Tower Hamlets College – endgame?

Michael Farley, the beleagered Principal and widely blamed for precipitating the crisis at the college, may have blinked.
With the strike continuing, boosted by a well-attended rally last Saturday, the Principal has offered some concessions, such as finding alternative work for some of the 13 sacked workers and better voluntary redundancy packages.
Perhaps the Governors want the whole episode closed. After all, it can only embarrass some of them.
Well, the strike still goes as the offer was rejected.
It is obvious that a miscalculation was made with a heavy-handed ‘private-sector’ approach of giving employees 30 days notice, while bringing in a well-paid Vice Principal (when there hadn’t been one for years, and the college didn’t seem to notice)… and talk of an expensive computer system… plus Business Consultants…
Sounds like the NHS, doesn’t it?

What was the rush? Why did the Principal not come in more gracefully, consulting with employees, persuading them of his vision and thus convince them to adopt his strategy?

Another question concerns the role of Governors. Councillors and other local politicians and ‘ community leaders’ had a vote. Did they all vote for or against the Principal’s decision?
Did some Bangladeshi councillors, for example, agree to the culling of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) to the obvious detriment of Bengali (and Somali) students – many of them women and / or elderly?
They need to dispel this doubt and mobilise the local people to the cause of improving access to education and allowing people to join the mainstream.
After all, the goal is meant to be integration, rather than segregation, isn’t it?

Farid Bakht

Guernica, the Basques and the East End of London

Went to a talk at the Whitechapel Art Gallery this weekend. They had an all-dayer about Picasso’s painting Guernica which had been exhibited there in 1939.
I had visited the town just one month ago.
Gernika (the Basque spelling) is famous for one thing: as a testing zone for aerial bombing. A shock to the world about the brutality of incendiary bombs. And the utter evil of pilots mowing down retreating civilians.
The cousin of the Red Baron, Von Richtofen (what’s the correct spelling?) was in charge of Hitler’s bombers in Iberia, for action in the Spanish Civil War.
They chose the ancient Basque town to deliver a message – that they could destroy any Republican town with impunity.
Indeed, air power was decisive in letting the Fascists win the war of 1936-39.

It was a poignant moment for me, personally, as my grandfather had been killed in the same war (February 1938), in the Basque province of Guipuzcoa.

The highlight of the seminar was the appearance of a 90 year old lady. She was interviewed by Micheal Rosen (the author of childrens’ books- he was raised in the area). Lucid and determined, she recounted the day when Oswald Mosley’s blackshirts were driven back in Cable Street.
With the appearance of the mob at Harrow mosque last Friday & the Euro elections in June, her experiences suddenly seem very relevant.

We have almost come full circle.
When Coleen Powell, the US Secretary of State, was due to deliver a speech at the UN about the ‘need’ to bomb Iraq in 2003, he had Picasso’s painting covered up!
In shame or guilt, perhaps?
The continued bombing of Afghanistan shows that NATO has learnt from Hitler about the techniques of bombing innocent civilians.
In a way, we are in bed with the Fascists, this time with far more firepower at our disposal, and having also studied Goebbels.
We wear the cloak of ‘freeing countries so they can reap the benefits of democracy’ as we send drones into Pakistan and Afghanistan.
What is it some US generals in Iraq and Vietnam say: we had to destroy the city, in order to save it.

Farid Bakht
International Coordinator

Guernica at the Whitechapel Gallery

Gallery Symposium: Exhibiting Guernica 1939–2009: Contexts and Issues

This Saturday, 12th September 2009

11am-1pm Morning session
2pm-4pm Afternoon session
4pm-5.30pm East End walk

Free
Seats will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis for each session.

Picasso’s Guernica was first shown at the Whitechapel Gallery under the auspices of the Stepney Trades Council.
Drawing on personal memories, contributions from local historians and expert knowledge of Picasso’s relationship with party politics, this symposium unpacks the social, political and artistic significance of Guernica’s display in the East End as well as its lasting legacy for the community today.

