Making A Splash - Govanhill, Glasgow
   Addressing The Issues - Harold Hill, Havering
   Good First Time Result - Blackbird Leys, Oxford
   Vol 4, Issue 12, July/Aug '01

Election Challenge - Blackbird Leys, Oxford
   Significant Victories - Islington , N.London
   'Raw Deal' Faced Down - Hackney, E.London
   Positive Steps Forward - Harold Hill, Havering
   Vol 4, Issue 11, May/June '01

Hackney, E. London - Council In Crisis
    Our Homes: Not For Sale - Impressive Ballot Victories
    Scotswood, Newcastle - 'We Shall Not Be Moved'
    Vol 4, Issue 9, November/December 2000

North London, Islington - First Major Victory
    Glasgow, The Gorbals - Desire For Community Action
    Vol 4, Issue 7, June/July 2000

Glasgow, The Gorbals - Clashing with the SWP
    Greenock, Gibshill - "This is ethnic cleansing"
    South London, Southwark - Concrete Plans or Sterile Slogans?
    Vol 4, Issue 6, April/May 2000

East London, Hackney - Feeling The Pressure
    Oxford, Blackbird Leys - Campaign Bearing Fruit
    Vol 4, Issue 5, Feb/March '00

North London, Islington - By-election Contested
    Vol 4, Issue 4, Dec '99/Jan '00

Oxford, Blakbird Leys - Hitting the Headlines
    East London, Hackney - "Class Crusaders"
    Vol 4, Issue 3, Oct/Nov '99

 East London, Hackney - Major Surgery
    Vol 4, Issue 2, Aug/Sept '99

Newtown
   Welwyn and Hatfield
   Issue 75, Autumn 1997

---

Vol 4, Issue 12, July/Aug '01

MAKING A SPLASH - GOVANHILL ,GLASGOW
The Govanhill Pool campaign originated from a public meeting called by the Govanhill/Crosshill Community council in mid January where user groups and council representatives spoke to a crowd of about 120 people. Individuals who gave their names arranged another meeting for the following week and have met weekly since to co-ordinate the campaign. IWCA members were amongst a group of a dozen or so who initiated the campaign.

The campaign had three distinct groups, 'direct action', 'strategy' and 'press'. The IWCA were primarily involved in the direct action and strategy while the IWCA national number was employed by the press group. It was the IWCA who convinced others of the occupation idea, and on the night it happened it was IWCA activists who gave the lead. Since then around two dozen different people have stayed in the building on a round the clock basis while the picket has 70-100 people who at one time or another do quite regular hours. The pool's closure would effect a vast area. One swimming group has 200 members who meet twice a week. The other pool available is in another area approx 6 miles away.

Typically, the left were slow in getting involved even though it was the SWP who had initially tipped-off the IWCA. For two whole months the local Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) branch contributed no more than a few individuals. By contrast the IWCA donated £50 to the campaign with the proviso that we would double it if all the parties equalled the gesture. This was not taken up, but it served to highlight where the IWCA was at, with regards the community generally, and how others, including the SSP, treat the community as a springboard to their 'higher' ideals. In March the IWCA organised a leaflet drop to 2,500 houses in the area. Furthermore, the recent leafleting and canvassing of approx 800 homes by the IWCA has raised the profile both of the IWCA and individuals within it. One IWCA member in particular who was co-opted as a local 'community councillor' prior to the pool campaign has earned support, both as someone who had demonstrated his commitment to the area before the pool campaign became a 'cause celebre', and from elderly women in particular who see him as a 'young blood'. At a rally in March he represented the IWCA on the platform. When elections are held in Sept/Oct he intends to put his name forward for election. As we go to press a judicial review is in the offing. On the 10/7/01 campaigners were given a writ to get out of the pool within the next 48hrs.Having done the canvassing the IWCA will publish the findings. There is also a plan to leaflet 1,200 homes in the area with a call for a public meeting to address the next steps.
See: www.crowd.to/saveourpool

Thornwood Park
The campaign against the closure and developmentof Thornwood Park, began in the middle of March. Along with the IWCA, reps from the SSP and the SWP attended the first meeting. At the first semi-public planning meeting held shortly afterwards - restricted to community/community activists - 50 people attended. The IWCA outlined a strategy which involved canvassing working class opinion on the choices available. While not strictly an IWCA campaign, the IWCA which usually chairs the meetings is hugely influential. For instance, though local MSP and MPs are used for publicity, community work remains at core of the campaign. Of the 3,000 people canvassed a mere 2.3% backed the development plan while 21.2% were for development - only if money was made available for use by the community. 55% opted to fight the council for better services and no development, while a further 21.5% favoured leaving the park as it is.

In total 2,000 signed the petition against the development plans, while a further 300 letters objecting to the planning application were submitted.

A 'fun day' - barbecue, music, etc was organised on with 500 people turning up. Because the SWP/SSP failed to organise any of the things they claimed they would do, and did not collect their ballots for four weeks after the proper date, many in the community have already lost patience with them.

The future: The basic plan is to show the community it can organise events in the park without outside influence, things like cinema, play stations in park, dj workshops, wall climbing, nature trail (area of park with protected life) are all planned. If successful, this will hopefully show what can be done without resources, so therefore opens the question on what could be achieved WITH resources. Overall this work, will build confidence as well as allowing IWCA to work in agenda and introduce faces to the community with a view to the future.

(Latest: a councillor who originally was for the development has stated after ballot that he now opposes development.)

---

ADDRESSING THE ISSUES - HAROLD HILL, HAVERING
Members of Harold Hill IWCA along with local people, organised a meeting in the Salvation Army Hall in Petersfield Avenue, aimed at organising against the continuing anti-social behaviour which has caused so many problems for all who live in and around Petersfield shops.

Many local people who attended the meeting expressed the view that despite constant calls for something to be done, the police, local councillors and the local MP had failed to come up with any solutions to the problem. Members of the IWCA had made it clear at the start of the meeting that the solutions to the problems had to come from local people, because ultimately it is local people who are suffering.

There were various suggestions as to what could and should be done. One local person suggested a 'name and shame' campaign, another videoing those causing the problems so as evidence was caught on camera, one of the most surprising suggestions was that all local people withhold there council tax in protest at nothing being done.This from many 'law abiding' people who were quite willing to face prosecution in order to show their disgust at how the majority of people on Harold Hill are treated, the IWCA believes this show not only the courage of local people but just how far the political representatives of this area have failed.

