Greens congratulate Corbyn on his leadership win

The Green Party has offered its congratulations to Jeremy Corbyn on becoming the leader of the Labour Party.

Natalie Bennett, Green Party Leader, said:

"The selection of Corbyn, combined with the remarkable Green surge of the past year , and the SNP's successes in the Westminster election, shows just how many people support an alternative to austerity economics, a head-in-the-sand approach to our environmental crisis and our tired, business-as-usual politics.

"The Green Party shares Corbyn’s opposition to austerity, Trident nuclear weapons, and the sell-off of public assets and  will be delighted to work with his Labour Party and others who share our views on these and other issues.

"The Green Party is committed to standing up for migrants and refugees and calls on the new Labour leader to challenge the government’s feeble and inadequate response to the global refugee crisis.

"In addition, we hope to engage Corbyn and the Labour Party in discussions about the urgent need for electoral reform. As the May 2015 General Election proved, our outdated and unrepresentative system fails both democracy and the electorate.

"We hope Corbyn will encourage his supporters to join with us and other campaigners working on these issues, and, in particular, on pushing the issue of climate change to the top of the political agenda ahead of the upcoming Paris talks."

"The Green Party’s doors continue to remain open to those who want to create a new kind of progressive politics, working, as we have been consistently for decades, for a society in which no one fears not being able to put food on the table or keep a roof over their head, while we all collectively live within the environmental limits of our fragile planet."

Greens lead the way in calling for the end of austerity

The Green Bloc was the biggest contingent at the End Austerity Now demonstration today.

Natalie Bennett and Caroline Lucas on the Queen's Speech

Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party, was speaking at the demonstration marking the Conservative Government's Queen's Speech, at Downing Street today.

Earlier Caroline Lucas had given her intial reaction to the Queen's Speech:

 

Anti-austerity demonstration on Wednesday, defend trade unions Saturday

The General Election result demonstrated that the anti-austerity message failed to get through to the English electorate with the Green Party and TUSC getting nowhere near the kind of breakthrough achieved by the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales.

There is some comfort in the Spanish election result with Podemos doing well and the win by Ada Colau in Barcelona who was a leading activist in the anti-eviction Platform for Mortgage Victims but the grim truth for us is that we face 5 years of pro-austerity Tory government with no sign of an anti-austerity leftist standing for leadership of the Labour Party.

Ada Colau celebrates in Barcelona

Podemos celebrates in Madrid

In this context, as in Greece and Spain, people are turning to the task of building an anti-austerity coalition and a strategy involving direct action, civil disobedience and new non-sectarian ways of organising that arise from local struggles.

The big People's Assembly Against Austerity demonstration in Manchester's Piccadilly Gardens at the weekend (see below) which was supported by the Green Party demonstrated that there is an appetite in this country to build such a movement.

The Radical Assembly organised by Brick Lane Debates brought together more than 1,000 activists the previous week and it will important that they and the People's Assembly work together.

Here is the Brick Lane Debates statement and proposal for the General Assembly:

Why we have called this meeting:

The general election result has created a crisis. A hard-right austerity regime has taken power with the support of barely one in three voters and one in four of the adult population. The rich are celebrating: the stocks of banks, multinational companies and property developers are soaring. The rest of us will be made to pay.

The reaction has been massive. Thousands of people have joined angry anti-Tory protests, and thousands say they are coming to meetings to discuss what to do. A space has opened up for something that is truly democratic, bottom-up, radical, and based on mass action from below.

Our hope and aim is the creation of a new joined-up radical left movement or network. The movement will be shaped by all of us in the days ahead. But our initial proposals are:

• A movement made up of groups which keep their independence but come together to support each other’s campaigns and plan action.

• A movement rooted in real, localised campaigns and wider struggles, especially those in which the people themselves organise to fight back against injustice and oppression.

• A movement united on every issue – on unemployment and unaffordable rents, on fracking and climate change, on tuition fees and student debt, on the gentrification of our communities, on the privatisation of the NHS, on the violence and racism of the police, on the criminalisation of the homeless and the poor, and so many more.

• A movement controlled democratically, from below, with a loose federal structure which can accommodate an expanding number of independent radical groups and assemblies within it.

• A movement united around broad anti-capitalist aims, these to be formulated by the constituent groups, but agreed by general assemblies.

• A movement which aims to grow and unite people in active struggle against the system.

The People's Assembly is planning further action leading up to the big June 20th demonstration and beyond but it will be important that we are not limited to national demonstrations that like the Grand Old Duke of York lead us up to the top of the hill and down again with little to show for the effort. Action will need to be taken at local level.

