Showing posts with label Racist van. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Racist van. Show all posts

Wednesday 1 January 2014

Battling Brent in 2013

Brent was a battlefield in 2013 as campaigners challenged both the Coalition's attack on the welfare state and the Labour Council's 'dented shield' approach to cuts.  Some of these campaigns made national headlines, many were unsuccessful, some won minor concessions and there were a few victories.

 The Home Office campaign to send a van round around areas of high diversity, including Brent, urging immigrant to 'Go Home' aroused immediate opposition which was spear-headed by Brent ace tweeter @PukkahPunjabi using the #racistvan tag. A mixture of mobilisations when vans were spotted, photoshopped parodies, official complaints to tha ASA and EHRC, and protests by politicians including Muhammed Butt led eventually to the vans being dropped.

Following revelations by the BBC that two Willesden letting agencies were colluding with landlords who did not want Black tenants there was another speedy mobilisation by campaigners which was supported by some Labour councillors and some of the Labour candidates for the Brent Central parliamentary nomination. Council leader Muhammed Butt said he would speak to Brent Trading Standards officers about the issue but I have not yet heard of any outcome.

Brent Council was the target for a a demonstration outside Willesden Magistrates Court when the Council summonsed 3,300 people for non-payment of Council Tax. These were low-income people, already hit by benefit cuts, often having to pay the tax for the first time after the Council introduced its Council Tax Support scheme. Council leader Muhammed Butt argued that the summonses were the only way to get to talk to the people affected. The Council later revealed in an under-publicised 'consultation' that it wanted to continue the scheme with just a few tweaks.

The Counihan-Sanchez Family Campaign which began when Brent Council made a local family homeless, broadened out into a campaign on local housing taking up issues regarding the bedroom tax, benefit cuts and evictions. Brent Housing Action was formed to link activists, tenants and housing organisations in a united campaign which also covered Brent's growing private rented sector. The Kilburn Unemployed Workers' group developed  its work of defending and supporting unemployed workers through regular meetings to share experiences and ideas.

Gladstone Park Primary parents formed an action group to oppose the school's forced academisation following a poor Ofsted report. They demanded a democratic say in the school's future and urged the Council to support them in arguing that the school, supported by the local authority had the capacity to improve. Unequivocal support was not forthcoming and eventually governors having argued for the right to choose their own sponsor chose CfBT. The parents' campaign put forward the idea of a federation with an 'outstanding' school in Camden as an alternative but the Council turned this down only for the idea to emerge again last month with the head of that school being appointed as Executive head before CfBT took over in April 2014. Unfortunately that fell through when Camden decided that because of changing circumstances  at her school they no longer supported her appointment to Gladstone Park. The school is left in limbo for the Spring term.

Copland High School was similarly faced with forced academisation following a poor Ofsted.
The school, already suffering financial problems because of the bonus scandal and a very poor building, had an Interim Executive Board imposed on it by Brent Council and a new management that swiftly made staff redundant and life uncomfortable for those remaining. A pupil petition in support of  the school staff brought no response from the Council and lead member for Children and Families, Michael Pavey, declared there was 'no alternative to academisation'.

At a public meeting Pavey later said that the academy sponsor would not necessarily be Ark, despite the fact that pupils had been sent a letter announcing the appointment of Delia Smith of Ark as Executive head teacher.  Copland unions have come out on strike several times against academisation and for a democratic ballot of all involved and will continue the battle in 2014.

The fragmentation of education in the borough continued with the approval by Michael Gove of three secondary free school to open in September 2014. The most controversial is the Michaela Community School, the brain child of Katharine Birbalsingh, who wowed the Tory Conference years ago with her account of teaching in a comprehensive school. In a minor victory Michaela was forced to take down a huge banner on their proposed building for which they had not had planning permission. More importantly an FoI request established that they school had received only 50 first preferences for 120 Year 7 places. The other two schools, Gladstone and,Gateway, whilst recruiting Year 7s for 2014 have still not got premises.