A local activist had this to say, "The time is fast approaching when working class people on estates like Harold Hill have to start addressing issues like anti-social behaviour themselves. For far to long this area has had councillors who simply do not care about what goes on - mainly because they don't live here. They only act as though they're interested when elections are coming up, hence the sight of police over the last few weeks, just happens to 'coincide' with the General Election".

Maybe local people agree with Labour councillor and Mayor Brian Eagling who believes "some verbal and physical abuse cannot be stopped." He also claimed "most of the young people are being blamed for things that has nothing to do with them". What was surprising however, was the various articles in the local press detailing how local councillors and the MP were coming together to discuss the problem with -Yes, you guessed it - the mobs of youths involved in the anti-social behaviour.This is of no surprise to us; once again local politicians only start to do something when there is an election around the corner. The IWCA rejects this, believing it is the right of all local people to live free from this type of anti-social behaviour.

A leaflet outlined that, "The IWCA has committed itself to work with local people in trying to find solutions that not only reduces problems like anti-social behaviour, but also involves local people so as we all can live without fear of attacks, vandalism and harassment.Some may ask what is different about the IWCA? Well IWCA activists live and come from Harold Hill - what effects you, affect us.We will be holding various meetings over the coming months in order to discuss the issues that local people want to see addressed; look out for our adverts and come along."

HOUSING REPAIRS: GOT A PROBLEM? WE HAVE
Members of Harold Hill IWCA spent many weeks collecting names of local council tenants who were fed-up with the appaling housing repair service they were getting from Havering council. Over 400 tenants signed the petition, which was presented to the Labour Mayor of Havering Dennis O Flynn. The IWCA held a stall at Hilldene shops where dozens of local people signed the petition. Members of Hackney IWCA, who have been fighting for better housing services for local council tenants for sometime, joined Harold Hill IWCA on the day.

Harold Hill IWCA member Neil Stanton outlined why the IWCA had organised the petition "when the IWCA was formed we promised that we would be a different type of organisation than the political parties in this area. This meant we would actually listen to what issues and problems local people wanted highlighting and act, overwhelmingly the problem of housing repairs was the issue that came up time and again. This meant actually taking the time to visit tenants and discuss what needed doing. It is as simple as that".

---

GOOD FIRST TIME RESULT - BLACKBIRD LEYS, OXFORD
Blackbird Leys IWCA achieved an impressive result of almost 300 votes at the 7 June County Council election - it's first electoral contest.

Independent candidate, Stuart Craft, who stood on behalf of the IWCA, came in third behind Labour and the Tories with 294 votes, beating the Lib Dems and the Greens, both well-established at local level.

Though only a relatively new organisation, the IWCA has already carried out substantial work on the Blackbird Leys estate which explains how, in the words of one observer, "it came from nowhere," to take 9% of the vote cast.

Through campaigning and canvassing, particular areas of Blackbird Leys have become IWCA strongholds. This support is steadily spreading to other areas.

Friends have also been won through the numerous social activities organised by the local IWCA branch such as the now regular trips to France and Belgium and the upcoming visit to Alton Towers. The ongoing childrens' cinema project is also a very popular feature in the IWCA's repertoire.

Feedback from the IWCA's newspaper, Leys Independent, has also seen a sharp increase since the beginning of this year thus encouraging more people to become involved in the IWCA.

Outwith the election, the IWCA has been the focus of recent media attention since, at the request of local residents, it has issued a press release highlighting two areas of the estate where tenants are being forced to endure heroin dealers as neighbours.

All the local papers carried articles on the subject in which the IWCA was quoted and BBC Radio Oxford featured a very sympathetic interview with the IWCA's Stuart Craft on a walkabout of the afflicted areas. Residents were very pleased with Craft's performance on the show on which he took to task the authorities for their lack of interest in the concerns of Blackbird Leys' residents.

Craft left housing chief, David Trewsdale, and Thames Valley Police to respond to the allegation that they are colluding on a policy of containment against the decent majority on Blackbird Leys and handing dealers and anti-social elements a licence to do as they please as long as they only do it on the estate. For many listeners the allegations were unconvincingly refuted by the authorities.

The IWCA's solution to the heroin dealing problem is straightforward. Arguing that the housing authorities, often knowingly, house dealers and anti-social elements on the estate, the IWCA says the sole responsibility for the removal of those elements lies squarely with the same housing authorities. Further, tenants pay rent to their landlord not just for bricks and mortar but also for a safe and decent environment in which to live. The landlords are not delivering. The IWCA intends to make them.

The housing authorities claim it is the tenants themselves who have the responsibility to stand up in court and testify against the dealers thereby penalising the tenants twice - once by enforcing dealers and associated anti-social elements on them and secondly by asking them to put themselves at risk by testifying in court.

The IWCA says that if evidence is required it is the authorities' responsibility to gather it. In all the cases that Blackbird Leys' IWCA have highlighted, the dealers are clearly in breach of their tenancy agreements on a daily basis. If the will existed, the authorities would have no trouble removing them.

As the only organisation willing to raise these issues, the IWCA has gained a lot of respect on Blackbird Leys. This respect, sometimes hard won, is very important to the building of a sound foundation from which future IWCA victories will spring.

See also : www.bliwca.fsnet.co.uk

Reproduced from RA Bulletin Volume 4, Issue 12, July/Aug '01


top

---

Vol 4, Issue 11, May/June '01

ELECTION CHALLENGE - BLACKBIRD LEYS, OXFORD

Understandably, morale in the Oxford East New Labour camp is not what it once was. Results of the recent IWCA survey confirm that support amongst voters is drying up in Blackbird Leys - a ward in which Labour election victories are traditionally taken for granted.

The positively Old Labour Blackbird Leys Councillor, Tony Stockford, has informed IWCA canvassers that he is withdrawing from the June election contest - news which will not be welcomed at all at party HQ. This only increases the headache for New Labour locally.

The struggle to conjure up enthusiasm for the County Council election battle with the IWCA is illustrated by the attendance at the recent Oxford East constituency Labour Party meeting. Only seven members could be arsed to turn up, three of them being cabinet minister Andrew Smith, his wife the City Councillor and ex-Lord Mayor Val Smith, and the aforementioned Tony Stockford.

Issue six of the Leys Independent, an 'election special', is currently in production. Included are the results of the recent house-to-house survey, a profile of the County Council candidate Stuart Craft, and an article entitled 'New Labour red tape prevents use of IWCA name' which explains why the candidate will, for this election only, be standing under an 'Independent' label.

