On 10^th March, Citizens UK Zimbabwe Organiser, Jeff Sango, was guest speaker at a Zimbabwe Men`s fellowship gathering in Birmingham.  Three hundred Zimbabwe christian men,of different denominations, from all over the United Kingdom, were meeting to discuss challenges they are facing as they integrate within the British society. Jeff`s message to the Zimbabwean them was very clear “organise yourselves, build power , force those in power to recognise your input in matters which affect your stay in this country and back at home. It’s your choice to be or not to be on the table where decisions are made. If you do not organise yourselves, others will still organise around you and bring about changes which, in most cases, will affect you negatively”. As a result of Jeff`s challenge, many enquiries for engagement with Citizens UK have since been received and are being followed up.

On 24^th March 2012, Zim Unite! convened a meeting of eight Zimbabwean pastors and eight church leaders at a venue in East London to build relationships and discuss how they can organise themselves, build power and act together to deal with issues within their churches. They also explored how, by using the London Citizens community organising model, they could work with other faith groups, within their communities, for the common good.

The Pastors listened with great interest to testimonies by their fellow Pastors who were part to Citizens UK team`s recent negotiations with UKBA managers. “It was a real eye opener for me. I realised how important it is to be organised. We negotiated as equals with the UKBA managers. My six days training with Citizens UK also enriched my understanding of community organising and how I can use my faith to change the community in which I live” said Pastor Dewu. Pastor Owen Moyo shared his experience as well. He said “we have many of our congregants co-habiting against our teachings because of the challenges faced by their not having status and thus permission to work. As Pastors, we need to be the voice for the voiceless in our churches. We can only do that by building our own power and seeking recognition from those powerful UKBA managers”. Both Pastor Dewu and Moyo are now part of Citizens for Sanctuary team which is working towards culture change in the way UKBA treats people who arrive in this country to seek sanctuary.

Similar meetings are now being planned with Pastors in West Midlands, East Midlands and North of England. Zim Unite! will continue to invite the pastors to affiliate to the Citizens UK powerful alliance of civic organisations. Jeff will continue to identify potential leaders and build teams in different parts of the country to build power to change local community lives.

What an assembly! What a feast for the eyes! What an inspiration for the heart and, most crucially, what a challenge for those who think that power rests with the few and not for the many.

As over 2,500 ordinary people from different cultures, faith groups, generations, colours, professions and backgrounds joined together from across 250 civil society organisations at London’s Methodist Central Hall, they had one objective in mind: to hold the 2012 Mayoral candidates to account for the way they will, if elected, govern London for the next four years.

What were these mayoral candidates going to do to create safe havens for young people across the city? What were they going to do to train and create a brighter future for young people? What were they going to do to lift a fifth of working people in London out of the poverty trap of the basic wage to a meaningful ‘living wage”? What were they going to do to provide a solution to ever-rising rents, deteriorating conditions and the ‘social cleansing’ that is besetting London’s housing market?

These were the challenges presented to the four mayoral candidates – Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone, Jenny Jones and Brian Paddick – and these were the issues that had come out of a year of conversations, meetings, gatherings and listening campaigns with thousands of individuals and civil society organisations across the capital – to identify and capture what matters most to ordinary people.

This was politics at its best, reviving the old political tradition of the ‘Assembly’. If Abraham Lincoln, Clem Atlee, William Wilberforce or Martin Luther King had dropped in they would have been immediately familiar with the real life drama of ‘politics in action’, of politics connecting with people’s lives, their day-to-day challenges, their hopes and aspirations. And in the midst of this great encounter between ordinary citizens and political power was an extraordinary atmosphere of festivity, of song and dance – a carnival-like celebration of the richness, the energy and diversity of our lives, our feelings, our emotions and our experiences as citizens of London, citizens of our inter-connected world.

This note was struck at the very beginning of this great Assembly. Before the candidates came on stage the scene was set by the ancient sound of the RamsHorn from the four corners of the Hall – the primordial sound of the call to action! This heightened sense of anticipation was more than just about politicians being held to account. This was about people having a voice, being heard and being listened to. The politics was almost a by-product of the Assembly. Instead it was the power of personal stories, of experiences and testimonies that stood out; the tears – and their were many – and laughter, the insights into how people felt in their daily lives, and the foresights into how we all wanted to live as active, equal and creative citizens.

