Resolution of the London UCU Retired Members Branch on the Refugees in Calais

Please find below the Resolution of the London Retired Members Branch on the Refugees in Calais Ian has been good enough to translate it into French and it has been sent to various organisations in France. The French version can be found here... If you have an opportunity to raise the motion, or any part of it, with any other organisation, that would be most useful.   The London Retired UCU rejects the Government’s present racism about refugees. This is a racism that in sealing the borders of Europe is leading to death on a horrific scale as well as the exploitation of those without papers within the UK and across Europe.     We recognise that migration is a product of a global system of inequality, war and persecution. Migrants are not the cause of austerity, the housing crisis, job cuts or education cuts. We deplore the Government’s pathetic offer of 20,000 places over 5 years for all refugees. In particular, we deplore the failure of the British Government to open the doors to the refugees in Calais. We offer solidarity to those in the camps in Calais, agree to support the sending of delegations to anti-racist solidarity events in Calais and in the UK and call on the British government to immediately grant the refugees in Calais the right to reside in the UK. THe refugees currently residing in the UK sovereign bases in Cyprus should also be immediately admitted.     We also condemn the use of anti-terrorism powers by British police and border agency officials to harass volunteers who have taken aid to Calais     Furthermore, we reject any national or local policy which discriminates against refugees living in the UK and demands they receive free healthcare, equal welfare rights and the Government withdraws its present policy of banning refugees from working who have not been given residency. In particular, we demand that the Government boosts the ESOL programme immediately and provides suitable education for retraining adult refugees.

Copyright © 2015 UCU London Retired Members Branch, All rights reserved. UCU London Retired Members Branch Committee Our mailing address is: UCU London Retired Members Branch 53 Fladgate Road, London, United Kingdom Leytonstone, London E11 1LX United Kingdom

GREEN PARTY POLICY ON HOUSING – 10am to 1pm Saturday 5 December, in Camden Town Hall, Euston Road.

GREEN PARTY POLICY ON HOUSING – 10am to 1pm Saturday 5 December, in Camden Town Hall, Euston Road.

Please RSVP for this to Anne Gray amgggg2@yahoo.co.uk so we can ascertain numbers and plan workshops. If you RSVP we will send briefing notes and update on speakers next week. There is no charge though a donation on the day for future venue hire and sandwiches would be much appreciated.

10am registration and intro

10.15 to 11.15 3 main speakers and question/comments:-

Tom Chance – overview of London housing situation and Green Party policy responses

Richard Lee from Just Space – on their challenge to London Plan; problems of targets, densification and forced gentrification, loss of social rent housing

Andrea Carey-Fuller – rent control in private sector

11.15 to 12.15; workshops; participants choose between:-

1) The London Plan and how to fight extension of ‘right to buy’ as well as estate demolitions

2) Rent control in the private sector

3) Housing policies and solutions for singles and non-family groups, including GBLTQ, co-housing, youth in shared housing, supported housing for older people and those with disabilities

12.15-1; report back and wind-up; then lunch

Briefing notes will be sent out to those who RSVP.  We are also hoping to set up a Facebook page shortly - watch this space

Climate Change/ Demo Bahrain Book Launch /Banner Theatre

Climate Change Demo Bahrain Book Launch Banner Theatre

People's March for Climate, Justice and Jobs November 29th, branch members meet at 12:30 corner of Oxford Street and Great Cumberland Place, near Marble Arch tube. Around the world, in major cities, people will be working together to make this the biggest, most poignant demonstration yet, and our unified voice will resonate from London across the globe to call for real action on climate change. more details... Book launch: Bahrain's Uprising: Resistance and Repression in The Gulf Drawing on testimonies from those involved, this book provides a voice for the lived experiences of ordinary Bahrainis. Wednesday 25 Nov 6.30pm Bookmarks Bookshop,1 Bloomsbury Street, London, WC1B 3QE, Admission £2.00 Payable on door more details... Chicago, The Great Teachers' Strike Banner Theatre tell the story of the Chicago Teachers' fight for public education. Saturday 28th November at 7pm at the Blackheath and Newbridge Working Men's Club, Charlton Road, SE3 7HG. £10/£5. more details... Organised by Greenwich and Bexley TUC

Copyright © 2015 UCU London Retired Members Branch, All rights reserved. UCU London Retired Members Branch - members and supporters Our mailing address is: UCU London Retired Members Branch 53 Fladgate Road Leytonstone, London E11 1LX United Kingdom Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

we really need to do somthing about this.