The survey which was taken to over 3,000 doorsteps on the Blackbird Leys estate, has been a real shot in the arm for the IWCA activists involved. The general feeling towards the canvassers was summed up in the words of one resident: 'At least you made the effort to come round, not like the other buggers.' These sentiments have been repeated time and time again across the estate.

Much valuable information has been collected from the survey, and during the course of the campaign the IWCA has been called in to represent residents who are frustrated by the lack of help received from local councillors.

All work and no play, however, makes Jack a dull boy, so the Blackbird Leys IWCA took some time out to organise a trip for 43 residents to Ostende, Belgium, on 24 March. Like the previous IWCA trip to Calais, places in the three minibuses were sold out almost as soon as they were made available. The trip was a very enjoyable day out and all those involved have asked to be put down for the next continental excursion in the summer.

In addition, a coach trip to Alton Towers in July is also being organised to satisfy the demand created by the success of last year's Drayton Manor trip. Also on the social front, the IWCA Children's Cinema has recently gained access to a projector and screen, which will make more regular screenings possible.

Morale amongst Oxford IWCA activists is definitely on the up and up.

Update

The election results for Blackbird Leys were :

Barbara Gatehouse (Lab) David Brown (Con) Stuart Craft (Ind) Mark Hinnells (Lib Dem) Patricia Dickson (Green)

2,056 583 294 283 135

61.4% 17.4% 8.7% 8.4% 4.0%

 

---

SIGNIFICANT VICTORIES - ISLINGTON, N. LONDON

The IWCA kicked off the new year with two significant victories. The issue of mobile phone masts being imposed on council estates was thought to be an issue pretty much dead and buried after the Lib Dem council had announced a ban on them. However, a phonecall from a concerned tenant revealed that the council, obviously swayed by the amounts of money being offered by the phone companies, was quietly looking at granting permission for masts again. The IWCA immediately leafletted and petitioned the estate concerned and, working alongside tenant association representatives from across the borough, finally secured an official three-year ban on any further masts from the Lib Dem council. The IWCA then slammed the Labour party and particularly Councillor Shonagh Methven for claiming the victory as their own; "a remarkable feat" an IWCA spokesperson told the Highbury & Islington Express "given the fact that in all the leafletting of estates and meetings I attended, never once did I stumble over Cllr Methven or any of her colleagues."

As part of building up its profile, the IWCA doubled the size of the Spring edition of it's Islington Independent newsletter from a four-page A4 to A3. The lead article announced a hard-earned victory for the local FACTS (Fight Against Council Tenancy Sell-offs) campaign on the Kings Square estate. After facing strong opposition from tenants and campaigners, the council announced that it was finally throwing in the towel and abandoning its plans to privatise the estate. This comes as a particularly bitter blow to the Lib Dems, as the estate is home to the council's chair of housing. The Chair of the FACTS campaign, who is also a Kings Square tenant, told the Islington Independent: "We're delighted that the council have finally been forced to take notice of tenants, it's just a shame that the thousands of pounds that have been wasted on this scheme hadn't been spent on repairs. At the end of the day we refused to be blackmailed, we pay our rent and all we want are the decent homes we are entitled to. What tenants want is investment not privatisation."

A large section of the Islington Indi dealt with the issue of anti-social behaviour. The IWCA's initiatives to tackle the problem received widespread media coverage. The Highbury & Islington Express reported: "The IWCA has put forward its proposals for tackling the problem of anti-social behaviour on Islington's estates. The organisation has called for places to be made available to all the borough's youths at after school clubs and summer play schemes. Members have also proposed that funding should be allocated for a Community Restorative Justice programme where young offenders are taken to meet their victims and make amends for their crimes. An IWCA spokesperson said, "Many people on our estates feel abandoned by the council and police and have become virtual prisoners in their own homes." The Islington Gazette carried two separate articles on the proposals for setting up a CRJ programme and the funding of youth facilities, quoting an IWCA spokesperson as saying: "Apart from the obvious advantage of a better quality of life for all residents of all ages it would also lead to long-term savings due to a reduction in crime."

In the last month, the IWCA have taken both Labour and the Lib Dems to task in the local media over their stance on affordable housing, changes to local democracy and their support for the 'contract culture' which has seen companies making huge profits from providing poor services.

The forthcoming General Election means that we have also witnessed the arrival of the Socialist Alliance onto the political scene. Their campaign in the south of the borough against government minister Chris Smith limps along, lacking any real focus or cutting edge. They appear far happier tailing the borough's other MP, Labour-left Jeremy Corbyn. A number of the LSA's efforts have been warmed-over versions of issues or campaigns taken up previously by the IWCA such as the IWCA's condemnation of the exclusive, yuppie-only, housing to be incorporated into the new Rose Theatre development. When the LSA finally decided to take this issue up, it was a full six months after the IWCA's original intervention!

The IWCA continues to work at raising its profile in the area with a number of new campaigns already planned.

---

'RAW DEAL' FACED DOWN - HACKNEY, E. LONDON

When the Hackney IWCA was launched just three years ago we were faced with an aggressive 'New Deal for Communities' quango dedicated to selling-off council housing in Shoreditch. There was no organised opposition, and of course all three political parties in the area supported it, as did the three glossy magazines delivered in the area by the Council, the New Deal and the private company that manages the local council housing.

We came out very strongly against the New Deal, branding it a "Raw Deal." Now things have changed to the extent that the New Deal is no longer a major threat and we can now use it to bring about real gains for the area. The New Deal organisation has officially bid for £55 million of government money to refurbish every flat in Shoreditch in the next seven years and dropped all plans for privatisation. Their magazine - which has twice carried full page attacks on the IWCA in previous years - has recently covered a meeting we helped to organise to plan for a campaign of withholding rent in protest at rent rises.

The IWCA has not achieved this on our own - and a number of local tenant activists can take a lot of credit - but we can also state that it would not have been possible without our consistent presence in meetings, in the letters page of the Hackney Gazette and in the columns of our newsletter, the Hackney Independent. What we managed to do was to give confidence to the strongest tenant activists that, not only did they not have to accept wholesale privatisation, they didn't even have to accept any compromises of a few blocks being sold off or the PFI scheme. When the New Deal's own rigged survey results came in, showing that 93% were against their estates being sold, the New Deal officers should have realised that the game was up. But they still put forward their "preferred option" of demolishing 20% of the council housing. Unfortunately for them, 100 angry tenants turned up at the meeting to observe the Board, and all the work they had done at house-training the most amenable "community representatives" was lost, as the Board felt the pressure and voted for full refurbishment of all council housing.

