Brent Council denies proper place for Black History

"This is Black History - the school system made it a mystery"

Black History Month has been a central focus of the educational calendar in Brent for many years. Every year it is accompanied by special events in the libraries, curriculum work in schools and usually a competition in different age categories for local children.

The aims are to:

• Promote knowledge of the  Black History , Cultural and Heritage
• Disseminate information on positive Black contributions to British Society
• Heighten the confidence and awareness of Black people to  their cultural heritage.

This year Black History Month was launched at a special event Black History Live! at Wembley Stadium.and Oakington Manor Primary  is hosting a Culture Fest on October 8th which 1,000 people are expected to attend.

Disconcerting then to read that Brent Council will no longer separately recognise the event from next year. In a a move with parallels to the Council's muddled festivals policy Black History Month will be subsumed into:

'Word Watch! which is a celebration of books and reading also drawing on other events such as Halloween, Diwali and Children's Book Week. Word Up! will be applauding the achievements of Black British people.'

 It is unclear from the press report where this decision emanates from but it clearly fails to recognise the significance of Black History Month which originating in North America in 1926 was campaigned for in the 1970s by figures such as Ealing black bookshop owners Eric and Jessica Huntley and Alex Pascall pioneer broadcaster of Black Londoners. It was a cultural and political campaign which both tackled the racism that ignored and denied black history and the need for black children in the diaspora to be aware of their roots and heritage. At its best it was internationalist and tackled issues of colonialism and imperialism.

It may be hard to believe now but when I started teaching in North Westminster in 1975 in a small Church of England primary school in Paddington, in a school of 90% black children there were no books even showing black people, let alone covering their history. I remember a child being astonished when I used a 'reader' which portrayed black children - some schools imported the Ladybird Sunshine Readers published for Caribbean schools for this purpose but the setting didn't match the locality of urban schools. When I introduced a book about Oloudah Equianno I remember a child turning to me and saying in hushed tones, 'I didn't know black people could be famous!'

Backed by community demand, local education authorities such as the Inner London Education Authority started to produce their own materials, albeit with a rather 'home made' feel. As these materials became popular publishers themselves reacted and higher quality publications were produced.

Early attempts at covering black history and black culture were often clumsy and stereotyped, despite being well-meaning and encountered the accusation  of tokenism and exotica - the 'saris, samosas and steel bands' approach. A much sharper edge developed where issues such as discrimination, oppression and struggle were recognised.

Unfortunately that Brent statement linking Black History with Halloween and Diwali (!) brings us back to the earlier model and there is a real danger of dilution. Their decision needs to be challenged.

Hear Tony Benn on Afghanistan - Tuesday Willesden Green Library

Tony Benn, President of the Stop the War Coalition, will be speaking tomorrow Tuesday October 4th on 10 YEARS ON...STILL AT WAR IN AFGHANISTAN alongside John Hilary, Director of War on Want. Sheila Robin will speak on Ten Years of Brent Stop the War.

The meeting, organised by Brent Stop the War, will be at Willesden Green Library, 95 High Road, Willesden, NW10 2SF 7.30pm

Osborne damaging UK's green credibility - Caroline Lucas

Commenting on the speech delivered by Chancellor George Osborne to the Conservative party conference today, Green party leader and Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas said:

"In his conference speech today, George Osborne drew a line in the sand on climate policy and signalled his intention to relegate the UK to a back seat in the global shift towards a greener economy - effectively pulling the rug out from under the Government's supposed green credentials.

"The pledge to cut the UK's emissions 'no slower but also no faster' than our European neighbours was a transparent ploy to undermine the legally binding targets in the Climate Change Act and set the stage for downward negotiations at the EU level. And by highlighting his instrumental role in the internal dispute over the fourth recent carbon budget in May, the Chancellor further exposes the deep Cabinet divisions on efforts to position the UK as a leader in the low carbon economy.

"While it seems unlikely that Osborne will succeed in diluting our national emissions targets, today's downgrading of ambition on climate change poses a serious threat to the UK's credibility; accepting that we need an international agreement to tackle climate change, while at the same time casting doubt on our climate targets for the years to come, sends a damaging and inconsistent message to other nations and to the business community that this Government will not prioritise the green industries of the future."

Brent Fightback Protest at Tory Conference

With the Tories digging their heels in and insisting 'there is no alternative' despite rising criticism from economists and some of their own business supporters, the TUC March for the Alternative in Manchester could not have been better timed. 35,000 trades unionists and activists turned up to insist that there was an alternative to the imposition of austerity on ordinary people while casino capitalism carries on regardless.  Brent Fightback supporters were there along with a wide range of other groups:

Still time to Rise Up (out of bed) and come to Manchester tomorrow

Cllr Jim Moher in his defence of his decision to reduce Brent's street sweepers by 50 posts in the Willesden and Kilburn Times this week,  invited me to focus on the 'real culprits' regarding cuts. I'll be doing just that tomorrow when I join Brent Fightback and thousands of others at the TUC demonstration at the Tory Conference in Manchester.

There are still places on the coach if Jim, James and other Labour councillors would like to join us, and of course anyone else in Brent who would like to tell the Conservatives exactly what they think of their policies.
  
Tickets are £20 waged, £10 unwaged. The coach leaves Kilburn Square at 6.30 am, Willesden Green station 6.45 am and Wembley Park station 7.00 am. Book your place by ringing / texting 07951 084 101  or turn up at the time stated. Bring banners, placards and flags.

