Have your say on Brent health services

Make Willesden Campaign hits the ground running

Willesden Green residents active in campaigns over the Willesden Green Library redevelopment, the Willesden Bookshop, Gladstone Park Primary School, council cuts and the Queensbury pub gathered together last night at the launch of the Make Willesden Green local election campaign.

Alex Colas, the candidate for MWG, spoke about how residents felt unrepresented and unsupported by local councillors and others talked of Willesden Green becoming a backwater as Wembley became the focus of the borough. There were fears that Willesden would lose its sense of community as the public realm was degraded and housing became unaffordable for ordinary  families. Recent developments were reducing the area to a dormitory.

Alex said that his campaign would be carrying forward values which had started with the library campaign but would look at the bigger and broader picture in order to influence the council. He said that it would be a local campaign but not a parochial one. The Coalition clearly had a major responsibility for the current situation but the campaign would not let the Council off the hook.  We must fight for a democratic, representative Council.

Alex's agent said that Labour were trying to distance itself from the present administration, which began with Ann John's library closures by choosing new, young candidates for 2014, but the policies remained the same. In Willesden Green, Cllr Lesley Jones, who was part of the Ann John regime, was standing again.

The Make Willesden Green campaign has people responsible for four main areas of policy: education, housing, public realm and local democracy and is welcoming policy ideas from supporters.  It was hoped that people would come forward as 'street reps' to further the campaign.

The Make Willesden Green blog is HERE   Twitter @AlexWG2014

Exciting Black History Month events coming up in Brent and Harrow

Guest Blog from Kwaku

This is to remind you that Harrow Mayor Cllr Nana Asante will be hosting an extra African History Season event at her Parlour this Friday Oct 25, 5-7pm: From Martin Luther King To Paul Stephenson in 1963. From Race Riots In Chicago To Cardiff in 1919. How Far Have We Come? with Chicago jazz musician Ernest Dawkins talking about the US history behind his band's latest compositions, and Kwaku giving the UK experience during the corresponding period. So if you are aware of, or interested in hearing more about the impact of Martin Luther King's 'I Have A Dream' speech, don't miss this event!

Motivational speaker Andrew Muhammad aka The Investigator will be doing his thing on Tuesday Oct 29, 6.30-8.30pm at Word Power: Together We Can! in the Harrow Council Chamber, which includes a creative workshop for young people: www.harrowBHM.eventbrite.com.

Tuesday's event will be in memory of the recently departed Jessica Huntley, an inspirational octogenarian, community activist, wife and business partner of Eric Huntley, both of whom have been special guests at our previous events.

On Saturday Oct 26, 7.30pm, the Mayor will be in the London Borough of Brent of Brent for the The Group @ St John's Black History Dinner, where after a lovely meal (I can vouch for that, as I was there in the summer & enjoyed the meal!), I'll be talking about education and overcoming obstacles. If you don't want to hear me, come for the food anyway, and support a worthy community project - it is an austerity-friendly £5 adults (£3 children)!

Peace,

Kwaku

Black History Month

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.

Make Willesden Green launch tomorrow at Queensbury Deli

Alex Colas will be launching his independent Make Willesden Green campaign for the 2014 local election in Brent tomorrow. He will be standing in the Willesden Green ward and his launch is at the Queensbury Deli, 68 Walm Lane, Willesden Green (right out of the station and on the left hand side.

The meeting is from 6pm until 7pm.



This is  Alex's platform:

 Make Willesden Green is an independent, grassroots platform that aims to:

