Get away from the Olympics

A new Newham website claims to "bring together people who live near the Olympic venues in Stratford" and who want to get away from the Games in 2012 "with visitors or media types from around the world who face renting accommodation in one of the most expensive cities in the world."

Escape 2012 offers to put visitors who are looking for somewhere to rent in 2012 in contact with local people looking to escape the Olympic madness.

Apparently it has been created by local people who have been involved in community campaigns or voluntary groups in east London and who "were, it has to be said, pretty much opposed to the hosting of the Olympics in the midst of our communities. But now it's happening and we just have to live with it... By getting as far away as we possibly can."

For more, visit www.escape2012.org.uk

Jean Charles de Menezes: still no justice two years on

Two years ago on 22nd July 2005, an innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead at Stockwell tube station as the result of a disastrous police anti-terror operation. But two years after his shooting:

• No police officer involved in his death has faced criminal proceedings
• The inquest into his death remains adjourned
• The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report into the police operation on the day of his death remains secret
• The IPCC report into Sir Ian Blair also remains unpublished
• The family and public still have no answers about the use of Operation Kratos and the police's shoot-to-kill policy

To mark the anniversary, the Justice4Jean campaign projected this image on the Houses of Parliament on Friday last week.

Remembering Gilly - this Saturday 14 July

The memorial event celebrated the life of Gilly Mundy, who died in March (see earlier article) is taking place this Saturday at the Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London E1 6LA

The event will start at 6pm and will feature contributions from Gilly's family and many friends. From around 8.30pm until 1am, there will be music from the Purple Banana Sound System.

If you would like to attend, please could you RSVP to gillymundy_friends@yahoo.co.uk.

Government 'financially exposed' by London Olympics

Many of the fears expressed by opponents of London's Olympic bid, which were scorned by the bid's supporters in 2005 but based on the track-record of previous Games, have already proven to be accurate.

The costs of the London Olympics were seriously underestimated at the time of the bid and the private sector funding seriously overestimated, according to a report by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee. The budget for the Games has spiralled to over £9 billion, an increase of around £6 billion on the position at the time of the bid, because whole categories of cost were omitted, including tax, contingencies and security. The Government also claimed it could raise £738 million of private sector funding, which would have covered a quarter of Olympic costs, but the Public Accounts Committee have said that "now there is little prospect of significant private sector funding being achieved" and that "as the ultimate guarantor of funding for the Games, the Government is financially exposed."

The report also highlights "a lack of clarity about how venues will be used after the Games, with the risk that designs fail to reconcile the needs of the Games in 2012 with those of subsequent users." The bid's opponents had pointed to exactly this position with mothballed and decaying stadia in both Sydney and Athens. However, as the report notes, "funding the Games means that there will be about £1.7 billion less money available for the other good causes supported by the National Lottery" - exactly the 'daylight robbery' of lottery funding that more sceptical observers of London's bid had warned of.

The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee report can be found here.

THAT Olympic branding...

Take Action Against Junk Mail

Newham is awash with junk mail. Our letter boxes are stuffed full of it every day and leaving aside the content of the rubbish that people distribute, the impact on the environment is immense.


On average, each UK household receives 18 items of junk mail every week, leading to 21 billion junk mail items distributed to UK households on average every year. The annual total of unsolicited mail and hand-delivered flyers in the UK weighs about 550,000 tonnes. The vast majority of this is unsolicited unaddressed junk mail. The production of junk mail also uses a significant amount of energy and causes air pollution. Each tonne produced uses enough energy to heat an average home for 6 months and causes 26 kilograms of air pollutants.

According to Environment Agency, reducing 1 tonne of junk mail saves 17 trees, 2.3 cubic metres if landfill, 31,400 litres of water, 4,200 kilowatt hours of energy, 1,600 litres of oil and avoids 26 kilograms of air pollutants.

Fortunately, you can do something about it.

Firstly, put up a sign saying 'no junk mail'. You can make your own, or buy one - we like the fancy (and cheap) ones available from www.nojunkmailsigns.com

Next up, return the junk mail you receive to the people that distributed it.

Download this flyer (PDF), cut it into 'compliment slips' and post the junk mail back to the companies that produced it - no need for a stamp, making them pay may help them to focus on the bigger picture.

If enough of us start to do this, maybe the junk mailers will get the message.

As for the unsolicited mail that is actually addressed to you, you can cut down on this by registering with the Mail Preference Service.

Some junk mail is actually delivered by your postie - you can cut back on this by registering with the Royal Mail Opt-Out Service

Mission Accomplished Day - Tuesday 1st May

The Life and Death of Tom Hurndall - Killed by an Israeli Sniper

Newham Bookshop and Newham Monitoring Project present:

Defy the Stars - The Life and Death of Tom Hurndall

Tom Hurndall was an English photojournalism student. In April 2003, he was shot in the head as he carried a Palestinian child out of the range of an Israeli army sniper in the town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Tom was unarmed, and wearing the internationally recognized peaceworker’s fluorescent orange jacket. Severely wounded, he never recovered consciousness and died nine months later in a London hospital.

Defy the Stars by Tom’s mother Jocelyn Hurndall tells the story of Tom’s life and tragically premature death. Published by Bloomsbury in April 2007.



