A reflective practice, offered to the group as homework during the July session, is based on the Examen or Examination of Consciousness. It is a technique that encourages us to reflect on where we find energy for what we do as well as where the challenges come from...to step back and observe these in a non-judgemental way....to sit with our experience and see what emerges. It is not about thinking through or analysing our experience but about feeling and letting that experience speak to us.
Often people use it in the evening to reflect back over the day. I suggest we use it to reflect back over our time as activists, focusing on these 2 questions:
1. What has been energising and given you life during your activism?
2. What has been draining and taken life away during your activism?
I encourage you to try it out at least once. It is a practice and I've found that I get more from it the more regularly I do it so you may want to give it a few goes!
How to do it (a suggestion!)
Set 10 - 15 minutes aside for this....
Find a relaxing space and get comfortable.
Close your eyes or find something to focus on.
Be still. Become aware of your breathing.
Cast your mind back over your time as an activist.
And, when you're ready, bring the first question to mind, spend some time with it....
....and then move on to the 2nd question.
You may want to mark the end of the reflection in some way...reading or saying an inspiring quotation, with a prayer, a number of deep breaths....
Spend 5 minutes (of the 10-15 minutes) writing down anything that came to you.
Support
If anyone has any questions about this, is finding it difficult or that it doesn't work for them I'm happy to answer questions or offer other suggestions.
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
Monday, 9 July 2007
Chocolala -- new fair trade (and Quaker) chocolate
When Helen did her presentation on fair trade it reminded me of some chocolates I had at a meeting a couple of weeks ago. Chocolala is a new fair trade chocolate company. They are a bit pricey, but they are good. A nifty present for someone special (... or yourself :-)
Sunday, 8 July 2007
spirituality and our activism
I was talking to friends last night (over a damn fine veggie lasagne in Kennington's The Dog House; recommended) about our workshop, and the things we could have covered. That then occupied me in insonmnia at 3am. So I'll share them.
My friends agreed that it would be fascinating to think about why we do what we do - at the very least, why do we give up one Saturday a month to attend these workshops? Why do we want to bring about change (without being paid for it)? So many people don't; why do we?
Related, but maybe not the same - what are our values? Can we map or somehow visualise them? Do we do this ourselves? (I know I don't) Why/why not? Does that matter? (Then, and for me only then, we could look at what supports us in living out those values).
Grasp the scary language: what does spirituality mean to us - both in terms of a definition of the language, and how do we relate to it? Why are some of us turned off by the language, and why or how does it support others? How can we communicate better using or not using that language?
Do we each believe there is something bigger than us? (How) does that affect our activism? Does that affect who we are activ(ist) with?
What do you think?
My friends agreed that it would be fascinating to think about why we do what we do - at the very least, why do we give up one Saturday a month to attend these workshops? Why do we want to bring about change (without being paid for it)? So many people don't; why do we?
Related, but maybe not the same - what are our values? Can we map or somehow visualise them? Do we do this ourselves? (I know I don't) Why/why not? Does that matter? (Then, and for me only then, we could look at what supports us in living out those values).
Grasp the scary language: what does spirituality mean to us - both in terms of a definition of the language, and how do we relate to it? Why are some of us turned off by the language, and why or how does it support others? How can we communicate better using or not using that language?
Do we each believe there is something bigger than us? (How) does that affect our activism? Does that affect who we are activ(ist) with?
What do you think?
Friday, 6 July 2007
is your mobile fuelling war in the Congo?
My colleague Jonathan recently surprised me by explaining that he doesn't have a mobile phone as a matter of principle, because the trade in coltan - an essential mineral for manufacturing mobile phones - is propping up the rebels in the DRC.
While most of the world's coltan comes from legitimate mining in Australia, Brazil and Canada, a worrying amount passes through warring hands,and there is little way of knowing which is which. This report from 2001 explains how money and wars are made through our calls:
Given the substantial increase in the price of coltan between late 1999 and late 2000, a period during which the world supply was decreasing while the demand was increasing, a kilo of coltan of average grade was estimated at $200. According to the estimates of professionals, the Rwandan army through Rwanda Metals was exporting at least 100 tons per month. The Panel estimates that the Rwandan army could have made $20 million per month, simply by selling the coltan that, on average, intermediaries buy from the small dealers at about $10 per kg. According to experts and dealers, at the highest estimates of all related costs (purchase and transport of the minerals), RPA must have made at least $250 million over a period of 18 months. This is substantial enough to finance the war. Here lies the vicious circle of the war. Coltan has permitted the Rwandan army to sustain its presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The army has provided protection and security to the individuals and companies extracting the mineral. These have made money which is shared with the army, which in turn continues to provide the enabling environment to continue the exploitation.
And more information on guns, money and cells phones is avaliable if this has got you worried.
