A new thorn in the side for the Brent Council Executive?

A Brent branch of the LRC (Labour Representation Committee) is to be launched tomorrow.

The LRC takes its name from the 1900 committee which was the forerunner of the Labour Party. Its chair is John McDonnell MP and its group in the Commons are known as the Socialist Campaign Group. Jeremy Corbyn MP is a prominent member. The journal Labour Briefing is associated with the group.
 
The LRC which is said to have about 1,000 members is open to Labour Party members and socialists who do not stand against the Labour Party in elections. It is supported by several unions including ASLEF, CWU, FBU and the RMT.

Brent connections currently include the affiliated Kensal Green Labour Party and Pete Firmin, chair of Brent TUC who is joint secretary of LRC nationally..

The LRC has a website HERE  which is not as dynamic as I expected it to be, Only one of the policy statements has received any comments and as far as I can see the blog postings have received no comments at all. Things will need to be a little livelier in Brent if it is to make any impact and it will be interesting to see how relationships develop with the recently formed Brent TUSC (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition) LINK  as well as Brent Fightback, which includes independent, Labour, SWP, Socialist and Green Party members.  A major issue is likely to be the position Labour councillors should take on the forthcoming budget, a possible rise in Council Tax and the iimplementation of cuts.

Will the Brent LRC have the Brent Executive trembling in their boots? Will the Brent LRC persuade those of us who have long given up on Labour to join them? Answers in the comment box below, please.

NO TO AUSTERITY-BUILD THE FIGHTBACK
Tuesday 30th October, Learie Constantine Centre, NW2 7pm

(the Centre is at the junction of Dudden Hill Lane and Villiers Road – 2mins walk from Dollis Hill tube on the Jubilee Line)

Activists and left wing Labour Party members in the Brent area have agreed to come together to organise a local section of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) - the organisation that aims to make the Labour Party represent the working class and fight for its interests.

All are welcome - Labour Party and non-Labour members.

SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

John McDonnell, MP for Hayes & Harlington
- Chair, Labour Representation Committee, speaking on the fight against austerity

Speaker from the Counihan Family Campaign
- This family of 6 has been made homeless by Brent Council and are leading an inspiring local campaign for housing rights

Speaker from the NW London NHS Campaign

Local trade unionists

About the LRC

The original Labour Representation Committee was formed in 1900 to fight for political representation for the Labour Movement. In Britain today we face a similar crisis of representation. The LRC has been re-formed to secure a voice for socialists within the Labour Party, the unions, and Parliament.

Never in the history of the Labour Party has the need been so great to make the case for peace and socialism. The advocates of global capitalism and war have taken control of the political agenda. The task for today's LRC, founded in 2004, is to fight for power within the Labour Party and trade unions and to appeal to the tens of thousands who have turned away from Labour in disillusion and despair. Therefore we are calling upon all socialists, Labour Party and trade union members, constituency Labour parties and union branches to join our campaign and join or affiliate to the LRC.

The LRC is a democratic organisation committed to fighting for a socialist future:

- We need a foreign policy based upon peace, justice and solidarity
- Britain is a more unequal society than at any time since the Second World War. The LRC is fighting for a living wage, a decent state pension, council housing and public services run to meet our needs not sold off for private profit
- All people are equal. We believe in fighting all forms of prejudice and discrimination
- With global capitalism in control of the political agenda, there is an urgent need for a major shift of wealth and power in favour of ordinary people
- The LRC was setup to fight for workers’ rights, civil liberties and political representation
- With the planet on the brink of environmental catastrophe New Labour’s answer is more nuclear power and an expansion of aviation. We need a green energy policy based on renewable and the development of public transport

This is an exciting time to join the LRC – we are continuing to grow rapidly as Labour supporters, trade unionists and other socialists look to develop a radical agenda around which the movement can unite in the face of the resurgent Tory threat.

We have local LRC groups right across the country bringing together socialists and trade unionists to fight local campaigns.

 

Sign Kensal Rise Library petition and read latest news

 Dear Supporters,

All Souls College, Oxford, has decided to sell Kensal Rise Library to developers who are going to strip the buildings and convert to flats. The developers are offering us a very small section (for a library) in exchange for helping them with planning, but we will have to pay commercial rates in perpetuity. Not a very good offer.

We are greatly saddened that this venerable college has chosen profit over people. The destruction of our only local cultural asset is shocking and demoralizing for all of us who have been working to support a service that benefits the most vulnerable amongst us. That All Souls chose this path in the face of our shared history, accelerating the gentrification of our community, is a direct rebuke to the original residents of Kensal Rise that the Fellows gifted the land to so many years ago.

Luckily there is another developer with a much more generous proposal for Kensal Rise Library re: space & terms. They have been in touch with the campaign and will submit a Bid to All Souls College, Oxford, by Monday for urgent review. We sincerely hope that All Souls gives this proposal serious consideration.

There will be a lot of activity over the next few days and your support is vital. Please help spread the news and share our petition as widely as you can. If you would like to get involved further, or have any ideas or suggestions for the campaign I'd love to hear from you email me via: about.me/jodi.gramigni or twitter: @jodigramigni

Many thanks again for all your support.

