Newham CSMtag:www.newhamcsm.org.uk,2008://12007-05-28T11:50:29ZMovable Type 3.34Contact ustag:www.newhamcsm.org.uk,2007://1.32017-04-24T11:50:59Z2007-05-28T11:50:29ZHere are our full contact details: Chair: Clive Furness - clivefurness@hotmail.com Secretary: Chris Aubrey - Aubrey27@softhome.net Prayer Secretary: Jill McWilliam - Jillmcwilliam@aol.com National CSM: 020 7233 3736 - info@thecsm.org.uk...
clivefurness@hotmail.com
Secretary: Chris Aubrey - Aubrey27@softhome.net
Prayer Secretary: Jill McWilliam - Jillmcwilliam@aol.com
National CSM: 020 7233 3736 - info@thecsm.org.uk ]]>
What we dotag:www.newhamcsm.org.uk,2007://1.22017-04-24T10:50:12Z2007-05-21T09:12:11ZAs a group we meet regularly to: Discuss issues of concern and seek ways to effect change Gain a better understanding of the complexity of contemporary political issues Meet with local Christian leaders in public life Provide support and encouragement...
Discuss issues of concern and seek ways to effect change
Gain a better understanding of the complexity of contemporary political issues
Meet with local Christian leaders in public life
Provide support and encouragement for one another
Develop an understanding of how our faith can help us to relate well with neighbours of a different faith.
Our AGM is held in January following an annual service
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Who We Aretag:www.newhamcsm.org.uk,2007://1.12017-04-24T08:49:12Z2007-05-28T11:50:46ZThe Christian Socialist Movement is an independent body of Christians on the Left who seek to influence public policy at both a national and local level. We are an individual membership organisation. Our faith compels us to be involved. Moreover,...
The Christian Socialist Movement is an independent body of Christians on the Left who seek to influence public policy at both a national and local level. We are an individual membership organisation.
Our faith compels us to be involved. Moreover, it has led us to progressive politics and a concern for social justice in a way that has made CSM a unique organisation. Not only are we called to pray for the world, but to change it.
Each human being is of equal worth because all are made in the image of God. There should be equality of opportunities for all – and that means intervention to ensure that this genuinely happens everywhere. Inequality does matter. Moreover, it matters on an international scale. We cannot be ignorant of the plight of the global poor. Therefore we have a moral responsibility. This matters in a world that is clearly not going to meet the Millennium Development Goals without further effort.
Christian Socialists believe in individual freedom, exercised with others in community, and embrace civil liberties along with social and economic freedom. A commitment to liberal democracy is vital in these times. Christian Socialists want social justice – we are in politics because we want the institutional causes of poverty to be abolished.
Finally, we believe that people are called to common stewardship of the Earth, including its natural resources. This we see from the book of Genesis onwards, when men and women were divinely appointed as stewards of the Earth. The climate change happening now speaks to our failure to live up to that ancient responsibility.
CSM is affiliated to the Labour Party, but not all CSM members are members of the Labour Party.
Reclaiming the Groundtag:www.newhamcsm.org.uk,2007://1.102017-04-23T11:05:07Z2008-02-03T18:29:39ZThis was the Title of a Speech in the early 1990s and Book by Christian Socialist and Former Labour Party Leader John Smith. It is also the task that we, as Christian Socialists have set ourselves locally. We are no...
This was the Title of a Speech in the early 1990s and Book by Christian Socialist and Former Labour Party Leader John Smith. It is also the task that we, as Christian Socialists have set ourselves locally. We are no longer content to allow the pernicious and offensive ramblings of the CPA to go unchallenged as the Christian voice of politics in Newham.
straw man you created. Time and again we see this particular strategy employed by the CPA. For instance
Queens Market
The Supermarket chain, Asda, expressed an interest in taking part in the new development at Queen’s Market (Green St). This was inflated into a cause celebre by the CPA with the allegation that,
"The executive mayor of Newham wants a nice middle-class Green Street with posh flats, wine bars, craft shops and an up-market ASDA," said Alan Craig, who represents Canning Town South for the Christian Peoples Alliance party. "Frankly, this is an almost racist approach to regeneration."
http://www.naijacommunity.com/green-articles.php?AID=189
There are two elements to the ‘straw man’ that the CPA have created. The first is the “nice middle-class Green Street with posh flats, wine bars, craft shops”. The second is the” up-market ASDA” .
Asda withdrew from the development at the preplanning stage because the options that were available to them in the development did not add up financially. The CPA claimed a major victory.
"We are all working with Friends of Queens Market and Queens Market Traders Association to stop these plans which will now destroy both the market and the popular pub," said Cllr Craig. "We want renovation not redevelopment. Together we intend to keep the pressure on the Mayor and St Modwen. We've seen off Asda. Now we want to see off St Modwen." (St Modwen are the developers)
http://www.cpanewham.org/news/QueensMarketPressRelease.html The Markaz (The Mega-Mosque)In 2006 he claimed that a mosque for 40,000 (or 50,000 or 70,000) people was planned for a former industrial site in West Ham. There is a drawing for such a building on the website of an architectural firm in Riyadh. Instead of checking whether such a building was ever likely to get planning permission, whether for instance it would comply with the local regulations for transport and access (it didn’t) or whether it met the requirements that the local authority had laid down for the development of the wider area (it didn’t) or whether the site owners had agreed to the s106 agreement proposed by the local authority (they hadn’t) the CPA rushed into an intemperate publicity campaign that created not so much a ‘straw man’ as a ‘straw monster’.
Moreover, when the facts did not exist to support some of his more outlandish statements he simply invented them.
In the same way as he appeared to have exclusive knowledge of the intentions of the Mayor with regard to Green St, for “nice middle-class Green Street with posh flats, wine bars, craft shops”, he had by the same mystical process exclusive knowledge of a new conspiracy. There is, he asserted, “a nod-and-a-wink agreement taking place between Newham Council, the London Development Agency and the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation…The clear evidence is that they have decided – behind closed doors - that they are in favour of the mosque. They have not consulted local people at all but in due course, when the mosque master-plan is submitted, they intend to give it their formal approval…They are doing a typically undemocratic stitch-up,"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/09/25/do2502.xml
and
http://www.christianconcernforournation.co.uk/mosque/m190906.php
One is inclined to ask if there is “clear evidence” where this it?