Speak Out Against Austerity, Harelsden, Saturday

Progress and success will need to be measured in concrete gains: government measures thwarted, evictions prevented, developers forced to build truly affordable housing,  privatisation defeated, rather than just how many people take part in a march.

The People's Assembly is organising a protest on Wednesday May 27th 'Protest the Queen's Speech - End Austerity Now' assembly in Downing Street at 5.30pm.

The PAAA say:

The Queen's Speech May 27th will set out the the government's legislative plans for the parliamentary session ahead. What can we expect? Massive cuts to welfare, more attacks on immigrants, attempts to limit the right for unions to take strike action, more free schools and academies, abolishing the Human Rights Act and an extension of 'right to buy' ending social housing as we know it. Please do all you can to come down to this important protest.

Then on Saturday  May 30th the PCS union are holding a demonstration in Trafalgar Square, 'Hands Off Our Unions' at 1pm:

This government is attempting to extend the anti-union laws. They want to make it impossible for unions to take strike action. New proposals include imposing a ban on strike action unless at least 40% of union members vote in favour of strike action - hypocritical for a government who gained less than 25% of the populations vote.

This rally is also in support of PCS members in dispute at the National Gallery, striking over attempts to privatise sections of the service.

All this builds up to what is hoped to be a huge demonstation against austerity on June 20th LINK:

Greens thank Brent voters for their support

This letter was published in the Brent and Kilburn Tines today.  Thanks to all our members and supporters for their help during the campaign. We will be letting you know details of our next meeting shortly.

We are writing to thank all the voters of Brent who took the bold step of voting Green at the General Election for an alternative vision for our country based on a transformed economic system and a commitment to equality, social justice and human rights. In total 1,157,613 voted for us across the country and it is an indictment of the first past the post system that this got us only one MP, the amazing Caroline Lucas.

We would also like to thank the many people who wrestled with their consciences over whether to vote Green, on the basis of 'Vote for what you believe in', or to vote for the Labour candidate in order to prevent the Conservatives gaining a seat. We know from conversations, phone calls, Facebook postings and emails that this was a hard decision and one that is a product of our unfair voting system.

It is likely that the General Election outcome and its manifest unfairness in terms of seats versus votes will result in calls for a fairer voting system and we welcome this. Meanwhile the support we have received forms a solid foundation for the 2016 London Assembly and London Mayoral elections where every Green vote will really count.

The Green Party is not just a party for elections so we will continue to take part in the many struggles that will result from the election of a Conservative Government hellbent on further austerity, privatisation and dismemberment of the welfare state.

Shahrar Ali (Green candidate for Brent Central)
Rebecca Johnson (Green candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn)
Scott Bartle (Green candidate for Brent North)

Green Manifesto: Austerity has failed, we need a peaceful revolutuion to get rid of it

The Green Party today launched ‘For the Common Good’, the Party’s 2015 General Election Manifesto, which sets out a bold, ambitious plan for a fairer society and safer planet.

The manifesto focuses on the Greens’ commitment to restoring and extending public services and tackling climate change.

Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time and only the Greens are determined to tackle it by taking serious action to limit our emissions at home and fighting for a fair global deal that secures humanity’s shared future. The Green Party will invest up to £80billion over the next Parliament in renewable generation and energy efficiency.

Real action on climate change will create jobs, reduce energy bills and make life better for ordinary people.

The Green Party stands for a fair economy that works for all and will end austerity and restore the public sector, creating over one million good jobs that pay the Living Wage.  The Green Party will introduce a Wealth Tax on the top 1%, a ‘Robin Hood Tax’ on the banks and crack down on tax dodging to raise £75billion a year by 2019.

The Green Party will take back our health service by reversing the creeping privatisation of our NHS and increasing health spending by £12billion a year. Healthcare must be publicly funded and free at the point of use.

The manifesto was launched by Natalie Bennett, Green Party Leader of England and Wales, and Caroline Lucas, who was elected as MP for Brighton Pavilion in 2010.

Bennett said:

Austerity has failed and we need a peaceful political revolution to get rid of it.

 

Our manifesto is an unashamedly bold plan to create a more equal, more democratic society while healing the planet from the effects of an unstable, unsustainable economy.

This manifesto presents the Green Party’s genuine alternative to our tired, business-as-usual politics. We desperately need a more equal society and the policies we announce today pave the way towards a brighter, fairer future for all.

Lucas said:

We urgently need real leadership when it comes to tackling climate change - and that's what our manifesto delivers.