Brent Fightback, sponsored by Brent Trade Union Council, has been active in many of these campaigns and was central to the campaign to save Central Middlesex A&E from closure under the Shaping a Healthier Future proposals. Unfortunately Brent Council failed to rise to the occasion and did not offer the same degree of support as Ealing Council did for their local campaign on Ealing Hospital. Although they joined in the march to Save Central Middlesex they did not advertise their opposition, circulate leaflets or hold public meetings as Ealing had done. They only belatedly came out in opposition and support the campaign that Fightback and Save Our NHS were fighting. The closure of A&E was approved by the Secretary of State and there are currently consultations on the future of the site, including its use as a 'hub' for a variety of activities.

There was also a huge national campaign in defence of the NHS and its privatisation in which Brent campaigners played a part. Privatisation involves out-sourcing service such as Blood Transfusion as well as smaller ones in particular NHS districts. In Brent you can often find yourself referred to a private service by your GP and the battle to ensure that local commission groups procure from within the NHS is a continuing battle.


The Bin Veolia in Brent Campaign challenged Brent Council on ethical procurement. They argued that council tax money should not go to Veolia, a company that profits from its operations in  support of  illegal settlements in Occupied Palestine. Labour councillors refused to make a political decision but instead hid behind legal arguments from officers. Despite support for the campaign from thousands of local residents, the Trade Union Council, Brent Central Labour GC, Hampstead & Kilburn Labour GC and potential Labour parliamentary candidates as wellas the Lib Dem Council opposition, Brent Council approved the awarding of the contract to Veolia.

During the campaign Executive members at times spoke about the possibility of the Council adopting an ethical procurement policy but little has been heard of it since. The Council has continued to out-source services and has refused to answer, on grounds of cost, my Freedom of Information request asking how many of its out-sourced suppliers and services pay the London Living Wage.

Brent Green Party consistently opposed the building of a new £100m Civic Centre as a grandiose and wasteful vanity project. It is now open and has encountered problems with IT and its telephone system. In a fairly typical PR failure the Council spent more than £90,000 on an opening ceremony claiming this was a tiny drop of expenditure amidst the millions of pounds cut from their budget by the Coalition.

Brent Council has a policy of selling off its land to developers to help finance new facilities which they then claim are 'at no cost to residents'. They approved the redevelopment of Willesden Green Library which involved a land transfer to Galliford Try in exchange for a new Cultural Centre to replace the Willesden Green Library Centre.  The Cultural Centre  will have a smaller foorprint than the Library Centre and will not include space for the Willesden Bookshop.

The luxury flats built by the developer went on sale in Singapore with a unique selling point: assuring would be purchasers that they would not include keyworker housing or affordable housing on the same site - i.e.no poor people on site.

The Keep Willesden Green campaign were defeated in their  valiant attempt to keep the public space in front of the library but did retain the historic Victorian library.

An independent campaign for the 2014 local elections has emerged from the struggl, and the resulting community solidarity, in the form of Make Willesden Green which is standing Alex Colas as a candidate.

Library campaigns have been particularly resilient and good at building social solidarity in their areas through a variety of activities including pop up libraries, reading festivals, pub quizzes, 'Light of Learning' runs between the closed libraries as well as taking on the Council, All Souls College, developers and the Secretary of State.

An issue that needs resolving early in 2014 is the alleged fraudulent submissions to the planning department supporting developer Andrew Gillick's plans for Kensal Rise Library. Brent Council has passed the details to the police but no action has yet resulted.

Another development issue to be resolved in 2014 is the future of Willesden Green's Queensbury pub. The Brent Conservative Party sold the building off to a developer who plans a 10 storey block of flats. After a concerted campaign the Council granted the pub Asset of Community Value status, not least because of its use by toddler groups. The developer has revised plans to offer a smaller pub/wine bar/community space but opposition continues on the basis of the inadequacy of the offer and the inappropriateness of the new building in the local context.

