Standing up for human rights

Every couple of days another horrific human rights abuse makes it's way into the headlines.  You feel powerless to do anything about it.  Is there nothing we can do?

The photo is of Raif Badawi, imprisoned for 10 years, and has had the first 50 of 1000 lashes:

'Raif Badawi established Liberal Saudi Network, a now-closed online forum that sought to encourage debate on religious and political matters in 2008'

He was due for his second set of 50 lashes last week, but this has been delayed on health grounds - unusual in that 1000 lashes would more typically kill a man anyway.  Does pressure from groups like Amnesty International, who have led calls to free Raif, have some influence?

As a regular letter writter and petitioner, I'm not always sure how much influence it does have, but it's got to be worth a try.  Our group meets the first of the month, mostly, and is quite a social thing, between horror stories of human rights abuses.  1st December we take a month off writing/emailing to MPs, dictators and ministers of justice to send a card directly to those prisoners of conscience who might receive them.  Occasionally we get letters/ emails back, which can be quite touching when they come from the prisoners themselves.

If you're concerned about human rights and want to act either as part of a group or as an individual, Amnesty International could be the way to do it.  Please see useful links below:

https://amnestybrum.wordpress.com/

http://guildofstudents.unioncloud.org/groups/amnesty-international

Email: amnesty@guild.bham.ac.uk 
Facebook: Birmingham Uni Amnesty International 
Twitter: @UoB_Amnesty

Help families to work and play

Austerity measures are hitting many poor families across the UK, both directly and indirectly.  In removing funding for the only fully inclusive after-school club, Playwell, parents with disabled children, who have previously been able to work, will be forced to give up working to care for their children.

Apart from the many advantages of their children attending Playwell after-school group, the families themselves benefit, meeting families in similar situations.  Additional pressure on these families will also increase the need for expensive respite care and other services to support families

Cutting funding for this service will cost us all more, both as parents will no longer be able to work, and in providing more expensive respite care and other services which will be needed.

The families themselves are campaigning to keep Playwell running, but so far neither the economic sense, nor the needs of the families themselves are being considered.


Playwell (customised childcare) : Making The Case For Equal Access To Work from Axe Films on Vimeo.


Parks4Play and Dens of Equality have launched a campaign in recognition of the value of play, and the value of work for everyone, including disabled children and their families.  Join with us to ensure families with disabled children are not deprived of their right to work, train and study, by signing our petition:

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/making-the-case-for-equal-access-to-work

At the same time we recognise the value of equal access to work, we are also making the case to recognise the value of PLAY - to make play a charitable object in its own right.  Play is a biological, psychological and social  necessity.  Time and money needs to be given for play, both of which have been eroded recently:

'It's absence is now causing real apprehension for children and young people's well-being.  This is demonstrated daily by rising concerns around safeguarding, mental health and obesity issues.  The UK is bound to article 31 of the UN convention protecting Childrens Right to Play.  Play demands recognition as an end in itself, as a priority frontline service for all children and as a stadalone object absolutely worthy of funding'

Laura Watts, Dens of Equality 

Sign our petition to make play a charitable object:

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/make-play-a-charitable-object

Another fab video demonstrating the value of Play:


Dens of Equality - Inclusive Play, Birmingham from Axe Films on Vimeo.

5 reasons we don't get the politicians we deserve

1. First past the post

Under First Past The Post (FPTP) voting takes place in single-member constituencies. Voters put a cross in a box next to their favoured candidate and the candidate with the most votes in the constituency wins. All other votes count for nothing. - See more at: http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/first-past-the-post/

People don't vote for who they want to win, but who the least bad candidate with the (maybe?) best chance of winning. Tactical voting gives politicians a false impression about what the electorate want, and is open to abuse by political parties speculating who has the best or worst chance of winning (rather than discussion on issues and policies).

There really are a lot of tried and tested fairer systems which we could be adopting.

2. The House of lords

One quick look down any statistics, analytics about the make up of the House of Lords should scare any democrat. 89 Members are hereditary (i.e. they get to influence our politics because their family always has, and yes, they are mainly Conservative), 26 are C of E Bishops (many more are retired bishops - how representative is this of faith in this country?).

At 11 June 2012 there were 775 peers able to sit on the House of Lords, and until 2005 the Conservatives always were the largest party group. By gender there is one woman to four men, and the median age was 69 years old in 2012. For more see - http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN03900.pdf

Electoral reform has been talked about for 100 years - a number of attempts having failed, even though the vast majority of British people have consistently demanded it (recent Polls suggest 79%)

3. Gagging law/ Lobbying

To quote from the Guardian: There has been loud, stringent opposition from a huge number of charitable and campaigning organisations, from the British Legion to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, as well as the Electoral Commission and Citizens Advice Bureau. The UN rapporteur on rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Maina Kiai, joined the foray, said: "Although sold as a way to level the electoral playing field, the bill actually does little more than shrink the space for citizens – particularly those engaged in civil society groups – to express their collective will. In doing so, it threatens to tarnish the United Kingdom's democracy...The lobbying industry is free to continue secretly cajoling politicians while charities and trade unions will be silenced. This is an attack on the rights of individuals to speak out and, most worryingly, it increasingly seems that was the point from the outset."