The mega-mosque will not be built indeed there is unlikely to be an application because is fails to meet the local planning guidance requirements. Nonetheless, when an application is received for a smaller mosque on the same site Alan Craig will engage in yet another round of narcissistic self promotion claiming a another glorious victory.
For a rather more dispassionate discussion of the mosque proposal see http://www.transformnewham.com/Publisher/Article.aspx?id=75117
The debate has continued on the Transform Newham Website and can be found at
http://www.transformnewham.com/Publisher/Article.aspx?id=85617
http://www.transformnewham.com/Publisher/Article.aspx?id=86124
Policy or Posturing
Their performance at council is not aimed at changing policy but entirely at creating opportunities for political posturing. For instance in the six years that Alan Craig has been on the council, not once has he challenged the budget. In other councils this is the key battleground that prolongs debate into the early hours because how you spend your money reflects your priorities. Nor has he been to the other key decision making meetings (Cabinet and Mayoral Proceedings). The CPA have declined their seats on the Scrutiny Committees, one might have thought that this was a place where an opposition member might want to be involved, in the detailed consideration of both the policy and the practice of the council, but not apparently, the CPA.
Getting a good service or even influencing the plans of the council have never been on his agenda. What they, or perhaps its just Alan, require is a debate around a tangential issue to provide content for a press release on the following morning.
Sometimes this can expose Alan’s underlying self promotion. When he proposed the motion to council (April 2nd 2007) inviting the Mayor to support The Mayflower Declaration it was telling that he was the only one of three CPA councillors that was willing to speak in support of it.
*”A straw man argument is a logical fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position. To "set up a straw man" or "set up a straw-man argument" is to create a position that is easy to refute, then attribute that position to the opponent. A straw-man argument can be a successful rhetorical technique (that is, it may succeed in persuading people) but it is in fact a misleading fallacy, because the opponent's actual argument has not been refuted.
“Its name is derived from the practice of using straw men in combat training. In such training, a scarecrow is made in the image of the enemy with the single intent of attacking it.” (From Wikipedia)
The Mosque at Abbey Mills (The Mega-Mosque)
From the summer of 2006 the issue of a mosque on the former Burke-Spencer Chemical site has excited much heat and little light. A full discussion of the topic from Cllr Furness can be found, alongside some less temperate remarks from Cllr Craig of the CPA, on the Transform Newham website at
http://www.transformnewham.com/Publisher/Article.aspx?id=75117 CasinoContrary to some of the comment, the Labour Group has no ‘whip’ on the issue of a casino. Because of the obvious gambling link, it is regarded as an issue of conscience and as such all Labour councillors are free to make up their own minds. There is no proposal before the council at the moment but permission has been given to Newham to offer a licence for a casino (though this may well depend upon what happens in parliament during the summer).
The arguments for a casino are broadly that it, together with a leisure complex will bring in jobs that are accessible to our population. In addition it will bring revenue into the local economy to shops, hotels etc.
The arguments against are that it will increase gambling dependency and excessive gambling will impact badly on the families of those gamblers and besides, the regeneration effect of casinos is not proven.
The Mayor has instituted an independent inquiry which will hear evidence from anyone and report back to council with recommendations. The members of the panel are:
Sir Henry Brooke (Chair), former Lord Justice of Appeal
Lord Victor Adebowale CX, Turning Point
Lady Sally Banks, Social care professional
Bill Galston former Chief Inspector of the Gaming Board for GB
Bernadette Marjoram, Director of the British Urban Regeneration Association
Lord Herman Ouseley former Exec Chairman, Commission for Racial Equality
Professor Tony Travers, LSE London Group
Details of their hearings will be published by the council.
Dialogue between Faiths
There many different groups seeking to build bridges between faiths and it might seem presumptuous to create another.
However, as a CSM group in one of the most diverse places on the planet, we have a responsibility to add what we can to a better understanding of and between our different communities. Often, it seems, interfaith dialogue is reduced to a dialogue between Christians and Muslims, and there is no doubt that this is an important nexus and one that we will seek to develop in particular with Muslims for Labour.
We are committed to the principles outlined by the International League of Religious Socialists http://www.ilrs.org/HandtoHand.pdf
• As religious socialists, we believe that it is possible for people of different faiths to live together in peace, and that all should have freedom to worship openly without fear of oppression or persecution.
• As religious socialists, we support the inherent equality of humanity before
creation, and the abolition of poverty throughout the world.
• As religious socialists, we affirm the equality of women in all spheres of life.
We seek to draw out that belief in our communities of faith until it becomes a
visible reality.
• As religious socialists, we seek the liberation of the human spirit through just
laws and the practice of social justice in civil society.
• As religious socialists, we teach the integrity of creation and our stewardship
of the environment
We also recognise that there are many faiths represented in our community and we would seek to engage in a dialogue with each and all of them. It was an idea that developed in the English Reformation that the 'public square' was a place where all were represented and dealt with each other in the basis of equality rather than being a place in which to assert superiority. It is this ideal that we seek to follow.
Sexuality: Rights or Right and Wrong?
Socially conservative Christians have tended to use the language of Ethics, of right and wrong when confronting this issue, socially (though not necessarily theologically) liberal Christians have tended to adopt the language of Rights. This has been very apparent in the two contemporary topics of civil same-sex partnerships,(often abbreviated to gay-marriage) and the regulations coming into force that require adoption agencies to consider gay couples that approach them when seeking place children for adoption.
Our position in regard of both issues is clear. Gay people should not be denied the rights that everyone else has
With regard to adoption, this issue is not simply about rights of a particular group, though we would not want to have that lost. The experience since WWII has shown that the worst place to bring up children is in council or other institutional care. There is little difficulty in placing babies for adoption, but our children’s homes are full of kids that have suffered repeated rejection, abuse, have behaviour problems or some form of disability. The queue of prospective parents for these kids is somewhat shorter. We welcome the prospect of widening the pool of prospective parents. Gay men and women have been fostering children in care for years and despite all of the outcry from the anti-gay lobby we are not aware of any evidence that their experience is different in any substantive way from the experience of heterosexual carers.
What are the CPA?