One of my great regrets of 2013 is our failure, despite an energetic cross-party and cross-borough campaign to stop an enormous development on the Barnet side of the Welsh Harp. Luxury tower blocks (again!) will loom over the reservoir, bird sanctuary, nature reserve and SSSI.  Campaigners addressed the Barnet Plannning Committee to no avail, protested about hat appeared to be a very biased presentation by the planning officer and took the issue to Boris Johnson's planners at the GLA. The development will go ahead in 2014.

The campaign against the Harlesden Incinerator had similarities in so far as it was again just across the border from Brent, this time in Ealing, but affecting Brent residents. It also involved some cross-party support and local residents.

The campaign was successful in getting the decision deferred for further investigation about the dangers posed by emissions.

At the turn of the year it appeared that the proposal is unlikely to go ahead because the site is needed for the HS2 project, which in the broad sweep of things may not represent a victory for the environment but may relieve the local residents.

My favourite positive story of the year has to be the opening of the new Chalkhill Park in Wembley. A lot of pressure had to be exerted to bring the project to fruition but it is transforming the estate through providing a public and social space for all ages.

The picture shows the official opening with the Chalkhill Primary School Carnival but in reality children had opened the park themselves weeks previously, unable to resist the swings and climbing equipment.

Next year is going to be hard but it does give us an opportunity in the local and Euro elections to use the ballot box to register our views on what has been going on. Of course I hope that many will choose to vote Green but I also hope that all readers will continue to campaign energetically for environmental and social justice - locally, nationally and internationally.










Wednesday 23 October 2013

Jean Lambert welcomes scrapping of racist van campaign

Speaking after Home Secretary Theresa May announced the government would be scrapping the use of an advertising campaign condemned as racist and misleading, London's Green MEP Jean Lambert said:

It's to be welcomed that the Government has, eventually, agreed to scrap the much-criticised and xenophobic campaign telling undocumented migrants in London to 'go home or face arrest'.

The call to 'go home' is an ugly reference to a traditional racist taunt, and given that some of London's foreign-born population have fled regimes threatening therm with arrest for their racial, sexual, religious or national identity, deeply offensive.

In July two advertising vans drove around the London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge, Barnet, Brent, Ealing and Hounslow, some of the most diverse areas of the capital, displaying a picture of handcuffs and the slogan: "In the UK illegally?... GO HOME OR FACE ARREST."

The advert said there had been 106 arrests in the area in the past week and encouraged illegal immigrants to contact immigration officials for information on how they could be helped to leave the country.

The adverts were widely condemned as offensive and racist at the time, and the Advertising Standards Authority, which condemned the ad-vans as 'misleading' earlier this month, received more than 200 complaints about their use.

Jean Lambert, who is the Green Party's spokesperson on immigration, said:

I know from discussing the campaign with some of London's migrants and bodies working on their behalf that it has caused real stress to Londoners

I'm only sorry it took criticism from the advertising watchdog finally to persuade the coalition government to scrap the use of the ad-vans, which were deployed across London earlier this year - mainly in areas with a high proportion foreign-born residents.
I would argue that it was not  the ASA who forced the government to abandon its plans but the huge campaign against it launched on Twitter and then taken up by organisations, campaigns, councils and local activists.


Tuesday 20 August 2013

Kensal Green Cupcakes against UKBA,

We like diversity!
  Guest blog

We’re a group of local Brent residents and we’d like you to join us for a free cup cake session in protest of the UKBA’s recent actions in Kensal Green and other London boroughs. We appreciate the diversity of our neighbourhoods and do not want racial profiling in the area.
Cup cakes will be available for all, while stocks last, at:

Kensal Green Tube Station
on Friday 23 of August -  from 5pm onwards.

Look forward to seeing you there.

Peace .

