T h e n e w s l e t t e r o f H a r i n g e y S o l i d a r i t y G r o u p w w w . h a r i n g e y . o r g . u k

Spring 2005 FREE Issue No. 7 “The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.” Steve Biko (1946-77) South African anti-apartheid activist Stop Big Brother ID cards THE GOVERNMENT is try- ing to rush the Identity Cards WHAT YOU CAN DO... Bill through parliament before people have a chance to realise help with distribution of what has hit them. It could be leaflets passed early this year unless display a poster in your there is a visible increase in window opposition. If passed it will bring in a sign the pledge to range of new offences, requir- refuse to co-operate if ing everyone over 16 (other ID cards are brought in than people on a short stay write letters opposing visa) to attend appointments to the scheme to local and have their fingerprints, photo- national papers, your graph and iris scans taken and union, or anyone else have all their details logged £3.1bn to £5.5bn - money that stalls and organised door to you can think of into a new government com- would be better spent on pro- door leafletting. If you can puter database. Anyone not viding decent healthcare for help in any way, or would like join protests against ID complying faces penalties of all. to be kept informed please get cards up to £2500. There’s also a The government have in touch with HAID. set up groups in your £1000 penalty if you don’t repeatedly tried to prevent any Defeating the ID cards bill workplace, street, keep your details updated and public debate about ID cards now will save a lot of hassle school or college notify the government every by saying ‘if you’ve got noth- later! time you move house. ing to hide, you’ve got nothing Your details will be avail- to fear’, implying that anyone Haringey Against ID Cards meets on the 2nd Saturday of able to the Immigration opposing ID cards must be up every month 3-5pm at Library, High Rd, N22 Service, Police, Tax and to no good. Yet the and the last Thursday of every month, 7.30pm at Benefits offices, and also to Government has banned the Green Leisure Centre, Town Hall Approach Road, N15. “providers of public services release of legal advice it was Everyone is welcome to attend the meetings. and private sector organisa- given on whether the ID card tions” (e.g. employers, banks, scheme will invade people’s CONTACT credit reference agencies, util- privacy or human rights. } HAID c/o PO Box 2474, London N8 ities companies). And those Clearly they DO have some- [email protected] organisations can be required thing to hide. § 020 8374 5027 to supply information about We should always resist any you for the government data- government attempts to collect For more info see: base. We will pay for the more information on us as it www.haringey.org.uk/ID.html cards, yet they won’t entitle us will be used against our inter- www.defyid.org.uk to anything we’re not entitled ests. Once all your personal www.no2id.net to already. data has been collated there’s You can read the ID cards bill (and associated reports) at: The Government is already no going back. Even if you www.homeoffice.gov.uk/comrace/identitycards/ employing more than 80 peo- trust this government, can you ple to develop the scheme be sure you can trust all future even though the bill has not ones? GOVERNMENT PRIORITIES? become law yet. This Opposition to the ID card includes 40 consultants from scheme has been growing £50 million – the money pledged by the British government PA Consulting, who were throughout the country. In to the Tsunami affected areas (as at 5th January 2005). awarded a contract worth Tottenham a packed public approx £10 million to help meeting in September agreed £6 billion – the money the British government has spent on develop and implement ID to set up Haringey Against ID the Iraqi war and occupation. cards. Expected costs for cards (HAID). Since then the the introduction of ID cards group has met regularly, pro- £50million is the same amount as the UK spends every five have already risen from duced leaflets & posters, held and a half days on the war Resisting the ALMOst privatisation MUMS STORM of council housing SCHOOL’S KITCHENS DESPITE A GROWING protest cam- Tenants reject Propaganda MOTHERS OF KIDS at a Camden paign throughout country, the Despite this official blackmail and spin, a school have led a revolt after raiding its Government is still scandalously refusing majority of tenants and leaseholders sig- kitchen and finding freezers stuffed with to release available housing funds to local naled their opposition to any form of pri- reconstituted meat, tinned and packet councils, forcing them to privatise public vatisation. They have been backed by food, and hardly any fresh vegetables or housing, either by direct transfer to hous- campaigners involved with Haringey fruit. There wasn’t even any flour or oil ing associations, or by the two-stage Defend Council Housing, who’ve kept to cook with. process which begins with setting up an tenants informed of what’s really going Since the discovery, the number of chil- Arms Length Management Organisations on, and demanded that government dren eating school dinners has skrunk (ALMOs). The ruling elite can’t stand the resources be released for improvements. from 210 to less than 50. fact that, due to past campaigns and strug- It looks like the campaign has forced The unofficial inspection came after gles, working class people are entitled to the Council to concede that there should parents started phoning