The CPA state that they are simply another Christian Democrat Party in the line of CD parties in Europe. This is an interesting claim given the rabidly right wing credentials of some of the the CDPs in Europe and the concurrent claim that the CPA make to political radicalism. They and the Respect/SWP coalition illustrate the unedifying entry of identity politics in Newham.
http://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/search/story.aspx?brand=RECOnline&category=Postbagnewham&itemid=WeED29%20Jun%202006%2009:32:46:533&tBrand=RECOnline&tCategory=search ]]>
Our Elected Representatives tag:www.newhamcsm.org.uk,2007://1.92017-04-23T11:01:09Z2008-03-24T15:31:47ZPray for those in authority-1 Timothy 2:1-3 1 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. 2 Pray this way for kings and...
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East Ham, Steven Timms continues to provide an exemplary service as a local Member, despite the heavy workload in the revamped DTI. He also now carries the role as a Vice Chair of the Labour Party with special responsibility for faith affairs.
Lyn Brown recently introduced members to the difficult moral and ethical choices facing MPs, (see March meeting report). It is following the discussion that she led that we have introduced the injunction above from 1 Timothy.
We would invite people to pray for one of our London MEPs, Claude Moraes. Claude is a Roman Catholic and one of the group of Christian MEPs who meet together in Brussels and Strasburg. He has raised the difficulties of being a Christian in Europe with an inclusive agenda, particularly with regard to Islam and Turkish accession to the EU. There is a strong sense, particularly, but not exclusively from new accession members, that the Christian Identity of Europe should be defined by the fact that Europe is 'not Muslim' and this is reflected in attitudes towards Turkish accession.
For Christians who hold an inclusive agenda and wish to encourage both good relations with Muslim Europeans and support the accession of a secular and democratic Turkey (with an awareness of all of its well publicised faults), this is a difficult time.
2nd April 2007tag:www.newhamcsm.org.uk,2007://1.112017-04-03T11:07:59Z2007-05-23T13:00:23ZMotion on the Bicentennial of the Act to Abolish Slavery Proposed by Mike Nichols (Lab) Speeches of CSM members Joy Laguda and Tony McAlmont (Lab). Passed Unanimously....
Motion on the Bicentennial of the Act to Abolish Slavery
Proposed by Mike Nichols (Lab) Speeches of CSM members Joy Laguda and Tony McAlmont (Lab). Passed Unanimously.
Not only must we celebrate the abolition of slavery but we must also see this bicentenary as the opportunity to celebrate the richness of the diversity of Newham's people. We are blessed by the contribution that African and Caribbean people have made to our nation and our communities in all walks of life - business, sport, science, art and even politics. We would be much the poorer without their unique and valued contribution.
But this is not a time to be complacent. We must use this celebration to raise our consciousness and act to eradicate all forms of discrimination and oppression; both here, at home - and across the world.
British participation in the transatlantic slave trade started in 1562 and was abolished by the act of parliament 200 years ago. Of course the trade was the most barbaric practice ever practised and is of the most shameful eras in British History.
The efforts of the Quakers, joining with the people like Granville Sharpe and Thomas Clarkson from the abolitionist committee in 1787, and William Wilberforce the MP for Hull who was the spokesman for the abolition in parliament should be recognised. So also were the efforts of freed slaves like Olandoh Equiano, who wrote an autobiography in 1789 detailing the horrors and sufferings of the transatlantic slave trade.
Slavery was one of the most shameful eras in British history.
Here at home the impact of this terrible crime against humanity still manifests itself in our society today. African and Caribbean people remain the most deprived in our society.
Though it is over 30 years since the first race relations act was passed - and in spite of the successes of many of our community, they are still more likely to be under achieving, poor, unemployed and living in the worst quality housing.
I am proud to be a Member of this council because we believe that public services have a crucial role to play in alleviating poverty and tackling discrimination in all its forms and this council should rightly be proud of the strides it has made in improving the quality of our services so that everyone is equipped to realise their true talent and potential.
Though we must celebrate the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery - and as we pay homage to all those who fought this terrible crime against humanity - we must guard against the impact of slavery, which still manifests itself in our global society today.
East London has always played a central role in the global economy and Newham is a place of hopes and dreams for many people from across the world.
But however people arrive here in Newham - they must arrive as free men and women. Ladies and Gentlemen slavery may be illegal - but it still exists.
It comes in the guise of human trafficking or bonded labour, and across the world children are captured and forced to become soldiers or 'wives'.
These are all forms of forced and brutal servitude and exploitation. All stem from the scourge of global poverty and deprivation.
Ending slavery - the exploitation of the world's poorest people - and ending the oppression of people on the grounds of their race is perhaps humanities greatest challenge.
I call on this council to support the motion and forge relationships across the world to celebrate the abolition of slavery- as in so doing we strive to protect the human rights and dignity of us all.
Cllr Tony McAlmont (Lab) speaking for.
Good deeds by good people are worthy of celebration and evil deeds are worth remembering so that they do not happen again! Peoples of all nations must celebrate that they are always enough good people and they always triumph over tyranny.
Up until the 1830s my forbearers were slaves on a plantation in Guyana. For me the legacy of slavery is bitter one. I know very little of my African heritage. I do not know the country in Africa that I am from, I do not know my tribe nor do I know my name – this is the legacy of slavery for many!
Thanks to Wilberforce and the many good people, the trans-Atlantic shipment of slaves ended 200 years ago, but it took another 30 years or so before the West Indian slaves were freed and until 18 December 1865 for their American cousins.
Today, we are seeing a modern and no less evil form of slavery and social injustices. Human trafficking by unscrupulous men of people who are only seeking a decent standard of living for their families are bringing untold pain and suffering to many. We hear of children who are sold and bought into a life of nothing short of slavery, so that we, in the developed and rich world can consume more for less. We also hear of women who are sold and sometimes tricked into prostitution. These are some of the faces of modern slavery in this modern, rich and technological advanced world that we live in.
Social injustice too has its many faces. The lack of sufficient fair trade agreements and markets for the produce of the developing countries are forms of social injustice by the rich on the poor. Third world debts and corruption by some third world leaders do give sustenance to social injustice.
