Stopping Trident: Actions & Strategies to Win

Rebecca Johnson is the Green Party's featured candidate today

Rebecca Johnson is today' s featured candidate on the Green Party national website LINK

 I reproduce the post here: 

In the run up to the General Election we will be giving you the opportunity to get to know some of our candidates. Our key candidates and spokespeople can be found here.

This year we will be standing in over 90% of seats in England and Wales.

Our featured candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn: Rebecca Johnson 

Rebecca Johnson at Saturday's Save NHS Petition presentation

Why are you standing as a candidate?

I'm a feminist peace activist committed to participatory democracy. After joining the Greens I supported getting Caroline Lucas into Westminster and canvassed on behalf of other smart, committed Greens standing for local councils and the European Parliament. So when I was asked to put my name forward this time, how could I say no?

What are your top 3 priorities if elected?

1) Transforming British democracy. It makes me so sad to hear voters in Hampstead and Kilburn say after a hustings that they think I'd make the best MP, they love how I argue for the Green Party's joined-up policies across all issues, but they feel they have to vote for another candidate as it's a marginal seat and they don't want a Tory MP. British politics alienates more people than it engages, especially young people, because under the stale 'first-past-the-post' system, most of us feel that our votes don't count. So we need genuine proportional representation – constituency-based single transferable votes for the House of Commons. We should lower the voting age to 16, and of course replace the unelected House of Lords with a proportionally-elected and much more effective Second Chamber.

2) Tackling homelessness and poverty here, notably in parts of Kilburn. That means ending the scandal of empty houses, reforming Council tax banding and investing in genuinely affordable social housing, and bringing in legislation so that the private rental sector is better controlled to provide fair rents, better accommodation and more secure tenancies.

3) Scrapping Trident and putting the billions we would save into our real security needs, such as a truly world class NHS, lifelong education opportunities, and protecting our planet from the biggest security threat of all, humanity's pollution and climate change.

What made you want to get into politics?

I've been engaged in British and UN politics as a feminist peace activist for many years, promoting equality, social justice, disarmament and environmental responsibility. I lived for five years at the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp to get rid of one generation of nuclear weapons, and then for Greenpeace to ban nuclear testing. Successful in both, but we still have to scrap Trident and build security without nuclear weapons. I decided to join the Green Party in 2009, when I could no longer fool myself that Labour would transform itself into an effective socialist party with the courage to tackle climate change, nuclear disarmament, poverty and homelessness.

What are your favourite things about the constituency?

I love the community spirit here, from parishioners in South Kilburn and Queens Park determined to stop HS2 from destroying their homes and schools, to Belsize Park residents and shopkeepers campaigning to defend their local jobs and shops against Tesco and its identikit, low-pay, profit-first model. And I love cycling to Hampstead Heath and swimming in the women's pond... an oasis of bliss while busy london fades into the background!

Who is your political hero?

Sylvia Pankhurst – the socialist suffragette committed to practical activism on behalf of London's poor, especially hardworking women from British and immigrant communities in the East End. She was feminist, courageous in her commitment to peace, and worked closely with Keir Hardie, Labour's first MP, in breaking the Tory-Liberal two-party stranglehold. From Greenham onwards, I've worn the green, purple and white ribbons of the suffragettes. We must honour their struggle for the vote by refusing to throw our precious democracy away in "tactical" voting for the "least worst" of today's inadequate TweedleCon and TweedleLab parties and their short term political machines. Our votes can bring in the transformational policies this country and our planet need.

Vote Green in Hampstead & Kilburn and reject Austerity Plus and Austerity Lite

Green voters in Hampstead and Kilburn are being told on the doorstep by Labour  that the outcome is 'too close ro call' and that they should vote Labour to prevent a possible Tory victory.  Green candidate Rebecca Johnson has been well received by voters at hustings and on the street.

Here she gives her reaction to that 'advice':

Rebecca Johnson, Green candidate for H&K will pledge to protect the NHS from privatisation, funding cuts and TTIP this afternoon

A cause the Greens support

38 Degrees members in Hampstead and Kilburn are to present a petition this afternoon outside Waitrose, close to Finchley Road station, asking candidates for the constituency to protect the NHS if elected.  Rebecca Johnson, Green Party candidate in H&K will be there.

The event starts at 3.30pm and is expected to last about 30 minutes.

This is the text of the petition:

Our NHS is precious. Please do everything you can to protect it, including:

* Stopping privatisation
* Making sure it has the funding it needs to provide high quality healthcare to everyone
* Protecting it from US health corporations by keeping the NHS out of TTIP

Why is this important?

Our NHS is precious. We all rely on it to care for us and our loved ones. We want to protect it for the future, and we don't want to see it run down or sold off.

