developers forced to build truly affordable housing,  privatisation defeated, rather than just how many people take part in a march.

The People's Assembly is organising a protest on Wednesday May 27th 'Protest the Queen's Speech - End Austerity Now' assembly in Downing Street at 5.30pm.

The PAAA say:

The Queen's Speech May 27th will set out the the government's legislative plans for the parliamentary session ahead. What can we expect? Massive cuts to welfare, more attacks on immigrants, attempts to limit the right for unions to take strike action, more free schools and academies, abolishing the Human Rights Act and an extension of 'right to buy' ending social housing as we know it. Please do all you can to come down to this important protest.

Then on Saturday  May 30th the PCS union are holding a demonstration in Trafalgar Square, 'Hands Off Our Unions' at 1pm:

This government is attempting to extend the anti-union laws. They want to make it impossible for unions to take strike action. New proposals include imposing a ban on strike action unless at least 40% of union members vote in favour of strike action - hypocritical for a government who gained less than 25% of the populations vote.

This rally is also in support of PCS members in dispute at the National Gallery, striking over attempts to privatise sections of the service.

All this builds up to what is hoped to be a huge demonstation against austerity on June 20th LINK:

Update: Gazan film maker refused New York passage by British Airways

UPDATE (4.08.14) FIDA IS NOW SAFELY IN NEW YORK

On Thursday evening the audience for a showing of 'Where should the Birds Fly' by Gazan film maker Fida Qishta overflowed on to the pavement outside Rumi's cafe in Kilburn. The venue was so crowded that Brent and Harrow PSC have arranged another showing for Monday 11th August.

On the sound track Fida described her camera as her only weapon in fighting for her people. Her deeply moving  film describes the occupation and war from the inside. In the Q&A the audience urged her to get the film shown in the US as that is such a bastion of support for Israel.

In fact Fida was due to fly to New York yesterday but was stopped from boarding her flight by Britsih Airways at its London stop over because she had been denied a visa to board at its origin in Germany.

BA's decision has angered campaigners anxious to get the Gazan people's views out to the world and supporters are urged to write to BA to protest.  E-mail addresses: keith.x.williams@ba.com and willie.walsh@ba.com

Sample letter below:

Calls to support demonstration at Israeli Embassy on Saturday

As the Israeli army mobilises close to the Gaza strip Brent and Harrow Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Brent Stop the War are urging supporters to join the demonstation outside the Israeli Embassy in London at 2pm on Saturday.

The Palestione Solidarity Campaign said

Palestinians are currently facing a horrific escalation of racism and violence as the Israeli State pursues a strategy of collective punishment following the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers (read PSC's statement>).   Today we learnt of the abduction and brutal death of a Palestinian teen – 17 year old Mohammed Abu Khdair in what has been described in the press as a ‘revenge’ attack by Israeli terrorists.   Mohammed’s body was found in Jerusalem after a day and evening of Israeli protests that turned into mobs streaming through the streets of the Old City and east Jerusalem chanting ‘Death to Arabs’. Palestinians were pulled from their cars and beaten.   Palestinians protesting against Mohammed’s death on Wednesday were met by rubber bullets and tear gas from Israeli police, with a Palestinian TV crew and protesters injured.   The Israeli leaders incited the mobs, including Netanyahu, by their calls for ‘vengeance’ against ‘human animals’, and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon talked about “settling the score”.   Calls for justice for Mohammed’s murder and restraint from our government, are woefully inadequate, given the current situation. The British government must clearly condemn Israel's incitement to hatred and violence. They must take action to end Israel’s crimes, violence, occupation, racism and apartheid – and end its war on Palestinians.

Is this 'freedom from control' Michael Gove?

Michael Gove in his arguments for academies and free schools always emphasises that they will be 'free of local authority control' and further can make their own decisions about the curriculum. Of course the real situation in local authority schools is that strategic direction is decided for each school by a representative governing body with elected parent and staff representatives alongside members or nominees of  the democratically elected local authority.  He fails to mention that academies and free schools, directly funded by the government, are in the final analysis under government control - in effect 'nationalised' schools.

His advocacy of 'freedom' is limited however. He is keen to put foward his own ideas about what should be in the curriculum, including British narrative history, and exposed his nascent authoritarianism last week by putting pressure on schools in Islington and Haringey to cancel pupil trips to the weekend's Tottenham Palestinian Literacy Festival where children's writer and broadcaster Michael Rosen was due to speak.Children were going to take part in workshops on human rights and living under occupation and encouraged to enter a creative writing competition.

