Solidarity with the junior doctors

Outside the main entrance of the local hospital

Earlier this week, whilst on en route to my daughter's nursery, I decided to take a detour and support the striking junior doctors outside Croydon University Hospital, formerly known as Mayday Hospital. A registrar (junior doctor) at Mayday was on hand at the birth of our daughter when complications developed and I felt it was important to physically show support.

In a backdrop of corporations and multi-billionaires enjoying increased wealth through tax avoidance, I think most people would want doctors not to endure a real terms pay cut when morale is already low in the NHS. The thought of overworked and underpaid surgeons is not a happy thought if you are a patient about to drift off under anesthetic. If the frequency of honking from passing vehicles was an indicator of support, then it was evident that the public support the strike.

This pay cut is part of a systematic squeeze on our public servants. Secretaries of State don't simply impose pay cuts on those who in our mind save our lives. Just like the Fire Service before, they dress it up as remuneration refinement to make an overall saving in wages. I chatted at length to one of the strikers who was in his final year as junior doctor. He saw it the same way as I did. He also predicted that that the new contracts would simply be imposed - which they were the day after. 

In attempting to win the argument Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt misquoted data regarding hospital deaths at weekends. Watching Jeremy Hunt on the Andrew Marr show was the extra inspiration I needed to take that detour and join the strikers on Wednesday 10th February.




Tags croydon, greenparty

Lollipop patrols face the chop.

Pressed with finding things to cut, our Tory Council have come up with the appalling idea to slash £60,000 from school crossing patrols. The Croydon Guardian reports the figure £60k. Last month we were given the figure £42,000.

Parent Governer Jo Wittams is leading a campaign to STOP the lollipop patrol being STOPPED on Northcote road, around the corner from where I live. Her campaign has made the Evening Standard.

Well done Jo!

Sign the petition here:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-selhursts-school-crossing-patrol.html

Tags croydon, greenparty

Local Green Tracey Hague comments on the cuts

THE council wants to save £36 million over the next two years but has only labelled £3.7m of the proposals as cuts.

The Department of Adult Services, Health and Housing (DASHH) will be the hardest hit, with £11.149m of cuts and efficiencies.

Children’s  and family services are also affected, with £10.933m of savings and cutbacks.

Services which the council will cut between 2013 and 2015 include:

- Review and redesign of early intervention, family support and integrated youth services - £1.7m

- Axing two school improvement officers - £184,000

- Cut in care support budgets for older people, people with learning and physical disability and those with mental health problems - £150,000

- End Journeys youth service - £140,000

- Smaller contribution to Upper Norwood Joint Library - £114,000

- Reduction of council’s role in “facilitation of culture”, including reducing archive service to statutory minimum - £105,000

- Further reduction in payments to the voluntary sector - £80,000

- Reduction of funding for supplementary education, mentoring and community languages - £78,000

- Transfer or reduce 42 per cent of school crossing patrols - £42,000

- Reduction of tree planting and maintenance - £35,000

- Reduction of Safer Croydon Partnership Budget - £23,000

- Non maintenance (closure) of South Norwood Pitch & Putt - £20,000

- Removal of “under-used” football pitches - £12,000

- Less commissioning of domestic violence services - £20,000

- Reduction in park related costs (trees/sports equipment) - £10,000

- Reduced commissioning for youth counselling - £10,000

A little over half way into the current administration in Taberner House and it seems the Tories have lost the plot once again and sadly once again it’s the North of the borough and the environment which are losing out.

In the New Year residents face fines if they do not recycle (use their green and blue boxes), yet the locations for Christmas tree recycling number only 17 and many of the northern-most wards are not amongst them. Even my own ward in Addiscombe, where recycling rates are high, has lost its tree recycling point this year for some unknown reason. Looking at Your Croydon (available in libraries), there are even fewer recycling locations for Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) which number (wait for it) just 5 in a borough of 24 wards.