While most of the world's coltan comes from legitimate mining in Australia, Brazil and Canada, a worrying amount passes through warring hands,and there is little way of knowing which is which. This report from 2001 explains how money and wars are made through our calls:
Given the substantial increase in the price of coltan between late 1999 and late 2000, a period during which the world supply was decreasing while the demand was increasing, a kilo of coltan of average grade was estimated at $200. According to the estimates of professionals, the Rwandan army through Rwanda Metals was exporting at least 100 tons per month. The Panel estimates that the Rwandan army could have made $20 million per month, simply by selling the coltan that, on average, intermediaries buy from the small dealers at about $10 per kg. According to experts and dealers, at the highest estimates of all related costs (purchase and transport of the minerals), RPA must have made at least $250 million over a period of 18 months. This is substantial enough to finance the war. Here lies the vicious circle of the war. Coltan has permitted the Rwandan army to sustain its presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The army has provided protection and security to the individuals and companies extracting the mineral. These have made money which is shared with the army, which in turn continues to provide the enabling environment to continue the exploitation.
And more information on guns, money and cells phones is avaliable if this has got you worried.
Friday, 22 June 2007
guerrilla lighting
I came across this today, a bit bizarre but made me think of us nonetheless! Did anyone see it?
Guerrilla Lighting Comes to London
Demonstrating the power of good lighting
One dictionary definition of guerrilla is an unofficial independent army of partisan soldiers, and, following the success of Guerrilla Lighting Manchester it will be a 100+ strong army that descend on London on the 15th February. The concept of Guerrilla Lighting was created by Martin Lupton, director of BDP Lighting, for the purpose of raising awareness of the power of lighting. Under the guidance of a team leader, each member will take part in creating transient lighting designs by using high powered torches, battery powered LED projectors, luminous dot lights and an array of gels and filters. Instructed to be in a specific position and at a given distance from their target, the teams will simultaneously light up various aspects of the Pool of London's architecture on cue at the sound of an air horn, creating a dramatic spectacle. The installation will be photographed, the lighting turned off and then the team move on to the next site. The teams will be made up of local lighting designers, architects, interior designers and manufacturers, all of whom are keen to draw attention to the possibilities, and importance of, lighting in the urban environment. The event will take place as part of 'Switched ON London', London's first festival of light. www.guerrillalighting.net
Guerrilla Lighting Comes to London
Demonstrating the power of good lighting
One dictionary definition of guerrilla is an unofficial independent army of partisan soldiers, and, following the success of Guerrilla Lighting Manchester it will be a 100+ strong army that descend on London on the 15th February. The concept of Guerrilla Lighting was created by Martin Lupton, director of BDP Lighting, for the purpose of raising awareness of the power of lighting. Under the guidance of a team leader, each member will take part in creating transient lighting designs by using high powered torches, battery powered LED projectors, luminous dot lights and an array of gels and filters. Instructed to be in a specific position and at a given distance from their target, the teams will simultaneously light up various aspects of the Pool of London's architecture on cue at the sound of an air horn, creating a dramatic spectacle. The installation will be photographed, the lighting turned off and then the team move on to the next site. The teams will be made up of local lighting designers, architects, interior designers and manufacturers, all of whom are keen to draw attention to the possibilities, and importance of, lighting in the urban environment. The event will take place as part of 'Switched ON London', London's first festival of light. www.guerrillalighting.net
Wednesday, 20 June 2007
Inspiring Book
Something that inspired me this month, and an action I have taken which I hope will inspire others.
*Having offered to prepare something for the July session, I have decided to play my Joker on this item. Since this piece is too long to be read in the session, I'd like if I may to publish the whole text here, as a context for a short and hopefully useful activity in the session.
Helen Dymond
There was a book in the good old 1960's or was it the 70's, a hip guide to American students swanning around in their gap year, called 'Europe on Five Dollars a Day'. Five dollars a day? WOW! How could such thrift be attained? It was clever, inflation-busting, quaintly alternative. A new book, '50 Reasons to Buy Fair Trade' by Miles Litvinoff and John Madeley (Pluto Press, www.plutobooks.com) tells me that half a century later in 2007, "throughout the developing world people are working in poor countries for less than a dollar a day to make goods such as clothes and toys for the Western world."
They are forced into it by the rock bottom prices agreed by the world agriculture markets for the kind of crops their climates and soils will allow them to grow. With the international coffee agreement's collapse in 1989, for many farmers prices fellow below the cost of production. The impact on societies has been and continues to be disastrous: "social unrest, robberies, suicides, debt, children withdrawn from school by their parents; in Colombia and Haiti growers turning in desperation to illegal drugs cultivation. In Nicaragua, thousands of coffee workers held a 'March of the Hungry' to the capital in mid-2003, during which fourteen of the marchers are said to have died, during the march, of starvation. " Equally devestating in its effects, the world banana market worth £5 billion is dominated by a cartel consisting of a mere five companies.