While the Hackney Socialist Alliance has been concentrating on "Taxing the Rich" and "Cancelling Third World Debt", the IWCA has been growing in numbers and influence by consistently taking up the immediate interests of the area's working class majority.

Below we re-print an article from the recent issue of the Hackney Independent - expanded from four-page A4 to A3 and delivered free to 15,000 homes in our target area - which shows the kind of practical work we have been doing:

Harwood Court - the block that fought back
Tenants in one of Shoreditch's most neglected blocks have shown what can be achieved when people work together to stand up for their interests. Hackney Council and the New Deal, until recently, believed that the tenants wanted Harwood Court knocked down. Until, that is, somebody actually asked the tenants.

The IWCA has been active in Harwood Court since September 2000, working alongside tenants and asking them what they want for the block, through a series of canvassing sessions. At every stage, the tenants have been consulted and involved and as in most blocks the tenants all agree what the main problems are - security, repairs and cleaning. Because a lot of the low rise blocks in the area have security doors, Harwood Court is an obvious target for a number of anti-social elements and the tenants have suffered from more drug dealing, muggings and intimidation than most blocks. Evidence of vandalism and hard drug use is obvious to see and the day before one of our tenants' meetings, a young girl was the victim of a serious sexual assault in broad daylight on the stairs. On top of this, many of the flats didn't have central heating and the wind whistles in through dodgy windows.

IWCA members worked with several tenants to collect signatures calling for entry phones to be installed and for a full refurbishment of the block to be carried out, holding meetings in the lobby, drawing up a manifesto of tenants' priorities and organising a delegation of tenants to put the petition to the New Deal Board, who have the money to make a difference. The fact that 90% of the flats in the block signed up to the petition and that tenants themselves went to put their case, meant that the New Deal Board agreed to support the proposals for entry phones and work is now underway to improve life in the block. Coincidentally, since the IWCA and tenants got active in the block, the council have started putting central heating into all flats, which is a start. But pressure needs to be kept up to make sure that entry phones are installed and the longer term goals - like refurbishment - aren't forgotten like all the previous promises.

There's more to be done and we're not complacent that change will happen overnight, but as long-term tenant June Cleevely said "Morale in the block was very low and it was good to see the IWCA come in and take some interest. This encouraged people to feel that they could change things". The success of the Harwood Court tenants shows what can be achieved when community politics addresses the real issues.

---

POSITIVE STEPS FORWARD - HAROLD HILL, HAVERING

Recently, in the London Borough of Havering, an independent candidate, Neal Stanton stood on a working class-first ticket in a local council by-election in Harold Hill; a huge, sprawling, suburban estate. From a standing start the candidate, up against Labour, Tories, Lib Dems, UKIP and the pseudo Residents Association (the second biggest 'party' on the council), came fourth with 134 votes or 11%; just a few votes short of pipping the RA to third.

Shortly after the election, Neal, a former local Labour party Chairman, announced the launch of the Harold Hill Independent Working Class Association. He told the Harold Recorder: "Today sees the launch of an exciting new political force in Harold Hill. The Harold Hill IWCA is a community-based organisation which aims to redress the present diabolical situation where the working class majority on Harold Hill have no real representation. We will start straight away to address the problems faced by the residents and tenants on Harold Hill, through organised campaigns, community activism and, most importantly, by listening to, and acting on behalf of, the working class of our estate. Already we have been raising issues at the forums, talking to local people and taking up housing problems. However, we are under no illusion about the task ahead. Winning the trust, confidence and ultimately the backing of the community we live in will take a considerable amount of time and hard work."

One of the IWCA's first major initiatives was to organise a public meeting in response to a call from local residents for action to be taken over escalating anti-social behaviour from gangs of youths. The meeting was well attended, with over a hundred people turning up to air their views, and has led to the setting up of a local Action Group to address the problem. IWCA spokesperson Neal Stanton, who chaired the meeting, told the Harold Gazette: "We have got to work together and stick together as that is the only way we will overcome these problems. Everyone I have spoken to has said the troubles have eased since our last meeting a couple of weeks ago. But if the gangs sense we have turned our backs or lowered our guard they will come back. It is very important for us to keep taking positive steps forward. Our newsletter will be a powerful weapon because it will allow people to see exactly what is going on and how we are progressing."

In a relatively short space of time, parts of the community have come together to look at what the community can do to 'help themselves', completely rejecting notions of calling the police or wasting their time on councillors who are simply not interested.

The type of community resistance being carefully built in Havering, dispels the notion that this kind of political alternative can only be built in the so-called 'radical boroughs' of the inner cities.

Reproduced from RA Bulletin Volume 4, Issue 11, May/June '01


top

---

Vol 4, Issue 9, November/December '00

HACKNEY, E. LONDON
COUNCIL IN CRISIS

The Labour/Tory coalition that runs Hackney council are threatening savage cuts to services and the sacking of council staff, after the borough treasurer froze all but the most essential spending, due to a huge deficit that could come to as much as £40 million.

Members of Hackney Independent Working Class Association (IWCA) have attended the various demonstrations with a leaflet demanding “No more middle class councillors.” The leaflet made clear the IWCA’s view that “There is no point in looking to any of the political parties on Hackney council. We need to replace the middle class parties on Hackney council with working class representatives. The time for protesting to the council has gone, we need our own representation.”

The IWCA branch in Hackney has been involved in ongoing work in the south of the borough, on a variety of issues. Top priority has been the role the IWCA has played in the campaign against ITNet, the company that runs the privatised housing benefits service.

ITNet runs the service in both Hackney and Islington where they have caused unprecedented chaos and misery. However, the council has announced that it is to take the failing service back in house. And while the council will have to be kept under close scrutiny to ensure there are no u-turns, this represents a great victory for campaigners, and particularly for the IWCA who were, despite what you may read in Socialist Worker, the only political organisation actively involved in the campaign. The IWCA had also held it’s own successful advice surgery, to assist people with their benefit problems.