4. Public schools, masonic lodges, gentlemen's clubs

While Unions will be obliged (Gagging Law) to hand over records of membership (possibly in contravention of European convention on Human Rights), the workings and influence of masonic lodges, gentlemen's clubs and other 'old school' networks appears greater, while at the same time more opaque.

Grand Secretary Brown is looking to 2017, the tercentenary of the United Grand Lodge of England as, ' the natural culmination of the open public relations strategy we have embraced', he is also keen to keep some information withheld - 'Keeping a bit of mystery is good news. If people joining know absolutely everything, where would the excitement be?"

It is apparently possible to be a woman and a freemason (there are separate lodges for women), but all this is rather hard to test as my brief search suggests it is hard to find out if an individual belongs to a lodge. Likewise, it's hard to test the influence of lodges or other clubs, but I suspect Eton College and ex-Bullingdon Club members in Government (see Daily Mail Photo) is an indication of increases in influence more generally.

5. Politicians Lie

Well actually, they're under no obligation to tell the truth if they speak in Parliament, which is a rather curious anomaly:




So, what about voter apathy?  Well, in recent surveys it turns out non-voters 'share many of the same concerns', but are less likely to trust politicians to tell the truth, but not by a large margin.  'Voter Apathy' is very much with us, and so is the solution - a fairer, more transparent political system which properly holds our politicians to account.  So why aren't our politicians making the changes we deserve?

Keep Bankers away from Food Banks

Cuts hit across Birmingham.  Erik Pickle's man puts the boot in after Trojan hoax.  Restucture of the restructure, with additional cuts and consultation of the cuts of the cuts.  It's getting tough here in Birmingham, but at Christmas time it's important to reach out - think of those people worse off than we are.

Birmingham City Council is 'consulting the people' again about Birmingham Budget 2015.  We get to choose between spending money to maintain a half functioning Library Service, clear up the remnants of the Bin men, or skeleton adult care provision.  Parks, youth services, any profitable part the Council, heritage & arts are pretty much out of the picture already.

It's important to visit the survey, although it's increasingly hard to have 'positive ideas about the future of Birmingham City Council'.  At first I thought the best thing to do would be to campaign to raise council tax, but as @politicalhackuk helpfully makes clear with graph after graph, no amount of increased council tax, or other income can really deal with the root cause of our problems.

That's why I propose everyone working should send a pound a week (or whatever you can spare) directly to George Osborne to redistribute to his friends, colleagues and other bankers.  If nothing else, it will reduce the bureaucracy and hedging necessary for party funds normally raised from bankers and other investment specialists.

It works in America so why not here?  I've done the maths.  The Daily Mail suggests there is a record 30 million in work.  If we all contribute £1 a week, that's nearly half the wealth of the cabinet in a week!  A pound a week would be £1.5 billion a year, which while this wouldn't make a huge dent in the debt of £(insert any figure you like, depending on what your trying to prove) billions we owe (it could, however, pay for a knighthood - at present cost, it could collectively buy four Houses of Lords).

Newspapers highlight Russel Brand's bullying tactics when discussing bankers.  Is Russel Brand blaming poor bankers for the financial difficulties leading to the poverty we (and bankers all in it together) face in the investment sector?

If we aren't prepared to pay our bankers, how long will it be before bankers are taking handouts at food banks (and sell it on for huge profits)?

So why are we here?

I was making willow stars with girls from Swanshurst Girls School at their 'Winter Celebration' event when a friend saw me, and asked, 'So why are you here?'

A fair question, as I have no children at the school.  I was at the event representing Swan Corner Community group, and over the past month or so, we (Swan Corner community Group) have been working with girls from the school, planting apple trees, dancing, gardening generally, and creating a fabulous Swan sculpture sitting on our roundabout.

Swan Corner Community Group was started nearly a year ago to address local issues, in particular the risk to lives and the number of accidents caused by cars.




As you can see from this map, we've had nine accidents with casualties reported in the past five years all around the roundabout (to see accidents near you, check out  http://www.crashmap.co.uk/ for a very useful map of info).

We've not had any fatalities outside Swanshurst yet, as happens annually on Kings Heath High Street, but there is no doubt it could happen.  A much harder question for Swan Corner Community Group is how can we make our local area safer?