Kingsbury staff and parents vow to fight on after governors vote for academy status

Parents, staff and pupils back the strike

Yesterday, Kingsbury High School in Kingsbury, north west London was shut to all pupils and staff. Teachers from the NUT and NASUWT were taking strike action against their school being converted into a Gove academy. That evening despite all the opposition the governing body voted for conversion.

Hank Roberts, NUT Brent Secretary said at the rally outside the school, “We regret that we have had to take action today. This was entirely avoidable had our offer of not taking industrial action if the Headteacher had granted parents their wish to have an independently overseen secret ballot (as staff had) been accepted. We have even offered to pay the costs of any such ballot thus ensuring that the school would not lose anything financially”.

Shane Johnschwager, NASUWT Brent Secretary said, “We are prepared to contact our action committees indicating that, should the Governors either not withdraw this proposal for academy conversion or continue to refuse to accept our generous offer to resolve this dispute as above, we will be calling for further sustained strike action. We consider that the responsibility for any damage to Kingsbury pupils' education will rest at the Governors' door as there is a straightforward, zero detriment, and costless resolution to this dispute”.

“We asked at our meeting with the Chair of Governors and the Headteacher what possible damage could an independently overseen secret ballot of parents do to the school and education in it. Their answer was that there was none. But still they refused”.

Jenny Cooper, organiser of the Parents Action Group said after the governors voted to convert at their meeting yesterday evening, "It was reported that 74% of the parents wanted the school to become an academy. This figure is completely made up and we know it is not true. It was said that only 4 parents called for a ballot - the real figure is at least 70. The Headteacher knows this as he was at the meetings where parents asked en masse for a ballot. Governors were told that a 6% return of surveys was a signal for them to go ahead with conversion. It was actually a signal that parents boycotted the survey because of its leading questions".

Members of the two unions as well as parents will be planning their next moves and say the campaign is not over. The school does not convert until 1^st December.

The Willesden and Kilburn Times reported that Councillor Mary Arnold, Brent Council's Lead member for children and families called the plans ‘short sighted’...“As a school with a high community profile you would expect the views of the staff and parents at Kingsbury High to be paramount, and the governors should take them on board.”

A sad glorious Autumn day

A glorious early Autumn day: clear blue skies, warm sunshine, and six coffins of diminishing sizes on trestles against a verdant lawn. This was the sight that greeted mourners from Brent who made the long trip across London to Ilford for the funeral of the Kua family at the Garden of Peace Muslim Cemetery. The mourners included relatives and friends,  staff and pupils from Crest Academy and Braintcroft Primary School, the Director of Brent Children and Families Department, firefighters and the Borough Commander and other officers from Brent Police..

After prayers the burials took place. Mother and teenage daughters alternating with the younger children who were buried in a different part of the cemetery.  As we moved from one part of the cemetery to the other for each burial,  the enormity of what had happened was brought home against the background of prayer, handfuls of clay thudding on the wooden coffins, and the incongruous sound of a mechanical digger excavating yet another grave.

Bassam Kua, the father, arms wrapped in plaster and burn marks on his face, brave beyond anything I have seen before,  was supported by relatives and friends, as he moved from burial to burial. Hanin (14) and Basma (13) were buried close to their mother Muna.  As burial followed burial, each one feeling like yet another powerful blow, we came to that of little Amal, aged just 9, who had been remembered with love, joy and that easy familiarity children have, by her classmates on Monday.  She was buried near her brothers Mustufa aged 5 and Yehya aged two.

Speaking after Amal's grave had been filled in, the officiator reminded mourners that in Islam a child under 15 who died was seen as massoom (blameless) and would go straight to heaven. He reflected on the family's life in this country and the struggle for freedom in their native Palestine.

It was a calm and dignified occasion with everyone attending appearing to gain strength and solidarity not only from sharing the unbearable experience with each other, but from witnessing the courage and determination of Bassam Kua. One member of the family was missing and in everyone's thoughts. Nur, aged 16, remains in critical condition in hospital.

She has an entire community supporting her struggle.

Headteacher of Kingsbury High challenged by parent

Dear Mr Waxman,

One week ago I sent you the email below. I have not had a reply or even an acknowledgement.

Throughout the so-called 'consultation' process many stakeholders in Kingsbury High School have felt that they have been deliberately cut out of the process, indeed, that the consultation process has been nothing but a sham exercise, held only so that you could tick the relevant boxes rather than take account of stakeholder's views. By your own admission at one of the meetings I attended, you wished to collect parent's views only so that they could be "persuaded" to change their minds if they were against the school becoming an academy.

Your refusal to allow the parents a secret YES/NO ballot, and your failure to respond to my previous email are but further confirmation that you place no value whatsoever on the views of your stakeholders, but are interested only in short term financial reward.

As the Headteacher you should be setting very high standards and an exemplary example to the students. Your statement, repeated many times in meetings, that you are in principle against academies but that the school needs the money, sets a very poor standard and example. You are teaching the students that principles should be sold out for a cash reward, this is not a lesson I wish my children to learn.

Tomorrow the school will be closed as it sees a strike by a majority of its teachers. This could have been very easily avoided by you agreeing to a ballot of parents. I haven't met a single stakeholder in the school who can understand your refusal to grant this. It is time you remembered your school's motto which tells us that we will be judged by our actions.

I would very much appreciate a response to this and my previous email.