Over the past few years, NHS funding has been squeezed so much that services are suffering. This winter, hospitals up and down the country have declared "major incidents" because they're struggling to cope. And now most hospitals are warning that their budget for next year has " reached the point where patient care is at risk."

Meanwhile, the government is letting profit-hungry companies take over more and more NHS services. At at a time of squeezed budgets, this is the last thing the NHS needs. We want an NHS where patient safety is put first, and where the NHS is run for the public good.

TTIP, the planned trade deal between the EU and the USA, could threaten the NHS further. If TTIP opens our NHS to American private healthcare companies, we could see even more privatisation and a slide into more US-style healthcare. We want the NHS excluded from TTIP.

Tulip, Dawn and War

Prior to Ed Miliband's speech today there had been press comment that foreign policy had played little part in the General Election campaign. Here is Brent we did have a cross-Brent hustings on War, Peace and the Middle East where some of these issues were raised. LINK

'Unintended consequences' of military intervention is as pertinent to Labour as it is to the Conservatives given Blair's intervention in Iraq. What is suprising to me is the lack of comment on Chilcot and the decision to put it on the back burner until after the election. Surely the findings should have formed a centre piece of this General Election?

At the hustings Tulip Siddiq (Labour candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn)  gave specific undertakings about war and said that she had voted for Ed Miliband precisely because David Miliband was too associated with Tony Blair and the Iraq War.

Dawn Butler was not invited to that particular hustings but was asked about her views at a subsequent election meeting. She said she had been against the war in 2003 and had voted against an inquiry in June 2007 because she thought it would have impacted on the British troops that were deployed in Iraq at the time.

This is the motion that Dawn Butler voted for. Only 8 Labour MPs voted against.

  This House, recognising that there have already been four separate independent committees of inquiry into military action in Iraq and recognising the importance of learning all possible lessons from military action in Iraq and its aftermath, declines at this time, whilst the whole effort of the Government and the armed forces is directed towards improving the condition of Iraq, to make a proposal for a further inquiry which would divert attention from this vital task

Earlier in 2006 she had asked Tony Blair a question in the House of Commons which seemed to indicate some disquiet about policy in Iraq.

Butler was subsequently seen as a government loyalist. She seconded the Queen's Speech in November 2007 and became Assistant Chief Whip in September 2008.

Attending the hustings in Brent there have been a number of occasions when candidates have been asked if they would defy the party line (and the party whips) on issues of principle. It is clearly an issue that concerns local people and the shadow of Iraq, it seems to me, is behind much of that concern as Iraq and the war figured quite large in the Brent Central battle between Dawn Butler and Sarah Teather.

Butler's Green challenger in Brent Central, Shahrar Ali, has claimed in his election material that he, rather than Dawn, is Teather's natural successor as far as issues of war and Israel-Palesrtine are concerned.

Over in Hampstead and Kilburn, Tulip Siddiq is challenged by Green candidate Rebecca Johnson, who has a long and distinguished record in the peace and disarmanent movement and is a member of Women In Black.  LINK

Footnote: In case you are wondering, Barry Gardiner, speaking in 2003 after Robin Cook resigned over Iraq stated: 'The Prime Minister has behaved with absolute integrity' but had a different position by 2011 over Libya:  LINK

BBC June 7th 2011

Amid growing unease about Nato's role, MPs are expected to press for a statement on Libya on Tuesday when Parliament returns from its 10-day recess.

Although he voted for the Iraq invasion in 2003, Mr Gardiner says the parallels between the two situations are "ironic".

"Every single argument that has been used over the last eight years to decry what happened in Iraq is being used to justify - with much less justification - what is going on in Libya," he argues.

Despite the frequent military interventions of the Blair years, he believes Labour should be looking further back into its history for its foreign policy principles.

"There is a historic role for Labour that is not being followed through here - as effectively an anti-war party that recognises war is the worst option and something that should be avoided becoming embroiled in at all costs."

And while in no doubt about the nature of the Gaddafi regime, he worries that the current intervention sets a worrying precedent for the future.

"The danger is we are being drawn into a position, in terms of what we should be doing internationally, of it 'does not matter because it is only Gaddafi'."

Make your mind up time! Read the Green Party Manifesto here

The Green Party are standing candidates in all the local parliamentary constituencies and feedback on their performance at hustings is excellent.  If you cannot get along to the hustings take a little time to look at the Green Party manifesto. Canidates are Scott Batrtle (Brent North), Shahrar Ali (Brent Central) and Rebecca Johnson (Hampstead and Kilburn)

You can read the short. mini-manifesto here and if this whets your appetite the detailed version is below:

Green Party candidates speak out on War, Peace and the Middle East

55 years after Sharpville the struggle continues against racism and apartheid

Today was Stand Up to Racism Day in London, part of the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It is celebrated on March 21st because that is the day in 1960 when 69 people were killed by police who opened fire on an anti-pass laws demonstrators in Sharpville, South Africa.