Monday 12 August 2013

'Racist van' will not return without consultation following legal action threat


Solicitors Deighton Pierece Glynn issued the following statement this morning:

The Home Office have agreed never to run adverts telling migrants to go home again without consulting.
Following our letter to the Home Office, threatening legal action of the decision to pilot a campaign driving large vans around London which displayed messages telling migrants to ‘go home’, the Government has confirmed that if any further campaigns of a similar nature are planned, they would carry out a consultation with local authorities and community groups. The Government accepted that the purpose of consulting would be so that it could have ‘due regard’ to the effect a campaign of this nature would have on the communities living in the affected areas.

Our clients’ legal challenge was based on the Government’s failure to comply with the public sector equality duty under the Equality Act 2010. This duty requires the Government to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and harassment based on race and religion, as well as to foster good relations between people from different racial and religious groups. Due to the inflammatory nature of the campaign, as voiced by several prominent public figures including Vince Cable MP and the leaders of Brent and Redbridge Councils, the due regard duty was high, and a consultation should have been carried out before the pilot began so that the Government could have properly considered the effect of the campaign before deciding whether to go ahead.

The one week pilot has ended. However, the Government has provided an assurance that if the Home Office were to carry out any further campaigns of this nature it would have due regard to the effect this would have on migrants living in those communities and in so doing would carry out a consultation. Any such consultation would of course have to be meaningful.

One of our clients, Raymond Murray, commented:
 I’m very pleased the Home Office has seen sense and will do things differently in future, and hopefully they’ll never try a stunt like this again.
Refugee and Migrant Forum of East London (RAMFEL) and Migrant Rights Network (MRN) will be running a series of workshops across London to support those interested in campaigning against the Government’s anti-immigration policies. Solicitors from Deighton Pierce Glynn and Bhatt Murphy will be on the discussion panels. See here for further information.

The Claimants are represented by Louise Whitfield and Sasha Rozansky.

Register for the workshops HERE

Tuesday 6 August 2013

Racist van? Tweet for Liberty


Liberty have launched their own anti-racist van as a riposte to the Home Office 'Go Home' campaign. It will be driving around Westminster today. Liberty asks anyone who spots the van to Tweet a picture to them at @libertyhq

Their article on the Go Home campaign can be read HERE

UPDATE Tuesday PM Earlier today the anti-racist van was in Brent  parked outside Kensal Green Station which UK Border officers raided last week leaflets were given out to passengers and passersby.

KILBURN TIMES REPORT

Wednesday 31 July 2013

Greens leaflet Kensal Green station after UKBorders raid


Brent Green Party leafleted commuters at  Kensal Green station this morning following yesterday's raid by UK Borders officers in which thre people were arrested.

It is reported that they were at Cricklewood station this morning and also at Stratford;

The leaflet (see below) set out the rights of people who are stopped by the officers.

Sarah Teather doubts PM's claims on 'racist van' campaign

Sarah Teather MP, Liberal Democrat, Brent Central, reacting to David Cameron's spokeperson's claim  that the 'racist van' campaign was working, said:
I am extremely sceptical that these adverts are having any effect other than to annoy and upset local residents. The reaction over the last week would certainly suggest that Conservative Ministers are among a very small minority who think the vans are a good idea. "I await the detailed statistics and analysis of the trials which backs up No 10's claim with bated breath. But I dare say that this is a desperate attempt to try and save face in the face of overwhelming public hostility.
With the campaign now condemned by Vince Cable as 'stupid and offensive' and in somewhat milder terms by Nick Clegg, we have to ask how much longer the Liberal Democrats can continue in coalition with such a morally bankrupt and divisive Conservative Party.

Tuesday 30 July 2013

Jenny Jones condemns Coalition's 'senseless' lurch to right on immigration

GREEN Party London Assembly member Jenny Jones has condemned the Coalition Government’s “senseless” lurch to the right on immigration.

Last week, the Home Office’s ‘Go Home or Face Arrest’ vans were piloted in London. They were branded #racistvan by critics on Twitter and Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable described the campaign as "stupid and offensive."