Participants include historians and writers Tom Buchanan, Valentine Cunningham, Mike Gonzalez, Lynda Morris and Paul Preston. Organised and chaired by Michael Rosen, writer and broadcaster, whose late father Professor Harold Rosen visited the exhibition.

This event will be followed by Anti-Fascist Footprints: a free walk through the 1930s East End from Gardiners Corner to Cable Street with David Rosenberg, teacher, writer, and coordinator of the Islington local2global educational project. Through tracing the people and places of the period, this walk tells the story of how East Enders organised to combat fascism locally and in Spain.

No booking is required.

ESOL Rally at Tower Hamlets College

ESOL stands for ‘English for Speakers of Other Languages’ though it is more common to hear ‘English as a Second Language’.
Whatever the distinction, funding cuts means that 1,000 places for classes will be lost.
Already 2,000 people are waiting for ESOL classes in Tower Hamlets, with many more in Hackney and all over London.

Thirteen people could lose their jobs.
Thousands more will lose the opportunity to learn.
The college also wants to cut youth & enrichment provision, mentorship schemes, learning mentors, administrative & tutorial support workers, health & social care courses, literacy and hair & beauty courses.
The choice is between profit and education.

Come to the rally on Saturday 12th September, from 2pm to 4pm. It will be held at Altab Ali Park, near Aldgate East Station, just south of Brick Lane.

Farid Bakht

Rally for Tower Hamlets College

Please show your support to the lecturers and students of Tower Hamlets College this Saturday, 12th September, 2009.
A rally will be held at Altab Ali Park, near Aldgate East station – at the southern end of Brick Lane/Osborn Street. It will start at 2PM.
This is part of an ongoing campaign to reverse the cuts in ESOL (English as a second language) courses which mean 800+ people will miss out on these vital language courses.
Cuts also mean lecturers losing their jobs.

Tower Hamlets without Hamlet

The first meeting of Tower Hamlets Council after the departure of chief executive Martin Smith was a bit like a performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet but without the Prince of Denmark.
If not as bloody as the play it lasted just as long and had an interval after the first couple of acts.
There was a prologue to this meeting by the chief legal officer Isabel Freeman to the council when she reminded councillors that they were not allowed to mention any confidential details related to the remuneration agreed by the council and Martin Smith or to repeat any details that had become public knowledge just because they were in the public domain.
It was a pretty tough task and it was not surprising that in the debate that followed that the amount the severance pay that Martin Smith received was mentioned by one councillor (between £200, 000 and £400,000 should anyone be wondering.)
The meeting began with a statement by the Labour leader of the council Cllr. Lutfur Rahman. After his statement nobody was any the wiser as to the reason for the chief executive’s departure. He talked about the dedication and commitment that he chief executive contributed to the core values of the council but that the council is always changing and that it was time to renew the achievements of the council.
He had conversations with Martin Smith as to whether it was time “to move on” in order to energise the council.
An entirely different account of the circumstances leading to the departure of the chief executive was given by the Conservative leader of the opposition Cllr Peter Golds in his response. He asked Cllr. Rahman to give details as to when the decision to “facilitate the change of chief executive” was made and whether that decision involved cabinet, labour group members.
In his answer Cllr. Rahman said that any discussion was confidential. In his supplementary question Cllr. Golds said it was known to him, the leader of the Liberal Democrat group, Cllr. Stephanie Eaton, as well as journalists in July 2008 that he intended to provoke a confrontation with the chief executive to ensure his departure.
He added that discussed the matter with his colleagues on the council and with Cllr. Eaton and both of them held discussions with the chief executive. In the light of such discussions Cllr. Golds asked Cllr. Rahman “the exact timeline” in making the decision to dismiss the chief executive. (Later the chief whip of the Labour group, Cllr. Rachael Saunders, refuted the assertion by Cllr. Golds that Cllr. Rahman had forced Labour councillors to agree to his request. (Cllr. Saunders has a rather fulsome figure and her robust rebuttal of Cllr. Golds’s suggestion lead to someone in the public gallery shouting out ‘Miss Whiplash’ which caused her some embarrassment.
Cllr. Saunders was further embarrassed during questions to the council by members of the public when she left her seat and walked over to the woman and handed her contact details. The woman was flabbergasted. “I did not come here to be recruited (into the Labour Party, unbelievable” was her response and slipped the councillor’s business card into her cleavage under her v-neck dress.)
Cllr. Stephanie Eaton took Cllr. Rahaman to task for claiming, as she saw it, the credit for the achievement of the council and therefore wanted to know what areas has the chief executive failed.
She described the response from Cllr. Rahman as “perverse and counter intuitive”
What the representatives of Labour regional party sitting in the public gallery made of the proceedings is unknown but without doubt there will be blood on the carpet when as expected they wield the knife and kill off some of them.