When the Assembly ended with the rallying call of all 2,500 people repeating the mantra of ‘Together We Can’ this conveyed a powerful message to the Mayoral candidates what citizenship is all about. It is not about what you can get for yourself – a notion which has plagued our political culture for so long – but what we can all do for others. London Citizens of the World Unite! Together We can! What a wonderful evening. Thank you!

The Mayoral Accountability Assembly was organised by London Citizens, the capital’s largest community alliance of over 230 faith, education and civic groups.

In front of a packed hall, all four candidates publicly agreed to support a “Citizens’ Agenda”, developed through tens of thousands of one-to-one meetings in communities across London over the last 9 months.

Mayor Boris Johnson told the audience: “I want you to know how much I have enjoyed working with London Citizens over the last 4 years,” and rival Ken Livingstone pledged his support for the Agenda saying “Your communities can reach people that we [politicians] can’t reach and that’s why I’d like to work with London Citizens.”

The event, which began with the current Mayor Boris Johnson being held to account for his four-year term, also featured moving testimonies from Londoners on London Citizens’ campaign priorities.

• Lorraine Dinnegan told the audience the moving story of her son Martin, who was stabbed to death in Finsbury Park. Showing incredible courage, she told the audience how she campaigned to build CitySafe Havens, rebuilding her community, so that the street where her son was stabbed “is safer because now we walk it together”

• Edward Ablorh, a Learning Support worker at Randal Cremer School in Shoreditch, shared the plight of his pupils who suffer asthma and bronchitis due to damp and poor quality housing, asking the candidates for “serious citywide solutions for serious city wide problems”.

• Ascala Byfield from Willesden, declared to rapturous applause that “we have to do something” about the growing unemployment crisis. She has been forced to claim benefits, despite having a university degree and applying for many jobs.

• Perhaps the most exciting moment of the evening came when London Citizens’ member communities pledged to “turn our communities into job centres”. In the last 8 months, London Citizens have already placed over 1,300 people into Living Wage jobs at the London Olympics.

• Barbara, who works at the Hilton London Metropole Hotel spoke about how she suffers “because of poverty pay and poverty of time,” because she currently earns only the minimum wage. She is now part of London Citizens’ Living Wage campaign, and encouraged more to join the campaign, pointing out that “a hard days work deserves a hard days pay.” Mike Kelly from KPMG, a Principle Partner with the Living Wage Foundation, told the audience exciting news about businesses that have recently pledged to pay the Living Wage including Lloyds of London, Aviva and Prudential.

London Citizens’ Mayoral Accountability Assembly involved all four main candidates responding to a Citizens Agenda, produced by thousands of ordinary Londoners during a 9 month Listening Campaign. Unlike the usual election ‘hustings’ the event focused on accountability and candidates were asked to make specific pledges in front of an active, participating audience.

The audience was made up of 2500 Londoners from London Citizens’ 230 diverse member communities – including schools, churches, mosques, synagogues, charities, universities and residents groups. Over the last 9 months, these citizens have engaged in tens of thousands of face-to-face conversations and local meetings to develop the Citizens Agenda, summarised below:
1. A better governed London—Regular meetings with London Citizens, an Annual Progress Report and a place at the negotiating table for strategic decisions affecting our communities.
2. A better housed London—Publish an Affordable Rent figure, a London Living Homes Standard and create a network of community land trusts across London.
3. A safer London—Be an Ambassador for the CitySafe Foundation, extend the City Safe campaign to public transport and launch “100 Days of Peace” this summer.
4. A brighter future for young Londoners—Provide a Working Future for young people with 2,000 new paid summer work placements, non-graduate fast track opportunities and free public transport for young people in education.
5. A Living Wage for Londoners—Ensure 100 new companies are accredited as Living Wage Employers, secure Living Wage commitments from all developers on the Olympic Park and ensure Living Wage Week is a success.