An IWCA spokesperson told the Hackney Gazette, “Now it’s time to boot out all the councillors who allowed this scandal to wreck so many people’s lives. None of them has a clue, or gives a damn, about what’s going on in the lives of the working class majority they are supposed to represent”

Hackney IWCA have also been active around the issue of mobile phone masts on council estates, where a newsletter has been distributed and are to strengthen the branch by holding an introductory meeting for new contacts and supporters.

hackneyiwca@fsnet.co.uk

OUR HOMES - NOT FOR SALE!
IMPRESSIVE BALLOT VICTORIES

John Prescott has recently suffered a number of setbacks to his plans to privatise the country’s entire stock of council housing. Council tenants are now wakening up to New Labour’s plans and local anti-privatisation campaigns have recently won a number of notable victories in places as far afield as High Wycombe and Waverley, South Bedfordshire and Lambeth.

In Lambeth, south London, the council no doubt regret offering tenants a final say in the first large-scale Public Private Partnership scheme, the £440 million Project Vauxhall. The tenants on the Ethelred and China Walk estates voted No to a scheme that would have seen a loss of 411 council homes and the building of 2,500 luxury apartments. This was despite council officers blackmailing tenants by telling them that if they voted No there would be no money for even basic repairs.

With opposition to the privatisation of Birmingham’s 90,000 council homes growing, including a march of tenants and council workers recently, the Labour council narrowly voted to press ahead with the next stage of their plan, the biggest in England. Despite the party leadership threatening rebel councillors with deselection, the plans were voted through with a majority of just eight.

SCOTSWOOD, NEWCASTLE
'WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED'

A development plan by Newcastle council named Going for Growth (GOG), demonstrates the reality of another of New Labour’s ‘community-led' regeneration schemes. At first many residents were delighted with COG. Then they realised that the 6,600 homes in both Scotswood, with its stunning view over the river valley and Walker next to the trendy quayside restaurants, were coloured red in the plans. Red indicated: “unviable”, and meant that their homes were to be demolished to make way for developers. Local activist, Gwen Hinde, said “COG is what we wanted: schools, transport, jobs. But they have left us, the community, out.”

Immediately, banners appeared hanging from houses declaring “we shall not be moved”, accompanied with 800-strong meetings and the drawing-up by community activists of their own alternative proposals. Tony Flynn, leader of the Labour council, dismissed their proposals as not “radical” enough. Kevan Jones. Labour’s council cabinet member responsible for development, explained to the Guardian that his leader meant it was all about offering up "large areas [of land] which make it more attractive for developers" Private housebuilders have told the council that this amounts to a minimum of eight hectares - or the size of at least five football pitches - to build houses at prices which would be out of reach for most local residents.

A city-wide Newcastle Community Alliance has now been founded to oppose GOG and look at alternatives. An Alliance organiser summed it up: “Our aim is to get the council to withdraw its proposals for demolition and to make a positive commitment to the participation of the community, based on a genuine sharing of power and co-decision making.”

The council are in dissaray and could be forced to modify or even abandon their plans. A leaked Labour party document has labelled the whole affair a “PR disaster” which might have dire “political consequences”, undermining Labour’s electoral base in the city. It also criticised the party for totally misjudging the public mood and dismissing the opposition as a few SWP’ers. It wasn’t the SWP who had 'Save Our Scotswood’ posters printed and arranged for them to be put up in people’s windows, or they who produced the homemade banners hung from people’s windows said the Labour report.

The Liberal Democrats in true opportunistic fashion, have tried to capitalise on the discontent with Labour by jumping on the bandwagon - they obviously view Newcastle, like former Labour citadels such as Liverpool and Sheffield, as ripe for the taking. Undoubtedly, the community of Scotswood is off it’s knees. In the long term it is essential that a form of organised independent working class politics is developed in the area, not just to protest against Labour or keep out the Lib Dems, but to replace them.

Reproduced from RA Bulletin Volume 4, Issue 9, November/December '00


top

 

Vol 4, Issue 7, June/July '00

N LONDON, ISLINGTON
FIRST MAJOR VICTORY

THE IWCA is slowly gaining a solid reputation for setting the political agenda in the areas where it is most active. No moreso is this in evidence than in Islington, North London, where earlier this year the local branch chalked-up its first major victory. The following is a report of recent activity in the area:

Just before xmas the Lib Dems won what had been a safe Labour seat in a council by-election, giving them control of the council. This was the first time Labour had lost Islington since 1968.

Immediately Labour settled into opposition mode, condemning the Lib Dems’ proposals to sell-off council housing. The IWCA was happy to point out their hypocrisy. In a letter to the Highbury & Islington Express an IWCA spokesperson challenged four leading Labour Party members, who had been the most vociferous on the issue, to state where they stood in relation to their party’s national policy, described by The Guardian as planning to “hive-off all council housing within 10 years”. They were also asked, “whether they can continue to stay in a party which is, as former Tory housing minister David Curry put it, ensuring ‘the triumph of Tory policies’”. The subsequent silence was deafening.

This coincided with the distribution of 8,000 copies of the Spring edition of the Islington Independent for the Finsbury and Clerkenwell area. The response to the newsletter was almost instant. Two weeks to the day of the first newsletter going out, the leader of the council, Lib Dem councillor Steve Hitchens, announced a new policy of allocating up to 100 flats a year to the sons and daughters of council tenants. This was obviously in direct response to the IWCA’s highlighting of the housing crisis and it’s call for “a comprehensive building programme of affordable housing, with special provision for the borough’s young people, to hold our communities together”. Soon after the chief reporter on the Gazette telephoned the IWCA for information on a follow-up article he was doing.

The best was yet to come. The IWCA had been active on the issue of mobile phone masts, distributing leaflets on the estates affected, sending-out information packs and raising the issue in the press. On April 13th the front page headline of the Gazette announced a “Ban on Phone Masts” with the council caving into pressure. The following week a delighted IWCA spokesperson told the Gazette that “While the Lib Dems will no doubt claim that this decision reflects their willingness, unlike the previous administration, to listen to the concerns of tenants, we believe it shows that even politicians and town hall mandarins are susceptible to pressure when confronted by effective campaigning by ordinary people”.

Recently the IWCA has been to the forefront of the battle with the council and the private company ITNet, who have taken over the housing benefits service with disastrous consequences. ITNet, who are being paid £24 million by Islington council, are responsible for thousands receiving eviction notices, with many tenants being dragged before the courts and at least one person evicted, all because ITNet had not paid them the benefits they are entitled to. A full-page article in the Is!ington Gazette featured IWCA members leafleting a benefit office with a newsletter designed to act as a campaigning tool, while also providing practical information on how to claim compensation. Both the Gazette and Express carried the IWCA phone number which has led to the IWCA taking on a number of individual items of casework as well as sending out numerous newsletters. The newsletter has also been distributed to over 170 tenant groups across the borough and won particular praise from the chair of the Pensioners Forum.