We are the richest, most educated and technologically advanced generation that ever lived; yet these scourges exist amongst us. Wilberforce and others fought and put an end to human trafficking. We too can collectively work to end modern slavery and social injustices.]]>
Motion in Support of the Mayflower Declarationtag:www.newhamcsm.org.uk,2007://1.122017-04-02T11:09:32Z2007-10-03T11:52:26ZProposed by Alan Craig (CPA). Defeated Interestingly, of the three CPA councillors, only one was willing to speak in favour of this motion…….. The Respect/SWP councillors held their tongues and then ….abstained. “Council believes that contrary to the comments made...
Proposed by Alan Craig (CPA). Defeated
Interestingly, of the three CPA councillors, only one was willing to speak in favour of this motion…….. The Respect/SWP councillors held their tongues and then ….abstained.
“Council believes that contrary to the comments made by Mayor at February’s Council meeting, the Christian Peoples Alliance party’s foundational Mayflower Declaration offers universal principles of social justice, respect for life, dispersion of power, active compassion, care for the physical environment and reconciliation between peoples, that are particularly relevant to Newham and from which other parties in Newham may usefully learn and borrow.”.
Well I asked myself ‘can I support the principles contained in this document?’ First I had to read it, so I did. It is for the most part fairly innocuous, well meaning platitudes, this is not necessarily a criticism; it is difficult to make a manifesto into something more.
But, I came back to page one. “We reject the idea that religion is merely the individual’s private affair. We regard all of life as subject to the Rule of Christ”
The problem with this is, that unless and until Christ stands amongst us and says in words that we can all hear, defining the will of God needs some interpretation and we know who the CPA thinks should be interpreting it…. it is to be interpreted “in accordance with our (my emphasis) understanding of orthodox Christian principles” (from the same paragraph on page 1).
It has been said that scripture can be used like a light, one that we shine inwardly to reveal those things that we would like to keep most hidden and having exposed them we can seek to change them. This is a process that is transcendent across all religions and the ‘truth’ of it is in the process of searching, not in the finding. There is a quote, though I forget from whom, that the speaker lived in admiration of those who struggled to find life’s eternal truths, but he lived in fear and dread of those who claimed to have found it.
If scripture can be used as a light it can also be used like a mirror. We can look in and there have all of our prejudices and preconceptions confirmed. This tends to be what we refer to as fundamentalism.
My trouble with the CPA however, is not that they are fundamentalist, I can understand that, but it is that they are selectivist and are part of a tradition that has used religious dogma to justify any number of oppressive actions.
They claim to desire a society governed in accordance with Divine Ordinances (page7), but they pick and choose which Divine Ordinances. In the brief time that is available to me let’s look at some of the Divine Ordinances that they refer to, and believe me there are plenty of others …
I invite the CPA to be true to their beliefs. They shouldn’t simply want to prevent same-sex civil partnerships. The message is clear; the instruction is not that gay men should not be allowed to join together in a civil ceremony. They should be dragged into the town centre and stoned. (Leviticus 20.13)
And do they really feel that priests are unclean because they choose to shave? (Lev 21.6)
Is it ok to buy the children of foreign workers as your slaves as long as you don’t enslave your own countrymen (Lev 25.46)
Or, and I hesitate to suggest this because it may have an attraction for those of you with teenage sons, where the child refuses to learn from your admonitions is he too to be stoned to death in public? (Deuteronomy 21: 18-21)
Then there is the less legal, but no less influential injunction of the apostle Paul (1Corinthians 14.34) that women should remain silent in church….they should ask their husbands to explain anything that they did not understand when they get home
Are these divine injunctions that the CPA would have us adopt? No? As I say, they are not so much fundamentalists as selectivists.
Presently the CPA use this approach to religion to justify their hostility to gays.
But the same justifications have been used in the past and sometimes the very recent past to oppose the extension of the vote to women….. who had been made by God, more feeble and emotional than men and unsuited to such tasks as taking part in the government of their land,
It has been used to justify the segregation of the races in the southern states of the USA and in South Africa…….. because God made them different and probably inferior,
It has been used to oppose the ordination of women into the priesthood and even to prevent them from speaking in church, it still is,
And it is worth noting in this bicentenary year that it was used to justify the ownership of slaves and the classification of people as property.
I’ve got no doubt that the members of the CPA think that all of these things were wrong, (except perhaps allowing women to speak in church…….. ).They are not evil, but are stuck at a point in history. Like the reactionaries before them they can accept the changes in belief that came before, but cannot countenance change in the future.
They set themselves up as the arbiters and definers of what is and is not divine ordinance, they, not you or me know what is God’s will on earth.
It is a deeply worrying phenomenon. It has some natural siblings, but they are not the social reformers from across the Christian spectrum. The natural siblings to this movement are the closed minds of those who resisted change because it did not comply with their preconceptions. Their second cousins are those who were willing to burn the bodies of heretics to ensure the salvation of their souls.
I am glad that the CPA have brought this motion to council today, if for no other reason that it gives Christians in the Labour Party a chance to publicly distance ourselves from the narrow minded authoritarian interpretations of the CPA and gives us a chance to reclaim the name ‘Christian’ from the sectarian ghetto that the CPA would take us to.
Cllr Furness added the following note:
Following the council meeting I had a conversation with a member of the CPA. In short he told me that he was not anti-Labour, indeed he was sympathetic to the aims and ideals of the Labour Party. What took him to the CPA was 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. Just to jog your memory, it begins (Good News Version) “Do not try to work together as equals with unbelievers. How can right and wrong be partners?....What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?...” Unwittingly he had alighted on a very point that I was seeking to make. The CPA have chosen an exclusive and sectarian interpretation of scriptures and one which is divisive, which sees unbelievers as unclean and not their equals.
One of the gifts of the English Reformation was the dual concept of a private life and a public life.If it began as an Elizabethan refusal create "windows into men's souls", it focused on the their behaviour rather than their adherence to an article of doctrine or faith.