We have regular meetings.  We were involved in 'Playing Out' on 6th August, encouraging children to play outdoors, worked with Swanshurst for a number of events, all developing closer community.  Again with Swanshurst School, we have made improvements, including our rather fabulous Swan sculpture, noticeboard and Apple trees - many were sceptical saying it would be vandalised and destroyed, but a year on, there's been no real damage - willow and apple trees continue to grow.  It's tough though, coming back to that key issue of safety, knowing there will be at least a couple of serious injuries every year we fail to make things better on the road.

We haven't made the roundabout safer, but the reason I was at the school, and the reason we will continue acting and campaigning to improve the area, is because it is our home and all our neighbours mean a lot to us.

Thanks everyone who has helped - it's been a good first year!

See here for more about Swan Corner Community Group 

My family's contribution to the Great War

I was proud of my family's contribution to the World War 1 exhibition at Kings Heath Primary school this weekend, as well as my family, on both sides of the trenches.  Here's what Jago wrote, and also a fabulous section translated from Heinrich Hoenen's book at bottom:

George (left), with Arthur (middle, Grandma’s Dad) & Minty

‘Great Great Uncle George was killed during the First world war. There was George, Minty, Arthur and Fred’
[George is in the photo below (left), with Arthur (middle, Grandma’s Dad) & Minty]
‘George was the eldest, loved by the younger children. My Dad, your great Grandad, said he was a lovely caring man, and they really missed him when he went to war.’

‘He was killed towards the end of the war when he was eighteen in October 1918, which was really sad. He went when he was really younger - probably about 17. He shouldn’t have gone so early but he did. He was killed in a battle, a small battle. The grave where he is buried is in the middle of a field in a farm in France and there are only a hundred graves there, and they were all the people who were killed there at the same time.’

My Great Great Grandfather Heinrich Hoenen fought for Germany and was a very brave horseman. He got the ‘Iron Cross’ for bravery rescuing injured soldiers when he wasn’t supposed to (My Grandmother has translated my great great grandfather’s story of how he got the Iron Cross)


At the end of the war he had to give up his house [see photo left] and most of his things were left in France because Metz was now part of France.


Photo below is of Heinrich Hoenen (with his Iron Cross tucked into his jacket) with my Great Grandfather behind him (far left).

From Great-great-grandfather’s records, a booklet entitled ‘The Guiding Hand’ Chapter 25

(Heinrich Hoenen: Die treue Hand, Second Extended Edition):

On 1 September 1914 I received the order to accompany 10 waggon-loads of ammunition to the front line.  When checking the maps, I found them very poor and incomplete and, as we moved uphill through dense forest, the roads were in a terrible state due to heavy rainfall on the previous days, so that our waggons loaded with heavy ammunition at times sank right up to their shafts. My men had to work very hard to get  the waggons to their destination. The unloading of the ammunition was quickly done, and we were all looking forward to returning back to base.

At this moment the Artillery Captain took me to one side and said: ‘’Take your waggons down to the river Meuse and follow it to Dun. Take on board as many wounded soldiers as you can, and move on to the nearest field hospital at Damvillers.’’

I have to obey.

Down by the river the battle is raging – explosions and burning houses light up the night, shells whistle by and grenades detonate all around. Our horses are terrified and difficult to control, my men are frightened out of their wits and lose their self-control.

My heart is pounding in my chest, I too have a wife and children at home, my mouth is dry.  I pray not to lose my courage, and for God to look after my loved ones if I should be killed.  I feel strengthened by the prayer and am able to give clear orders, my men obey my commands.

The waggons approach one by one. I accompany the gunners to look for the wounded among the dead and dying. We lift the wounded onto the waggons as gently as we can and lay them on the straw. We give First Aid, bandaging wounds and injuries, and so it goes on, one waggon after the other, until they are all laden and can take no more, wishing there was more we could do.

However, we must get back to base with the ones we have on board, about 50 in all, so that they can be treated. One waggon after the other is leaving now and stopping on the road to Damvillers. Just as I mount my horse and give the order to leave, my horse suddenly collapses. A piece of shrapnel has hit it in the body, just missing my knee and taking off a corner of my uniform. I quickly unhitch the lead-horse from one of the waggons and swing myself onto it. We move off at a moderate speed so as not to shake up the poor people we are carrying. They cannot help but cry out in the dark as we get further away from this place of horror.  

Now we are on a safer road and in the east the day is dawning. It’s still a long way to Damvillers. I ride up to this waggon or that and try to give encouragement. In one of them lies a Major, who has a bullet stuck in his back. He asks me for a light so he can smoke a cigarette to dull the pain. A Lieutenant asks me to stop – he is not as badly wounded as his comrades beside him, and wants to walk to give them more room. He has had his hand shot off, and bravely walks behind the waggon.