Does the council seriously expect people to drive their tree to a neighbouring ward? For those (like me) who do not have a car or who can no longer drive (like my mother), are we seriously expected to drag a tree to a neighbouring ward? Although I belong to Zipcar (a car club which rents out cars by the hour or day), a real tree would surely drop most of its needles in the car and necessitate a lengthy (& costly) cleaning process. So anyone in the wards of Bensham Manor, Selhurst, Thornton Heath, West Thornton, Woodside, in some central wards like Fairfield and Fieldway, and even some more affluent wards in the South (where recycling rates are usually higher) Croham and Sanderstead will have to make alternative arrangements. Some dedicated people may make the effort and drive their recycling to a civic amenity site, but it is questionable whether the emissions and costs would see a net benefit. You could always try and carry a tree on a bus (but I wouldn’t hold your breath for a driver allowing you aboard!); at least when you get to the amenity site’s gates the staff have to take the tree off you and take it to the green waste container. You could also store your tree at home but you’d have to wait until April for kerbside green waste collections to resume, or spend hours cutting the tree into small enough pieces to fit in your food waste bin! Of course the most likely action is that trees will be dumped, either in bin liners in wheelie bins (destined for landfill) or worse fly-tipped somewhere. At least if it’s fly-tipped on council land the council will have to pick up the tab, so the council will end up paying for their short-sightedness or inconsideration for us residents who suffer their ill-conceived decisions. The reality is that the clean-up costs will merely be passed on to us, and services will be cut even further to ‘balance the books’.

If anyone is of a mind to protest peacefully, the option of civil disobedience is open to you. Maybe the New Year will see a sudden forest of spruces appear on the lawns of the Taberner House. Gandhi would be proud and it might cheer the place up in these grim times. Conveniently they would then be in one place for collection for recycling.

People expect the Green Party to be concerned about the environment but we also care about people. The people in the North of Croydon have been short-changed for years in terms of council service delivery. The 2 party duopoly in the council chamber has gone on for too long. The Green Party would ensure that council services are truly universal and that no-one misses out, that efficiencies aren’t confused with cuts and that common sense prevails over short-termism. Unmaintained park equipment will need replacing sooner and we’ve seen plenty of that in recent years; ask anyone who has used the play area in South Norwood Country Park in the last 5 years. Cuts to tree services are also unwise as our green spaces are something we hold dear; they are the lungs of our borough and never have they been me needed when we’ve got several areas where we fail the air quality regulations (such as around Beddington where the incinerator is planned). Also why does it cost £12,000 to remove some football pitches? The turf will still need mowing, but why can’t they be left for people to use? With an obesity epidemic and worries about the disaffected youth turning to crime, do we really want to discourage people from using parks? It’s about time the residents of Croydon had a council which thinks beyond the next election and of what is the right thing to do for decades hence. The Iroquai in Northern America make decisions based on the consequences 7 generations hence; this is something we should all aspire to. We only have one planet, one pair of lungs each, but plenty of residents who work hard (paid or unpaid) and deserve better…oh and who have a vote.

Of course there is always the possibility that the Tory administration has resigned itself to lose in 2014. With ever more cuts facing us for years to come (they’ve only just started!), they’ve gone beyond trimming fat and are now severing limbs. We’re now at the stage of cutting back to the bare statutory minimum, so where do we/they go from here? At least the Tories can say “we didn’t increase council tax”. Personally I’d rather pay a bit extra to get the services we need, want and deserve. The Tories wouldn’t have given up on re-election already, would they? I know what I’ll be asking Santa for this Yuletide and it’s not red or blue, but green.

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Tags croydon, greenparty

TUC March - A future that works - October 20th

With Croydon North in mind, a sly look as we pass the House of Commons.

Jay, Gordon and me at Temple

Walking past 10 Downing St

The Green Party is set to take its place in a march to call for a better future for everyone – with two of its highest-profile members leading from the front.

