SOCIALIST UNITY

Ken Livingstone has published an alternative transport strategy for London which rejects Boris Johnson’s huge fare hikes and calls for the reversal of the Government’s threat of ‘catastrophic transport cuts’ of 25% to 40%. Ken outlined the threat to London in a new transport policy Protecting London’s transport services [pdf].

Mr Livingstone launched his ideas for London’s future transport in Croydon this morning.

The document proposes a series of measures to improve the capital’s transport system and deliver a better quality of life for millions of Londoners. These include:

• Leading the fight to prevent the catastrophic government cuts to London’s transport budget
• Pressing bus companies to release millions to invest in order to improve bus services from their profits
• Urgently reviewing how London Underground handles tube upgrades to tackle overrunning of works and use transport users’ views and experiences to improve the management of tube upgrades
• Introducing innovative new ways to cut congestion through greater use of cutting-edge technology as part of a wider strategy to make London the world’s first ‘Smart City’
• Introducing electric buses in London to cut carbon emissions
• Radically improving the quality of information for Londoners for buses, tubes, trains, bikes and taxis and walking.

Ken attacked Boris Johnson’s record which has hiked up fares for the majority of Londoners while wasting millions on pet vanity projects. The Mayor’s own Annual London Survey shows that high fares have risen to be the number one concern of Londoners about transport and concern on the broad range of issues relating to public transport has risen under Boris Johnson.

Ken launched his transport policy document in East Croydon, meeting residents, staff and commuters at East Croydon station.

Ken said,

“It is clear that under Boris Johnson, London’s transport network is careering off the rails. I will get London back on track.

‘In just two years fares have risen by record levels and in a tough economic climate the Mayor has wasted valuable time and millions of pounds trying to scrap the Western Extension of the Congestion Charge Zone and pet vanity projects including his costly New Bus and fantasy Thames airport.

‘I will put ordinary Londoners first, holding down fares and fighting tirelessly to protect investment in London’s transport system from the threat of government catastrophic cuts. Huge cuts of 25% to 40% make no sense at all and threaten to tip us into a double dip recession.

‘I take the tube and bus every day. I have the experience to use every lever to get the best for London and I will work tirelessly to protect our transport services and get London back on track.“

The full policy document can be found here.

Boris Johnson’s record on transport in London:

• Imposed the highest bus fare increases since Transport for London was created
• Scrapped the CO2 Charge which would have deterred the gas-guzzling cars in central London
• Plans to scrap the Western Extension of the Congestion Charge
• Delayed phase 3 of the Low Emission Zone
• Ditched a whole series of planned new public transport capacity, including Cross River Tram, the later phases of East London Transit, Greenwich Waterfront Transit, Croydon Tramlink Extensions to Crystal Palace, and the Thames Gateway Bridge
• Cut pedestrians’ time to cross the road safely at traffic lights

PICTURE SOURCE: http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2009/03/ken-tube-415×367.jpg

It’s coming to the end of the Leadership campaign and our party will announce its new leader on September 25.

Ballots will start going out tomorrow (September 1) and you will finally be able to cast your vote to decide who will lead your party.

I want to ask you for your support one last time.

Thank you

It’s been a great campaign and I want to thank all of the party members I have met over the weeks and months, who have shown me incredible support and have reminded me of what a great party we are.

My campaign is going extremely well.

I do not have the financial capacity of my comrades, but what I do have is the will to succeed.

Polls suggest Labour would do well with me as Party Leader

Polls have indicated that I am a popular choice with voters.

I also have strong backing from those who did not vote Labour at the last election – so I am well placed to help us win back the trust we have lost.

The July poll of those who will vote in our Leadership election also put me in a strong third place position.

It showed that I have the support of party members and trade unionists, who will make up two thirds of this vote.

Since that poll more party members have had the opportunity to assess all the candidates and judge who is best able to correct the mistakes that have been made and rebuild our support.

I have a real chance of becoming your leader. Your vote will make all the difference.

No vote for me is a wasted vote.

Where I’ve been

Over the summer, I have spent time visiting members up and down the country.

I’ve been to Scotland, Nottingham, Luton, Birmingham, to name just a few, and have seen phenomenal support for my bid.

I’m heading to Liverpool, Exeter, Bristol, Norwich and Manchester over the final weeks and hope to meet as many of you as I can. Please email my team if you want to meet up diane4leader@hotmail.co.uk  

If you haven’t as yet made your mind up, there’s still time.