and writing to the decent housing. Hence for decades they be a full ballot of all tenants & leasehold- council and privatised catering company have starved such housing of the funding ers in early spring, for them to decide if Scolarest to find out exactly what their it needs. any changes are to be made. However, kids were eating. A typical day’s menu at Throughout the last few months of 2003 arguments continue over the likely word- the school includes chicken dippers, Haringey Council claimed to be consult- ing of the ballot, and the Council is cheese slices and breaded fish or veg- ing over the future of the 21,000 local preparing to step up its propaganda in etable shapes – hardly the most nutritious council homes. To “help” tenants & lease- favour of an ALMO. If they succeed it of combinations. holders decide, the Council hired an will mean higher rents for tenants and big Even the school’s head teacher has “Independent” Tenants Advisor - the dividends for the private companies admitted that the dinners have “plumbed director of Mouchel Parkman Limited - a involved. As with all public services, the new depths” since they were privatised. company which says it is keen to “exploit battle continues... So far the parents’ protests have gone opportunities created through develop- unheeded by Camden Council who con- ment of the PFI/PPP (privatisation) mar- Contact: tinue to claim that quality has actually ketplace” and a company which already } Defend Council Housing, c/o Unison, improved and that the meals meet gov- has at least 15 contracts with local author- 48 Grand Parade, Green Lanes, ernment guidelines. ities to run their housing stock! N4 1AG However, how long will Scolarest be § 020 8888 7836 able to keep the contract if parents contin- ue to give their kids packed lunches instead of dinners? by Sophia Koumi We at Totally Indypendent support the Curfew Copper actions these parents took. Maybe Haringey school kitchens are due a THE ANTI-SOCIAL Behaviour Act, the same bus stop window and sometimes look… which became law in January 2004, even massive after-school fights with the makes hanging around on the streets with whole school involved and teachers try- take everyone off home because they’ve your mates illegal. ing to break it up: just a bundle of heads, got lots of friends and are therefore in a The Act includes provisions for a cur- legs, arms and hands. big group? few for under-16s that starts at 9.00 pm The police now patrol these areas 24/7 Teenagers are already used to walking and ends at 6.00 am. This means that so under-16s have no escape. Teenagers into a shop and having the security guard you’re not allowed on the streets during rush home at 8.45 pm because after 9pm immediately on their back, checking they this time and can be taken home by the don’t steal anything and being threatened police if you are. The Act also gives with arrest because the Community power to the police to disperse ‘threaten- Officer thinks they’re ‘acting suspicious- ing groups’ of teenagers at any time. This ly’ by walking around. means that if you’re in a group of two or We’re used to being in the park and more, and not with a responsible adult, seeing all the parents slowly backing they can force you to go home and even away, giving you evil looks and wishing ban you from going back to that area for there was a sign on the gate saying ‘no 24 hours. Even if you’re doing no harm! teenagers allowed’, or sitting on a bench, Apparently this is a ‘discretionary power talking and joking around, and then being not a curfew’ but it’s a restriction on our ‘caught’ and threatened with arrest. private life, even if it is a free lift home. Walking down the street, people avoid The curfew has already been intro- you completely, feeling threatened by the duced in areas like The Cherry Tree and hands in pockets, the heads down and the Hampden Square in Southgate. These are the police take over. They’ve been given hoods up. In doing this most teenagers all places that have been made into too much power and are abusing it. are just trying to blend in but apparently teenagers’ territory and which are thought They’re discriminating against teenagers this scares everyone into removing us by the council to be anti-social behaviour who aren’t doing anything wrong. from the streets. hotspots. Under the curfew, if you’re under 16 We’re not going to hurt anyone for no The trouble there started when you’re going home. But what if you’re 17 reason. We’re only on the street because, teenagers became restless and started and look really young, or 14 and look when you’re broke and have nothing bet- ‘tagging’ everything: bus stop signs, tele- really old, or just passing through a cur- ter to do, the streets are free. Most phone boxes and even the pavement. few area on your way home? How do the Then there was the repeated smashing of police know the difference? Will they just CONTINUED ON PAGE 3... Green Spaces Under Threat ATTACKS ON WORKERS