Sutton & Croydon Green Party will be joining Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett and Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas on London’s streets on Saturday, joining thousands of others to demand A Future That Works.

Sutton & Croydon Green Party spokesperson Shasha Khan said: “The Government’s policies of cuts and privatisation are damaging the economy and hurting the most vulnerable in society. We need to build a more sustainable economy, create jobs and protect public services like the NHS and schools.“

The march has been organised by the Trades Union Congress, in protest against the Coalition government’s economic policies and to call for a new focus on investment to spark economic recovery.

The TUC, in common with the Green Party, opposes the government’s relentless cuts, which are reducing the state, slashing services, removing assistance from society’s most vulnerable and leaving a generation of talented young people unable to find work.

The policies are also failing to deliver the single achievement to which the government claims it is dedicated – cutting the UK’s economic deficit.

In fact, instead of reducing the deficit by 4.6 per cent as the government promised, nearly two and a half years of ‘austerity’ measures forced it to grow by 22 per cent between April and August.

Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett said: ‘We’re marching with hundreds of thousands of others to give the government the message that we have to invest in the future. The government can’t continue with its economically illiterate cuts. We must invest in decent homes, renewable energy, public services, public transport and the infrastructure we need to bring manufacturing back to Britain. We must restore food production systems within this country. All of these things are urgent, and need investment and planning to deliver.

This investment must be used to assist young people in finding fulfilling and worthwhile work. 

The Princes Trust has revealed that the number of young people in the UK out of work for more than two years has increased by 168 per cent since February 2008.

‘Our young people are doing all the right things to secure a job and future, but we’re not doing right by them.’

The march leaves Victoria Embankment at 11am, and will end with a rally at Hyde Park.

Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chilli Peppers

ENDS

Tags croydon, greenparty

Racism in Croydon

Croydon is trending globally again. Just 3 months ago it was news and imagery relating to the riots, and now its racism.

I have received a number of texts and emails regarding the now infamous racist outburst by the lady on the Croydon to Wimbledon tram.

I first noticed that there was a vid attracting interest when I checked out the Croydon Advertiser web site for their latest news, this was day before yesterday. At that point the video had only around 3000 hits - now its just shy of 6 million. What can I say, I feel sorry for Emma West, she needs help.....in many ways.

By coincidence I was going to blog about a piece of racist graffiti (above) I noticed in Thornton Heath just last week. Its all the more thought provoking given the high proportion of Black and Asian folks in the area. In addition, I can distinctly remember a similar piece of racist commentary, a few years back, that targeted people of colour in the same location.

Just earlier this month, I posted about a film which asks the question, Is Croydon Racist? What a coincidence that 'My tram experience' hits the news the same month Runnymede Trust drop in on Croydon to find out if the borough is racist?

Poorer areas tend to be populated by immigrant communities; new entrants into this country will congregate where housing is cheaper, and where there is already a community of similar origin already present. Croydon is no different. What is different is the level of income inequality within the borough. Furthermore, given that social mobility is almost nil, it becomes increasingly difficult for those living in poorer areas to climb up the ladder and move away, all the while new migrants are entering an already populated area. Not a good mix.

Periods of austerity arguably correlate with periods of increased racial tension and economic rioting, so when we look back at 2011, should we be surprised that the two occasions Croydon went viral are actually symptoms of a recession? [Written on the same day nearly 2 million public sector workers went on strike]

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Tags croydon, greenparty

Comment on criminal children

The Croydon advertiser recently interviewed me with my 'youth worker' hat on.

I should point that if I said 'interfere', I meant 'intervene'. As it was mobile phone conversation, the reporter probably didn't hear me clearly.

Link to online version which contains a lot of interesting comment.
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Tags croydon, greenparty

Letter on Beat Officers...

.....and a letter that did get published in the Croydon Guardian.