New leaflet

This week I sent out thousands of copies of my brand new leaflet to CLPs around the country, setting out my vision for leadership of the party.

You can see the leaflet here or by contacting your CLP secretary who has several copies available.

But that’s not all.

Television debates

Over the next few days there will be televised debates on Channel 4 and Sky, culminating in a special Question Time on September 16.

I hope to be able to show you in these debates why I stand apart from the other candidates.

What I stand for

One way is in my response to the Coalition’s budget.

The Lib-Cons have made an unprecedented attack on the welfare State.

Even independent researchers such as the Institute of Fiscal studies agree that their budget will hit some of the poorest in our society the hardest

This is unacceptable and we need a strong leader, like me, who will ensure Cameron and Clegg’s attacks are opposed by Labour.

What will I do as your Leader?

I want to stand up for the most vulnerable and protect those in need.

I want make changes that new and old members want to see.

I want to:

PROTECT THE PUBLIC SECTOR
SCRAP TRIDENT
BRING TROOPS BACK FROM AFGHANISTAN
STAND UP FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES
RESTORE FAITH AND TRUE DEMOCRACY IN THIS PARTY

If you want to see these changes, I hope that you will be able to put me as your first preference

If you want to know more about the final stages of the campaign, you can visit my website www.diane4leader.co.uk  

Or email me on diane4leader@hotmail.co.uk  

Follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/dianeforleader  

Join my facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=105235839522326  

Please forward this email to everyone you know

Yours in comradeship

Diane Abbott MP

The dramatic history of struggles by matchgirls, dockers, suffragettes and rebel councillors, in London’s East End, will be retraced and celebrated in a new two-hour guided walk, taking place for the first time at 2.30pm on Sunday September 12th.

“The Spark of Rebellion in Bow and Mile End” has been devised by writer and educationalist David Rosenberg, who currently leads two other successful historical tours, for adults and young people, around Spitalfields and Cable Street.

David says: “In 1888 and 1889 matchgirls, dockers, tailors and gasworkers in East London went on strike for a living wage and better conditions. In the early 20th century, East London suffragettes campaigned very courageously, and in 1921 local councillors went to prison rather than levy unfair rates. On the walk I weave together the common threads of their struggles and highlight the inspiring individuals who played such an outstanding role in these events. There are many important stories that deserve to be told.”

The fee for the walk is £7 (£4 unwaged) and details of the meeting point are available on booking, which can be made online at www.eastendwalks.com

The floods in Pakistan present enormous problems for working people and peasants. The absence of effective coordinated and unbiased support from Government makes a dreadful situation worse. The organising potential of the Labour and socialist movement has never been more needed.

Labour Relief campaign is working in the areas affected to provide direct help and assist communities in organising to avert the worst effects of the inundation and its aftermath. For this they need money and practical help. They are also organising politically to insist that the government must give first priority to the needs of the people rather than to the needs of international debt

The following organisations have set up Labour Relief Campaign. Labour Relief Campaign is a network of 8 social and political organization of Pakistan that include National Trade Union Federation, Women Workers Help Line, Progressive Youth Front, Labour Party Pakistan, Pakistan For Palestine, CADTM Pakistan, Labour Education Foundation and Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee We appeal our friends and organizations in Pakistan and abroad for donations of a monetary kind or in the form of drinking water, clothes (new), shoes, medicine.

If you wish to donate from Europe  this is one of  two websites  who will direct money given via their donate buttons to this fund if you include the word Pakistan on the donation message.  By donating through these accounts the cost of the transfer of money to Pakistan is reduced.

Paypal donations via the SSP from here

from UNISON’s magazine 

Like you, I’m proud of Labour’s legacy – the minimum wage, Sure Start children’s centres, new hospitals, civil partnerships and devolution.

But I’m aware of the disappointments too. At times the Labour government seemed to lose touch with the people we represent and almost wage war on public servants. That was wrong and we paid a heavy price.

Public sector workers did not create the financial crisis. But we now face the biggest assault on our public services since the 1980s. Fundamental free market reforms to our NHS and schools. Local services to be slashed. Public sector jobs, pay and pensions under attack. Cuts so severe they could trigger another recession.

As a Labour leadership candidate I will not be distracted from my first duty: to show there is an alternative to this savage assault on public services.