Sharpville was an event that seared itself on my memory as it did many of my generation. LINK

It was fitting that in an event  founded on marking the crimes of South African apartheid that Friends of Al Aqsa LINK were in Trafalgar Square collecting messages calling for the end of the apartheid wall in Israel that separates Palestinians from each other and from Israel.

The public were asked to write a message on the wall which included the statement from Nelson Mandela: 'Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinian people'.

 It was the first major outing for the recently formed Green party BME group.

Rebecca Johnson, Green candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn Stands Up to Racism

 Although I marched with the Green Party is was good to see Brent Anti-Racism Campaign on the march with their much admired banner.

Next week's General Election Hustings in Brent

Hampstead & Kilburn hustings at Tricycle Theatre, Tuesday 24 March 2015 @ 7:30pm

Hampstead & Kilburn Hustings

hosted by the Tricycle Theatre and Age UK (Brent & Camden)

Tuesday 24 March 2015, 7.30pm

Parliamentary candidates for the Hampstead & Kilburn constituency debate issues and policy affecting children, young people and older people in the area and answer questions from constituents.

Questions must be submitted in advance to creativelearning@tricycle.co.uk, or in person on arrival at the event.

Chair: Geoff Martin, Editor in Chief, Ham & High

Confirmed candidates: Dr Rebecca Johnson (Green), Simon Marcus (Cons), Maajid Nawaz (Lib Dem), Tulip Siddiq (Lab), Magnus Nielsen (UKIP)

This hustings is free to attend, and it is primarily intended for residents in Hampstead & Kilburn constituency.

Hampstead & Kilburn Hustings at the Tricycle March 24th

Hampstead & Kilburn Hustings at the Tricycle Theatre
hosted by the Tricycle and Age UK (Brent & Camden)

Tuesday 24 March 2015, 7.30pm

Parliamentary candidates for the Hampstead & Kilburn constituency debate issues and policy affecting children, young people and older people in the area and answer questions from constituents.

Questions must be submitted in advance to creativelearning@tricycle.co.uk, or in person on arrival at the event.

Chair: Geoff Martin, Editor in Chief, Ham & High

Confirmed candidates: Dr Rebecca Johnson (Green), Simon Marcus (Cons), Maajid Nawaz (Lib Dem), Tulip Siddiq (Lab)

This hustings is free to attend, and it is primarily intended for residents in Hampstead & Kilburn constituency.

Click to book FREE tickets. Tickets required to attend (one the site click on the calendar date).

Rebecca Johnson's policies for Hampstead and Kilburn in 3 minutes flat!

Rebecca Johnson - Green Candidate for H&K - An introduction. from GreenRebJohnson on Vimeo.

Newly selected Green candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn pledges support for railway renationalisation

Camden and Brent Green Parties today announced that international security expert Dr Rebecca Johnson has been selected to stand as the Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency.

Rebecca with Shahrar Ali, Green Party deputy leader

Rebecca is co-chair of Compass Greens, and Vice President of CND. With a PhD from the University of London (LSE), she is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and works on international security with the UN. She used to live in Kilburn, and now lives in Hackney, but has continued to cycle to Hampstead Heath, where she loves to walk and swim.

Rebecca said:

I got to know this constituency when I volunteered for Glenda Jackson's campaign in 1992. I've been talking to local people in recent weeks, and have heard them highlight the need for more affordable housing, finding environmentally sustainable alternatives to the dam nonsense that will protect both Hampstead Heath and homes from flooding, and defending local businesses and homes against the folly of HS2, while supporting the renationalisation of our rail services, on which so many of us depend.

In standing for the Greens, I will work for these goals and a raft of other policies to protect our environment and secure fair distribution of resources to help all of London's communities, especially our most disadvantaged citizens.

Natalie Bennett, Green Party Leader and candidate for the neighbouring Holborn and St Pancras constituency said:

Throughout Camden voters are looking for a credible alternative to the three business-as-usual parties, and Rebecca will be a brilliant new Green voice for Hampstead and Kilburn.  With record results across Camden and Brent in the local elections this year, and Rebecca as our candidate, we're confident that we will inspire voters from across Hampstead and Kilburn that we have the policies people need.

Three candidates contested the selection and the results were declared to local Green Party members on Sunday. Greens select candidates under the single transferrable vote system, and Rebecca secured 36% of votes in the first round, equal with Brent Green Party’s Scott Bartle and ahead of Islington Green Party member Benali Hamdache. She was declared the winner with 63% of the total after second preferences were reallocated.

The process of selection of Green party candidates for Brent Central, Brent North, Harrow East and Harrow West began this weekend and the result will be known in October.