But '50 Reasons' does't set out to scold; it invites us to celebrate the burgeoning of the Fair Trade movement, to join a damn good party that is going on and is here to stay It's this positive energy that makes the book inspiring; and incidentally it cleared up my puzzlement as to why I had not enjoyed Starhawk's 'Webs of Power' as much I had expected to: Starhawk seemed so much preoccupied with Our Action, Our Vision, Our struggle - whereas this book is all about Them. It is meticulously researched and packed full of useful information about what Fair Trade is, how it helps producers to a fair and stable income, where to find FT products; but perhaps its greatest achievement is that it gives a small cast of farmers a published voice, lets them speak for themselves.
It provides just the global context we need to make sense of what is happening in our own locality, and has prompted me to conduct a small, totally unscientific survey of my two local superstores; Sainsbury's at Ladbroke Grove and at Willesden, to explore Sainbsury's claim that it supports Fair Trade. I also wanted to answer some more uncomfortable questions closer to home: why don't I, the barely-reconstructed housewife, buy more than a few FT products? Is it because of my ignorance of the range on offer? A suspicion that they will be more expensive than non-FT? Or it is due to lack of visibility, a failed opportunity to highlight the products like the sweets which are always in your face at the checkout counter? (I am told Sainsbury's recently had a 'Fair Trade Fortnight' , but none of my neighbours seem to have noticed it).
Not that I am advocating supermarket shopping, given the environmental impact of import air-miles, excess packaging and general swamping of small producers. But the plain fact is that the vast majority of shoppers patronise supermarkets, so there should be some attempt to understand what is going on there. Paradoxically a much wider range of FT can be found there than in the average small retailer, and those who already patronise FT- specialist shops/farmers'markets need no conversion. Having obtained printouts of what FT goods are offered in these two stores, I made some comparisons between them, checked prices against the Online Shopping list and came up with some suirprising findings, of which I give just a sample here.
'50 Reasons' tells me that there are now over 2,000 FT certified products on the market, but Sainsbury's Online Shopping lists only 68 - so the first question is, why so few? And apart from cleaning cloths at Willesden, none of the non-food items are listed. There seems no consistent Buying policy either: Willesden carries only 27 items, of which 13 are not listed at Ladbroke Grove, while Ladborke Grove carries 30, of which 18 are not available at Willesden. This seems fairly chaotic, but the most glaring omission is that, having been assured by the Customer Care Service that "all Sainsbury's bananas are Fair Trade", FT bananas are not listed at all at Ladbroke Grove! I have informed Head Office of this fact and the person I spoke to sounded genuinely shocked.
The majority of products are beverages, coffees, teas and wines. At Ladbroke Grove fresh fruit FT products are grapes, pineapples and mangoes, whereas Willesden, a store with a significantly smaller clientele, manages to sell all those plus oranges and bananas. Ladbroke Grove Sainsbury's, a significant shopping mecca in this part of London boasting a bus terminus, and the Congestion Charge Extension Zone was shifted, after huge local protests, a few metres south of the Harrow Road so as to exclude the store, has a Coffee Shop which sells FT chocolate muffins and chocolate brownies - so why aren't these available on the shelves?
Thebiggest surprise are the prices. There is a perception that FT goods are likely to be more expensive, as organic products are, although the big stores can afford to and sometimes do subsidise them. Many FT items turn out to be the same, or cheaper than, non-FT. Fairtrade Teabags 250g cost £1.19, whereas Sainbsury's Green Blend Teabags 250g cost £1.95; Billington's Golden Granulated Sugar 500g sell for 89p, Tate & Lyle Granulated for a whopping £3.85; a pack of 5 Sainbsury's FT oranges are £1.59, while a pack of 5 non-FT oranges are £1.75.
What to do with these admittedly random statistics? I plan to send a report to Sainsbury's outlining my findings and suggesting that the Buying Policy is reviewed and hopefully improved. The range of goods offered could be greatly extended, and promoted as not only socially responsible but better value. And I have a plan to do a small promotion of my own: namely, I am thinking of a pre-Christmas social gathering of our Neighbourhood Watch Group to which everyone will be invited to bring only FT consumables - a sort of Pudding Party with bevvies, chocolate mousse and exotic fruit salad, nuts for those that can eat them, freshly baked biscuits etc. and some small inexpensive Ft gifts for Santa's Sack and prizes for games. It's a small step, as social movements go, but a first, I am resonably sure, in this neck of the woods.
*Having offered to prepare something for the July session, I have decided to play my Joker on this item. Since this piece is too long to be read in the session, I'd like if I may to publish the whole text here, as a context for a short and hopefully useful activity in the session.
Helen Dymond
There was a book in the good old 1960's or was it the 70's, a hip guide to American students swanning around in their gap year, called 'Europe on Five Dollars a Day'. Five dollars a day? WOW! How could such thrift be attained? It was clever, inflation-busting, quaintly alternative. A new book, '50 Reasons to Buy Fair Trade' by Miles Litvinoff and John Madeley (Pluto Press, www.plutobooks.com) tells me that half a century later in 2007, "throughout the developing world people are working in poor countries for less than a dollar a day to make goods such as clothes and toys for the Western world."