THERE IS CURRENTLY a battle policy to allow schools to annex parts of going on to save our green spaces for the Park in North ON WEDNESDAY 5th January workers enjoyment of all. Modern over-develop- Tottenham and Stationers Park in Crouch at the Haringey Advertiser took strike ment is threatening havoc to the End. Again, they had to back down action after their bosses tried to introduce environment and local neighbourhoods: after public protests. new cost cutting ideas. The Government and Greater London Over the last five years, users of many In the workers’ own words: “our Authority are promoting a massive of Haringey’s parks have set up employers, Trinity Mirror Southern house-building programme in London ‘Friends’ groups to campaign for mainte- (TMS), decided to take a number of cost- despite local com- nance and cutting measures, including staff redun- munities already improvements, dancies and producing the paper over the suffering from and to other side of London, which we believe inadequate infra- organise events will leave Haringey with a vastly inferior structure, (bulb-planting, newspaper.” services and facili- clear-up days Workers were planning further strike ties. Schools are and community action on 10/12th January. We at Totally desperately seek- festivals etc). Indypendent were going to join them on ing to expand and These volun- the picket lines. But, the employers took are eyeing up our tary groups are out a court injunction against the strike, vital public parks. helping regen- claiming it was not organised in accor- This municipal erate our vital, dance with the law. Perhaps the workers cannibalism has but often should have gone on strike anyway, but got local residents up in arms. neglected, green spaces and helping local they have decided to re-ballot for further In October last year, 150 residents took communities to take more control strike action. The picket lines and strike part in a ‘Save Our Parks’ march over their future. should be back by the beginning of from Wood Green library to White Hart Those behind the protests mentioned February. Lane Recreation Ground. A local above, in particular these Friends of We all know how difficult it is to get pay school had applied to fence off a well- Parks groups as well as local Residents rises from our bosses and to stop redun- used part of the park as a floodlit, Associations, have pledged to dancies. The Haringey Advertiser may all-weather sports pitch with restricted remain vigilant to protect and improve have more adverts than news, but we public access. The following month Haringey’s public parks and green should all support our fellow workers on about 100 residents packed into the spaces. strike. We should also resist any attempts Council chamber for a highly We urge residents throughout the bor- to water down the news sections yet fur- controversial hearing of the Council’s ough to organise themselves to stand up ther. Planning Applications Sub-Committee. for the interests of their local communi- After two hours of argument and protests, ties. Contacts: STOP PRESS: The workers have now residents cheered their victory come to an agreement with the man- as Councillors voted 5-0 to reject the The Haringey Friends of Parks agement and the strike has been called land-grab application. It was felt Forum is a network of local ‘Friends’ off. by all concerned to be a ‘test case’ which groups: c/o 14 Sandringham Road, N22 could affect all Haringey’s parks. This isn’t the first time this has hap- The Haringey Federation of Residents NICE LITTLE EARNER pened. A few years back, we in Associations is an umbrella body for Haringey Solidarity Group campaigned local residents’ associations. A 2004 REPORT from a House of successfully against a threat to fence [email protected] Commons select committee has revealed off part of Downhills Park in South § 020 8211 0916 that Tottenham MP David Lammy Tottenham for the same reason. Then, received £12,000 last year toward the cost at the end of 2003, there was uproar when of a second home in central London, the Council proposed changing its despite the fact that he only lives a 30 minute tube journey Curfew Copper ...CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 from Westminster! This housing teenagers are just bored. If the government gave us something better to do we allowance was on top wouldn’t have to be peeled off the street and stuck at home. of his MP’s salary of People are scared because their minds have been moulded to believe that all £59,000 a year, a teenagers are rude, annoying, drug addicted yobs, full of raging hormones and out to ministerial top up, cause damage. But we’ve been given a bad name by the very few teenagers who do get plus £115,000 in high to escape, or damage something for a bit of entertainment. These are the ones who annual expenses. A brought on this curfew but we’re all being punished. nice little earner if you can get it. And All teenagers want is something to do but people seem to believe the way to stop many times the average wage in them feeling restless is to limit their freedom. Tottenham. Lammy also owns a flat in south London which he rents out. This article first appeared in Exposure, a Haringey magazine written by and for young How can this overpaid middle class ex people in the borough. If you are between 14 & 21 and want to get involved in barrister with his snout jammed deep in Exposure contact them on either the public trough understand what life is like for working class people in § 020 8883 0260 or 07947 884282 or Tottenham? [email protected] INNOCENT UNTIL 9PM Farming The Flames ? TOTTENHAM residents want- IN OCTOBER LAST year the It’s interesting to compare the coppers who were filmed laugh- ing help with late-night problem police started tearing up a gar- effort the Met is putting in to ing as former soldier drinkers are now stuck with a den in Willan Road, Broadwater catching Blakelock’s killers, to Christopher Alder died in front curfew for under-16s. Farm searching every inch of the amount of energy spent on of them on the floor of his cell in In the summer of 2003, resi- soil