This is not an invitation to hypocrisy, but a recognition that however firmly you hold a belief to be true in terms of your private life, in your public life you must recognise the possibility of that same strength of belief in others. (CPA moves towards exclusivity.http://www.newhamcsm.org.uk/2007/09/cpa_moves_towards_christian_exc.html )
The Labour Group on Newham Council has 55 members. Of these some 15 or so describe themselves as Christian, eight as Muslim, two are Sikhs, two are Hindus, two are Jewish and one is Buddhist. The remainder have not expressed any affiliation, are agnostic or atheist, (or I simply don’t know). As a group they do not provide an exact picture of the diverse borough that is Newham, but they provide a pretty good reflection. One of the things that the Labour Party can be justly proud of is its genuine roots in all of our communities and its commitment to the inclusion of all in the life of the borough.]]>
Join CSMtag:www.newhamcsm.org.uk,2007://1.132017-01-24T11:10:54Z2008-02-06T21:14:26Z
http://www.thecsm.org.uk/downloads/currentmemform.pdf]]>
A Joint Meeting with Muslim Labour Movement, Sikh Socialist Society & Hindu Socialiststag:www.newhamcsm.org.uk,2007://1.82008-05-18T11:00:16Z2008-02-24T18:36:40ZCan People of Faith Work Together to Create A Shared Vision? Joint Chairs: Clive Furness (Chair Newham CSM) and Cllr Amarjit Singh Date: Thursday 15th May 2008 Time: 7.30pm Venue: The South Hall, The Memorial Community Church, 395 Barking Road,...
Map
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Report of Meeting with Lyn Brown MP March 2008tag:www.newhamcsm.org.uk,2008://1.302008-03-24T15:13:33Z2008-03-24T15:35:36Z Having a meeting on Maundy Thursday was not the best of dates. However, those of us that did make to the meeting with Lyn Brown MP had a thought provoking evening....Having a meeting on Maundy Thursday was not the best of dates.
However, those of us that did make to the meeting with Lyn Brown MP had a thought provoking evening.
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Though originally scheduled to give a talk on the Housing Bill, Lyn chose instead to talk about the ethical dilemas at the heart of some decisions in parliament.
The issue that she raised in the discussion was that of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.
In brief, the Bill will
Regulate the use of all human embryos outside the body
Ban selecting the sex of offspring for non-medical reasons;
Retain a duty to take account of "the welfare of the child" when providing fertility treatment, but remove the reference to "the need for a father";
Make provision to recognise same-sex couples as legal parents of children conceived through the use of donated sperm, eggs or embryos;
Alter the restrictions on the use of data for purposes of research;
Increase the scope of legitimate embryo research activities, including regulation of "inter-species embryos" (embryos combining human and animal genetic material).
Lyn introduced some competing pressures and dilemmas. For instance, just what is the value that should be accorded to a human embryo? Is it the same as that to be acccorded to a person 'in-being'? If it is less, how much less? When does the 'soul' enter the embryo/foetus?
It had implications for the regulation of abortion, the time limits on abortiion and just how much legislators saw their role as being to set the morals of the wider population and whether their decisions might generate future unintended consequences.
If those were the questions that might be raised, as it were from a 'rights' paradigm there were competing questions that were raised from a utilitarian paradigm.
Further research on embryos was considered to be one of the best routes towards achieving cures for some of the most serious and disabling genetic disorders and, if successful, will lead to enormous human benefit. For this reason scientific and medical bodies have tended to support additional research.
It was a discussion that also touched on the ethics of health economics. For instance, it is easy to say that it ethical to do nothing rather than to do something that might be distateful (or worse). But if doing the thing that was distasteful might both save lives and allow resources to be used more effectively, what then is the moral choice?
The discussion also looked at other areas in which legislators had faced difficult moral choices, such as the Iraq war.
It addressed the difficulties faced by MPs when faced with the demands of the whip and a competing moral choice. Although it might be portrayed as a brutish political machine crushing individual morality, Lyn noted that the Embryology Bill was in the Queen's Speech and as such was a part of the programme to which the government and Party was committed. In addition, although she had a personal responsibilitiy, she was elected on a Party programme and with the support of a Party and had a responsibility there also.
These notes of the discussion do not record any of the conclusions, in part because everyone took their own conclusions with them. The value of the discussion, which caused all of those present to reflect quite deeply about their own values, was in the reflection.
Sometimes there are difficult moral choices which cannot be sorted with a simple answer. What we can expect of our politicians is not that they agree with each of us on every issue, but rather that they do wrestle with the deep concerns when making those decisions.
Concerns over the Mosque Developmenttag:www.newhamcsm.org.uk,2008://1.272008-02-06T21:29:40Z2008-02-06T21:41:10Z
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When an architect's drawing of a new mosque (The 'Mega Mosque') was revealed in 2006 it released an unfortunate and ill-informed debate that served to polarise attitudes within the host and new communities. The owners of the site at Abbey Mills are preparing new plans for a building of more modest dimensions. This will remain a sensitive issue and our prayers are that the difficult discussions that are necessary will be conducted in a spirit of trust and that the comments from the wider community will be expressed in moderate language, after people have taken the time to examine what is planned, rather than react to the scare stories that might accompany the application.
Our Mayor and councillorstag:www.newhamcsm.org.uk,2008://1.262008-02-06T21:27:41Z2008-02-06T21:28:19Z
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You are invited to remember the Mayor and all of our councillors as they seek to represent their communities and seek to govern the complex and mixed community that is Newham. In particular you are invited to support the 15 plus Christian Labour Councillors.
Creating a Shared Agenda: A Discussion Papertag:www.newhamcsm.org.uk,2008://1.252008-02-06T19:33:30Z2008-02-25T17:51:10ZA Discussion Paper which draws upon an earlier paper by The Labour Christian-Muslim Forum This paper is preparatory to the discussion to be held on May 15th 2008 and hosted by Newham CSM. The discussion will embrace socialists from different...
A Discussion Paper which draws upon an earlier paper by The Labour Christian-Muslim Forum
This paper is preparatory to the discussion to be held on May 15th 2008 and hosted by Newham CSM. The discussion will embrace socialists from different faith traditions including Christian, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu. The discussion will seek ways in which people of faith can work together to create a Common Agenda. It is not about creating an ambiguous fallacy that we are all the same. It is about learning from one another and at how our faith traditions can enrich the life of our communities
Religious faith and progressive politics should not be in conflict. All of the major faiths contain the calls for social justice, fair treatment, caring for the dispossessed and whilst it would be a misrepresentation to suggest that religion is all about social justice, it would equally be a misrepresentation to suggest that religion is entirely personal.