19.08.11

Dear Editor,

Due to the surge, the number of police officers in Croydon is two and half times more than usual. Arguably, the increased police presence means that residents and shopkeepers have never felt safer in and around the town centre. Shoppers are never more than a minute away from a pair of bobbies on the beat. I have felt reassured enough to lean my pushbike against a grocers’ window on Station Road. Normally I would lock my bike up with a 'D lock' and chain! Everyone I speak to wants a permanent increase in visible policing, even young people. However, cuts in the police budget suggest the number of beat officers could fall.

Yours sincerely

Shasha Khan

Croydon Green Party

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Tags croydon, greenparty

Placard success.

I recently received the above photo taken at UK UNCUT in Croydon. If memory serves me well, in the picture I am reading a text from a friend telling me that the placard is being tweeted about! It was a risqué placard BUT it captured the attention of many passers-by (of adult age) so much so, that shoppers were readily taking Anti Cuts/Tax Avoidance leaflets from me, wanting to find out more.

And no, I won't be proposing the 'motion' on the placard at Conference.
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Tags croydon, greenparty

Letter regarding the riots

I sent the letter below to the local papers around midday today. Soon after, both the local Croydon Guardian and Advertiser web sites reported that Bright House and Best Buy shops had been targeted last night. And just now a LIVE UPDATE from the Croydon Guardian reports that Argos and Maplin have been vandalized.

8^th August 2011

Dear Editor,

At time of writing, Croydon is yet to experience the scenes that we have all watched in horror unfold in Tottenham, Enfield and Brixton. There is no doubt the reasons for the riots are deep rooted and multifaceted.

However, one can argue that rising youth unemployment and the ever-increasing cost of further education does not help the situation. It is also interesting to note that the youth services budget was cut by 75 per cent in Tottenham.

A skilled youth worker is sometimes the only person that can reach out to a vulnerable teenager that sees only a path of criminality. As a former youth worker for Croydon Council, I could see first hand the importance of youth clubs. Moreover, I observed that youth clubs operate on scant budgets. Just to offer a slice of pizza was a stretch on the budgets of the managers. In order to build relationships with the most vulnerable teenagers, you have to encourage them into the club in the first place.

Forty-one youth workers are set to lose their jobs in Croydon, and a number of youth clubs are set to close. I hope this is not a recipe for disaster.

Yours sincerely

Shasha Khan

Croydon Green Party

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Tags croydon, greenparty

UK Uncut comes to Croydon

Hats off to Nadine Houghton and Chris Whitrow from Stop Cuts in Croydon for organising the protest on Saturday. There was certainly a lot of tension in the air, emanating almost entirely from the huge number of police officers on hand to deal with any possible trouble. The protest was entirely peaceful and hugely enjoyable. Demonstrators were donned in NHS scrubs etc. I even knocked up a risqué placard. The email I received indicated the tone of the event:

WHAT TO BRING OR DO:

1) Arm yourself with placards, banners, leaflets, megaphones, or just your own voice.

2) Bring a small book, in case we decide to remind a tax-dodger how many libraries his unpaid taxes could keep open.

3) You may also want to wear scrubs or a doctor's coat, in case we want to remind a banker how many nurses his unearned bonus would pay for.

4) If you are under 18 or have children, bring games, a musical instrument or something to express yourself with, in case we decide to open up a Youth Centre in place of a bank.

Nadine and Chris got some excellent coverage in the paper on the issues surrounding the protest, and we managed to distribute thousands of postcard sized flyers to curious shoppers.


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Tags croydon, greenparty

Ambiguous Newman and Balls

Dear Editor,

Like me, many will have found it incredibly rich to read Labour councillor Tony Newman’s letter on Tory tactics to privatise the NHS, libraries and care homes [Your Say - 8^th June Our bins, health….]. Readers will know that Labour started the ball rolling towards NHS privatisation, and Labour councils across the country are selling care homes too. In addition, we must not forget it is Labour that has paved the way for Royal Mail privatisation, something Margaret Thatcher never dared contemplate.

The organisation Political Compass shows us that there is very little to differentiate the main three parties in their quest to sell off what is publicly owned.

Yours sincerely

Shasha Khan

Croydon Green Party

Its been fascinating [well maybe not fascinating] watching how Labour politicians both locally and nationally are ambiguously displaying traditional Labour values in their communications to appease rank and file Labourites, whilst trying not to appear pro-trade union/anti-privatisation to the wider general public.

Above is a letter I sent both to the Croydon Advertiser and Croydon Guardian. Local Labour leader Councillor Tony Newman roll-called services due for privatisation, but took care not to be critical of the policy of privatisation itself, just the respective consultations relating to the actual services. I wanted to make it clear to readers who might be taken in by this tactic.

Nationally, Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls MP is doing the same thing by condemning the ConDems for their appalling negotiating methods but stopping short of backing union demands. In fact Balls has gone as far as to say striking Trade Unions are falling into a trap, ambiguously calling on Unions not to use their democratic right to withhold their labour. Evidence of Labour's cool support for public sector workers and their concerns over changes to their pensions can be seen in the pitiful number of Labour MP's supporting John McDonnell's EDM.

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Tags croydon, greenparty

Commitment to waste reduction is missing

Today's Advertiser has a piece (online version here) that ultimately exposes this Tory council's lack of comprehension on effective waste policy and non existent green credentials. Here was a chance to placate those worried about nappies left in bins [something Croydon Labour are hammering for maximum political gain], support a cash strapped voluntary organsiation and reduce this borough's landfill tax bill.

An interesting observation from Grace@CRNN: Many parents who have recently emigrated from developing countries would ordinarily choose reusable nappies back home, however disposable nappies are seen as an advancement.

We live incredibly busy lives BUT with incentives, support and promotion a lot more parents of new born children would give real nappies a go.

FULL PRESS RELEASE below:

GREEN PARTY CALLS ON THE COUNCIL TO PROVE ITS COMMITMENT TO WASTE REDUCTION

The Croydon Green Party, in continuing to welcome the changes to waste collection, today urges the council to go further still.

Bernice Golberg said, “We are aware of concerns amongst some of the borough's residents, one of which is the issue of lingering smells from disposable nappies in wheelie bins.

“The council should now offer far greater support to Croydon Real Nappy Network (CRNN) because the Conservatives stand accused of breaking an election promise, rolling out food collections to justify a reduced service rather than a genuine attempt to reduce landfill, and paying little thought to potential health hazards.

“CRNN do excellent work in promoting the use of washable nappies as opposed to disposable ones, thus making a saving to the pocket and the environment.

“For years, the two volunteers behind the project have been operating on meagre funding and there are fears CRNN will have to shut down. Given the council is making a £600,000 saving through fortnightly bin collections, Croydon Green Party calls upon the council to back the project, promote real nappies over disposable ones, and prove its commitment to waste reduction.”

Croydon Green Party supports a zero waste strategy, where the amount of waste sent to landfill is slashed in favour of a reduce, reuse, recycle and compost structure. Fortnightly bin collections and weekly food waste collection, planned for October, are two stops on the road towards this goal.

Bernice Golberg continued, “Currently CRNN offer an introductory voucher of £30 (1) in Croydon. On average 15 new users take up this offer every month. This number is low given that the number of births per month is around 400 in Croydon.

“Other London boroughs, such as Islington, offer a voucher valued at £54. Croydon Council should target a minimum of 150 users per month, a tenfold increase, and fund the project accordingly (2). At just 15 users per month, CRNN estimate that they already save 33,000 nappies from ending up in landfill per year (3).

Ends

Notes:

(1) If you live in the London Borough of Croydon and you are expecting a baby or have one or more children in nappies, you could be entitled to claim a voucher towards the cost of your purchase of real nappies up to the value of £30.