Eventually we arrive in Damvillers and can deliver our charges to the field hospital. The wounded Major asks me for my name and unit and writes the answers in his notebook. I cannot imagine why he does that.  And now we must get on again. We have no time to lose and will have to load up the waggons with ammunition before we return to our unit. We have not eaten since lunchtime yesterday and my men are not happy. After loading up at the ammunition depot at Jametz we feed our horses and have some food from our own supplies.

But our problems are not behind us yet. When we get back to the camp where our unit had been the day before, we find them gone. After a lot of searching we finally meet up with them the next day, and I report to my Commander. Instead of the expected praise, I am reprimanded because I carried out an order that had not been part of our own regulations. I should have refused the order to take the wounded to the field hospital. Our job is not to transport the wounded, but to get ammunition to the battlefield. The medical units are responsible for the wounded. I remained calm, but I am quite sure that, in the same situation, I would have done exactly the same again.

Weeks went by, Christmas arrived. On Christmas Day, the General of the Artillery arrived with his Adjutants. Why was he here?

I am busy in the small village church where our quarters are, making preparations for the Christmas celebrations that afternoon. Suddenly I am called and have no idea why.

Outside the unit is drawn up on parade. I take my place. The Artillery General marches along slowly. Our Commander reports to him. The Adjutant hands a small package to the General whilst we are all extremely curious. Then the General slowly approaches and comes to a stop in front of me, raising his voice he says:

“In the name of His Imperial Highness, the Crown Prince, Commander of the 5th Army, the Iron Cross 2nd Class is awarded to the NCO Heinrich Hoenen for bravery in front of the enemy.” Whereupon he pins the medal onto my chest and shakes my hand. My comrades burst out into a loud cheer.

I leant later that a Major M. whom I had picked up from the battlefield along with other wounded on the night from the 1st to the 2nd September, had reported the event to High Command. I assume that it was the Major who had asked for my name and unit on that occasion.

The award was a great honour to me.  But I was not entirely happy as all those comrades who had helped me on that night would have deserved the same honour. Even today, when I am wearing the ribbon in my buttonhole, I wear it as a representative of all those who on that day risked their lives to save their fellow soldiers.

Heinrich Hoenen was orphaned at an early age and cared for by foster parents. The head of his new family was a master saddler, and so great-great-grandfather was taken on as an apprentice saddler.

Later he joined the Dragoons (soldiers on horseback) for his compulsory Military Service at the turn of the century. He was trained as a dispatch rider, probably because of his previous experience with horses, saddles and harnesses. At that time there were no cars or lorries, and all transport was horse-drawn, apart from trains. 

As a dispatch rider his job was to carry messages from Headquarters to the front line, for which he needed to be able to read maps.

Are we marginalising Green?

I presented at a workshop 'History and Climate Change' this weekend on 'Archivism, activism and Climate change' - more about the conference here, and collation of tweets, info here.  My presentation, which was on the lines of 'children and climate change' was placed at the very end, which was good, discussed along with presentations on 'feminist & queer histories and climate change', 'Disabled people and climate change'.

The discussion I found particularly interesting, although perhaps a little concerning.  The debate appears to have somewhat moved on from, 'is there climate change?' to 'how do we cope with changed climate'; my concerns were the 'difference' or more accurately 'differentiating' between the various factions within the broader Green movement, which weakens resolve to action.

I understand that 'alternative' communities, and people on the edges of society are often responsible for progressive thinking which leads to radical change.  But is there a danger that an ethical, progressive 'alternative' label is lionised, while the 'omnivorous consumer' mainstream is pilloried as unethical and selfish?  In a world of multiple identities, is it not possible to think 'Green' and still hold other identities, 'alternative' or not?

Looking back (as was at the workshop) to the Suffragette and Suffragist movements, it is hard to tell which approach was more effective, but change only happened when the principle of suffrage was accepted by 'the mainstream'.  Suffrage ceased to be an 'alternative' view of radicals, and became part of a shared ethics and world view.  Similar comparisons can be made with the battle to outlaw slavery, whic you could argue worked directly against the metaphorical 'omnivorous consumers' of the time.

I'm sure there are many other historical comparisons to make, which reiterate that it is neither helpful or accurate to consider the 'omnivorous consumer' as less ethical or progressive.  Indeed change can only happen when we, a collection of progressives, conservatives (small c), omnivorous or otherwise, work together.

It is only when a significant number of people, rather than clinging to their own 'selfish' agenda, work together, recognise and meet shared ambitions.  Then change, to meet our changed climate, can really be made.