All of our faith traditions stress the duty of the believer in the service of others.
Whilst there are many religious traditions, there are also many different interpretations of those traditions. There will rarely be ONE answer to a question that is held by all members of a religious community it is equally unlikely that there will be a single answer held by a multiplicity of believers from a variety of faiths.
The object of this paper is to seek ways in which to serve others in a way that is compatible with our own faiths.
Some suggestions as to what a Shared Agenda might include:
1) Ending poverty in the UK. We must not be content only with tackling absolute poverty, but must also reduce the gap between rich and poor in our society. It is certainly a question of material resources but the faith communities in particular understand that there is a poverty of the soul that can be even more oppressive.
2) We live in a global society in which we are connected by cheap air travel, television, email and the web. We are increasingly aware of what is going on around us. Traditionally the response of the wealthy nations has been to provide aid, but does this need to be supplemented by support of good governance and/or democratic systems? To what extent should we, or could we use our collective energies to support fairer trade with the developing world?
3) Climate change might have disastrous consequences for the world’s most vulnerable people today and for future generations. People of faith can bring traditions of stewardship rather than ownership of the world. At a local level a coalition of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras could create an imposing movement to change the ways in which we use transport or buy our energy.
4) We tend to value education and can affect the futures of our own children and the children of our neighbours. We tend to encourage aspiration, but see this as much more than material prosperity.
5) We can model a community that is diverse, is different and does not always agree; but a community that values the humanity of everyone and the cohesion of the wider community.
6) Immigrants and asylum seekers should be treated with respect and dignity; they will often be amongst the poorest in the community.
7) We value human life and look for policy to reflect that in all respects. Human life has great dignity from beginning to end. How we treat the elderly and the sick is a reflection of how committed we are to equality.
8) The most basic expression of community is the family. While recognising that families come in different forms in a modern Britain, we will not neglect the value of the traditional family unit, but I wonder how open we are to different forms of family unit.
This is not an exhaustive list, but it might provide the basis of a discussion. Comments can be posted on the Newham CSM website at www.newhamcsm.org
I don’t know if we are allowed to quote Marx anymore, but he famously wrote that the "The purpose of philosophy is not to understand the world but to change it." Having identified the agenda for change we must then be committed to making that change happen.
I would welcome comments from readers that will then be fed into the discussion in May.
CPA and Immigration. Raising Anxieties, Providing NO Answers.tag:www.newhamcsm.org.uk,2008://1.242008-02-03T16:06:16Z2008-02-10T16:27:41ZIn February 2008 the Canning Town CPA distributed a leaflet in which they called for a halt to immigration...
In February 2008 the Canning Town CPA distributed a leaflet in which they called for a halt to immigration
‘CAUTION’ there was an illustration of a family fleeing on a solid orange background. The title to the article was
“THE COUNTRY IS FULL
AND ITS TIME FOR A
HALT
TO IMMIGRATION”
Unproven Assertions
“We in the Christian Peoples Alliance do not believe that it is racist to talk about the issue in an open and honest way. The issue is not about race it is about numbers and the truth is that many parts of the country, like Newham, are seriously over populated.”
Let us look at the two parts to the statement.
• It is not racist to talk about the issue in an open and honest way. This must be correct, but that is not what the CPA do. They use the ‘straw man’ debating technique, beloved of populists and demagogues, i.e. they set up a false argument in order to knock it down. Their arguments are neither open nor honest.
• Its not about race, its about numbers, with the assertion that Newham is seriously overcrowded. Just who are they trying to kid? No evidence whatsoever is given for this ‘overcrowding’. Nor is any indication given of what numbers they believe live in Newham, nor what the numbers should be. The assertion is without any foundation and their use of language is calculated to legitimise the marginalisation of one group under the pretext of a ‘reasonable’ concern about numbers. By 2020 Newham will have between 50-80,000 more people living here (because of the Olympic developments). Not a word about this, could it be because these are unlikely to be migrant workers or asylum seekers.
Further on the CPA call for
• “strong and effective border controls” to deal with illegal immigration and people trafficking. We have little problem with these words, but they fail to say what the shortcomings of the present border controls are. It is the demagogue’s trick used again, and aimed at emotions and used to raise anxieties.
• The same paragraph mixes an apparent concern for people “forced into crimes” with a demand for the deportation of illegal immigrants “as soon as they are detected”. It is as if the word were written by two completely different people.
At one level this is just plain stupid. But on another there is a subtle use of the racist lexicon, but couched in terms of apparent concern for the “trafficked” people and the wider community.
They further go on to make assertions based on nothing more than innuendo.
• “In matters such as housing local people, here in Newham, who are on the waiting list should never be relegated down the list in favour of new immigrants. It is vital that the children and grandchildren of local residents, whatever their creed or colour, should be given the highest priority.” (The same tactic used by the Liberal ‘Local Homes for Local People’ campaign in Tower Hamlets)
• Alan Craig has made the same assertion in the council that he has relied upon in this article, essentially that there are ‘East Europeans’ jumping the housing queue to take local council properties. This is unlikely. However, if they have the evidence let’s hear it. • Given the apparent concern for local housing for local people, it might surprise readers to note that this is the opposite of the policy expounded by CPA leader Alan Craig in the council. When Newham moved from a ‘needs based’ system of allocations to a ‘time based system’, (the longer that you were on the list the nearer you got to the top), Cllr Craig opposed it.
Scapegoating the Vulnerable
The language of the CPA has fixated on two groups, East Europeans and Asylum Seekers.
There are shades here of treating both groups in the same way that racist parties treated Jews or Indians or Africans in earlier periods of immigration with the same scare stories.
Asylum seekers who break the law “should expect to be deported immediately”.
Why, one wonders, is it just ‘asylum seekers’ ?
The answer may be simpler than you think. If the policy extended to all immigrants a certain CPA councillor (convicted of assaulting two police officers) might have found that his tenure in the UK would have been somewhat shorter than planned.
There is a point, but as always the CPA overstates it. Do they really believe that someone should be sent to face torture or death because they steal a loaf of bread? The courts and judges are the best people to make recommendations on deportation because they hear all of the facts.
It is far better to have judgements of this sort made in an informed and dispassionate manner than to engage in populist rhetorical jargon.
Have the CPA become Racist?