NOTES FOR EDITORS
[1] London Citizens is Europe’s largest community alliance, made up of 230 faith, education and civil society institutions who work together for the common good. For more information see www.citizensuk.org
[2] The full text of the Citizens Agenda for London can be found here

Date: Wednesday April 25^th 2012
Location: Methodist Central Hall, Westminster
Press Briefing: 6.30pm-6.45pm
Assembly Starts: 7.00pm
Assembly Finishes: 9:15pm

More than 2,500 Londoners will gather at Westminster Central Hall on Wednesday 25th April to hear Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone, Jenny Jones & Brian Paddick compete for their votes in the most important event of the London mayoral election campaign.

London Citizens’ Mayoral Accountability Assembly will involve all four main candidates responding to a Citizens Agenda, produced by thousands of ordinary Londoners during a 9 month Listening Campaign. Unlike the usual election “hustings”, the event will focus on accountability and candidates will be asked to make specific pledges in front of an active, participating audience.

The audience will be made up of 2500 Londoners from London Citizens’ 230 diverse member communities – including schools, churches, mosques, synagogues, charities, universities and residents groups. Over the last 9 months, these citizens have engaged in tens of thousands of face-to-face conversations and local meetings to develop the Citizens Agenda, summarised below:

1. A better governed London—Regular meetings with London Citizens, an Annual Progress Report and a place at the negotiating table for strategic decisions affecting our communities.
2. A better housed London—Publish an Affordable Rent figure, a London Living Homes Standard and create a network of community land trusts across London.
3. A safer London—Be an Ambassador for the CitySafe Foundation, extend the City Safe campaign to public transport and launch “100 Days of Peace” this summer.
4. A brighter future for young Londoners—Provide a Working Future for young people with 2,000 new paid summer work placements, non-graduate fast track opportunities and free public transport for young people in education.
5. A Living Wage for Londoners—Ensure 100 new companies are accredited as Living Wage Employers, secure Living Wage commitments from all developers on the Olympic Park and ensure Living Wage Week is a success.

Alongside the politics, there will also be music from an award winning gospel choir, moving testimony from ordinary Londoners and a few more surprises. The Assembly will also be streamed live online at www.citizensuk.org

This is the fourth time London Citizens have held a Mayoral Election Assembly. In 2008, successful candidate Boris Johnson pledged his support for the London Living Wage (£8.30/hour) and endorsed an earned amnesty for long term irregular migrants.  Mayor Boris Johnson has already praised London Citizens for “the brilliant and, may I say, ruthless way in which you bend us politicians to your will, and get us to deliver on the good things that we both believe in”. At the 2012 Assembly the Mayor will  account for whether he has delivered on the promises made four years ago.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

[1] London Citizens is Europe’s largest community alliance, made up of 230 faith, education and civil society institutions who work together for the common good. For more information see www.citizensuk.org

[2] The full text of the Citizens Agenda for London can be found here

[3] All press are welcome to attend the event, however space is tight.
Contact Ruhana Ali on 07595840611 or  Ruhana.ali@londoncitizens.org.uk to receive a press pass.

[4] You can follow the action on Twitter with @CitizensUK and the official hashtag is #whatlondonerswant

The New Citizens Legal Service aims to address the lack of information available and access to high quality affordable legal advice that is experienced by some members of communities. Often leaders within our communities lack the confidence and knowledge to assist members of their communities who are in need of immigration advice, and so come to us not knowing whom to turn to.  As a result of this we have been training up immigration sign posters in our diaspora communities, who will not be giving advice, but will help people navigate the immigration system and obtain the services of an accredited adviser.

At the heart of the New CITIZENS Legal Service sits our referrals service, which through bulk buying immigration advice through our consumer co-operative, we can offer our members, trusted below the market rate immigration advice.

For more information about the New CITIZENS Legal Service please contact: newcitizenslegalservice@citizensuk.org

Last Saturday I arrived bright and early at 9am at a church hall in Tottenham. I was there for the first immigration workshop I had organised for the Ugandan Communities I work with, and I was anxious about the logistics. Comfortingly, despite having been warned repeatedly by the leaders of the two communities I was bringing together that ‘their people’ were notorious for being late, there was one lady already waiting next to the locked iron gates. I welcomed her and asked her name. “Teddy’” she replied. Teddy looked as anxious as I felt. It suddenly struck me what a brave thing it was to attend this workshop when you have been living in the shadows without status for so long. Today could be a turning point in the life of this woman and her family and I recognised that, for her, meeting on a blowy April morning in a corner of Tottenham with an organisation she knew very little about, was a gamble.

The workshop was scheduled to start at ten. For the next hour people continued to trickle in, all looking as equally as reserved as Teddy. As they later explained, for many of them this this was the first time after years of living here that they were publicly exploring their options to claim asylum in the UK.

By 9:30 a Ugandan man wearing a pork pie hat had arrived and had started to set up speakers and a PA system. Within 15 minutes of his arrival, with Jose Chameleon playing in the background, if you closed your eyes for a minute you could have been in Kampala.

The workshop kicked off with an introduction by the chairman of the central region Ugandan community, followed by a talk from one of the leaders from the Northern region Ugandan community.

This leader had done the Immigration Sign Poster training that the NCLS offers free and the workshop was an opportunity for him to publicly announce his role. He explained that anyone could do the training and that it involved only four evening sessions. He then went on to define his role as an immigration sign-poster; the person in his community who people could come to and who would listen and direct you to the best advice. Next up was Kelly, the adviser from Westkin, a firm of immigration law specialists. Kelly gave a short talk on overstaying and then announced that she would be doing the 121 consultation sessions that people had registered for.

I then delivered a workshop on good and bad immigration advice, what to look out for and what to avoid. Access to quality, affordable immigration advice is one of the core objectives of the NCLS. Equally, for many of our communities, cowboy immigration advisers are a serious problem and knowing how to avoid them is crucial.  Much of what I explained was common sense, such asking for an adviser’s credentials, that one should never meet in a public place, to not pay in cash and to always get a receipt.  However, as we discovered from people sharing their stories in the workshop, when someone recommends an adviser from your community who shares your primary language, you overlook factors such as lack of office or certification for the sake of a ‘trustworthy’ referral. It is a highly relational way of finding an adviser, which is often exploited by predatory cowboys. Here at the NCLS service, we are offering an equally powerful, relational way of finding an adviser, but the difference is that the service is trustworthy, of quality and affordable.

This workshop was followed by a talk by JJ (see photograph) about how to make a complaint if you have a bad adviser and how to change your adviser. By 12pm the talks were over and together we enjoyed homemade Ugandan doughnuts and coffee. We finished the day off with a listening and sharing activity. Sitting in a circle, over the doughnuts, we heard some horror stories about advisers and people explained why they had been reluctant to seek advice in the past.  The conversation quickly took a positive turn and many people shared how happy they felt for having made the decision to attend the workshop. I had heard before from the chairman that many people were cagey about their immigration status, even within their own communities, and it was clear from people’s comments that the chance to speak openly was a chance to offload a burden for many of them.

29 people came to the workshop and 12 were able to have 121 sessions with the advisor. We will be organizing 121 sessions for those who missed out on the day. Evidently, the NCLS is not just providing a much-needed service based on an Organising-inspired relational model, but simultaneously strengthening the institutions participating in the process. I, for one, am excited at the prospect of how the NCLS is going to continue to contribute to the  building of the power of diaspora communities in the UK.

Watch this space.

http://www.westkin.com/

SLC newsletter march 2012 (MQ)

Our aim was to get more people engaged in the democratic process by pledging to vote, join Residents’ Associations, and back London Citizens’ agenda for the mayoral election.

Despite being only a stone’s throw away from the million pound apartments on the River Thames and the trendy cosmopolitan cafes of Clapham, the Winstanley is very different. Years of social neglect have left the Estate deprived, characterized by its apathy and disaffection. Rates of democratic participation are low and it is in the highest 5% of communities in England in terms of child poverty. Following the August 2011 riots, in which people from the Winstanley were involved, the Council has announced that it will be seeking to ‘radically transform’ the area.

The grey metropolitan blocks are imposing and leave a morbid impression on the horizon. The social spaces around them are largely obsolete. Four of the youth clubs have been closed in the last year due to a lack of funding, the staff in the adventure playground are being made redundant and the school playing fields sold off. People seem to spend a lot of time holed up inside their properties.

