0315 Hrs GMT
London
Thursday
09 December 2010
Editor © Muhammad Haque
BHANGEELAAR! Exposing the empty charade staged as 'the full Council meeting' by Tower Hamlets on 8 December 2010.
This is the first diagnostic report from Bhangeelaar! Posted at 0255 Hrs this morning as our first comment on the “news’ item as carried by the web site of the “East London Advertiser”. We focus on the key failings by the Council as a whole and especially give evidential instances of how the “elected” Councillors on Tower Hamlets Council have been failing to defend the community against the agenda of CUTS to services that affect the ordinary Tower Hamlets community being continued by the CONDEM regime in the UK.
Your [East London Advertiser”] headline “Hundreds of protestors rally against cuts in East End at fiery council meeting” is not substantiated by the “facts” contained in the report underneath it.
Your report contains no reference to anything [if] said at that [“full Council” Tower Hamlets] meeting by way of a coherent agenda against cuts by any “elected” councillor. The Tower Hamlets ordinary community affected by the CONDEM AGENDA including the CUTS are not represented in anything that Tower Hamlets Council is doing as shown in your particular report.
The overwhelming impression being given by those who are making the decisions in Tower Hamlets Council is that they are not to blame but also that they can’t help it but make the cuts! Is that what people “elected” the Councillors for on 6 May 2010? Is that what the “candidates” “pledged” to voters they would do if “elected”?
You had reported CONDEM Govt minister Mr Gauke [“Government cuts will fall disproportionately on Tower Hamlets, many fear”] [Nadia Sam-Daliri. Wednesday, 20 October 2010 16:37 PM] as justifying the “social rent” changes by asserting that those would bring “balance” [!!!!] for the people in work. In the six weeks since then, there has been no publicly stated policy or strategic response to that false assertion of Mr Gauke from Tower Hamlets Council which in fact has been carrying out the “necessary” preparatory bureaucratic work to ensure that cuts to housing benefits and council tax rebates are in effect implemented.
What has a single “elected” councillor done by democratic demand to oppose that agenda being carried out inside the Council?
Who had DEMOCRATICALLY authorised “Dr” Kevan Collins, Tower Hamlets Council’s chief executive, to take part in that elaborate promotional slot on Channel 4 TV called “Undercover Boss” and positively confirm on that programme that Tower Hamlets Council was making preparations for the CONDEM cuts?
Given that the programme went out in July [“First Broadcast: 9PM Thursday 22 Jul 2010 Channel 4”, according to Channel 4 web site at 0250 Hrs on Thursday 09 December 2010] and had been months in production, doesn’t that show that the “full Council” meeting as staged on Wednesday 08 December 2010 was an empty event? That the actual decisions had already been made and would be continued to be made behind closed doors?
And that the “elected” councillors are IN EFFECT playing colluding, complicit parts in this assault on our community?
0255 Hrs
Thursday
09 December 2010
BHANGEELAAR! THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST AN ELECTED EXECUTIVE MAYOR IN TOWER HAMLETS
Hundreds of protestors rally against cuts in East End at fiery council meeting
Nadia Sam-Daliri
Thursday, 9 December, 2010
0:21 AM
HUNDREDS of angry East Enders descended on the town hall in protest against the unprecedented cuts facing the borough.
Students, union members, residents and an anarchist group gathered at Tower Hamlets Council’s Mulberry Place base this evening demanding new mayor Lutfur Rahman take a hard stance against the government proposals.
Scores of cops held guard both inside and outside the building as the protest turned ugly.
At one point, about ten men from the Whitechapel Anarchists – who warned they would wreak havoc – stormed out of the council chamber shouting obscenities.
The scenes remained raucous, with fiery residents cheering and hissing as the council discussed the 500 job losses and £20 million cuts to be brought in by the next financial year.
Critics claim Tower Hamlets will be hardest hit by the cuts because it relies heavily on the public sector.