Probably not, though when viewed alongside their statements on the Abbey Mills Mosque we do begin to see a pattern, that if not racist itself, certainly panders to racist elements. This might be handy in a ward that traditionally had one of the highest BNP/NF votes.
But the root is less likely to be racism than crude populism, i.e. an attempt to garner support against “them” by emotional appeals that play on people’s anxieties, (see for instance the mosque, Queens Road Market, the regeneration of Canning Town).
It is an easy way to whip up support, “they” do, or don’t do this. “They” can be the council, government, Europe, the police. But it is also a dangerous ploy in that pandering to expressions of alienation can serve to ‘legitimise’ prejudices.
Part of the role of community leaders is to listen to the concerns of our population. Where these are real we should respond to them, that doesn’t mean they can all be solved, but people have a right to know that their concerns are addressed.
But where the concerns are misplaced or unfounded, community leaders have a responsibility to say so and to stand up to and to confront prejudice. The CPA have chosen to do the former, but have forgotten about the latter.
When the BNP or its fellow travellers jump on the same intolerant bandwagon, the CPA will say again ‘its not our fault’. Well actually, yes, it is.
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Prayers from the Annual Sevricetag:www.newhamcsm.org.uk,2008://1.232008-02-03T07:57:53Z2008-02-06T19:54:43ZOn January 20th Newham CSM held its annual service. Our prayers from that evening will remain with us through the year....
On January 20th Newham CSM held its annual service. Our prayers from that evening will remain with us through the year.
Prayers for Our World (Jill McWilliam)
Sovereign Lord
Spirit of God
We bring to you our prayers for the world.
Asking that you would continually anoint
Those who bring good news to the poor
Those who work for freedom and peace
Those who seek justice and truth
Those who bring healing
And comfort to those who mourn.
In particular we pray for nations,
For Kenya
For Pakistan
For Darfur in the nation of Sudan
For Zimbabwe
For the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Bring healing and comfort to
The peoples of these countries who are in despair
Those who remain in the lands and those who work with them
Those in Newham who grieve with them
We pray for the leaders of nations
Those who are in positions of influence and power
Sovereign Lord
Spirit of God.
Fill them with wisdom
With mercy
With grace.
That your kingdom may be seen on earth as it is in heaven.
In the name of Jesus Christ
Amen.
In 2006 he claimed that a mosque for 40,000 (or 50,000 or 70,000) people was planned for a former industrial site in West Ham. There is a drawing for such a building on the website of an architectural firm in Riyadh. Instead of checking whether such a building was ever likely to get planning permission, whether for instance it would comply with the local regulations for transport and access (it didn’t) or whether it met the requirements that the local authority had laid down for the development of the wider area (it didn’t) or whether the site owners had agreed to the s106 agreement proposed by the local authority (they hadn’t) the CPA rushed into an intemperate publicity campaign that created not so much a ‘straw man’ as a ‘straw monster’.
Moreover, when the facts did not exist to support some of his more outlandish statements he simply invented them.
In the same way as he appeared to have exclusive knowledge of the intentions of the Mayor with regard to Green St, for “nice middle-class Green Street with posh flats, wine bars, craft shops”, he had by the same mystical process exclusive knowledge of a new conspiracy. There is, he asserted, “a nod-and-a-wink agreement taking place between Newham Council, the London Development Agency and the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation…The clear evidence is that they have decided – behind closed doors - that they are in favour of the mosque. They have not consulted local people at all but in due course, when the mosque master-plan is submitted, they intend to give it their formal approval…They are doing a typically undemocratic stitch-up,"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/09/25/do2502.xml
and
http://www.christianconcernforournation.co.uk/mosque/m190906.php
One is inclined to ask if there is “clear evidence” where this it?
The mega-mosque will not be built indeed there is unlikely to be an application because is fails to meet the local planning guidance requirements. Nonetheless, when an application is received for a smaller mosque on the same site Alan Craig will engage in yet another round of narcissistic self promotion claiming a another glorious victory.
For a rather more dispassionate discussion of the mosque proposal see http://www.transformnewham.com/Publisher/Article.aspx?id=75117
The debate has continued on the Transform Newham Website and can be found at
http://www.transformnewham.com/Publisher/Article.aspx?id=85617
http://www.transformnewham.com/Publisher/Article.aspx?id=86124
Policy or Posturing
Their performance at council is not aimed at changing policy but entirely at creating opportunities for political posturing. For instance in the six years that Alan Craig has been on the council, not once has he challenged the budget. In other councils this is the key battleground that prolongs debate into the early hours because how you spend your money reflects your priorities. Nor has he been to the other key decision making meetings (Cabinet and Mayoral Proceedings). The CPA have declined their seats on the Scrutiny Committees, one might have thought that this was a place where an opposition member might want to be involved, in the detailed consideration of both the policy and the practice of the council, but not apparently, the CPA.
Getting a good service or even influencing the plans of the council have never been on his agenda. What they, or perhaps its just Alan, require is a debate around a tangential issue to provide content for a press release on the following morning.
Sometimes this can expose Alan’s underlying self promotion. When he proposed the motion to council (April 2nd 2007) inviting the Mayor to support The Mayflower Declaration it was telling that he was the only one of three CPA councillors that was willing to speak in support of it.
*”A straw man argument is a logical fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position. To "set up a straw man" or "set up a straw-man argument" is to create a position that is easy to refute, then attribute that position to the opponent. A straw-man argument can be a successful rhetorical technique (that is, it may succeed in persuading people) but it is in fact a misleading fallacy, because the opponent's actual argument has not been refuted.
“Its name is derived from the practice of using straw men in combat training. In such training, a scarecrow is made in the image of the enemy with the single intent of attacking it.” (From Wikipedia)
The Mosque at Abbey Mills (The Mega-Mosque)
From the summer of 2006 the issue of a mosque on the former Burke-Spencer Chemical site has excited much heat and little light. A full discussion of the topic from Cllr Furness can be found, alongside some less temperate remarks from Cllr Craig of the CPA, on the Transform Newham website at
http://www.transformnewham.com/Publisher/Article.aspx?id=75117
Casino
Contrary to some of the comment, the Labour Group has no ‘whip’ on the issue of a casino. Because of the obvious gambling link, it is regarded as an issue of conscience and as such all Labour councillors are free to make up their own minds. There is no proposal before the council at the moment but permission has been given to Newham to offer a licence for a casino (though this may well depend upon what happens in parliament during the summer).