Parting will not be “such sweet sorrow”.

Terry McGrenera
Coordinator

It’s either war or no war

Lots of comment, articles, speeches, sound bites and interviews about Afghanistan.
Particularly the question of helicopters.
Well, it’s the wrong question.
The correct question is: what are we doing in another war in Asia?
Yes, European troops, including British, are fighting deep inside Asia.
On the one hand we hear how the ‘Great Recession’ will speed up the transfer of power to Asia.

On the other, we have the strategic imperatives of 19th century imperialism guiding 20th century politicians, not yet adjusted to the realities of the 21st century.

This is not our war.

For the people like Sunny Hundal (in yesterday’s Jim Jepps interview) and all the other so-called progressive people who are so concerned about democracy and women’s rights, and ‘finishing the job’, why do they ignore the War in the Congo? Or the role of India in Kashmir?
Or the use of Afghanistan by India and Pakistan in their pathetic rivalry, when India has more people living in poverty, than Sub-Saharan Africa.
How quiet have we been over Saudi Arabia and their trampling of women’s rights? We are still selling weapons to them, aren’t we?

Five million Africans dead. In a war over minerals and resources in Congo.
Check the volume of comments on each of the above.

The supposed connection to terrorism on the streets of London is bogus, by the way.
The terrorists of 7/7 came from Northern England and were British citizens, using our invasions as a pretext.
Moreover, Pakistan’s ISI (Intelligence Services) is the worst terrorist organisation of all, having spawned the Taliban (with ours and Saudi’s help)…..

If you want to get rid of terrorism, then:
1) stop sending money that ends up with the ISI,
2) withdraw support from that barbaric regime in Riyadh and
3) stop invading countries.

We cannot follow the Mail/Sky agenda.
We have to stick to our principles.

This war is unjust.
Obama is wrong.
We should not be there.

The underlying logic has been the feeding of gas to India via pipelines from Central Asia and also the prevention of China, Russia and Iran cementing links.
Now, if you want to say that the latter is a valid reason, then say it.
Stop hiding behind fictitious ideas of spreading democracy.
It may sound plausible in the Guardian. It sounds absurd in Asia.
We note the relative inaction over a coup in Honduras….. and the overt support for the murderous regime in Columbia.
Check out our friends in Africa.
Wonder why a British Ambassador supported a military putsch in Bangladesh two years ago…….

Let’s agree that it should not be War.
Let’s not talk about killing more Afghans (the other side of the coin of sending helicopters to protect our troops and more drones).
Let’s look for solutions for peace after withdrawal.

Farid Bakht

Energy efficiency grants in Tower Hamlets

This is today’s information on the council website.

East End Energy Savers
A grant from the Energy Saving Trust has enabled the setting up of a loan fund to assist residents in financing the installation of energy efficient measures in their homes.

The fund offers interest-free loans with repayment periods to suit your individual circumstances.

In addition the unit has negotiated discount rates with reputable energy efficiency installers, which are only available through the East End Energy Savers scheme.

We can also access grants for insulation and solar water heating.