•    Make Willesden Green more Democratic: local residents have been poorly represented by local Councillors and mainstream parties. The demolition of  Willesden Green Library Centre serves as a perfect example of how Brent Council put profits before people, ignoring widespread local opposition whilst promoting interests other than those of our neighbourhood. Local democracy requires better representation and more participation. If elected as an independent Councillor, I won’t be under any Party’s whip and will fight incessantly for participatory democracy in our ward and beyond. 
•  Make Willesden Green more Equal: the absence of affordable housing among the 92 luxury flats that will be replacing the Library Centre is a slap in the face to our community. Instead of addressing the chronic housing shortage for ordinary residents, the Council is inviting wealthy investors to speculate in our neighbourhood. In education too, the Council has been complicit in the privatisation of our state-funded schools. Public housing, education and free healthcare are key to achieving a more equal and democratic society. If elected as a Councillor, I will fight relentlessly for a public NHS, for quality state-funded and democratically accountable schools, and for properly designed affordable housing near people’s workplaces. 
• Make Willesden Green Safe: a busy neighbourhood is a safer neighbourhood. We need to protect and create public spaces and amenities where all people (especially children and the less mobile) can walk, rest, play or cycle safely and comfortably. The Library Centre redevelopment has swallowed up the only breathing space we had on the High Street, while other open spaces (like the one opposite Kingsley Court on St Paul’s Avenue) are left derelict. I believe traffic-calming measures and a public realm that is friendly to children, cyclists and pedestrians will make for a safer, more vibrant Willesden Green. 
•   Make Willesden Green Thrive: we need to support independent retailers and businesses in our neighbourhood. A pub like the Queensbury, which serves the community (as well as food and drink); or a shop like the sorely-missed Willesden Bookshop are much more than simple commercial outlets. They act as community hubs, facilitating the interaction between diverse residents, offering valuable services and ultimately encouraging local people to spend on our High Street. They also create sustainable and meaningful employment for many local people. As a Councillor for Willesden Green I would campaign for policies that promote the use of our High Street and champion neighbourhood-oriented enterprises.   

Copland own goal over football coach redundancy

Local press coverage some time ago

 'Fourth Official' writes a Guest Blog

Just 3 months after their ‘postponement’ (ie cancellation) of the school’s  long- planned annual Sports Day in July, the new management at Copland  are planning another spectacular sport-related own goal by proposing to sack  the school’s long-standing and widely-respected football coach Paul Lawrence, who has done so much for the school, for the development of boys’ and girls’ football  in north London generally, and even for the England national team in the shape of new 18 year old  star and ex-Copland student, Raheem Sterling, (coached from age 10 by Paul and  who recently joined Roy Hodgson’s squad in England’s successful qualifiers for next year’s  World Cup in Brazil).         

 This latest public relations disaster by Copland and Brent is likely to go national when Monday’s edition of the Independent carries the story of coach Lawrence’s inclusion in a list of 32 Copland mentors, caretakers, support staff and librarians who are the subjects of a redundancy ‘proposal’,  an axing of key support staff aimed at cutting the school’s debt in order to make Copland easier to flog off to some dodgy academy chain looking for a prime-site bargain. (The school’s debt dates from the recently-convicted Sir Alan Davies’s  ‘false accounting’ days.)

 The London Borough of Brent, whose ‘light touch’ approach to auditing and ostrich-like attitude to the nepotism and dodgy dealing in the school at the time contributed to the budgetary black hole, have always refused to cancel the debt or even to attempt to retrieve for the school the missing money, estimated at the time at up to £2million).         

 While the Copland management were drawing up their hit-list of who was to receive the early Christmas present of 32 red cards, Greg Dyke, now head of the Football Association, was announcing the setting up of a special Football Commission to try to find out what is wrong with football in this country; why we underachieve internationally; why top English clubs have to import foreign players,  and so on. 

With immaculate timing worthy of Theo Walcott at his best, Copland was simultaneously planning its own uniquely helpful answer to some of these questions; which is that, while at one end of the system the sports minister and the FA are spouting aspirational bromides about grass-roots, academies and excellence, at the other end, in the real world,  Brent’s  benighted bean-counting administrators, anxious to satisfy the demands of Gove’s ‘forced academy’ policy, fail to see the irony in casually sacking  a successful football coach who has made a huge contribution to community cohesion, let alone to the enjoyment of the ‘beautiful  game’ itself,  at a school situated  a few hundred yards from our national sport’s national home.        
  
 Meanwhile, Heather Rabbatts, now an FA director, on Saturday criticised Greg Dyke’s all-white Football Commission for its lack  of ethnic diversity. She said: ‘we are not only failing to reflect our national game but we are also letting down so many black and ethnic minority people - players, ex-players, coaches and volunteers, who have so much to offer and are so often discouraged and disheartened by the attitudes they encounter.’  Paul Lawrence could be forgiven for yelling ‘Tell me about it!’ when he read those words.      