Speaking in the Express an IWCA spokesperson announced the setting up of a campaigning and support group called Whose Benefit? “The group is to concentrate on three main areas; providing legal advice, counselling and assistance for those seeking compensation; campaigning and lobbying to ensure that the issue is kept in the public eye and to being about independent public enquiries in both boroughs (ITNet has also caused chaos in neighbouring Hackney Borough) with the aim of holding those directly responsible account­able for their actions and ensuring that justice is seen to be done for the countless victims”.

The profile of the IWCA continues to grow in Islington as it develops a sharp campaigning edge.

GLASGOW, THE GORBALS
DESIRE FOR COMMUNITY ACTION

IWCA MEMBERS in Glasgow are fighting to ensure that New Labour’s plans to ‘socially cleanse’ the traditional working class commu­nity of the Gorbals are defeated:

The IWCA was recently involved, as part of GAS (Gorbals Against the Sell-offs) in the collection of a questionnaire on privatisation carried out in conjunction with GWCAHST (Glasgow Wide Campaign Against Housing Stock Transfer). As usual the SWP were conspicuous by their absence on this kind of activity.

The IWCA attended the GWCAHST confer­ence, which had a poor turnout  of 20-25 people, due mainly to the publicity being restricted to ‘lefty circles’. Of particular interest though, was a big shift towards grass-roots community campaigning with the Gorbals flagged-up as a successful model and the attendance of MSP, Tommy Sheridan.

Following the conference the IWCA distrib­uted 3,000 leaflets in the Gorbals area regarding not just the proposed sell-offs but also wider community issues. The leaflet pointed out that “the Labour government have talked, but not listened to, what the working class has been saying. They expect a successful yes vote which goes against all public polls currently carried out. Their advertising for jobs within the proposed Housing Association is a sure indication of how they perceive the vote will go. With this position, they are shown to be both removed and against the working class who they misrepresent”.

A number of calls were received on the back of this activity from local people, including one from an activist already involved in work who wanted to discuss the ‘bigger picture’. There was also calls from those active within GWCAHST who were worried about the left’s desire to overrun the campaign and encouraged the IWCA to become more directly involved.

IWCA representatives attended the next steering group meeting of GWCAHST, where the IWCA’s proposal to initiate days of action in various housing estates was accepted, with those present urging a plan of action to be put together within the next two weeks. The SWP, who were thin on the ground, had their proposal for a demonstration unanimously voted down.

The desire for community action seems to becoming firmly established amongst the serious activists. Now talk is of organising a number of social events, especially for the kids, to further encourage the involvement of the local community. A sure sign of GAS’s successful impact on the community has been the attack on the Chair of the campaign in the media by Labour MSP Frank McAveety.

Reproduced from RA Bulletin Volume 4, Issue 7, June/July '00


top

 

Vol 4, Issue 6, April/May '00

GLASGOW, THE GORBALS
CLASHING WITH THE SWP

AFTER news of Glasgow City Council’s plans to make the Gorbals area the latest inner-city working class area to be the subject of ‘stock transfer’ (ie privatisation) and possible demoli­tion was leaked, The Local News reported that “a Gorbals Independent Working Class Association has been created as a result of the revelations”. A local activist sent the following report: “The Gorbals IWCA distributed over 2,000 leaflets in one evening, leading to the Chairman of Gorbals Against Sell-off (GAS), who had already attempted to get residents groups to campaign against the proposed sale, making contact. The IWCA was invited to their next meeting in order to coordinate work as a united group.

The IWCA also leafleted an open day called by the Social Inclusion Partnership (SIP). This proved useful as it meant we had the opportu­nity to talk to a number of people who had received our leaflet previously. During the day we were approached by SNP representative, Jim Byrne, asking who, why and what the IWCA was. Questions were also asked by the local Labour MSP and councillor. Interestingly the SIP open day put on display the divisions placed on each group within the hall and the voting for community services on an either/or basis, with the day shortened by two and a half hours, but still including a one-hour lunch break.

The IWCA attended the next GAS meeting, chaired by Owen Meharry (GAS) and Sean Clerkin representing Glasgow Campaign Against Housing Stock Transfer (GCAHST). The meeting was highly charged with IWCA representatives regularly clashing with members of the SWP, especially as we argued against a small committee and for the meetings to remain fully open, reluctantly, the SWP agreed for names to be taken.

The SWP-influenced GCAHST also gave incor­rect details to members of the IWCA for a conference on the sell-offs called by the Big Issue. This was their first deliberate attempt to prevent the IWCA getting into positions of usefulness.

Subsequent GCAHST meetings have seen the SWP becoming ever more strident in pushing their own programme, their usual mix of lobbying parliament, inviting trade union speakers and leafletting for their May Day rallies.

The IWCA, as well as attending these meetings and challenging the SWP, have also held a meeting with contacts, widening our area of influence and information (who ran residents groups, who opposed sell-offs, etc) and drawing-up proposals to occupy areas listed for demolition. As a footnote, it is worth mentioning that our leafletters were harassed by the police, who claimed that they had received a complaint that we had been selling drugs! Clearly our arrival on the political scene in the Gorbals has not gone unnoticed”.

GREENOCK, GIBSHILL
"THIS IS ETHNIC CLEANSING"

COUNCIL TENANTS in Gibshill are outraged by the news that their homes, which give a “breathtaking view of the Clyde”, are to be demolished and replaced with a private development. The scheme had been put together by the Government agency, Scottish Homes, as a joint venture with the council and the Cloch Housing Association.

The council’s director of housing, Tom Keenan, has denied the allegations stating that, “there is no policy to force people out of Gibshill”. “However” he admitted, “a number of people have already chosen to leave the area and potentially other people will be offered the opportunity to leave”. A council insider, quoted in the Daily Record (30.3.00), was more forth­right, “If some really attractive housing starts to pop up, then who knows what sort of people might want to move in? Remember, it’s only 20 minutes up the motorway to Glasgow”.

Andy Best, Chairman of the Gibshill Housing Action Group, said: “Someone somewhere obviously wants to see a lot of barren land in Gibshill which will be attractive to the big private builders. People will be systematically moved out of the place we love and were brought up in because our faces don’t fit in with the grand plan. This is ethnic cleansing”.

