Ramadan message from the Green Party

With Ramadan starting today the Green Party would like to wish Britain's Muslim Community Ramadan Kareem. With the long hot days ahead of us we’re keenly aware this year will be a harder Ramadan than years previous and we wish every Muslim fasting good health and a rewarding and spiritual month.

At this time we firstly want to celebrate the contribution that the Muslim community make to Britain. Ramadan is a time of contemplating and recognising the privilege many of us have in life, whilst remembering and empathising with those who have less. These are values I think every Green Party member can keenly associate with.

Equally over this Ramadan we are minded to think about the countless communities that face unrest and violence for the coming month. Ramadan should be a time of quiet spiritual contemplation but too many communities in Syria, Yemen and Nigeria face violence and unrest. Real international action is needed to build lasting peace, and we hope this month can catalyse a change. As an international movement of Green Parties we will continue to strive for real meaningful diplomacy and peacebuilding.

Ramadan Kareem to all those fasting this month

Benali Hamdache

Green Party Equalities Spokesperson

Greens to take part in British Black Music Month copyright term reduction seminar

BBMM2015 Focuses On Copyright Term Reduction Seminar And Music Industry Courses In A Year That Also Highlights ‘Race’ & Diversity Within Music

This Friday a British Black Music Month (BBMM2015) seminar at London’s City Law School offers a forum for discussing the contentious issue of shortening the copyright term.

The term for literary and musical works has continuously lengthened. Starting with a term of 14 years for printed works three hundred years ago, it now stands at life of author plus 70 years for literary and musical works, and the term for sound recordings recently increased from 50 to 70 years.

Inspired by the Green Party’s pre-election policy proposal for a shorter term, the ‘Talking Copyright 6: A Case For Copyright Term Reduction?’ seminar panelists include Sian Berry (Green Party spokesperson and 2016 London Mayoral candidate), Vick Bain (BASCA: British Academy of Songwriters Composers and Authors CEO), Jim Killock (Open Rights Group Executive Director), Hugh Francis (songwriter & music publisher). Co-chairs are Dr Enrico Bonadio (City University London Law School senior lecturer) and Kwaku (BBM/BMC: BritishBlackMusic.com/Black Music Congress founder).

BBMM is an annual BBM/BMC initiative which takes place in June into July. It highlights domestic black music and industry issues. In addition to the Talking Copyright strand, the BBMM2015 programme includes music industry courses, fortnightly seminars at Harrow Mencap, a weekly radio programme on Brent CommunityRadio.org, and numerous competitions.

To mark the 50^th anniversary of the first Race Relations Act, there will be a discussion in association with RE:IMI (Race Equality: In Music Industry) and BECTU (Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union) on ‘race’ and ethnicity engagement on July 8 at University of Westminster. A ‘race’ conference is also planned for the autumn.

For more details or to book: LINK

Brent Connects Meetings in June and July

Cllr Dan Filson, Chair of Scrutiny, said he would be attending Brent Connects meetings to pick up the concerns of residents.  Here are details of the current round:

Filson sets out his credo for new Scrutiny Committee

Cllr Dan Filson set out the credo for the new Scrutiny Committee yesterday evening at its first meeting.  He said that its role was not just to hold the Cabinet to account but also to look beyond that at other institutions that impacted on the lives of Brent residents. The NHS was particularly important both because of the size of its budget and how it affected people, but institutions such as the police should also be considered.

The previous Committee had not looked closely enough at what the Council was doing and the new Committee needed to scrutinise issues well before decisions were made or even before they entered the Forward Plan of the Cabinet.

The Committee would investigate - not interrogate or castigate. Findings would speak for themselves. The Committee would not involve itself in whitewash.

All Brent councillors had been invited to submit items for considerations but finite items, rather than broad issues, would be most likely to be taken up.

Filson expressed some frustration that his efforts to secure contact details to  directly communicate with co-opted members to get their views had not been successful. He promised to attend the upcoming round of Brent Connects meetings to find out what concerned residents.

He anticipated setting up Task Groups which would involve the full array of backbenchers and members of the public with specialist knowledge. Cabinet members would NOT be members of Task Groups.  He said that the quality of input into Task Groups was more important than individual attendance records and that they must report on time.

Scrutiny would not just receive reports but make recommendations for implementation. It would also ensure that such actions were followed up.

Filson concluded by saying that the Committee had inherited forward plans from its predecessor and that it would only be at its August meeting that the agenda would reflect the new approach.

There was certainly more participation by Committee members yesterday with relevant questioning from members who had clearly read the documentation.