They are forced into it by the rock bottom prices agreed by the world agriculture markets for the kind of crops their climates and soils will allow them to grow. With the international coffee agreement's collapse in 1989, for many farmers prices fellow below the cost of production. The impact on societies has been and continues to be disastrous: "social unrest, robberies, suicides, debt, children withdrawn from school by their parents; in Colombia and Haiti growers turning in desperation to illegal drugs cultivation. In Nicaragua, thousands of coffee workers held a 'March of the Hungry' to the capital in mid-2003, during which fourteen of the marchers are said to have died, during the march, of starvation. " Equally devestating in its effects, the world banana market worth £5 billion is dominated by a cartel consisting of a mere five companies.
But '50 Reasons' does't set out to scold; it invites us to celebrate the burgeoning of the Fair Trade movement, to join a damn good party that is going on and is here to stay It's this positive energy that makes the book inspiring; and incidentally it cleared up my puzzlement as to why I had not enjoyed Starhawk's 'Webs of Power' as much I had expected to: Starhawk seemed so much preoccupied with Our Action, Our Vision, Our struggle - whereas this book is all about Them. It is meticulously researched and packed full of useful information about what Fair Trade is, how it helps producers to a fair and stable income, where to find FT products; but perhaps its greatest achievement is that it gives a small cast of farmers a published voice, lets them speak for themselves.
It provides just the global context we need to make sense of what is happening in our own locality, and has prompted me to conduct a small, totally unscientific survey of my two local superstores; Sainsbury's at Ladbroke Grove and at Willesden, to explore Sainbsury's claim that it supports Fair Trade. I also wanted to answer some more uncomfortable questions closer to home: why don't I, the barely-reconstructed housewife, buy more than a few FT products? Is it because of my ignorance of the range on offer? A suspicion that they will be more expensive than non-FT? Or it is due to lack of visibility, a failed opportunity to highlight the products like the sweets which are always in your face at the checkout counter? (I am told Sainsbury's recently had a 'Fair Trade Fortnight' , but none of my neighbours seem to have noticed it).
Not that I am advocating supermarket shopping, given the environmental impact of import air-miles, excess packaging and general swamping of small producers. But the plain fact is that the vast majority of shoppers patronise supermarkets, so there should be some attempt to understand what is going on there. Paradoxically a much wider range of FT can be found there than in the average small retailer, and those who already patronise FT- specialist shops/farmers'markets need no conversion. Having obtained printouts of what FT goods are offered in these two stores, I made some comparisons between them, checked prices against the Online Shopping list and came up with some suirprising findings, of which I give just a sample here.
'50 Reasons' tells me that there are now over 2,000 FT certified products on the market, but Sainsbury's Online Shopping lists only 68 - so the first question is, why so few? And apart from cleaning cloths at Willesden, none of the non-food items are listed. There seems no consistent Buying policy either: Willesden carries only 27 items, of which 13 are not listed at Ladbroke Grove, while Ladborke Grove carries 30, of which 18 are not available at Willesden. This seems fairly chaotic, but the most glaring omission is that, having been assured by the Customer Care Service that "all Sainsbury's bananas are Fair Trade", FT bananas are not listed at all at Ladbroke Grove! I have informed Head Office of this fact and the person I spoke to sounded genuinely shocked.
The majority of products are beverages, coffees, teas and wines. At Ladbroke Grove fresh fruit FT products are grapes, pineapples and mangoes, whereas Willesden, a store with a significantly smaller clientele, manages to sell all those plus oranges and bananas. Ladbroke Grove Sainsbury's, a significant shopping mecca in this part of London boasting a bus terminus, and the Congestion Charge Extension Zone was shifted, after huge local protests, a few metres south of the Harrow Road so as to exclude the store, has a Coffee Shop which sells FT chocolate muffins and chocolate brownies - so why aren't these available on the shelves?
Thebiggest surprise are the prices. There is a perception that FT goods are likely to be more expensive, as organic products are, although the big stores can afford to and sometimes do subsidise them. Many FT items turn out to be the same, or cheaper than, non-FT. Fairtrade Teabags 250g cost £1.19, whereas Sainbsury's Green Blend Teabags 250g cost £1.95; Billington's Golden Granulated Sugar 500g sell for 89p, Tate & Lyle Granulated for a whopping £3.85; a pack of 5 Sainbsury's FT oranges are £1.59, while a pack of 5 non-FT oranges are £1.75.
