By Sonti Ramirez
On the 30th March, 35 institutions consisting of schools, universities, Churches, Mosques and Synagogues came together to celebrate the launch of the North London Citizens Founding Assembly. It’s been a long journey for those working to get to this point and the event could not have been better received. 760 people turned up in total and organisers managed to raise £15,000 towards the Citizens funds. Held at the Friends Quaker House in Euston; an institution that has committed itself to freedom of speech and democracy for more than 350 years. Friends Quaker House has been graced by the presence of many political activists including Gandhi and for this night, the Citizens Assembly hoped to revive the spirit of grass roots activism.
The event was part of a wider network of London Citizens and Citizens UK, the national homes of community organising where the focus is on building the power of communities and working together for a common good. Citizens UK incorporates communities all across London and tonight’s assembly summit followed on from a series of successful Citizen Events such as the Living Wage Campaign which has helped redistribute £70 million pounds to the poorest families, the CitySafe Campaign which is committed to making London streets safer and ending youth violence, and also Strangers into Citizens which pushes for more pathways into citizenship for long term undocumented migrants. This evening was a chance for the communities in North London to become a part of this broader network and make their own contribution to a powerful history of positive action.
People power was very much the agenda of the event. Tim Gardner, a co-chair of North London Citizens welcomed all and emphasised the importance of grass roots campaigning for the communities present. There was a formal blessing from representatives of the Quaker House and then the Maria Fidelis Choir got the celebrations going with a series of upbeat gospels. Short reflections from the Holy books followed as religious leaders Mousa Hussain Baracka of the Dar Al Islam Foundation, Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg of the New London Synagogue and Father Peter Randall of St. Ignacius Church took to the stage. Mr Baracka, who would feature throughout the evening, began with a Koranic verse that emphasises common values that people of all faiths should adhere to. Rabbi Wittenberg drew upon his own family’s experience of the Holocaust to show the importance of being a united community and Father Peter Randall spoke of the late Archbishop Oscar Romero and his peace activism.
The focus then turned to stories that inspire those in the community. In between jazzy exerts from the live band, Elizabeth Garret Anderson School gave a presentation on their namesake and highlighted the important inroads she made for women through her work. Gladesmore Community School took their inspiration from Bernard Alexander Montgomery Grant, the first black Labour MP for Tottenham who committed himself throughout his career to grass roots campaigning. Phillip North of the St. Pancras Parish Church spoke of Father Basil Jellico, a local priest to Euston who worked on the streets trying to help those suffering. For the St. Pancras Church, this has inspired them to raise awareness and listen to the voices and concerns of ordinary people.
The Roll Call then supervened, a highlight of the event. Representatives of all 35 institutions lined themselves up in order to stand, be counted and pay their dues towards the future of the North London Citizens Assembly. At this point, all formalities ended as people began showing support for their communities with screams and cheers when they came up to talk. Those in the roll call included Hendon School, Kingsbury High, Highway of Holiness Church, the North London Progressive Jewish Community, the Promise Land Church of Holloway and various branches of the Congolese Church. The ARK Academy received loud cheers from members as they pledged money as did Highgate Wood. Also present was St. Lukes, Kings Cross Church, Hampstead Parish, St. Mellitus, Mount Carmel RC school, La Saint Union and Marom. There were representatives from the London university unions of LSE and SOAS who emphasised the importance of youth action. Some institutions brought lots of representatives with them; the Al Zahra School had 30 of its students, old St. Pancras Parish had 50 people from the congregation. St. Ignacius topped all with a full house of 67 people coming to show their support. Margaret and Neville Cessini of the Finchley Reform Synagogue got the unofficial award of cutest couple judging by the ‘ahhs’ and ‘ooos’ of the crowd when they came to pay their dues. The University of Connecticut in London also made themselves known by the deafening cheers when their representatives came up to be counted. After a good 45 minutes of cheering and laughing, the Roll Call came to an end and all joined in song led by the Finchley Synagogue choir.
As formalities resumed, the focus was now on committing to positive action. St. Ignacius reps. kitted out with fake big ears launched the Listening Campaign and summarised the aims of the campaign through role play. Their hope was that through listening to thousands of conversations, people in communities can help uncover common concerns, hopes and fears and work towards building better and safer communities. Lorraine Denigan of St. Mellitus Church then came up to address the audience and explain how the church community had helped her family come to terms with the death of her son Martin, who was murdered by a gang in June 2007.
Citizen groups from other areas of London came to showcase some of the work that they have achieved in the past few months. Our Lady Convent School in Hackney came to speak about their involvement with TELCO in East London, a member institute that has in the past 10 years helped redistribute millions of pounds to some of London’s poorest families and trained thousands of future leaders. Barry Mizen came from South London Citizens where they have helped to create 200 City Safe havens and campaigned for the borough of Lewisham to pay a living wage to all its employees. The West London Citizens also successfully campaigned for new shopping centre Westfield to pay all its employees a living wage and it is currently the only shopping centre in Europe to do so
After an eventful 2 hours, the North London Citizens Assembly came to a close with a serene performance from the Vox Holloway choir. For many community campaigners such as Cherub Esomonu of St. Ignacius Church and Paul, a trustee of London Citizens, the hopes and dreams of uniting different institutions working for the sole purpose of the community have been realised, and many felt that the Assembly was well and truly on its way to fully launching the North London Citizens own agenda.