for forensic evidence of the bringing the police who were Hull. dents in the Bruce Grove area death of PC Keith Blakelock present at Cynthia Jarrett’s death You can be sure that if a police had finally had enough of the during the to justice; or for that matter the officer dies heaven and earth problems from a group of late uprising on 6th October 1985. police killers of Roger Sylvester will be moved and all the stops night drinkers, congregating They have also been examining whose family were disgusted will be pulled out to make sure around a hairdressers on a resi- 6000 witness statements and with the High Court’s decision someone is punished, often no dential street and generally caus- thousands of photos from the to overturn a verdict of unlawful matter who. But if a working ing a nuisance. Fed-up locals killing; or the firearms officers class person is killed by the found support at a neighbour- night. The estate has also faced a fresh invasion of cops and hun- who shot unarmed Harry police, or dies in strange circum- hood residents’ meeting and Stanley in Hackney; or the offi- stances in police custody - then were hopeful that the problem dreds of hours have been wasted leafleting the area to make their cer who choked Kebbe Jobe to the wheels of justice turn very would be tackled using existing death in Camden; or the five slowly. restrictions on urinating in public case. areas, loud noise late at night and littering the pavement. Broadwater Farm Uprising 1985 cent at the end of the trial, with However, a councillor present at police evidence discredited. Despite this, the police and the meeting decided to stick their MANY PEOPLE in Haringey their community and incensed media witch-hunt led to the con- oar in, without consulting local remember the events of October by being imprisoned in this way, viction of three men. It was not residents, and got an anti-social 1985 on the Broadwater Farm people began to fight back. until 1991 that their convictions behaviour order (ASBO) Estate in Tottenham, when the Police came under sustained were overturned when forensic imposed instead. Police can now police set off a chain of events attack from local residents for evidence proved that police had disperse any group of two or that was to backfire on them several hours with whatever falsified statements. more people in the area. But spectacularly - costing two peo- missiles and weapons were at Tribute must be paid to the worse than that, it imposes a ban ple their lives. Resentment had hand. The uprising ended with local residents who fought tire- on all under 16 year olds being been building for some time as a one dead, PC Keith Blakelock, lessly to support those arrested out after 9pm. The curfew on result of police racism and and dozens of injured on both and also worked hard for 20 young people was completely harassment in the area, before a sides. years to put these events behind unnecessary as the trouble had local woman, Cynthia Jarrett, In the months following, thou- them and make substantial been coming from a group of died after she was pushed to the sands of police swamped the improvements to the estate. older guys and had nothing to do floor by police raiding her home estate and hundreds of homes with under-16s. for bogus reasons. An angry but were raided. People were arrest- In an effort to divert attention peaceful demonstration was held ed and held for days (often ille- away from their failings in other outside Tottenham Police gally) without being allowed to areas, the Government is intro- Station. see a solicitor or notify anyone ducing a range of measures sup- Later the same day, following of their arrest. Many people posedly to give control to com- a huge public meeting on the were assaulted by the police and munities facing problems, but estate, a decision was made to made to sign statements impli- ASBOs take little account of return to the police station and cating themselves or others, specific circumstances at local continue protests there. But as including some who were level. This story shows what residents attempted to leave the nowhere near the Farm on the happens when people do not estate, huge numbers of police in night in question. The police, have control over the decisions full riot gear flooded into the desperate to convict someone that affect their own neighbour- streets leading into the estate for PC Blakelock’s death, hood. The solutions to local and prevented people from leav- framed six people. Three were problems must come from local ing. Fearing for the safety of juveniles, who were found inno- people. WHO WE ARE HOW TO CONTACT US

We in Haringey Solidarity Group are a collective of local I would like to find out more about HSG people who want to get rid of the current oppressive and I would like to be added to your mailing list unfair system which places profit and power before I enclose a donation of people’s real needs. The only effective way to do this is (made payable to “HSG”) £ for ordinary people to get organised, fight back and take over all the decision making power in our communities and Name workplaces. We encourage people to spread awareness Address and solidarity, co-operation and mutual aid amongst each other, and to build up the skills and confidence to be able Email to run things for ourselves. To that end we support and participate in local campaigns, spread ideas and help Phone Number create effective opposition to the powers that be. RETURN THIS SLIP TO >> what we do >> subscribe! >> } HSG, PO Box 2474, London N8