From ending the scandal of cold homes to investing in a public transport system that puts the public first, our plans will make a positive difference to people's lives, create new jobs and help protect our environment.

We have put investing in a greener future at the heart of our manifesto and only Green MPs will demand Parliament delivers change that reflects the scale of the climate problem.

Change the Tune! Green Party video features the Coalition Boy Band

Brent Green Party's candidate for Kenton By-Election

Brent Green Party has selected Michaela Lichten to contest the Kenton by-election

Michaela said:

I have been a Kenton resident for 19 years (and a Brent resident for 38).

Having raised my children in local schools and taught basic literacy skills to adults, I am particularly interested in education within the borough and advocating equal educational opportunities for all.

Michaela Lichten

I am at the present time a carer for my husband who has Alzheimer’s and so have an interest in elderly care delivery which at present is, worryingly, earmarked for cuts. Many of the people who will be affected by these cuts are in the difficult position of increasingly needing help whilst being decreasingly able to access that help.

Being lucky enough to live in  Brent with the wonderful resource of our many parks and Fryent Country Park, I’d like to focus on the issue of fly tipping and litter which affects everyone's enjoyment of these open spaces and blights the streets where we live. This can only get worse with the introduction of selective payment for rubbish removal and proposed cuts in residential street sweeping.  The cost of removing illegally dumped rubbish will far exceed the revenue raised and makes no sense.

As a Brent parent I’m anxious to see opportunities for young people to get into employment. New approaches have to be made to help them, we have to see that it is an asset to us all for our children to make the transition from education to the workplace as productively as possible. Apprenticeships, continuing education and help to set up their own businesses are ways in which this can be achieved.

I support the building of affordable homes which are truly affordable. I would like to see the estimated 3000 empty houses in Brent brought back into use and and an end of the Right to Buy scheme which further depletes the housing stock.

As we all become more budget conscious under austerity most of us are becoming greener through necessity, but being green has a relevance to our lives in the wider world and it’s my understanding that it is only The Green Party that has put the individual at the centre of their policies and is committed to a fairer society.  That is why I’m standing as The Green Party candidate in this by-election.

Is it time to set up a People’s Assembly in Brent?

Dear Peter, Calling on all people living in Brent, please read this invite from some activists in Brent wanting to set up a local People's Assembly group. There'll be an initial meeting on: Monday 6 October @ 6:30pm Prince of Wales Pub, 101 Willesden Lane, London NW6 7SD Is it time to set up a People’s Assembly in Brent?  The People’s Assembly against Austerity was launched last year to help organise nation-wide opposition to government austerity policies which are doing untold damage to working people and communities while allowing the super-rich to increase their wealth to unprecedented levels. Since its launch, the Assembly has organised a 50,000 strong anti-austerity demonstration in London and has mobilised support for public sector workers’ pay demonstrations and for the Jarrow to London People’s March for the NHS. It is now mobilising for a huge turnout for the TUC’s Britain needs a pay rise demonstration in London on Saturday 18 October. It has also established over 80 People’s Assemblies at town, borough and regional level around the country, and these have done a great deal to involve ordinary people in resisting cutbacks and other austerity-based attacks on their communities. A number of People’s Assembly supporters in Brent now believe that it is time to consider establishing a People’s Assembly in our borough, and we are inviting a range of progressive thinkers and activists to a meeting to discuss the matter. You are invited to this meeting, which will be held at 6.30pm on Monday 6 October at the Prince of Wales Pub, 101 Willesden Lane, London NW6 7SD (a short walk from the junction of Kilburn High Road and Willesden Lane). We believe that there is an urgent need to step up resistance to attacks on living standards, workers’ rights, state benefits and on our local health, education and community support services. We believe that a People’s Assembly in Brent will help do that and we look forward to meeting you at the 6 October meeting and to hearing your views on what should be done. Please contact us if you require further information about the People’s Assembly against Austerity or, alternatively, call the Assembly’s national office on 020 8525 6988 or look up the national website onwww.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk. Hoping to see you all there, Mary Adossides                         Richard Lynch  07719 383 322                            07889 028 281 maryado2000@yahoo.co.uk          richardlynch@btinternet.com The People's Assembly Against Austerity http://www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/You received this email because we have you on our database as living in a Brent postcode. Please let us know if this is not correct.

The People's Assembly Against Austerity · United Kingdom This email was sent to yrrumuk@googlemail.com. To stop receiving emails, click here. You can also keep up with The People's Assembly Against Austerity on Twitter or Facebook.