What to do with these admittedly random statistics? I plan to send a report to Sainsbury's outlining my findings and suggesting that the Buying Policy is reviewed and hopefully improved. The range of goods offered could be greatly extended, and promoted as not only socially responsible but better value. And I have a plan to do a small promotion of my own: namely, I am thinking of a pre-Christmas social gathering of our Neighbourhood Watch Group to which everyone will be invited to bring only FT consumables - a sort of Pudding Party with bevvies, chocolate mousse and exotic fruit salad, nuts for those that can eat them, freshly baked biscuits etc. and some small inexpensive Ft gifts for Santa's Sack and prizes for games. It's a small step, as social movements go, but a first, I am resonably sure, in this neck of the woods.
Monday, 18 June 2007
tan... slowly
In the Guardian on Saturday 9 June there was a centre spread that listed 'eight years and 32 actions to save the planet'; things that need doing at international, national, local and individual levels. It looked impressive, optimistic. The last point was
2015 Downshifting and having a slow pace of life now the major aspiration for many peole. Youngsters travel abroad by ship and train, savouring the experience. Low-cost flights have reduced by 80%
Then, over the page, is a nearly full-page advert: United we TAN. 5* Marrakech 5 nts from £279. Get your 5 breaks a year. lastminute.com.
If newspapers like the Guardian don't walk the talk, and change how they accept advertising, how are young people or anyone else going to buy into 'having a slow pace of life'?
2015 Downshifting and having a slow pace of life now the major aspiration for many peole. Youngsters travel abroad by ship and train, savouring the experience. Low-cost flights have reduced by 80%
Then, over the page, is a nearly full-page advert: United we TAN. 5* Marrakech 5 nts from £279. Get your 5 breaks a year. lastminute.com.
If newspapers like the Guardian don't walk the talk, and change how they accept advertising, how are young people or anyone else going to buy into 'having a slow pace of life'?
Friday, 15 June 2007
How nonviolence protects the state
Arms and the movement -- how nonviolence protects the State. I found the article quite engaging, whadda you think?
Wednesday, 13 June 2007
Euston Tea Party
The sarf Londoners will recognise this as London Bridge, but hey, it's a mainline station.We've talked about doing an action as a group. One idea that combines our love of food and our concern for the planet and people is to raise awareness of food and health.
So...the Euston Tea Party. An extravaganza of cakes, coffee and teas; combined with conversations about fair trade, organics, food miles, body and mental health. In front of their antithesis of Krispy Kreme, Starbucks, Cornish Pasty et al.
I suggest we occupy a couple of tables in the public space outside the station and in front of said outlets and give away cakes and teas to passers by and engage them in dialogues about food and things. We accompany this with flyers; and seeing as we have the skills, a couple of songs too.
What do you think? Ideas in the comments section. Plan at July get together.
If you want to practice, there's a Bellenden Bunfight this Saturday 16th June at the Review Bookshop on Bellenden Rd. Entry is £1 - bring a cake to be eaten and judged.
More info at http://landcrofthouse.blogspot.com/2007/05/bellenden-bun-fight.html
building the local alternative
Last weekend we looked at building the alternative; based on the notion that the way in which we are active should also form the way we want our civil society to be.
I facilitated an exercise on looking at this from the localised perspectives of - home, friends and neighbours.
These themes and ideas emerged. What do you want to add, be clear about or comment on?
Friends
Learning from them
Be the friend you'd like to have
Care-frontation not confrontation in challenging views you don't agree with
Put energy into reconnecting with old friends
Express your gratitude for support
Stop 'taking the piss' and encourage instead
Home
Reduce, re-use, recycle - eg books, washing machines, cars, computers
Share resources
Produce as much food on site as possible
Use organic and biodynamic stuff/food
Fair trade, eco-products
Turn off stand-by items
Think through ethical consumption
Commit to good communcation with those you live with
Offer hospitality
Cook together and not too much
Neighbours
Solidarity actions eg campaigns to save adventure playgrounds, the Maudsley
Community gardens in the space between flats - herbs, flowers, veg and compost
Smiling, walking, conversing with neighbours
Use local shops, not chains or supermarkets
Have dialogues about choices in shops and markets
Campaign for post offices and local services
Join a local group eg a choir or bell ringers
Go to local events like school fairs, jumble sales and festivals
Friday, 18 May 2007
Peace Tax continued again
Helen's letter:
This message was also sent to: Claude Moraes MEP, Gerard Batten MEP, Robert Evans MEP, Mary Honeyball MEP, Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, Jean Lambert MEP, John Bowis OBE MEP, Syed Kamall MEP
Thursday 10 May 2007
Dear John Bowis OBE, Gerard Batten, Claude Moraes, Jean Lambert, Syed Kamall, Robert Evans, Charles Tannock, Mary Honeyball and Baroness Sarah Ludford,
I am one of your constituents, living in north-west London, and you are my representatives at the European Parliament. Apart from Jean Lambert, whom I have heard speak and who is well known for her green credentials, forgive me that I do not know what campaigns and causes
the rest of you are involved in, but I am hoping that the issue I raise here will strike a chord with at least one of you and that I shall have at least one reply.
I am a retired teacher and college lecturer, and so my income tax is deducted at source via PAYE. I am one of the millions of people who have demonstrated consistently against war, and are horrified that our hard-earned money is being creamed off at source to pay for military
weapons,the illegal invasion of Iraq and the deaths of innocent civilians. I no longer feel able to accept this system without challenging it. I have joined the campaign group 'Conscience' which is
advocating the right of European citizens to have that part of one's taxes currently devoted to killing, to be ring-fenced for a 'Peace Tax' devoted to positive mediation to prevent war, and compensation for victims of war. Some members of 'Conscience' have already taken this
matter in the European Court of Human Rights on the basis of Article 9 of the European Convention which protects 'our right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and to manifest that religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.' I need to hear
from you, please,whether or not you are in support of this movement.
I shall be writing also to my British MP, but unfortunately she has voted consistently against investigating the Iraq War, so she is unlikely to ally herself to this critical cause.I do hope that MEPs are more enlightened.
Yours sincerely,
(Mrs.) Helen Dymond
A response from Charles Tannock
Dear Ms Dymond
I do not support this "Conscience" movement or its fiscal philosophy nor does the UK Conservative Party to my knowledge in the UK House of Commons, which would anyway be in charge of direct UK taxation not the European Parliament of which I am a member. I do not believe in ring fencing direct taxes according to one's personal beliefs no matter how strongly or sincerely held (eg animal rights activists opposed to intensive farming, antinuclear protesteres opposed to nuclear power etc) as this would create an impossible precedent in which people would opt out of all sorts of things they did not like and demand their taxes back making government budgeting impossible! To my knowledge no country in the world upholds such an approach as you suggest. In a democrcay you vote for a party and only if it has majority control can it decide to change spending patterns, although I accept we politicians within reason
must be as sensitive to differing views as possible, but this would not in my view mean reducing funding of the armed forces which defend the security of the whole country. I regret I cannot be more helpful but doubt any responsible mainstream party could support such a policy.
Dr. Charles Tannock MEP
London Region
Deputy Coordinator Foreign Affairs Committee for EPP-ED Group
UK Conservative Foreign Affairs Spokesman
Office of Dr. Charles Tannock MEP
Conservative/London Region
European Parliament
ASP 14 E 101
Rue Wiertz
B-1047 Brussels
Belgium
Tel: +32 2 28 45870 Fax: +32 2 28 49870 www.charlestannock.com
and another one from Peter Hulme
Dear Ms Dymond,
Thank you for your email.
My position on the British involvement in Iraq is as follows, copied from a posting on the internet in November 2004..
"I would have supported an allied invasion of Iraq, including the deployment of British Armed Forces, if this had been sanctioned by a United Nations Resolution. I am not a lawyer, but I do not believe there was a UN Resolution to this effect. I do not therefore support the Government's justification for sending our troops to Iraq.
My support for such a UN Resolution would be conditional upon the invasion being in the UK national interest, and a clear and unambiguous statement of the aims of an invasion from the outset.
I would consider UK national interest to include security of our borders; safety of British subjects overseas; protection of British economic interests including free and fair international trade; and the upholding of international law to promote peace and stability. I would
not be in favour of interference in the internal affairs of another sovereign state unless these principles are at stake."
There have always been people who oppose war and refuse to fight in one for various reasons. In WWII such persons often became medical personnel, stretcher bearers, etc. In more modern times, the proposal has been to withhold a proportion of one's taxes. I think this will be
difficult when one's taxes are taken under the PAYE system, but I can only applaud you for trying.
Best Regards,
Peter Hulme Cross
One London Group
London Assembly
Tel:- 020 7983 4919
www.onelondon.org.ukand one just in from the Lib Dems
16th May 2007
Dear Ms Dymond,
Thank you for your email dated 10th May 2007 regarding taxes. I am replying on behalf of my colleagues at the London Assembly, Sally Hamwee, Dee Doocey, Graham Tope and Mike Tuffrey.
Thank you for your interesting thoughts on taxes but unfortunately taxation is a matter for Westminster not the London Assembly, so we have no powers over this subject.
We do however sympathise with your concerns. We can confirm that the Liberal Democrats in parliament voted against the horrific Iraq war, and that Ming Campbell has in the past called for early withdrawal of UK troops backed up by re-energised talks and negotiations with Middle Eastern powers.
Thank you for writing to us.