HOPE not hate | Voter Registration Drive

On 1 December, if the Government gets its way, up to 2 million people will drop off the electoral register - in what will be the single biggest act of disenfranchisement in our history. This is an outrage and HOPE not hate is determined to do…

HOPENOTHATE.ORG.UK

Justice for Walter Rodney

Justice for Walter Rodney We seek your urgent support for our campaign to salvage some justice for this distinguished historian, scholar-activist and author of How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. It is crucial to raise the profile of the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry into Rodney's assassination as the last chance to secure vital historic records- before its too late, and remind the Guyana government that Rodney's legacy matters, beyond Guyana. Requesting your Prompt Action The new Guyana government continues to efface the work of this Commission of Inquiry into Rodney's assassination by denying the two more weeks it requested to properly complete its work. They seek to frustrate the proper completion of any real inquiry, 35 years on, while more key witnesses die, records disappear, evidence degrades. And we forget. That's why we started this petition. Will you take 30 seconds to sign it right now? Here's the link with further information.  We'd also be grateful if you could urgently circulate to colleagues, academics, students and social justice contacts.  Thank you, Anne Braithwaite Justice for Walter Rodney Campaign

Copyright © 2015 UCU London Retired Members Branch, All rights reserved. UCU London Retired Members Branch Committee

UCU London Retired Members Branch: Branch Meeting November 12th and a Book Launch

Branch Meeting November 12th and a Book Launch

Agenda for November 12th Branch Meeting The following items will be on the agenda of next Thursday's branch meeting. Please let me know if there is anything else you wish to add. Report from UCU retired members AGM (inc our motion on housing) London Metropolitan University threat to close the City campus Commitment to the rights of Palestinians SOAS victimisation of Unison branch secretary Greenwich NUT strike Climate March London: 29 November Middle East Solidarity magazine Independent Working Class Education day school Meetings take place in the union office in Carlow Street NW1 7LH, nearest tube Mornington Crescent. Book Launch : Clara Zetkin: Letters and Writings Wednesday 11 Nov 6.30pm Bookmarks, 1 Bloomsbury Street, London WC1B 3QE This book presents mainly newly-translated material and academic essay that will help to affirm her place among the leading revolutionary Marxists of the twentieth century. Almost all the contents will be entirely new to English-language readers. Register here...

Copyright © 2015 UCU London Retired Members Branch, All rights reserved. UCU London Retired Members Branch - members and supporters Our mailing address is: UCU London Retired Members Branch 53 Fladgate Road Leytonstone, London E11 1LX United Kingdom UCU London Retired Members Branch: Branch Meeting November 12th and a Book Launch

UCU London Retired Members Branch :Next branch meeting - 12th November & Anti-racist demonstration in Dover

Next branch meeting - 12th November at 2pm Meetings take place in the union office in Carlow Street NW1 7LH, nearest tube Mornington Crescent. All retired academic staff are welcome (as well as those about to retire). I will be out of the country, with no internet, until early November, but I shall catch up with any emails you may send as soon as I get back. In the meantime, we have received a request from the Kent Anti Racism Network. Anti-racist demonstration in Dover "Just 2 weeks ago 300 Nazis marched through Dover chanting "Fuck off refugees". The National Front had a banner on the march, as did Combat 18 and other far right groups. Kent Anti Racism Network plan to organise a mass campaign in the area with thousands of leaflets, streets stalls and events. We are also planning a demonstration in Dover on October 17th and would appreciate your support for the event." download a leaflet from here...