Greg Dyke’s  reply to Ms Rabbatts  was this:  ‘The aim of the Commission  is to ensure that talented English kids, whatever their ethnicity or creed, are able to fulfil their potential to play at the highest level in English football, something which currently we are not sure is happening. We still want to see people with relevant experience from the BAME community on the Commission.’  

Well, the people of Brent might know one of those people you say you’re looking for, Greg. Time to call  Paul, maybe?  Perhaps the Commission would  appreciate his contributions more than a Wembley school’s management seem capable of doing. Perhaps Copland’s  loss could be English football’s gain.          

  But, of course, what Paul Lawrence would really like to do at the moment is to simply carry on doing what he’s done so successfully up to now: coaching Copland’s ordinary kids and its prospective England stars to fulfil their potential, so that they may  ‘have that true sense of self-worth which will enable them  to stand up for themselves and for a purpose greater than themselves, and, in doing so,  be of value to society.’          
                                                                                                     

 Just like it says in the ‘Welcome’ message on Copland Community School’s website, in fact.

Previous coverage of Raheem's connection with Copland and Wembley  LINK

Youth tribute to striking teachers

ICTstrikeOUT from Mattia Pagura on Vimeo.

Independent Alex makes grassroots bid for Willesden Green council seat

Willesden Green has had a battering from Brent's Labour Council over the last few years but as a result the community itself has become stronger uniting to try to save its bookshop, the Victorian Library and more recently the Queensbury pub. The much loved and respected Gladstone Park Primary School attracted a determined and imaginative parent campaign when it was faced with forced academisation by Michael Gove with the Council seeming to stand by and do little to help. 

Although some of the causes have been lost and others are yet to be won the legacy is that local residents want to see change. Local resident, parent and anti-cuts activist Alex Colas has decided to champion that change by mounting an independent campaign for the Council under the slogan Make Willesden Green.

He has issued the following invitation:

We will be launching  Make Willesden Green on Wednesday 23 October, from 6-7pm at the Queensbury Deli,  68 Walm Lane, NW2 4RA (the tube station end of the High Road). This will be an informal gathering where you can come to hear more about the campaign, as well as offering your support and ideas. The launch is open to all residents of Willesden Green and neighbouring wards, and children are very welcome.

 The 'Green'  in Make Willesden Green does not refer to the Green Party but to one of a series of demands as Alex explains on his blog: LINK

The ‘Make’ in Willesden Green is all about emphasising the participation of ordinary residents in the public life of our neighbourhood. There is plenty of community activity in Willesden Green – some of it political; other less so. But it tends to be ignored by Brent Council and by our elected officers.

Make Willesden Green was set up over the summer by residents who feel unrepresented by local Councillors and mainstream parties, and who want to redress this imbalance. Our  aim is to make connections between local campaigns like Save the Queensbury, Save Gladstone Park School or Keep Willesden Green, and give them an electoral voice at the Council elections next year. This electoral platform emerges directly from the energies and ideas expressed around these campaigns, but it does not claim their exclusive representation. Instead, Make Willesden Green seeks to continue highlighting the democratic deficit in our Borough by  putting issues of  democracy, equality, sustainability, the defence of public realm and public services at the centre of the electoral campaign.

I have worked closely with Alex on some of these campaigns and along with others in Brent Green Party I am sympathetic to his decision to stand as an independent grassroots councillor. Indeed he wrote a guest column for us in the current edition of our Willesden Green News.  We have yet to finalise our candidates for the local election and decide our strategy in each ward but obviously we will take into consideration our respect for Alex and the platform he represents in Willesden Green ward. For his part Alex says in his guest column:

The Greens are the only local party to have consistently supported grassroots campaigns for democracy in our neighbourhood.

We have a positive record of working with independent campaigns and individuals, as well as other parties, on specific issues such as the Welsh Harp or the recent racist lettings agency issue.

This is the column Alex wrote for Willesen Green News: