The US Just Threatened to Move Against Corbyn: Where Is the Outrage?

Stop the War Vice Chair, Chris Nineham, on Mike Pompeo’s leaked comments about the potential election of Jeremy Corbyn:

“The Secretary of State of the world’s most powerful nation has promised to ‘push back’ against the possibility of the leader of the Labour Party in Britain getting elected. He suggests US agencies will try and intervene to stop that eventuality because “it’s too risky and too important and too hard once it’s already happened”.

We live in a liberal democracy at a time when there are widespread elite fears of foreign interference in politics, particularly by Russia. Cue outrage from the government and across media platforms surely? Err…well no actually. I haven’t found a single record of complaint from the government, the story hasn’t got near the top headlines in the national press, and as I write the BBC website is not featuring the story at all.
 

This is extraordinary. Trump’s endorsement of Johnson and Farage during his visit was bad enough. But here we have an unambiguous statement by the most powerful foreign policy official in the US administration bar the President suggesting a move against a democratically elected leader in Britain. And it is not big news.”

Read the full article here.

SOAS UNISON – Deportations 10th Anniversary Commemoration Events

Wednesday 12 June 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of the arrest and subsequent deportation SOAS cleaners (and UNISON members).

The cleaners, working at the time for the outsourced company ISS, were called in for an early morning staff meeting in the G2 Lecture Theatre (now the DLT).

The meeting was actually a cover for a UK Border Agency raid. 

9 SOAS cleaners were handcuffed in the lecture theatre and subsequently deported by UKBA.

The deportation of the SOAS 9 by the UK state was done at the behest of the private company with the full knowledge and complicity of the SOAS Management.

The real reason these workers were targeted like this was that they stood up and had begun to organise to improve their working lives.

Please join us in attending the annual commemoration events below on what will be the 10th anniversary of this crime and please take a few minutes to watch the attached trailer for the ‘Limpiadores’ documentary (the full film will be shown as part of the commemorative events organised by the SOAS Justice for Workers campaign)

We need real investment in adult learning, says TUC

Commenting on the publication today (Thursday) of the Augar Review into post-18 education and funding, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“Everyone should have access to quality education and training whatever stage of life they are at. But our further education sector has been cut to the bone by years of devastating cuts.

“This review is right to call for more support for our colleges. And for maintenance grants to be brought back.

“The government must repair the damage austerity has caused and properly invest in adult learning.

“As the world of work changes working people will need to keep gaining new skills throughout their career.” Editors note

– The TUC welcomes the commitment to fully funded education and training up to level 3 (A Levels or equivalent) for all ages

– The TUC is calling for:

  • A new lifelong learning account open to all adults incorporating fully funded skills entitlements, including an entitlement for all adults to achieve their first Level 3 qualification and a retraining entitlement to support career change for those already with a Level 3 qualification
  • A right to a mid-life skills/career review for workers and development of a high-quality skills/careers advice service for all adults
  • Reform of the right to request time to train so that it is changed to a new strengthened entitlement to paid time off for education and training
  • Government to set an ambition to increase investment in both workforce and out of work training to the EU average within the next five years
  • TUC is also supporting the current employer/union led Love Colleges campaign, which is calling for:
    • 1. Increased funding for colleges and adult skills. 
    • 2. A new Level 3 entitlement for all adults.
    • 3. Ring-fenced funding for a fair pay deal for college staff

#GeneralElectionNow – Labour Assembly Against Austerity

RALLY: General Election Now! Time for a Corbyn-Government

Rally with John McDonnell // Diane Abbott // Richard Burgon & more.
Friday June 21, 6.30pm, Mander Hall, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London, WC1H 9BD.  RSVP, Share & Invite here

Hosted by the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs, this rally will open the Arise 2019 – a festival of Labour’s left ideas festival, and all Friday + Saturday tickets will include a ticket to this. These can be bought at www.arise-festival.com/tickets.

A limited number of tickets for the Friday night rally only are also available, also at www.arise-festival.com/tickets – get yours today!

#GeneralElectionNow
#JC4PM

LESE Race Relations Committee: Celebrate the Windrush Generation – Wednesday 26 June 2019

TUC Congress House, 6 – 8.30pm

  The LESE Race Relations Committee invite you to join them celebrate the Windrush generation and remember the suffering that the Windrush scandal has caused. It is time for a change, in attitude, how people are perceived. The Windrush generation and their families did nothing wrong and do not deserve the treatment experienced.

Guest Speakers include:

Betty Joseph, Chair, LESE Race Relations Committee and NEU

Arthur Torrington, Windrush Foundation

Nairobi Thompson, Writer and Poet

Patrick Vernon, Social commentator and political activist

Scratchylus, Musician who promotes consciousness and edutainment

Zita Holbourne, Co-founder of Black Activist Rising Against Cuts (BARAC)

Please register: 020 7467 1220 / lese@tuc.org.uk

This event is hosted by the LESE Race Relations Committee

Thanks to CWU event support

We need a general election

The Prime Minister is right to have resigned. She has now accepted what the country has known for months: she cannot govern, and nor can her divided and disintegrating party.

The burning injustices she promised to tackle three years ago are even starker today.

The Conservative Party has utterly failed the country over Brexit and is unable to improve people’s lives or deal with their most pressing needs.

Parliament is deadlocked and the Conservatives offer no solutions to the other major challenges facing our country.

The last thing the country needs is weeks of more Conservative infighting followed by yet another unelected Prime Minister.

Whoever becomes the new Conservative Leader must let the people decide our country’s future, through an immediate general election.

11 June – No Silence Please! It’s Barnet’s Library Review

Please join us on Tuesday 11 June 2019 at 6:30pm at Hendon Town Hall. We are holding a short protest prior to speaking at the Communities Leadership and Libraries (CLL) Committee meeting at 7pm. Please invite your friends and neighbours to come along too – children are welcome!

As you may have heard, the Minister for Culture recently refused our complaint about the Barnet Library Service. Unfortunately, his decision shows a blatant determination to ignore the evidence of Barnet residents and let the Council off the hook.  You can read our response here.

In spite of this, the Council wasn’t able to get away completely unscathed: one important outcome of the complaint process is the Council’s long-awaited “Library Review”. In this, the Council must explore the impact of the library cuts on groups protected by the Equalities Acts – including children, older people, and those with disabilities. Not suprisingly, these are the groups most affected by unstaffed libraries, reduced facilities and locked toilets.


The process for the review is due to be announced at the CLL meeting. We need your support to put pressure on the committee to carry out a meaningful review that listens to residents’ views and really looks at the impact of the cuts. Please help us to get all our voices heard. 

The review is timely: you may have read about the recent report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty which finds “unheard-of levels of loneliness and isolation” and links this to austerity policies, including shrinking library services. 

We will be organising speakers for the meeting – reply to this email by Monday 3 June if you want to participate. We are also collecting your stories about the library service – email us or share them via our facebook page or website.

Wed 5 June – Protest at the Council’s attack on Independent Living

URGENT ….. LOBBY AGAINST CUTS TO INDEPENDENT LIVINGWEDNESDAY 5 JUNE, 6.30pm. Hendon Town Hall
Over 50 people attended a meeting on Tuesday organised by BAPS and UNISON to hear about the latest callous attack on those most in need in Barnet. Local disabled residents explained at the meeting the devastating impact this will have on their lives.
Even though the council social services budget is underspent, Barnet Tories want to make a saving. Rather than using the underspend to fill the 50-odd vacant social worker posts, the tories wants cut the budget. Is that because it will use the underspend to finance the overspend in the contract with Capita? 
The meeting agreed to lobby and protest at the Council Adult & Safeguarding Committee on Wednesday 5 June. Meet at 6.30pm outside the Town Hall, The Burroughs, Hendon.

How does Barnet Council wants to save £424,000?

Disabled resident may be forced to move into residential care against their wishes rather than being supported in their community near family and friends, if Barnet Council thinks residential care is a cheaper option. Barnet Council recognises that disabled residents, their families and carers may not like this.

Barnet Council recognises that forcing a disabled resident to move into residential care might be bad for their well-being. Inclusion Barnet, an organisation led by and for people who are disabled, has written to Barnet Council in January 2019. They are still waiting for a reply, yet they represent Barnet disabled residents.

“Michael Nolan, a trustee of the disabled people’s organisation Inclusion Barnet, told Disability News Service: “The Inclusion Barnet board are extremely concerned about these proposals, which we fear could leave some disabled people confined to residential care when they might otherwise have been able to live independently. We believe that this could impact people least able to self-advocate, and is also against the spirit of the Care Act.”

BENEFITS SANCTIONS: a critical issue for the Labour Party

Thursday 6 June – 7.30pm
Greek Cypriot Centre, Britannia Road, N12 9 RU

Meeting and discussion with David Webster and Stop Universal Credit campaigner

David Webster is a Senior Research Fellow at Glasgow University. He is currently carrying out an in-depth investigation into disallowances and sanctions in the UK unemployment insurance system.

Benefits used to be run on insurance principles – but the Blair government bought into the whole ideology of conditionality, sanctions and workfare. A research by the IFS concludes that almost 2million people will lose £1,000 a year with universal credit, and that it is those on disability benefits and low incomes who will be among the worst affected.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Trump’s State Visit – Just 2 Weeks Away!

Having withdrawn from the hard-won nuclear deal with Iran over a year ago, the US has tightened already punitive sanctions, moved an aircraft carrier, B-52 bombers, and extra missiles to the Gulf region and held top level discussions about deploying as many as 120,000 troops to the area.

Any military action against Iran would lead to a devastating war that would draw in the whole of the Middle East and has the potential to escalate into a global conflict.

The Together Against Trump Protest against his State Visit on June 4th is the perfect opportunity to demand an end to his terrifying brinkmanship with Iran. Join us on the anti-war and peace bloc in two weeks time!

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