Copyright © 2015 UCU London Retired Members Branch, All rights reserved. UCU London Retired Members Branch - members and supporters Our mailing address is: UCU London Retired Members Branch 53 Fladgate Road Leytonstone, London E11 1LX United Kingdom

national pensioners' convention

VIEW HERE TO SEE OUR “WE’RE AN ASSET, NOT A BURDEN LEAFLET”

JOIN THE NPC HERE FOR STANDING ORDER OR HERE FOR PAYMENT BY CHEQUE

ORDER A COPY OF THE NEW NPC PAMPHLET WHICH EXPLAINS THE NEW STATE PENSION SYSTEM. PRICE £1 PLUS P&P. DOWNLOAD AN ORDER FORM HERE.

CAMPAIGN TO DEFEND UNIVERSAL PENSIONER BENEFITS SUCH AS THE BUS PASS AND WINTER FUEL ALLOWANCE. SIGN THE PETITION HERE

The NPC’s Fair Care campaign will raise the arguments in favour of a National Care Service funded through general taxation, like the NHS. The campaign will also call for improved standards, better training and pay for care staff and the introduction of a Dignity Code to give rights to all older people in receipt of care. 

Get involved in the NPC’s ongoing Rights in Retirement Campaign for decent state pensions, proper care and an end to fuel poverty.

Sign up to receive our free monthly newsletter by sending your email address to info@npcuk.org.

You can also follow the NPC on Twitter @NPCUK or find your nearest NPC  regional group by following this link.

national pensioners' convention

UCU London Retired Members Branch:UCU London Retired Members Branch

UCU London Retired Members Branch:UCU London Retired Members Branch

September Branch Newsletter The latest UCU London Retired members Branch Newsletter is now available and may be downloaded from here...includes articles on Housing, PFI  in the NHS, Amnesty International. National Pensioners’’ Convention: Older People’s Day (1st October) History Seminars Socialist History Society Saturday 19 September - Stan Newens, former Labour MP and Socialist History Society Honorary President speaks on The Achievements of the 1945 Labour Government. Venue: Marx House, 37a Clerkenwell Green London EC1R 0DU. Time: 2.00 pm. UCL Institute of the Americas - Caribbean Seminar September 30th 6pm David Lambert "Am I not a Man and a Soldier?" (Re)imagining the West India Regiments in the Age of Abolition more details... London Socialist Historians Group: 12 October - Merilyn Moos - Generations: the impact of the personal and political on children born in Britain to refugees from Nazism 26 October -  John Newsinger  British Counter Insurgency. A history 9 November - Chris Jury  Politics, theatre and history Socialist History Society and the Freethought History Research Group. The British Business of Slavery  A series of Tuesday evening talks starting on 6 October, running to 8 December 2015. Venue: Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, Holborn, London WC1R 4RL. All talks start at 7.00 p.m. Tuesday 6 October 2015 Freedom’s Debt, the Politics of the Atlantic Slave Trade (1672- 1752) Dr William Pettigrew, University of Kent Tuesday 13 October 2015 First Prime Minister of the London Empire, William Beckford, Jamaican Planter & Lord Mayor of London (1709 – 1770) Dr Perry Gauci, University of Oxford Tuesday 20 October 2015 The Law’s Ambiguous Struggle with Slavery Prof Satvinder Juss, King’s College London Tuesday 27 October 2015 George Hibbert M.P. (1757-1837) and the Defence of British Slavery Dr Katie Donington, University of Nottingham Tuesday 3 November 2015 The Unfortunate Colonel Despard, “Govenor of Belize”, Anti-racist, Democrat, Executed as a Traitor 1803 Mike Jay, author Tuesday 24 November 2015 Slavery and the Shaping of British Culture James Walvin, Professor Emeritus, University of York Tuesday 1 December 2015 A British-Owned Congo, Roger Casement’s Battle with Slavery in Peru (1910-1914) Prof Jordan Goodman, University College London Tuesday 8 December 2015 Identifying Unfinished Business, the UK Modern Slavery Act (2015) Prof Gary Craig, Durham University & University of Hull

Copyright © 2015 UCU London Retired Members Branch, All rights reserved. UCU London Retired Members Branch - members and supporters Our mailing address is:  UCU London Retired Members Branch 53 Fladgate Road Leytonstone, London E11 1LX United Kingdom Add us to your address book

National day of action, Called by Stand up to Racism, BARAC, Stop the War Coalition, Migrant Rights Network

National day of action, Called by Stand up to Racism, BARAC, Stop the War Coalition, Migrant Rights Network 

This event has been called in response to various reports of refugees fleeing war, persecution, torture and poverty losing their lives or struggling to find a safe haven. This includes the death of 200 refugees off the coast of Libya, around 70 refugees in a truck in Austria and on going reports of refugees drowning crossing the Mediterranean, stranded in Hungary and prohibited from moving around the EU, and those in Calais struggling to find sanctuary.