(2) The level of funding should be sufficient to allow for significant promotional and marketing campaign and to allow for administrative costs.

(3) 15 children x 6 nappies per day = 90. 90 x 365 days per year = 32,850 nappies

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Tags croydon, greenparty

GREENS URGE COUNCIL TO HALT THE SALE OF CARE HOMES IN CROYDON

Press release circulated earlier this month.

GREENS URGE COUNCIL TO HALT THE SALE OF CARE HOMES IN CROYDON

In light of Southern Cross's financial difficulties and the recent BBC Panorama investigation, Croydon Green Party today urged Croydon Council to halt their plans to privatise the care of elderly residents. Last month Croydon Council decided to outsource the management of three residential care homes (1) and seven sheltered housing schemes to Care UK.

Green Party member, Ross Hemingway said: "The elderly and most vulnerable in Croydon are not customers who can come and go but patients who must be treated with the dignity.

"Where care services are provided with profit in mind, we will continue to see the low cost options taken; the inevitable low wages, untrained staff and ultimately poor quality of care.

“We must stop treating care homes like profit-driven businesses and see them as valuable public services to be properly funded and freely accessible. Labour councils across the country have rushed to cash in on care homes too. So whilst I am pleased to see Labour councillors in Croydon are also keen to stop the takeover of these care homes, they need to challenge the council from a principled position otherwise they appear to be just trying score points. “

Ends

Notes

(1) Heavers Court in Selhurst, Langley Oaks in Selsdon and Addington Heights in New Addington.

(2) Ross Hemingway lives in Upper Norwood

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Tags croydon, greenparty

Comment in paper re axe falling on flowers

Reporting on the council's plans not run Croydon in Bloom and save £100,000 by not providing hanging baskets, the frontpage headline of this weeks Croydon Guardian reads, "Blooming Shame". I actually brought this issue up with the Mayor of Croydon at Saturday's Croydon Green Fair. He responded in characteristic Tory fashion that it was good to give other borough's across the capital the opportunity to win London in Bloom. Sigh.

Link to online version of the story


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Tags croydon, greenparty

Greens at the Croydon May Day march

Big thanks to Jim Clugston and Nula for carry the banner with what appears to be a police escort!


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Tags croydon, greenparty

March for the Alternative letter (unpublished).

18.03.11

Dear Editor,

On March 26^th many thousands of Croydon residents will attend the TUC rally, dubbed the March for the Alternative in London. Those attending will feel in their hearts and heads that it is unfair that tuition fees are increasing, saddling those who do not have the vote presently with greater debt, whilst failing to tackle bankers’ bonuses. Equally, the marchers realise it is simply wrong that VAT is the fiscal instrument of choice to increase revenue from taxation whilst HMRC’s own figures show that £40 billion is lost through avoidance and evasion every year. And finally, the protesters know it is counter intuitive to cut 500,000 jobs to grow the economy away from recession.

The sense of injustice that will compel so many to take to the streets is similar to the emotion marchers felt on February 15^th 2003. On that day, over one million demonstrated against the war in Iraq.

There is one notable difference: when in 2003 there were just isolated voices within the grey parties highlighting that injustice, there is now thankfully a party in the House of Commons that in principle believes in war as a last resort and advocates fairer economic alternatives – and that is the Green Party.

Yours sincerely

Shasha Khan

Croydon Green Party Coordinator

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Tags croydon, greenparty

The March for the Alternative on Saturday.

Croydon Greens will be meeting at 10.45am at East Croydon station.

I've just heard that Ed Miliband is the only politician speaking at the rally on Saturday. This is a very clannish decision by Brendan Barber and his cohorts. Caroline Lucas should be on the bill. I'll be emailing Mr Barber, I urge others do the same: bbarber@tuc.org.uk

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Tags croydon, greenparty

Letter on hypocrisy in the Croydon Guardian

Following the rubbish reply regarding waste incineration from Cllr Thomas, I sent in this letter to the papers.