Yours sincerely,
Geoff Pope AM
Liberal Democrat Assembly Member
This message was also sent to: Claude Moraes MEP, Gerard Batten MEP, Robert Evans MEP, Mary Honeyball MEP, Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, Jean Lambert MEP, John Bowis OBE MEP, Syed Kamall MEP
Thursday 10 May 2007
Dear John Bowis OBE, Gerard Batten, Claude Moraes, Jean Lambert, Syed Kamall, Robert Evans, Charles Tannock, Mary Honeyball and Baroness Sarah Ludford,
I am one of your constituents, living in north-west London, and you are my representatives at the European Parliament. Apart from Jean Lambert, whom I have heard speak and who is well known for her green credentials, forgive me that I do not know what campaigns and causes
the rest of you are involved in, but I am hoping that the issue I raise here will strike a chord with at least one of you and that I shall have at least one reply.
I am a retired teacher and college lecturer, and so my income tax is deducted at source via PAYE. I am one of the millions of people who have demonstrated consistently against war, and are horrified that our hard-earned money is being creamed off at source to pay for military
weapons,the illegal invasion of Iraq and the deaths of innocent civilians. I no longer feel able to accept this system without challenging it. I have joined the campaign group 'Conscience' which is
advocating the right of European citizens to have that part of one's taxes currently devoted to killing, to be ring-fenced for a 'Peace Tax' devoted to positive mediation to prevent war, and compensation for victims of war. Some members of 'Conscience' have already taken this
matter in the European Court of Human Rights on the basis of Article 9 of the European Convention which protects 'our right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and to manifest that religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.' I need to hear
from you, please,whether or not you are in support of this movement.
I shall be writing also to my British MP, but unfortunately she has voted consistently against investigating the Iraq War, so she is unlikely to ally herself to this critical cause.I do hope that MEPs are more enlightened.
Yours sincerely,
(Mrs.) Helen Dymond
A response from Charles Tannock
Dear Ms Dymond
I do not support this "Conscience" movement or its fiscal philosophy nor does the UK Conservative Party to my knowledge in the UK House of Commons, which would anyway be in charge of direct UK taxation not the European Parliament of which I am a member. I do not believe in ring fencing direct taxes according to one's personal beliefs no matter how strongly or sincerely held (eg animal rights activists opposed to intensive farming, antinuclear protesteres opposed to nuclear power etc) as this would create an impossible precedent in which people would opt out of all sorts of things they did not like and demand their taxes back making government budgeting impossible! To my knowledge no country in the world upholds such an approach as you suggest. In a democrcay you vote for a party and only if it has majority control can it decide to change spending patterns, although I accept we politicians within reason
must be as sensitive to differing views as possible, but this would not in my view mean reducing funding of the armed forces which defend the security of the whole country. I regret I cannot be more helpful but doubt any responsible mainstream party could support such a policy.
Dr. Charles Tannock MEP
London Region
Deputy Coordinator Foreign Affairs Committee for EPP-ED Group
UK Conservative Foreign Affairs Spokesman
Office of Dr. Charles Tannock MEP
Conservative/London Region
European Parliament
ASP 14 E 101
Rue Wiertz
B-1047 Brussels
Belgium
Tel: +32 2 28 45870 Fax: +32 2 28 49870 www.charlestannock.com
and another one from Peter Hulme
Dear Ms Dymond,
Thank you for your email.
My position on the British involvement in Iraq is as follows, copied from a posting on the internet in November 2004..
"I would have supported an allied invasion of Iraq, including the deployment of British Armed Forces, if this had been sanctioned by a United Nations Resolution. I am not a lawyer, but I do not believe there was a UN Resolution to this effect. I do not therefore support the Government's justification for sending our troops to Iraq.
My support for such a UN Resolution would be conditional upon the invasion being in the UK national interest, and a clear and unambiguous statement of the aims of an invasion from the outset.
I would consider UK national interest to include security of our borders; safety of British subjects overseas; protection of British economic interests including free and fair international trade; and the upholding of international law to promote peace and stability. I would
not be in favour of interference in the internal affairs of another sovereign state unless these principles are at stake."
There have always been people who oppose war and refuse to fight in one for various reasons. In WWII such persons often became medical personnel, stretcher bearers, etc. In more modern times, the proposal has been to withhold a proportion of one's taxes. I think this will be
difficult when one's taxes are taken under the PAYE system, but I can only applaud you for trying.
Best Regards,
Peter Hulme Cross
One London Group
London Assembly
Tel:- 020 7983 4919
www.onelondon.org.ukand one just in from the Lib Dems
16th May 2007
Dear Ms Dymond,
Thank you for your email dated 10th May 2007 regarding taxes. I am replying on behalf of my colleagues at the London Assembly, Sally Hamwee, Dee Doocey, Graham Tope and Mike Tuffrey.
Thank you for your interesting thoughts on taxes but unfortunately taxation is a matter for Westminster not the London Assembly, so we have no powers over this subject.
We do however sympathise with your concerns. We can confirm that the Liberal Democrats in parliament voted against the horrific Iraq war, and that Ming Campbell has in the past called for early withdrawal of UK troops backed up by re-energised talks and negotiations with Middle Eastern powers.
Thank you for writing to us.