That’s why I have led from the front on campaigns to defend free school meals, save new school buildings and oppose the VAT bombshell.

Labour needs a leader who can make the right calls under pressure, as I did on staying out of the Euro currency. Following the tragic Baby Peter case in Haringey, I resisted the media frenzy to act before an inquiry and launched the Stand up for Social Workers campaign.

I not only believe in fairness but will fight for fairness.

I was the only Cabinet Minister to implement the Living Wage for all staff and contracted staff in my Department. I will create Labour’s first ever Diversity Fund to help under-represented groups – whether by gender, race, sexuality, disability or background – get selected as candidates.

And I am proud too of my work with Unison over the years:

* devising with Dave Prentis the NHS secondment model to help staff retain NHS pay and conditions

* setting-up the first ever national negotiating body for school support staff including teaching assistants, caterers and cleaners;

* securing the funding for universal free school meals pilots, following Unison’s campaigning in the National Policy Forum;

* alongside Dave, launching Unison’s ‘Million Voices’ for public services – a campaign that is now more important than ever

* and recently speaking out against the scapegoating of public sector pensions.

When you vote in this leadership election I hope people will judge me not just on what I say and do now, but on my record as a champion of public services too.

Conservative Secretary of State for Health has let slip that the Coalition is to scrap NHS Direct for a cheaper service. The proposal is to replace 3,000 dedicated specialist nurses and health professionals with a cheap private call centre, with no access to a nurse.

Private call centres with unqualified staff can never replace this excellent service, which provides vital immediate support such as during the swine flu outbreak which saw scores of people die.

NHS Direct UNISON Official Michael Walker states:

“Not one Coalition party stated they would scrap NHS Direct in their manifesto. There is no mandate for cutting this service . If the government attack NHS Direct, what else is next? What other NHS cuts are they hiding? It is time for Cameron and Clegg to come clean about their real plans for our NHS.”

by Michael Meacher, from Left Futures

So David Miliband would pose the greatest threat to the Tories?   How convenient for DM that this alleged private remark of David Cameron’s has hit the headlines, via an unidentified ‘well-placed source’,  just 4 days before voting starts for the Labour leadership.   It is of course the oldest trick in the political book, ever since the children’s story of Brer Rabbit and the Fox and the briar bush, to pretend when one is under threat that the one thing the political enemy fears most is X (in this case a vote for DM) in order to get gullible supporters to do precisely that, only then to find that it was just a ruse for DM to escape the threat of losing.

But even if Cameron did make the remark attributed to him (which is highly unlikely) – that DM stood the best chance of reaching out to middle Britain – the comment is off the mark.   Who is now the middle class anyway?   There is a serious misperception that it reflects people like teachers, managers, doctors, architects, surveyors, stockbrokers.   These are largely in the £50,000-£100,000-plus income bracket.   But the average wage in Britain today is £24,000.   Half the population is below £460 a week gross, with one tenth of the population (6 million people) living on less than £310 a week.

Middle Britain is at a far lower income level than the politicians and the media like to represent.   They are far more concerned with making ends meet in a climate of austerity, where the deep cuts being imposed haven’t even started yet to bite, than the lofty aspirational images of Blairite propaganda would have us believe.

The real truth is that DM offers nothing to struggling families on whom the insecurity of their jobs, incomes and housing is now starting to impact.   EM by contrast has shown a real readiness to confront the causes of this massive breakdown and deal with the nitty-gritty of the issues that are really hurting people.   The illusion now being pumped out by the black propaganda arts of the Blairite machine, with its huge business finance backing, that DM can reach these problems like a political Heineken when other candidates can’t is a measure of the desperation of the DM camp.

I missed this at the time as I was on holiday. Courtesy of Louis Proyect

by Nick Lowles of Searchlight

Ok, I’m going to try to sum up today. It’s been both frustrating but pleasing.

It was frustrating because 800-1,000 EDL came into Bradford acted appallingly and largely got away with it. They chanted disgusting anti-Muslim abuse, threw bottles and other missiles whenever they could, repeatedly attacked the police lines and then, when a group did break out, were able to run around the city without being picked up. The police were soft on the EDL and this only encouraged them to get even more rowdy and obnoxious.

The police failed to push back the EDL at the beginning so they were able to goad locals from across the road. Police dogs and horses were deployed in numbers but every single one of them were pointing at local people, something that only antagonised locals.