04.02.11

Dear Editor,

Those of us who were in the packed public gallery at the latest full council meeting were treated to another selection of unbridled hypocrisy. Labour councillors made speeches calling on the Tory council to listen to the people and also, unbelievably, to Tory MP Gavin Barwell (Save Shirley Library’s latest recruit), before slashing the number of libraries in the borough. These calls were batted away by the Tory cabinet who reminded the chamber that the Labour controlled council in Lewisham are closing libraries as well. What they omitted to mention is that Conservatives in that borough oppose library cuts!

When I asked the council, from the public gallery, to explain why the Chancellor George Osborne is the first signatory to a 25,000 strong petition to stop an incinerator on the edge of his Tatton constituency, the Tory council was equally hypocritical with its response, “the Chancellor is doing what any good constituency MP does.” Yet, this Tory council seems to be adopting a cavalier approach to building an incinerator on the edge of Croydon. Meanwhile the Tories in Sutton oppose this scheme.

What a tangled web! Voters are unsure what these grey parties stand for. They say the right things in opposition, but once in power they go back on their words. I would not be surprised if those in the public gallery left the chamber scratching their heads in confusion.

Would it not be better if we could vote for politicians with principles, and parties with clearly identifiable values?

Yours sincerely

Shasha Khan

Croydon Green Party

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Tags croydon, greenparty

Library closures - The Latest

photo taken by Sue Hamilton

The weekly Insider column in the Croydon Advertiser has had a stab at predicting the outcome of the proposals to close up to six local libraries. No one officially knows who the The Insider is, but if it is who we all suspect it is, then we have to assume her/his sources are reliable.

The column says:

The strongest rumour is that Norbury library will not face the chop, a direct response to the vociferous opposition campaign.
Sanderstead and South Norwood might not be so lucky but rather than close altogether could be kept open a couple of days a week.
Broad Green would appear to be the most likely closure candidate and there have been suggestions for some time that Bradmore Green could find a new home in a nearby educational establishment.
Shirley is difficult to call although public opposition is strong and Croydon Central MP, Gavin Barwell is on a mission to keep it open.

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Tags croydon, greenparty

Culture of Resistance, 15th February at The Green Dragon

09.02.11

Press Release Immediate:

AWARD WINNING PUB HOSTS CULTURE OF RESISTANCE

The Green Dragon’s (1) Tuesday acoustic night, Freedom of Expression, will be highlighting a special campaign called ‘Culture of Resistance’ on 15^th February. The gig is part of a series of weeklong events being organised across the country to raise awareness of the simple fact that, “we are not all in this together.”

The series of events from the 14^th February to the 19^th February, including concerts and film screenings as well as protests and demonstrations, has been called by Coalition of Resistance(2)

The organisers state:

“Culture of Resistance is an opportunity to rally together everyone in Croydon who cannot comprehend why we’re embarking on these savage cuts when the state owned RBS bank will pay out £1 billion in bonuses to its top bankers. We’re all scratching our heads wondering how the speculators and tax dodgers are simply not paying for this crisis. Instead, we’re are seeing libraries close, services being axed and jobs being lost.”

“We need to start a resistance to these cuts that will affect the most vulnerable in our society. “

The event at the Green Dragon (3) showcases acoustic music, poetry, magic and comedy from talented local artists. Information will be available about the first major demonstration this year organised by the TUC. The show commences at 8pm.

Ends

Notes:

(1) THE GREEN DRAGON pub 58-60 High St Croydon, Surrey CR0 1NA

(2) Coalition of Resistance is a broad united campaign against cuts and privatisation made up of individuals and groups, including the Green Party.

(3) Landlady Esther Sutton was a Green party candidate for Fairfield ward in the 2010 local elections.

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Tags croydon, greenparty