Photo taken from SLC member church St Peter’s. The path in front of the van is where Darren was shot.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/by-jack/6627351039/lightbox/

The sun was doing its best to bring people outside and the park was home to small groups of people from young mothers and their toddlers to local alcoholics. In the middle of the park a group of young men were kicking a football about amongst themselves. Linda, a volunteer for the Stand Up and Take Campaign, overcame their initial skepticism and started talking to them about what was putting pressure on young people and families in the area. A Zimbabwean activist who had fought for democracy in Zimbabwe, she was finding it hard to encourage them to engage in the political process. “Nobody listens to us, they are all the same. Politicians haven’t lived a day in our shoes, they have no idea”, they muttered, before going on to say how much time they have got on their hands and pointing out how it is a very different reality for those that live in the plush riverside apartments over the other side of the York Road.

Moments later the conversation was interrupted by gun shots ringing out; the most animated member of the group ran for his life and Linda ran with him. Two guys dressed in black on a scooter chased them into an alleyway next to St Peter’s Church – a member of London Citizens. More shots rang out and the young man fell – a bullet lodged in his side. Gasping for air and groaning: “I am going to die.”

Twenty minutes later the police arrived on the scene, pushing people out of the way as they screamed “everyone get out of the way, this is a crime scene”. A couple of young mothers take umbrage with the heavy-handed approach and a small melee ensues. The perpetrators have long since fled the scene and the victim remains lying on the ground, but this does not cut through the febrile antagonism between police and community on display.

It was 2.13pm on a beautiful sunny Thursday afternoon. The school kids would soon be swarming out of school. The park where they play would be desolate, cordoned off, a helicopter hovering in the air. The majority of people normalise the shooting – there seems to be very little public shock. A local man remarks that “this is the third shooting in a couple of months”. A group of local councillors arrive for a brief visit, speak to a couple of policeman, survey the scene and then head off. Huddled together, there were no conversations with the constituents they are supposed to represent.

We chat with one of our young leaders from St. Peter’s Church. Chris is sixteen, and is currently in search of work. He has been volunteering on the Stand Up and Take Charge campaign and I ask him how he feels about the shooting, “I am just grateful it wasn’t me or one of my friends. A few days ago my friend got robbed”. He goes on to say how “it is nothing new, it has happened in the past but then the police cracked down on it. They don’t seem to be around as much these days however.” The incident seems all too familiar to him, and he becomes more impassioned the longer the conversation goes on. “There should be more activities for teenagers to do. It is teenagers who tend to do all the knivings and shootings.”

People are angry and frustrated. The community feels as if nothing can change. I sit with Linda reflecting on things. We are both shaken up – this wasn’t covered in the Stand Up & Take Charge training! Linda might have expected to be shot at in the fight for democratic participation in Zimbabwe – but in Battersea? A young man on a motorbike pulls up in front of us, he pulls down his helmet visor: “we told you it was bad, now do you believe us how bad it really is?”, he says, picking up the Stand Up and Take Charge conversation that had been interrupted by the gunshots. With that he sped off into the distance to visit his friend, now in a critical condition in the local hospital.

Saidul Haque, recently appointed as CITIZENS UK’s organiser in Birmingham, happened to be shadowing Wandsworth Borough Organiser, Jonathan Cox, on the afternoon of the incident…

Our first appointment in the afternoon ran over so we were late to join the team on their Stand Up & Take charge action in Wandsworth.

I have never visited the Winstanley Estate before, but my reflections stem from what I saw yesterday afternoon; and relating this to my own experiences of taking action in Lozells: a challenging inner city area of Birmingham.

Firstly, it was obvious that there wasn’t a positive relationship between the local people – mainly men – who had gathered and the Police. This was reaffirmed by two young leaders from the estate who said the police had never smiled or said hello to them. You could feel the sense of powerlessness and sadness in the tone of people’s voices.

The other striking reflection for me was the response of leaders. The Councillors who were soon at the scene did not seem to have any courage or confidence to break away from their huddle to talk to residents, and I did not see other local leaders appear either. It was also very surreal to see so many people out but no sense of public shock.