S. LONDON, SOUTHWARK
CONCRETE PLANS OR STERILE SLOGANS?

SOUTHWARK tenants have mobilised to put a temporary halt to the Council’s plans to sell off all of its remaining housing stock (at 60,000 homes it is the highest in London) to Housing Associations. Around twenty tenants attended a lively meeting in February to discuss ways the plans could be opposed. It was agreed that all Southwark tenants needed to have the implications of transfer explained and, as a result, several large estates have already been targeted by leaflets and canvassers opposed to the sell-offs.

The Council’s Strategic Committee met to discuss the plans in March and were met by an angry lobby of tenants. The Labour council is already vulnerable, with the Lib-Dems, who already control most of the northern part of the borough, breathing down their necks. Following the Committee meeting, the Lib­Dem press release proclaimed that their opposition had been responsible for the “victory”, whereby a decision was put off until the next full council meeting.

However, the Lib­Dems only want “all” the options to be put to Southwark tenants.

While some good work has gone on, the ‘Defend Council Housing in Southwark’ campaign is still largely dominated by the SWP Their influence creates the danger that the campaign will become another vehicle for sterile and irrelevant sloganeering. Already the East Dulwich Estate TA (controlled by the SWP) has produced a leaflet condemning New Labour for having “forgotten that working people fought to get the right to council housing...They would rather spend the money on bombing Serbia and Iraq”. Furthermore, the campaign is now asking all supporters to travel on their coach to Birmingham on 1st April to demonstrate to save Rover! Tenants and activists will need to come up with far more concrete plans if we really hope to worry the Council over the strength of opposition.

Reproduced from RA Bulletin Volume 4, Issue 6, April/May '00


top

Volume 4, Issue 5, Feb/March '00

EAST LONDON, HACKNEY
FEELING THE PRESSURE

ONE WAY of measuring your success in community politics is to look at the effect you are having on your opposition. Those charged with gentrifying Shoreditch, until now given a free hand by all four political parties repre­sented on Hackney Council, have clearly begun to feel the pressure.

The New Deal publishes a bi-monthly glossy magazine, paid for out of the money that could go on improving Shoreditch estates. They have twice devoted an entire page to attacking the IWCA - in the August and November editions. The August article was in response to the first IWCA newsletter, 10,000 of which were distributed across Shoreditch with the headline of “New Deal” crossed out and replaced with ‘Raw Deal:’

Instead of replying themselves, they conducted an interview with well-known tenant leader, Marie McCourt, under the headline “Raw Deal - what raw deal?” Because of the pressure they were facing, following our newsletter. Marie was allowed to make points not usually seen in their New Deal magazine, and ones we would be happy to support These included “the vast majority of us are against stock transfers and wish to remain Council Tenants to protect our tenures” and “I urge you to support your various TA’S, Area Forums and also those who work tirelessly to prevent the area being over­run by bars, restaurants and clubs.”

In October we went door-to-door in a council block that the New Deal had earmarked for handing over for private renting. The Chair of the Tenants Association was at the meeting, which voted for it, and had not opposed the proposal, or even let any of the tenants know. We got a good response to a petition in the block, and followed that up with a leaflet, which stated, “You may ask why the IWCA is doing this. The answer is that our aim is to involve and represent the interests of Shoreditch’s working class majority. A better question is why didn’t Hackney Council, Pinnacle and the New Deal tell you that that they were making plans to move you out of Charles Gardner Court.”

Instead of admitting that they had made this decision behind closed doors, and should have told the tenants, the November edition of the New Deal responded with a full-page article. They admitted that they had “made some suggestions to the Government for the future of certain estates in the area, including Charles Gardner Court.” They proposed “Market renting of Charles Gardner Court with 10% at ‘stepping stone’ rents for locals subject to completion of tenant consultation.”

Another New Deal article celebrated the visit of Government Minister, Nick Raynsford, who came to Shoreditch to open a new housing development. IWCA members along with other local residents have highlighted this particular development as being a sign of things to come. It is built on Wenlock Barn, the biggest estate in Shoreditch, but rents start at £146 a week, and it is also designed to look different from the estate - to show that it is not for local people. The New Deal was forced to admit that “the new Murray Grove develop­ment aimed at young people has brought mixed reactions from locals. Whilst many agree the new PeabodyTrust apartments are uniquely built with their bolt together construction, it is the price that has locals miffed.” They claim it has brought a mixed reaction - we haven’t found anyone who has a good word to say about it. The local paper, the Hackney Gazette, ended their coverage of the same story by saying the block “had been slammed by nearby residents for being a ‘yuppie’ building.”

Another sign of the pressure that those in charge of regeneration are facing came in the Gazette article celebrating the award of £30 million for the New Deal. Kevin Sugrue, head of the Council’s regeneration agency, Renaisi, used language never heard from the Council’s PR people before, calling for “affordable homes to stop young, working class people born in the area from moving out.” An IWCA activist picked this up in the following week’s paper. Dubbing Renaisi a “gentrification agency” he remarked on his surprise “especially since his New Labour bosses have stated that we are all middle class now.”

This is the pressure that has been built up after just six months’ work. The gentrifiers are not used to being challenged, and we have shown that it is possible to do this effectively. This has further encouraged some of the better local tenant leaders, who until now thought that there was no way of opposing the gentrifica­tion of Shoreditch to pick up the cudgels.

OXFORD, BLACKBIRD LEYS
CAMPAIGN BEARING FRUIT

IN OXFORD. Blackbird Leys Independent Working Class Association has seen its support increase on the estate as its campaign against anti-social elements begins to bare fruit. One family who have plagued fellow residents with abusive behaviour for the past two years, were recently forced to go to the local press to plead that the IWCA call off its offensive. A double page spread in the Oxford Mail November 27th headed “We’ve been branded the neighbours from hell but we promise to mend our ways”, carried an interview with the family in which they held their hands up to all the charges levelled against them in the IWCA newsletter Leys Independent. They also claimed to have seen the error of their ways. Since the article appeared the family has in fact kept their promise, improving the quality of life for their neighbours considerably.