Kind regards,
Jodi

PETITION HERE

Northwick Park A&E won't cope after reorganisation

If reorganisation proposals go ahead and Central Middlesex Hospital A&E closes, Northwick Park will be the nearest A&E for most Brent residents. It is clear that the hospital is not coping now, let alone after the closure of Central Middlesex A&E.

From the Harrow Times this week:

All Souls claim space earmarked for libraries in redevelopment proposals

All Souls College has now told the Brent and Kilburn Times LINK that their proposals put to developers of the Kensal Rise and Cricklewood library sites includes an allocated space for a library as well as flats.
 
Margaret Bailey, of Friends of Kensal Rise Library is quoted by the BKT as saying: :

Disappointingly and surprisingly the college has gone for a developer who wants to develop the building by putting in flats and would be willing to offer a small space to us.

We will meet with this developer next week to see if there is any room for negotiation. Once we know what is on offer we will be having a public meeting to share these details and find out how to proceed

All Souls College sells out to developers

The Brent and Kilburn Times reports that All Souls College are to sell the Cricklewood and Kensal Rise libraries to developers, despite the pleas of local library campaigners that they be handed over to the community. LINK

Friends of Kensal Rise Library had raised more than £70,000 to fund their proposal.

The land is now likely to be used to build flats.

All Souls College is a registered charity with assets of £264,000,000. Clearly in this case money talks.

My admiration and sympathy goes out to the campaigners who fought so hard for what in any worthwhile society should be a given: an accessible, free public library and public space.

Time to put the Climate Emergency back on the national and global agenda

Earlier this week I chaired a joint meeting of Brent Campaign Against Climate Change and Brent Friends of the Earth to hear a talk from Phil Thornhill, National Coordinator of the Campaign Against Climate Change.

He spoke about the recent evidence on the reduction in the volume of the polar icecap and its consequences in terms of severe weather events. Governments continue to ignore the extent of the climate crisis with potential cataclysmic events occurring much earlier than climate scientists have previously forecast. He went on to suggest that NGOs, alongside politicians, were bound to a 'softly, softly' approach, that failed to confront the public with the stark reality that the world population face. The food crisis is already upon us and will worsen with potential global conflicts and large population movements.

Brian Orr, chair of Brent Green Party, who works with the Arctic Methane Emergency Group(AMEG) spoke passionately about the impact of methane gas release as the melt continues. His conclusion that geoengineering was required to meet the threat, because emissions reduction would not have a rapid enough impact to avert catastrophe, led to some heated exchanges about the risks.

This is AMEG's position LINK:

AMEG is confident that the crisis can still be averted successfully provided that immediate action is taken to cool the Arctic. This will inevitably involve a degree of intervention known as geoengineering as we have no other options to achieve the necessary rate and intensity of cooling required to stabilise the sea ice and buy time. AMEG therefore calls for urgent further research into technologies to help cool the Arctic and for tests and preparations to start without delay in order to be ready for rapid deployment of some of the more effective (and safe) techniques that are currently available for regional cooling of the Arctic. We must avert further collapse of sea ice and subsequent climate catastrophe. AMEG warns there is a real risk of further (and theoretically even nearly total) ice collapse by summer 2013.

AMEG stresses that to effectively reduce the threat of catastrophic climate change governments around the world must commit to a comprehensive plan of action and that geoengineering methods to cool the Arctic are now required on at least a temporary basis. AMEG repeats that it is also imperative for governments to act to immediately start reducing emissions dramatically.

Climate change has taken a backseat recently as attention focuses on the economic crisis and campaigners face an uphill battle in getting it back on the agenda.  The Campaign Against Climate Change stresses the urgency of the issue and calls for massive support for December 1st:

This year has seen the passing of an awesome milestone in the accelerating escalation of the climate crisis. It has now reached the stage where it is altering the planet's basic geography with the all too plainly visible vanishing of summertime arctic sea ice. The  "tipping points" we have heard so much about are no longer just a talking point for the distant future - we have every appearance of being in the process of hitting one right now.

Yet even as the world is poised on the brink of a tragedy of unimaginable scale, none of our leaders seems to be so much as blinking an eyelid in response. Worse than that humanity is engaged in a madcap suicidal dash to unearth  yet more of what caused the problem in the first place - fossil fuels. Even as some fossil fuels are becoming more expensive to extract new types - of often more carbon intensive - fossil fuel are being discovered and exploited.

We believe it's time to "get fracktious" about the criminal insanity of the way we are responding to probably the biggest threat humanity has ever faced.

Please join us on 1st December to bear witness to the gravity of the crisis that's unfolding..... see more about the imminent disappearance of summertime arctic ice here and here. Download our leaflet about it here.  See how the disproportionately rapid warming of the arctic is effecting the jet stream and causing extreme  weather events that are already disrupting agriculture and  forcing up food prices, hitting the world's most vulnerable hardest  - here.

We will also be targeting the insanity of the drive towards exploiting more - and new types of - fossil fuel. We will be acting in solidarity with the many local campaigns around the country resisting the expansion into this country of the risky and destructive pratcice of 'hydraulic fracturing' or "fracking" for previously un-tappable "shale gas". This is a major prop for George Osborne's new "dash for gas" which threatens to expand the exploitation of this fossil fuel in a way that would effectively blow the (inadequate but hard fought for) Climate Act out of the water (see here).