I pray the area does not wait for another horrific incident like this, before leaders do more to stand-up and take charge! It is possible to make change happen. Lozells – a neighbourhood which has experienced three riots – avoided any incident during last August thanks to community organising and leaders having very public and accountable relationships with the council and the police.

The next day Jonathan Cox and Jasper Kain joined local leaders from St Peter’s Church to urge residents on the Winstanley Estate to Stand Up and Take Charge!…

Saul Alinsky wrote that “the universal premise of any people’s program is, ‘We the people will work out our own destiny.’” Our work as community organisers is to help people build the power and relationships to be able to control the destiny of their streets and their neighbourhoods.

As we knocked on doors on the Winstanley, a day after the shooting, of the litany of issues that local people are angry about it is clear that the root of them all is that local people do not have enough power. They do not feel in control of their own destiny. So as well as encouraging them to vote in the upcoming elections, we urged them to organise themselves into local Residents’ Associations. Not so that they can sit in endless meetings and pass meaningless motions, but as vehicles for building their power to affect change. These Associations – the building blocks of a healthy democracy – can work with the growing alliance of faith and community organisations in membership of London Citizens to make sure that the ‘radical transformation’ that the council has planned for the area is for the common good of its residents.

In the wake of mindless bloodshed, despair can all too easily prevail and politics can seem irrelevant. Stand Up and Take Charge is not about signatures on a petition. Those names are an important means to an even more important end: communities seizing control of their own destiny through the power of politics, not the power of the gun.

Below: Wandsworth Stand Up and Take Charge team after an action on Saturday 31^st March on the Surrey Lanes Estate, Battersea.

The workshop offered individuals a free 20-minute confidential consultation with our trustworthy adviser from Westkin and in most cases individuals had very practical steps that they could take as a result of the advice. This methodology of taking advice right to the doorstep of those who need it, proved incredibly effective, as many of those who attended would not have accessed legal advice on their own accords. Another strength is that the immigration workshop was organised by the Lead Pastor of the church whom had pre existing relationships of trust with her community and so could offer Pastoral support to individuals during and after the workshop.

During the workshop individuals took part in a tutorial, which looked at good practice of the legal profession. This covered good practice from advisers and solicitors and also how to know when you are receiving a bad service. Tips such as always get a receipt, never meet in private and keep a log-book of actions, were given to the enthusiastic audience. Individuals discussed times when they had received bad advice such as meeting at McDonalds only having a mobile number and after handing over £3000 never seeing the so called adviser again. After hearing such stories, the congregation was eager to do more.  Clear attention to detail was paid to individuals expectations of lawyers and what they can and can’t do. This helped demystify the thinking that Lawyers had the ability to get people their immigration status, despite the merit of the case.

This action was followed by a significant step forward for the New CITIZENS Legal Service, after a successful meeting on 30^th March with Senior representatives of the Office for Immigration Services Commission.

Over the past 12 months leaders from across London CITIZENS members have been listening to their communities and have uncovered the large numbers of vulnerable people who were being exploited by cowboy lawyers. The immigration workshops that we have held in our organisations have been oversubscribed by people seeking a free consultation, demonstrating the need to take good quality, trustworthy legal advice to our grassroots communities ensuring those who would normally not access immigration advice, do access it.

Often leaders within our communities lack the confidence and knowledge to assist members of their communities who are in need of immigration advice, and so come to us not knowing whom to turn to.  As a result of this we have been training up immigration sign posters in our diaspora communities, who will not be giving advice, but will help people navigate the immigration system and obtain the services of an accredited adviser.

Alongside this, we have been developing an effective relationship with UCL Law Departments who will be assisting individuals to make an official complaint if they have experienced bad advice. This will sit hand in hand with CITIZENS Actions where we will act together to maintain the high standard of immigration advice as well as expose cowboys offering poor advice.

At the heart of the New CITIZENS Legal Service sits our referrals service, which through bulk buying immigration advice through our consumer co-operative, we can offer our members, trusted below the market rate immigration advice. Friday’s meeting enabled us to take significant steps forward for us to revolutionise the way our diaspora communities across London access immigration advice

For more information about the New CITIZENS Legal Service please contact: newcitizenslegalservice@citizensuk.org