UK Border Agency checks on the immigration status of targeted individuals at London Underground stations have been described as “sinister and disturbing” by London blog Wembley Matters.

“In their efforts to claw back UKIP votes the government seems to have taken leave of their senses. First the intimidation by the racist vans, now blatant discrimination against ethnic minorities going peacefully about their legitimate business“, said Jones.

“Immigration is not the overwhelming problem for the rest of us, it's the semi stagnant economy and poverty pay for millions. When will this government see the damage their vile policies are causing?”


In 2011, Green Party conference passed a motion opposing the government’s cap on immigration. It said we should stop “treating those who are not native to the UK as a problem”. Today, it’s important to restate that.

Brent Greens condemn Kensal Green station raid

The Brent Green Party has released the following statement following the UK Border Agency raid at Kensal Green Station this morning.

Shahrar Ali, Brent Green Party spokesperson said:
UKBA are duty-bound to carry out stops on individuals only on the basis of specific intelligence, not willy nilly on spec as happened at Kensal Green this morning. Every right-thinking citizen of Brent and beyond has cause to be alarmed at this naked violation of process. The report that there have been three arrests changes not one iota that our civil liberties are under threat, not from our neighbours but from state-sanctioned racist van slogans. I am appalled at the wicked designs of this government.
The people of Brent will not stand for it. We stand united against those who seek to terrorise society, who spread fear and incite hatred.





Brent Council leader condemns 'divisive and intimidating' UKBA tactics after station raid


Three people were arrested this morning after the UK Border Agency raid on Kensal Green underground station. Locals said officers behaved in an intimidating way. Cllr Muhammed Butt in a statement to the Kilburn Times condemned the raid, coming as it did after last week's controversial tour of the borough by the 'racist van' which urged 'Go Home or face arrest'.

Full story on the Kilburn Times website HERE

Monday 29 July 2013

Saturday 27 July 2013

A round up of messages to the 'racist van'


Some of the recent messages to the 'racist van':







Jones crunches Bone on racist van


Get the 'racist van' off the road for good this weekend


The campaign against the 'racist' vans is proceeding on several fronts as the Home Office pilot project comes to an end. The PCS has taken up the issue with the senior civil servant at the Home Office. A 'letter of intent' on legal action, probably under the Equalities Act,  has been sent by a refugee group in East London LINK and similar action is being contemplated by activists in Brent. It appears that the Home Office may not have sought planning permission for the van hoardings which raises questions of   their legality.

The Twitter campaign against the Home Office and the Promovans group has been supported widely and the trolling of the Home Office 'help line' has produced some hilarious interchanges which expose the 'Go Home' message to ridicule.

David Cameron as the head of the country's first PR government (public relations not proportional representation) as a former PR man may count the Home Office campaign as a success in getting the Coalition's 'tough stance' on immigration into the headlines but it has also served to alienate his Lib Dem Coalition partners.

Back in 1964 as a raw 16 year old I went for a job in the PR department of an advertising agency. I naively told the interviewer 'I like people'.  He instantly replied, 'That is no good. To be a success in PR you must utterly despise people'. I didn't get the job - some years later David Cameron did!

Meanwhile Green Party leader Natalie Bennett has added her voice to the debate in the Guardian:
I don't often agree with Nigel Farage, but he is right that the billboards being driven around some areas with high immigrant populations are "nasty" and "unpleasant" (Anger at 'go home' message to illegal immigrants, 26 July). The government's choice to adopt a slogan similar to that used by racists in the 70s is deeply disturbing, particularly at a time when the Muslim Council of Britain has expressed fears about a "dramatic escalation" of attacks against British Muslims. However, it is predominantly the rhetoric of Ukip that has caused immigrants to be so causally demonised by the government and other political parties. Mr Farage has spoken of "opening up our borders" to 28 million Romanians and Bulgarians, as though the entire populations of those nations were about to uproot themselves and move to the UK.

The government is clearly guilty of scapegoating immigrants for Britain's problems with housing shortages, low wages and unemployment. The fault clearly lies with its own policies, and those of the former Labour government.

Friday 26 July 2013

PCS union protests to Home Office civil servant boss over racist van camapign

From the Public and  Commercial Services Union  website LINK

A controversial Home Office immigration campaign is "political, deeply divisive and likely to stir up racial hatred", PCS has told the department's most senior civil servant.
 
The 'Go home' billboard messages being driven around six London boroughs have been met with criticism within the coalition government.

And some users on Twitter are reporting sightings using the hashtag #racistvan and deliberately wasting the Home Office's time with bogus reports.

We wrote to the department's permanent secretary Mark Sedwill on Thursday to say we were "appalled" that the Home Office had sanctioned the initiative.

PCS group secretary Mike Jones said in the letter: "This kind of campaign will only serve to cause more racial tension within our communities."

It's "deeply divisive", he added, and will create "tension and mistrust towards anyone who looks and sounds foreign".

"This is just a political advertising stunt that differs little from the Conservative Party election campaign messages.

"It is exactly the thing right wing racist and fascist organisations such as the BNP, EDL, EVF and others feed off" and use to "stir up racial tension and hatred in these very same London boroughs", Mike said.

We pointed out that, with a reported 500,000 backlog in asylum cases, the Home Office needs more permanent staff to deal with casework, not political stunts.

Thursday 25 July 2013

Promogroup may not participate further in 'racist van' campaign

Promogroup, the advertising agency behind the Home Office's 'racist vans' publicity stunt appear to have been thrown by the angry reaction to the campaign 

Green Party member David Walker told me this afternoon:
I just called the company.  They are passing my details on to the Home Office.  They said the campaign is close to finishing and they would reconsider carefully if they were asked to extend it or do it again.  I’ve asked for my comments to be noted on their file and I’ve left my name and number with them.
He added that the person he spoke to clearly understood his references to the EDL, mosque attacks etc.

I also spoke to the agency who said that the campaign was almost over. It had started on Monday and would finish soon. The person I spoke to would not give me a quote and said I should take up the issue with the Home Office. 

However, a few minutes later he rang back having read the postings about the van on Wembley Matters. He said  this was 'all very well but "direct action when the vans are seen in the area or we find where they are garaged" sounds a bit threatening'. I did a verbal shrug. He then struggled to say again that the campaign was finishing 'in Brent' and when I tried to pin him down said the last van would be on Saturday - the campaign had been going since Monday.  He went on to say that he wasn't  closely involved, but the agency  had received a 'variety' of calls  including some from immigrants asking for help to go home.

He didn't comment when I asked how many were asking for cabs.
 

Navin Shah: Home Office 'Propaganda' vans will cause harm and raise tension

The Labour London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow  condemned the 'racist van' campaign by the Home Office in Brent and five other London boroughs.

He said: 
I know that immigration in the UK needs to be tackled, but I am shocked to see plans to drive vans around Brent and five other boroughs in London. This will have a detrimental impact on the hugely diverse and harmonious community in Brent. The problem of illegal immigration has to be tackled properly and a campaign like this will only divide and discriminate communities.

We have worked very hard to have a borough which is an outstanding example of a multi-cultural community and this discriminatory propaganda by the Home Office will cause serious harm and raise tension in the community.

Anger and action building on racist vans

The campaign against the 'racist vans' is attracting support across Brent and further afield. Ideas so far include direct action when the vans are seen in the area or we find where they are garaged. Send information via Twitter using #racistvan

Meanwhile:

Inundate the text number on the van advertisement for 'help in getting home' with requests for cabs etc HOME 78070

Complain to Advertising Standards Authority http://www.asa.org.uk/Consumers/How-to-complain.aspx

Complain to advertising agency concerned
http://www.promobikes.co.uk/contact.php Twitter: @promogroupuk

Add comments to Guardian site:


A solictors' form has contacted me re possible legal action and I'll let you know outcomes of any discussions.