Join Jocelyn Hurndall in conversation with Asad Rehman, chair of Newham Monitoring Project, on:

Wednesday 25th April
7 pm at Stratford Circus,
Theatre Square,
London E15

(tube:Stratford)

Tickets - £5 Book or reserve tickets by calling Newham Bookshop on
020 8552 9993

Let 2000 Demos Bloom!

THE MARK THOMAS SOCPA CHALLENGE
Get your application forms in by this Saturday (14 April)!

On the 5th of April Mark Thomas and a group of regulars at the Mass Lone Demos arrived at Charing Cross police station armed with 1,184 requests for demonstrations in the SOCPA zone. The demos will take place on the 21st of April. The aim is for people to carry out 20 demos each in the SOCPA zone in one day and to get as many people as possible to do so.

1,184 forms!

The designated area that the law applies to covers the Southbank to Millbank, from St James' Park to Hungerford Bridge, and from Admiralty Arch to MI5. Any individual wishing to demonstrate within that area - just one person with a banner or a badge - needs permission from the police.

LET TWO THOUSAND DEMOS BLOOM!

You can join the challenge to New Labour's liberty threatening laws. So far 59 individuals have applied for 20 demos each (with 4 single demo requests) but anyone can come along on the 21st of April. Get involved and let's have 2,000 demos!

This is how it works: Each demonstrator holds a 10 minute demo at 19 different places (the start and finish demonstrations are in Parliament Square) and then gives themselves 10 minutes to get to their next demonstration. For an information sheet see below or visit: www.markthomasinfo.com includes how to organise the demos, a list of places you might want to protest at in the designated area, a map of the SOCPA zone and access to our easy to fill in application printer (type in the bare details of your demos and in seconds you will get 20 forms set up and ready to print.)

If you want to demonstrate on the 21st of April you have until 10.30am Saturday the 14th of April to get your forms into the police at Charing Cross police station. [You can post your forms but you'll need to send them special delivery - see www.markthomas.info for details.]

If you can't make the whole event but want to come and join in why not come along to the final demo at Parliament Square at 5.20pm on the 21st of April, you will need to apply for permission for your demo.

Remember there's no obligation on you to turn up for the demos that you apply for, so if you think you "might" be around on the 21st and "might" want to hold 20 demonstrations then make sure you'd be legally in the clear by applying - under SOCPA the police *must* process your applications if you get them to them a week in advance.

THE MADNESS OF SOCPA

So far Maya Evans has been arrested and convicted of ringing a bell and reading out the names of British and Iraqi war dead. This was illegal without permission. Mark Thomas has had to get permission to wear a red nose on Red Nose Day in Parliament Square - as he might have been arrested without permission. A young woman was threatened with arrest for wearing a T shirt with some of Brian Haw's art works printed on them- when she pointed out to the police officer that she was advertising the Tate Britain show by Mark Wallinger the police withdrew the threat of arrest. A man dressed as Charlie Chaplin with a sign saying "Not Allowed" was arrested outside Downing St, he was convicted under the SOCPA law.

If the law is a bad and stupid law then challenge it! The Home Office said "We understand from the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police that during the period 1 August 2005 to December 2006 1,379 demonstrations have taken place with an authorisation." Already we have given the police over a years worth of demo's in one day. Let's get to 2,000!

SO JOIN IN

The police MUST give permission for the demonstrations according to the law and the Home Office. The info pack should help you through any problems or questions you have but you can always email us here if you have a question on the demos or SOCPA. Please drop us a line here to let us know if you are joining in, so we can keep a running total of the demos.

ONE FINAL NOTE

For information also visit: www.markthomasinfo.com/demo/april212007.asp

Rest in Peace - Gilly Singh Mundy

It is with enormous sadness that we have to pass on news of the death on Saturday 17 March of our great friend Gilly Mundy, a management committee member for the Newham Monitoring Project (NMP) and former caseworker for NMP between 1993 and 1997. Gilly collapsed at work on Thursday 15 March and never regained consciousness. He was just 36 years old.

As a campaigner and activist, Gilly managed to cram so much into his own life and touch the lives of so many others that it is almost too painful to imagine what more he could have achieved. As well as supporting the victims of racist violence in east London whilst at NMP, he worked for the Lawrence Family Campaign during the inquiry into Stephen Lawrence’s murder. As the senior caseworker for INQUEST, the charity that advises bereaved people and their lawyers following contentious deaths, he helped hundreds of families who had lost loved ones in police and prison custody. And through an organisation called Conscious Clubbing, he helped organise music events to raise money for the many causes he supported, including the work of Newham Asian Women’s Project

But most of all, Gilly had a rare gift that made him so special: the ability to connect on a personal level, quietly and generously, with absolutely everyone he met. It was a talent that made him so important to those he supported in his work and so loved by his wife Debbie, his family and the huge number of friends who now grieve for him.

His wife Debbie has asked that anyone in Newham who knew Gilly and might be thinking about sending flowers to his funeral should instead consider donating to the memorial fund that his family has set up for the causes that were so close to Gilly’s heart.

Cheques should be made to ‘The Gilly Mundy Memorial Fund’ and can be sent to the family via NMP at The Harold Road Centre, 170 Harold Rd, Upton Park, London E13 0SE.

A memorial blog has been set up at http://gillymundy.blogspot.com