The arguments for a casino are broadly that it, together with a leisure complex will bring in jobs that are accessible to our population. In addition it will bring revenue into the local economy to shops, hotels etc.
The arguments against are that it will increase gambling dependency and excessive gambling will impact badly on the families of those gamblers and besides, the regeneration effect of casinos is not proven.
The Mayor has instituted an independent inquiry which will hear evidence from anyone and report back to council with recommendations. The members of the panel are:
Sir Henry Brooke (Chair), former Lord Justice of Appeal
Lord Victor Adebowale CX, Turning Point
Lady Sally Banks, Social care professional
Bill Galston former Chief Inspector of the Gaming Board for GB
Bernadette Marjoram, Director of the British Urban Regeneration Association
Lord Herman Ouseley former Exec Chairman, Commission for Racial Equality
Professor Tony Travers, LSE London Group
Details of their hearings will be published by the council.
Dialogue between Faiths
There many different groups seeking to build bridges between faiths and it might seem presumptuous to create another.
However, as a CSM group in one of the most diverse places on the planet, we have a responsibility to add what we can to a better understanding of and between our different communities. Often, it seems, interfaith dialogue is reduced to a dialogue between Christians and Muslims, and there is no doubt that this is an important nexus and one that we will seek to develop in particular with Muslims for Labour.
We are committed to the principles outlined by the International League of Religious Socialists http://www.ilrs.org/HandtoHand.pdf
• As religious socialists, we believe that it is possible for people of different faiths to live together in peace, and that all should have freedom to worship openly without fear of oppression or persecution.
• As religious socialists, we support the inherent equality of humanity before
creation, and the abolition of poverty throughout the world.
• As religious socialists, we affirm the equality of women in all spheres of life.
We seek to draw out that belief in our communities of faith until it becomes a
visible reality.
• As religious socialists, we seek the liberation of the human spirit through just
laws and the practice of social justice in civil society.
• As religious socialists, we teach the integrity of creation and our stewardship
of the environment
We also recognise that there are many faiths represented in our community and we would seek to engage in a dialogue with each and all of them. It was an idea that developed in the English Reformation that the 'public square' was a place where all were represented and dealt with each other in the basis of equality rather than being a place in which to assert superiority. It is this ideal that we seek to follow.
Sexuality: Rights or Right and Wrong?
Socially conservative Christians have tended to use the language of Ethics, of right and wrong when confronting this issue, socially (though not necessarily theologically) liberal Christians have tended to adopt the language of Rights. This has been very apparent in the two contemporary topics of civil same-sex partnerships,(often abbreviated to gay-marriage) and the regulations coming into force that require adoption agencies to consider gay couples that approach them when seeking place children for adoption.
Our position in regard of both issues is clear. Gay people should not be denied the rights that everyone else has
With regard to adoption, this issue is not simply about rights of a particular group, though we would not want to have that lost. The experience since WWII has shown that the worst place to bring up children is in council or other institutional care. There is little difficulty in placing babies for adoption, but our children’s homes are full of kids that have suffered repeated rejection, abuse, have behaviour problems or some form of disability. The queue of prospective parents for these kids is somewhat shorter. We welcome the prospect of widening the pool of prospective parents. Gay men and women have been fostering children in care for years and despite all of the outcry from the anti-gay lobby we are not aware of any evidence that their experience is different in any substantive way from the experience of heterosexual carers.
What are the CPA?
The CPA state that they are simply another Christian Democrat Party in the line of CD parties in Europe. This is an interesting claim given the rabidly right wing credentials of some of the the CDPs in Europe and the concurrent claim that the CPA make to political radicalism. They and the Respect/SWP coalition illustrate the unedifying entry of identity politics in Newham.
http://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/search/story.aspx?brand=RECOnline&category=Postbagnewham&itemid=WeED29%20Jun%202006%2009:32:46:533&tBrand=RECOnline&tCategory=search ]]>
Good deeds by good people are worthy of celebration and evil deeds are worth remembering so that they do not happen again! Peoples of all nations must celebrate that they are always enough good people and they always triumph over tyranny.
Up until the 1830s my forbearers were slaves on a plantation in Guyana. For me the legacy of slavery is bitter one. I know very little of my African heritage. I do not know the country in Africa that I am from, I do not know my tribe nor do I know my name – this is the legacy of slavery for many!
Thanks to Wilberforce and the many good people, the trans-Atlantic shipment of slaves ended 200 years ago, but it took another 30 years or so before the West Indian slaves were freed and until 18 December 1865 for their American cousins.
Today, we are seeing a modern and no less evil form of slavery and social injustices. Human trafficking by unscrupulous men of people who are only seeking a decent standard of living for their families are bringing untold pain and suffering to many. We hear of children who are sold and bought into a life of nothing short of slavery, so that we, in the developed and rich world can consume more for less. We also hear of women who are sold and sometimes tricked into prostitution. These are some of the faces of modern slavery in this modern, rich and technological advanced world that we live in.
Social injustice too has its many faces. The lack of sufficient fair trade agreements and markets for the produce of the developing countries are forms of social injustice by the rich on the poor. Third world debts and corruption by some third world leaders do give sustenance to social injustice.
We are the richest, most educated and technologically advanced generation that ever lived; yet these scourges exist amongst us. Wilberforce and others fought and put an end to human trafficking. We too can collectively work to end modern slavery and social injustices.]]>
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When an architect's drawing of a new mosque (The 'Mega Mosque') was revealed in 2006 it released an unfortunate and ill-informed debate that served to polarise attitudes within the host and new communities. The owners of the site at Abbey Mills are preparing new plans for a building of more modest dimensions. This will remain a sensitive issue and our prayers are that the difficult discussions that are necessary will be conducted in a spirit of trust and that the comments from the wider community will be expressed in moderate language, after people have taken the time to examine what is planned, rather than react to the scare stories that might accompany the application.
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You are invited to remember the Mayor and all of our councillors as they seek to represent their communities and seek to govern the complex and mixed community that is Newham. In particular you are invited to support the 15 plus Christian Labour Councillors.