Yours sincerely,
Geoff Pope AM
Liberal Democrat Assembly Member
Peace Direct job
Peace Direct are currently advertising for the position of Project Manager
on the Truce 2012 project.
Salary £25,000 plus 6% pension contribution, 25 days holiday. More information about the position can be found here.
Truce 2012 is a project to develop leadership and conflict resolution skills
in young people in East London in the run up to the Olympics.
on the Truce 2012 project.
Salary £25,000 plus 6% pension contribution, 25 days holiday. More information about the position can be found here.
Truce 2012 is a project to develop leadership and conflict resolution skills
in young people in East London in the run up to the Olympics.
Peace Tax, continued
A big Thank you to Zaria, Carl and Kathryn for acknowledging my efforts and between them all, making my Blog happen!
Now I don't know how to attach files to this Blog. I would like to post up two responses I have received very recently from our elected representatives on the subject of Peace Tax. I wrote to all MEP's and London Assembly Members outlining the Peace Tax Campaign position and requesting that each of them state their position. The Tory MEP Charles Tannock is by definition a joke anyway, but they do point up for me, again, the problem of INERTIA/NOT MY PROBLEM as the most insidious form of opposition to change. However the issue has been raised, it has been in their face for a few minutes and this is just a beginning.
AS I dont know how to attach a file to this and it may not be possible anyway, I will if I may send them to Kathryn and see if she can (if time and inclination) do anything with them.
Thanks, for support 'n all
Helen D.
Now I don't know how to attach files to this Blog. I would like to post up two responses I have received very recently from our elected representatives on the subject of Peace Tax. I wrote to all MEP's and London Assembly Members outlining the Peace Tax Campaign position and requesting that each of them state their position. The Tory MEP Charles Tannock is by definition a joke anyway, but they do point up for me, again, the problem of INERTIA/NOT MY PROBLEM as the most insidious form of opposition to change. However the issue has been raised, it has been in their face for a few minutes and this is just a beginning.
AS I dont know how to attach a file to this and it may not be possible anyway, I will if I may send them to Kathryn and see if she can (if time and inclination) do anything with them.
Thanks, for support 'n all
Helen D.
Wednesday, 16 May 2007
building the alternative homework
For the next workshop (9 June) we have been given links to examples of building the alternative through direct action:
- achievements of landless peasants in
Tuesday, 15 May 2007
NVDA TOT in Glasgow, and London?
Fabulous! Kathryn just wrote to encourage people to continue discussions sparked by last Saturday's training on the blog. I'm anxious to hear about the content, the vibe and thoughts, experiences, about Saturday's TTT training.
About two weeks ago, I went to Glasgow for a training of trainers NVDA workshop. I went because I knew I had to miss Saturday's workshop, and because I'd never been to Glasgow so my partner and I made a long weekend of it.
The workshop was .... good. The trainers were completely competent and knowledgeable about training people for doing actions. The participants ranged from 'grassroots weapons inspectors' (full-time Faslane activits) to students with little NVDA experience, but keen to learn more, to ... a couple of, well one other come to think of it, person like me -- had done loads of NVDA years ago, but wasn't too sure about the climate and police response these days. We were seeking a 're-fresher' course if you like.
What was disappointing to me was the lack of community building exercises, I spent from Friday night to Sunday afternoon with 13 other activists, and the atmosphere was friendly but there was never that 'click' for us a whole group, you know? I clicked with individuals, but there was nothing particularly pulling us together as a group.
And then, another short-coming for me was this notion that we all held the same assumptions about the role and importance of NVDA. OK, it was a TOT on how to get groups ready in 90 minutes (or if you're lucky one day) for an action, but I would have liked some discussion on the effectiveness and timeliness and a vast array of other things about NVDA.
How was the London training? What were the main issues?
About two weeks ago, I went to Glasgow for a training of trainers NVDA workshop. I went because I knew I had to miss Saturday's workshop, and because I'd never been to Glasgow so my partner and I made a long weekend of it.
The workshop was .... good. The trainers were completely competent and knowledgeable about training people for doing actions. The participants ranged from 'grassroots weapons inspectors' (full-time Faslane activits) to students with little NVDA experience, but keen to learn more, to ... a couple of, well one other come to think of it, person like me -- had done loads of NVDA years ago, but wasn't too sure about the climate and police response these days. We were seeking a 're-fresher' course if you like.
What was disappointing to me was the lack of community building exercises, I spent from Friday night to Sunday afternoon with 13 other activists, and the atmosphere was friendly but there was never that 'click' for us a whole group, you know? I clicked with individuals, but there was nothing particularly pulling us together as a group.
And then, another short-coming for me was this notion that we all held the same assumptions about the role and importance of NVDA. OK, it was a TOT on how to get groups ready in 90 minutes (or if you're lucky one day) for an action, but I would have liked some discussion on the effectiveness and timeliness and a vast array of other things about NVDA.
How was the London training? What were the main issues?
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