Vikhas Chechi, a Unite member who works at Queen Mary university, was one of the many protesting in the cold.
He said: “This borough is the poorest in the country and yet the cuts are bigger than elsewhere. We want to see the mayor do something.”
East Ender Sultana Ali said: “We came here because we are worried. They have to make some cuts but my concern is that they will remove posts from the frontline and save the top jobs. There’s no point in having ten managers. They should look at which projects are delivering and which aren’t.”
Describing his “anger” over the cuts, Mr Rahman admitted the future was very uncertain.
He said: “These are not our cuts. The full extent of what the government wants to take from us is not clear.”
Several groups spoke during the three hour-plus meeting.
Eileen Short, of Tower Hamlets Tenants’ Association made a plea for the council to promise that they would not replace residents’ secure tenancies with fixed term deals.
Mr Rahman responded that housing would be one of his priorities, adding: “People have enough to worry about without the fear of the council taking away the roof over their heads.”
John McLoughlin, Trade Union member, spoke about the scrapping of the £30 a week education maintenance allowance, which more than half college age students in the borough rely on.
He said: “You don’t need EMA in Eton but if you want to keep our children in Tower Hamlets College then you do.”
Councillors also voted to oppose the cuts and support peaceful protest over the coming months, agreeing there is a disproportionate burden of cuts facing Tower Hamlets.
Some 32 councillors voted for the motion, seven against it and one abstained.
Despite loud cheers over vows to resist the cuts, job losses are already being felt by public sector workers.
Up to 99 posts will go at NHS Tower Hamlets and more at the council in the next month.
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1 comments
Your headline “Hundreds of protestors rally against cuts in East End at fiery council meeting” is not substantiated by the “facts” contained in the report underneath it.
Your report contains no reference to anything [if] said at that [“full Council” Tower Hamlets] meeting by way of a coherent agenda against cuts by any “elected” councillor. The Tower Hamlets ordinary community affected by the CONDEM AGENDA including the CUTS are not represented in anything that Tower Hamlets Council is doing as shown in your particular report.
The overwhelming impression being given by those who are making the CUTS decisions in Tower Hamlets Council is that they are not to blame but also that they can’t help it but make the cuts! Is that what people “elected” the Councillors for on 6 May 2010? Is that what the “candidates” “pledged” to voters they would do if “elected”?
You had reported CONDEM Govt minister Mr Gauke [“Government cuts will fall disproportionately on Tower Hamlets, many fear”] [Nadia Sam-Daliri. Wednesday, 20 October 2010 16:37 PM] as justifying the “social rent” changes by asserting that those would bring “balance” [!!!!] for the people in work. In the six weeks since then, there has been no publicly stated policy or strategic response to that false assertion of Mr Gauke from Tower Hamlets Council which in fact has been carrying out the “necessary” preparatory bureaucratic work to ensure that cuts to housing benefits and council tax rebates are in effect implemented. What has a single “elected” councillor done by democratic demand to oppose that agenda being carried out inside the Council?
Who had DEMOCRATICALLY authorised “Dr” Kevan Collins, Tower Hamlets Council’s chief executive, to take part in that elaborate promotional slot on Channel 4 TV called “Undercover Boss” and positively confirm on that programme that Tower Hamlets Council was making preparations for the CONDEM cuts?
Given that the programme went out in July [“First Broadcast: 9PM Thursday 22 Jul 2010 Channel 4”, according to Channel 4 web site at 0250 Hrs on Thursday 09 December 2010] and had been months in production, doesn’t that show that the “full Council” meeting as staged on Wednesday 08 December 2010 was an empty event?
That the actual decisions had already been made and would be continued to be made behind closed doors? And that the “elected” councillors are IN EFFECT playing colluding, complicit parts in this assault on our community?
0255 Hrs Thursday 09 December 2010 BHANGEELAAR! THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST AN ELECTED EXECUTIVE MAYOR IN TOWER HAMLETS