Warm Front Scheme
The Warm Front Scheme is a government funded scheme which provides grants up to £2000 to make your home warmer, more energy efficient and more secure.

To be eligible for the scheme, you must be in receipt of a qualifying benefit and be a private sector resident (i.e. not housing association or council tenant).

The grant focuses on households with the greatest health risks. Older people, families with children under the age of 16 years and people who are disabled get priority.

MRA Energy Efficiency Scheme (for council tenants only)
This scheme provides loft insulation and draught sealing for council tenants in receipt of a qualifying benefit, or over 65.

London Warm Zone
The Warm Zone scheme is an East London Renewal partnership programme which provides grants to make your home warmer and more energy efficient.

To be eligible for the scheme, you must be in receipt of a qualifying benefit and be a private sector resident (i.e. not Housing Association or Council tenant).

The grant focuses on households with the greatest health risks. Older people, families with children under the age of 16 years and people who are disabled get priority.

How to contact us
For more information contact:

Private Housing Improvement Team (PHIT)
Development and Renewal
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Mulberry Place (AH)
PO Box 55739
5 Clove Crescent
London
E14 1BY

Tel: 020 7364 2521
Fax: 020 7364 2533

Email: energy.services@towerhamlets.gov.uk

Open: Mon to Fri 9am to 5pm

India dams Bangladesh

Bengalis in the UK, mainly from the district of Sylhet, and growing numbers of the middle class in Bangladesh are becoming seriously concerned about a dam that India has started constructing.
When finished in three years, it will affect 8% of the country’s water supply – a disaster waiting to happen for rice growing farmers.
Bangladesh, a delta nation, is absolutely dependent on adequate and timely supply of water. The majority of the population is reliant on the rural economy.
Indian diplomats have imperiously waved aside media objections, ignoring international treaties which safeguard the right of downstream countries.
For decades, another water obstacle, the Farakka barage, has caused resentment against India.
The environment is a live political issue.
There has been little international notice, as the Dhaka government, has been slow to react. Its elite are keen not to upset the regional superpower, India, and possibly feel it can import some of the 1,500MW of electricity to be produced one kilometre from its border, by the world’s largest rock fall dam.
The opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, is making political capital – forgetting its inactivity when the dam was mooted in 2003.
I remember marching against a humongous River-linking project cooked up by India with Soviet style mega dams and canals. Then, none of the political parties wanted to know.
For them, the concerns of farmers and rural labourers are far from their minds.
This is a harbinger of things to come. India (along with the US and Israel) is one of three states constructing a fence to keep out neighbours.
But it is hardly likely to stop Bengalis crossing over if their livelihoods are being destroyed by climate change, poverty and next-door’s environmental vandalism.

Farid Bakht

Tower Hamlets Labour AM thinks hedge funds ‘add value’

Saturday’s Progressive London conference was peppered with Labour politicians. They did their best to stretch the word Progressive to breaking point.
John Biggs, the Labour Assembly Member (and Tower Hamlets stalwart) astounded the audience with his comments.
On a Saturday, dressed impeccably in a suit and tie, he highlighted his credentials of working in the City of London.
He told us that hedge funds added value to our economy (while the Chinese economists in the main hall were saying the opposite)…. how we had to ‘work with the City’… how it was a nostalgic dream for manufacturing to return to London………
This was a performance of an unreconstructed New Labour politician in thrall to the City and the banks.
Northern Rock, the collapse of the banks all seemed to pass by…..
He also came out against any EU regulation of the City…. which rather says it all. He made a comment that we don;t need Europeans to regulate us.. well, we wouldn’t if the UK Labour Government had the guts to do something (Darling’s speech last week was widely derided as Labour’s final capitulation to Finance)
If Singapore can operate as a financial centre, a manufacturing centre and a magnet for tourism why not London?
In any case his old boss, Ken Livingstone, told the main meeting that indeed we need to bring back manufacturing to the Thames Estuary….

Incredible..