The government response to this has been disgraceful. Unlike Germany, Italy and Greece, Britain has not offered a safe haven for these people. 

Monday 14 September Home Secretary Theresa May will be meeting with EU leaders about the refugee crisis. We must learn the lessons of history and call on the government to take a humanitarian and compassionate response to refugees.

We are calling on the British government to meet its share of the responsibility for providing protection. Let's send a strong message: we say refugees are welcome here.

We are also calling for a national day of action on Saturday 12 September, organise local events at places of worship or unveil a "Refugees Welcome Here" banner at football matches, use your imagination!

Join us on Saturday 12 September 2015 2pm Downing Street

IT'S NOT AN INVASION

Crash Call for the NHS

Tuesday, 18 August 2015

Crash Call for the NHS - Saturday 

Shepherd's Bush Green at noon

- See more at: http://wembleymatters.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/crash-call-for-nhs-saturday-shepherds.html#sthash.BGy8lIv0.dpuf

UCU retired members' branch update

Next Branch Meeting Thursday November 5th at 2pm View this email in your browser

Defend the Union at London Met On Thursday 27 August, Max Watson, London Met Uni UNISON Branch Secretary will be making his appeal against compulsory redundancy.  Max Watson, is under threat of being made redundant. He is the only member of staff in his whole faculty being made compulsorily redundant and one of only three UNISON members facing compulsory redundancy among non academic staff across the whole University. Solidarity Demonstration Thursday 27th August, 12-2pm Outside Rocket Complex, London Metropolitan University, 166-220 Holloway Road Fund Raising Dinner for Medical Aid for Greece on Friday September 18th. Cypriot Centre, Earlham Grove, Wood Green N22 5HJ Fabulous Buffet Dinner! Live Bouzouki Music! A Raffle! - Bring own wine! ORDER TICKETS (BOOK A TABLE!)  £30.00 each from  greecesolidarity@mail.com  Send cheques, payable to ‘Medical Aid for Greece’, to Greece Solidarity Campaign, Housman’s Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road, London N19DX. Pay direct: to Medical Aid for Greece A/C 20307259  Sort Code 08-60-01.  Iranian Teachers' Leader Arrested   Esmail Abdi, a leader of the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association, was arrested on 27 June following his attempt to obtain a visa to attend the 7th Education International World Congress in Ottawa, Canada in late July. The Education International is deeply concerned about the repression facing representatives of the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers Trade Associations. sign the petition... more details... Another Walk in Deepest Bedfordshire Monday 24th August 2015 Meet on Platform 3 at St Pancras International station at 10.45, with tickets, for the 11.01 train to Luton This walk is being organised by Richard who can be contacted on 07903019336 walk details... Bahrain: Support Early Day Motion 241 Sponsored by Angus MacNeil, among others, the motion provides a comprehensive overview of the spectrum of human rights abuses for which the regime is regularly condemned by Amnesty and other rights advocacy groups. Numerous areas of "ongoing violations" are identified. more details... Next Branch Meeting Thursday November 5th at 2pm Meetings take place in the union office in Carlow Street NW1 7LH, nearest tube Mornington Crescent. All retired academic staff are welcome (as well as those about to retire). If you have items for the agenda, or wish to be put on the mailing list please let me know.

Copyright © 2015 UCU London Retired Members Branch, All rights reserved. UCU London Retired Members Branch - members and supporters Our mailing address is: UCU London Retired Members Branch 53 Fladgate Road Leytonstone, London E11 1LX United Kingdom