The housing associations on Blackbird Leys/Greater Leys and their bedfellows the New Labour City Council who have made empty promises to have ‘the problem in hand’ over the last couple of years, are obviously none too pleased with the success of this relatively short campaign and the support it has attracted from their tenants. Housing associa­tion executives and local councillors originally tried to extinguish the infant IWCA through a series of meetings/phone calls, where attempts were made to persuade IWCA activists that they would better achieve their aims by abandoning the IWCA and jumping on board housing association/council sponsored (i.e. non-political) projects. This would have obviously ensured that these activists would not be in a position to criticise housing associ­ation/council policy, for fear of losing funding or being shut down etc. Now that the penny has dropped and it is understood that the IWCA, is not prepared to play ball, the authorities have changed tack completely.

Two months prior to the estate’s Christmas party, the Farmstead Management Group, asked IWCA members if they would supply their children’s cinema for the event. This was agreed to. Between this agreement and the Christmas Party, the Blackbird Leys IWCA produced its second newsletter, in which further criticisms of housing association policy were made. It was now made clear that the IWCA was not for sale. Farmstead Management immediately retal­iated, distributing its own material, which included claims that the IWCA was ‘stereo­typing the area and threatened the good work of other, (pet), residents associations’. In addition to a series of abusive phonecalls they even tried to pull the plug on the children’s cinema! Legal action was even threatened over a minor technical detail. The show went ahead, much to the delight of the packed house of local children, and visible chagrin of Farmstead Management.

The dwindling Labour party faithful have also been forced to get off their fat arses and trawl the streets of Blackbird Leys for the first time in years. As well as hinting the IWCA ‘might even be NF’, New Labour have further insulted the intelligence of locals with their own Blackbird Leys newsletter, which surprise, surprise claims that the party is dealing with all the issues that have been raised by the IWCA, top of the list - anti­social neighbours. As an IWCA activist recently pointed out in the Oxford Mail letters page, “If Oxford City’s (New Labour) Council genuinely wanted to rid this area of anti-social elements it would not be carrying out a policy of dumping them here in the first place”.

Reproduced from RA Bulletin Volume 4, Issue 5, Feb/March '00


top



Vol 4, Issue 4, Dec '99/Jan '00

North London, Islington,
By-election Contested
CLERKENWELL, has now become synonymous with New Labour’s trendy Islington and rebranded as the new cultural sector of ‘Cityside’, with Exmouth Market at its hub where most of the traditional market stalls and shops are being forced out to make way for the cafe/bar cappuccino and trendy trainer brigade.

Living side by side to this Clerkenwell is another Clerkenwell; where sprawling estates are home to some of the most impoverished people in Britain. This has created what the local branch of the Independent Working Class Association has described as a state of “social apartheid”.

This area suddenly became the focus of atten­tion recently when the high-profile Liberal Democrat Councilor, Baroness Sarah Ludford, resigned her seat, in order to join the gravy train in Brussels as a newly elected MEP, prompting a snap by-election for 28 October.  

After discussions with local activists, Helen Cagnoni, a well respected and veteran campaigner for the rights of local working class tenants and residents, declared her intention to stand as an ‘Independent Tenant-Resident’ candidate.

The announcement of the election date coincided with the distribution of 6,000 copies of a four-page issue of the IWCA’s Islington Independent newsletter, especially produced for Clerkenwell and neighbouring Finsbury. The newsletter dealt with a whole range of issues, from Labour and the Lib-Dems, from council house privatisation to local democracy, from youth facilities to an in-depth article on the Finsbury Estate. Local activists reported the newsletter creating a “buzz” on the ground in the area and immediately prompted a number of calls to the IWCA phone line. As the electioneering began in earnest, the newsletter also brought a heated phone call from a Labour Party official incensed by the branding of their candidate, Tim Clarke, as “Tim - Nice but Dim!” and demanding a response within 24 hours or else he “would be contacting HQ”!

In a desperate attempt to make up ground, the Labour Party began issuing a blizzard of leaflets making wilder and wilder promises, with thousands and thousands of pounds being promised to provide repairs, a concierge, security, a youth club and worker on the rundown Finsbury Estate. Afterwards, tenants joked that had the election campaign lasted another week, they would have each been promised jacuzzis with gold taps! Of course the tenants weren’t fooled and the news that accompanied a feverish spate of cleaning by council workers, that Government Minister Glenda Jackson would be arriving on the Estate with the Labour team was to prove a provoca­tion too far. The following morning, the recep­tion that Labour Party officials received was so hostile, they had to leave the Estate and cancel their PR stunt,

Meanwhile, it was suggested that early canvassing returns in what was a safe seat for the Lib-Dems had forced them into fevered door-knocking and a flurry of leaflets as they sought to distance themselves from many of the Labour Party policies they had supported. The party leader was seen canvassing tower blocks, on his own, late into the night.

Of the other candidates, the Tories could only mount a token challenge while the Greens occupied the ground normally reserved for the fringe Left, with their candidate proclaiming that “I will support victims of abuse, exploita­tion, violence (including the long-oppressed people of Vietnam) and hate crimes”.

The independent candidate and her supporters clearly set the agenda, wiping the floor with the other candidates at a hustings meeting as well as distributing two leaflets to all homes in the ward and canvassing all the estates at least once.

However, when the result of the election was announced, the biggest story was one of apathy, with less than one in four turning out to vote. While there was obviously widespread disillusionment with the establishment parties, the vast majority of the working class residents had not been convinced to actually come out and vote for ‘their’ candidate. Still, while campaigners were disappointed with their tally, from an objective view, 12.5% must be seen as a very credible effort, with their candidate taking 1 in 4 of the working class vote in what was a ‘mixed’ ward. Especially when on the same day a Socialist Labour Party candidate in the London borough of Kingston-Upon-Thames, while on admittedly less fertile terrain, polled 16 votes (0.7%) on a higher turnout of 40%. The final Clerkenwell result was:

Lib-Dem: 1127 (55.4%; -4.7%), Labour: 536 (26.4%; +0.7%), Independent Ten/Res: 255 (12.5%), Conservative: 82 (4.0%; -1.5%), Green: 33 (1.6%; -7.l), Turnout: 23.7%

The percentage of the Labour vote held up due to the support of the middle classes, campaigners commented that the bigger the house, the bigger the Labour poster. And while the Lib-Dems lost ground, they still succeeded in trading off the line that not having held power, they should be given a chance.

IWCA activists consider the campaign to be a small but important step to rebuilding working class politics in the area.

Reproduced from RA Vol 4, Issue 4, Dec '99/Jan '00


top

Vol 4, Issue 3, Oct/Nov '99