The day was however at the same time pleasing in that despite the EDL provocation the day appears to have passed off relatively peacefully. Certainly there was no repeat of the riots that rocked Bradford in 2001. From that point of view the day was a success. Despite provocation and considerable anger the locals didn’t rise to the EDL bait and everyone remain calm, or at least as calm as could have been expected in the circumstances.

But we should also look at a wider picture and here I would like to congratulate the people of Bradford and our supporters across the country. I saw at first hand how horrible, racist and violent the EDL were today. I have absolutely no doubt that if they had been allowed to march through West Bowling, a predominantly Asian area, there would have been a major disturbance. They weren’t allowed to march because we stopped them. Our petition was cited by both the police and the Home Secretary as proof of local feeling.

And, looking forward, I think our campaign, coupled with other initiatives such as the Women’s vigil, have helped foster a more positive spirit amongst local people. In the course of collecting the signatures for the petition we had successful conversations with 10,700 people in the city. The local newspaper did their bit and yesterday 400 local people attended our peace vigil.

Now, at last, I think Bradford has moved out of the shadow of the 2001 riots that has dogged the city for many years. The people of Bradford have not only survived the provocative invasion by the EDL but have stood together - as one city and one people - and that can only be good for the future of Bradford.

http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/blog/

EDL exposed as fascist racist thugs - anti-fascists vindicated following peaceful event

Over 1,500 people attended the peaceful celebration of multicultural Bradford organised by We Are Bradford supported by Unite Against Fascism (UAF). The event was totally peaceful - a vindication for all those who were determined to peacefully oppose the EDL today.

A range of entertainment was displayed at the event including performances from local brass bands, choirs, rappers and musicians. These were interspersed with speeches from representatives of local multi faith leaders, councillors, trade unions, Bradford Women for Peace, Love Music Hate Racism, We Are Bradford and UAF.

Over 500 EDL gathered on Bradford Urban Garden, many held racist placards and there was deliberately provocative chanting of “we love the floods” and “Allah is a paedo”.
Towards the end of the afternoon around 200 English Defence League (EDL) members and supporters broke past police lines, attempting to attack local Muslims, Asians, other communities and the peaceful events opposing them. The EDL were the only people arrested.

Police did prevent the EDL attacking the We Are Bradford event. Riot police were brought to try to contain the EDL and at 6pm the police were still struggling to disperse the EDL.

A mixed group of people including white, Asian, young and old, families, shoppers and passersby, spontaneously turned up on pavements overlooking the EDL event, to show their opposition. The EDL threw missiles and stones at this multicultural gathering. There was little or no retaliation, some local Asian youth handed to the police the stones that the EDL had thrown at them.
Media coverage reporting clashes between EDL and UAF are false. There were no clashes with the EDL and those attending the We Are Bradford and UAF event. The EDL attacked the local people that were near the EDL event, mainly passersby, resulting in serious clashes with the police.

Ashiq Hussain, We Are Bradford Chair said:
“Today we had a peaceful, united, multicultural event attended by Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu communities, trade unions and anti-fascists. We said we would organise a peaceful celebration and that is what we did.”

In a message of solidarity with We Are Bradford and Unite Against Fascism, Chris Howsen, local Vicar and peace activist said:
“You have played your part in keeping Bradford a peaceful and multicultural city.”

Mukhtar Ali, former Bradford councillor said:
“Today has been a great day for We Are Bradford and UAF. I am sad that the police have not controlled EDL better and 200 EDL were attempting to run riot in Bradford.”

Sabby Dhalu, Unite Against Fascism Joint Secretary said:
“All those that wanted to peacefully voice opposition to the EDL today have been vindicated. The EDL have once again exposed itself as a fascist, violent and criminal conspiracy against Britain’s Muslims and other communities. Allowing the EDL to come to Bradford while, telling those that oppose them to stay at home is wrong.
“The EDL’s sole intention of coming to Bradford was to cause violence and mayhem. Trouble did occur in Bradford only at the hands of the EDL, not because of events opposing them.
“The majority of British people abhor the EDL and the fascism, racism, Islamophobia and hatred they peddle, and will always turn up to oppose the EDL, as they did in Bradford today. That is why it is crucial to have organised and peaceful events opposing them and this is precisely what we achieved today.
“We are the majority; the EDL is a tiny minority. We have the right and freedom to peacefully voice our opposition to the EDL and other fascist organisations.”