Schools decided not to take part after being contacted by the Department for Education officials who asked them if they were meeting their responsibilities under the 1996 Education Act (Section 407) to provide both sides of opposing political views. The festival was organised by a branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Jeremy Corbyn MP for Islington North, who supports the festival, said: "It was a great opportunity for children to understand the wealth and joy of Palestinian literature and a little of the history of the region. It's not in any way biased, but a festival which encourages children to broaden their horizons. The children were looking forward to it."

There are some interesting comments on the Evening Standard's website about the decision LINK including this one with which I strongly agree::

I find it astounding that the Education Secretary has stepped in to prevent schools having access to a literary festival. It's a repressive and frightening decision, and also a breach of the Human Rights Act.

To quote from article ten.

"Everyone has the right of freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This Article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises."

By not allowing schools to take part, Michael Gove is denying the right of freedom of speech, which is a matter of great concern, given he's a government official.

This comment gives the literary background:

Poetry has always been the Arab world's dominant literary form. When Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish died in 2008 he was honoured with a state funeral and three days of national mourning. (I recommend the long poem 'The Siege' for starters) Mourid Barghouti is another Palestinian poet of international stature - try 'Midnight' (Arc Press). Lately, Palestinians writing in English have distinguished themselves in the field of memoir: you could start with Ghada Karmi's beautifully written 'In Search of Fatima'; Raja Shehadah's personal guide to the West Bank 'Palestinian Walks' (Winner of the George Orwell Award), and Karl Sabbagh's Palestine: A Personal History' Ghada and Karl were key speakers at the Festival, as was Selma Dabbagh, whose first novel 'Out of It' is due to be published by Bloomsbury this winter. I do hope you explore these writers, whose stories fill in the huge gaps left by our media when it comes to the Palestinian narrative. As a member of PSC - an anti-racist organization - I myself will be working to help challenge Gove's outrageous and potentially slanderous decision.

The curriculum of our schools has always been a contested area and the clash was probably at its sharpest when Margaret Thatcher and Norman Tebbit  abolished the progressive Inner London Education  Authority. Tebbit accused ILEA schools of  driving children to truancy by teaching  'anti-sexist, anti-racist, gay, lesbian, CND rubbish' in schools. Margaret Thatcher said, 'You know about political indoctrination in some of the inner cities. Well, I could show you examination papers.... I sometimes look at the Continent, where they have not only a core curriclum but a core syllabus. That would be an enormous leaps for us to take, because my generation still recoils from having a system that any government could manipulate...What we are considering is whether we should take that leap.'

Both Conservative and Labour governments did take that approach and Gove is moving towards imposing his own control under the guise of opposing that of  local authorities.

Interestingly on March 31st  2010, before the General Election, Liberal Democrat Friends of  Palestine warned about a Conservative win:

If the Conservatives win the election, the influence of the Greater Israel lobby –those extremists who believe Israel has a right to add to its territory by swallowing up land it conquered in 1967, rather than by negotiating fair boundaries with thePalestinians on an arms-length basis - will increase. Extreme Conservative views are exemplified by those of Michael Gove MP. Find out about them at http://www.ldfp.eu/gove.htm

Needless to say that link no longer works - the page has been removed.

NO HIDING PLACE FOR LIVNI

The Brent branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign were organisers of a demonstration by the PSC and other Palestine solidarity organisations outside the Hendon Hall Hotel in North London on Sunday. The protest was against the Jewish National Fund's decision to ask Tzipi Livni to address their Conference at the hotel. Livni is the former Foreign Minister of Israel who justified the bombing of civilians during the Gaza offensive of December 2008 and January 2009 which resulted in the deaths of 1400 Palestinians, many of them children, and injured 5,000.

The venue had been kept a secret by the organisers to prevent demonstrators disrupting the event but protestors had discovered where the meeting was to be held by last Friday. A quick mobilisation by telephone, text and internet followed.

About 100 demonstrators braved a cold Sunday morning to make their views known. In the event it turned out that Livni had cancelled her trip for fear of being arrested for war crimes. See the Guardian

The Hendon Hall Hotel had been kept in the dark about who the special guest was and the manager has reportedly since apologised for having hosted the conference and told the JNF that they are banned from using the hotel again. She sincerely regrets any upset caused and said that she was unaware of the political situation in Gaza and Tzipi Livni's role. She has apparently offered a free B&B as a prize in a raffle run by any charity supporting Palestinians.

Full report on the demonstration and pictures HERE