New report on securitisation of aid

Posted on December 6, 2017 by TPNS • Posted in Blog, Global South Trends, The 5% Campaign, What interests us • Tagged Development, Militarism, Military Aid, Military spending, Military-Industrial Complex, UK

Syria case may be ‘tip of the iceberg’ for fund backing some of world’s worst security forces
Secretive Conflict, Stability and Security Fund uses £500m of aid money
Government accused of using loophole to fund discredited consultancy

The controversial cross-government fund behind the British aid project in Syria which has today been suspended amid claims that money was reaching jihadist groups should be shut down, according to campaign group Global Justice Now, which has released a new report on the fund.

The report lifts the lid on one of the British government’s most secretive funds, which is behind military and security projects in around 70 countries including Bahrain, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Iraq and Nigeria. The billion-pound pot, known as the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, spends over £500 million of British aid and is overseen by the National Security Council, chaired by the Prime Minister. Neither the public nor MPs are able to properly scrutinise the fund due to a serious lack of transparency, the report finds.
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A Celebration of Our Greatest 20th Century Prime Minister

Posted on November 3, 2017 by TPNS • Posted in 1. Recent Posts, Attlee Nation • Tagged UK

Attlee Remembered –the first event in our Attlee Nation project – was a wonderful weekend full of debate and knowledge sharing about the life of Clem Attlee and its resonance for today.

A huge thanks to all our brilliant contributors – especially Attlee biographer Francis Beckett; to our incredibly engaged audiences and our festival team; to our photographers and videographers. And finally, our wonderful partners at Sands Films – Olivier Stockman and Christine Edzard.

Our message for the weekend was simple: in 1945 Attlee had said Yes We Can and by 1951 was able to say said Yes We Did. Discussions about the challenges he faced in post-war Britain and the subsequent domestic achievements of his government were debated in light of today- social need, political urgency and the need for political courage. The nature of good Labour Party leadership from Keir Hardie through to Jeremy Corbyn; Labour Party manifestos 1945 and 2017 were compared as was the power of media barons then and now; and most interestingly, we explored the profound influence upon Attlee’s political development of his time as a social worker. We can truly say that Britain’s greatest 20th century Prime Minister was a social worker first. And finally, in our closing event ‘In Clem’s Own Words’, we all shared in a very moving evening as we were treated to selected readings of Attlee’s own writings – letters, speeches, poems – read by a wonderful line-up of performers. To have a number of Clem Attlee’s family join us for the night made the evening very special indeed.

Here you can enjoy our video playlist of all the live events

and here is our photo gallery .

Until our next Attlee event!

Portcullis House 26 October 11am: Why we must talk about breast cancer & chemicals exposure

Posted on October 19, 2017 by TPNS • Posted in 1. Recent Posts, From Pink to Prevention

BREXIT, BREAST CANCER & CHEMICALS

Join us on Thursday 26^th October 11am Portcullis House, Westminster for discussion on breast cancer, toxic chemicals exposure & regulation

Our From Pink to Prevention campaign is hosting this Breast Cancer Prevention Month event with the National Alliance of Women’s Organisations and Alliance for Cancer Prevention .As we come to the end of Breast Cancer Prevention Month, we will be considering the implications of Brexit on breast cancer and exploring the answers with a range of experts and campaigners. Event speakers include Helen Hayes MP; Zarin Hainsworth OBE & Chair NAWO; Helen Lynn From Pink to Prevention; Hilda Palmer Hazards Campaign; Nick Mole Policy Office Pesticide Action Network UK Chair Deborah Burton TPNS/From Pink to Prevention.

In this Breast Cancer PreventionMonth, the real impact of Brexit on breast cancer needs to be understood. Brexit gives us one more lens through which to better understand the scale of the exposures problem, its links to breast cancer and critically, why we need to stay within the EU regulations regime if we are to better protect citizens and workers.
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Oct 7&8 Attlee weekend mini-festival programme and speakers

Posted on September 18, 2017 by TPNS • Posted in 1. Recent Posts, Attlee Nation

Attlee Remembered October 7^th & 8^th at Sands Film Studios, Rotherhithe

Clement Attlee died 50 years ago on 8 October 1967. Attlee Remembered is a weekend of film, discussion and theatre that celebrates the man, his life and the domestic achievements of his 1945-51 Labour Government. Sands Films Studios is in historic Rotherhithe, close to the riverfront from where the Mayflower set sail. A beautiful Georgian building housing its cinema, theatre and extensive local archive, Sands Films is a three minute walk from Rotherhithe overground station, which itself is well served by both underground and overground lines. (More below).

WHY ATTLEE NOW?
Over the past few years we have seen more and more references to Clement Attlee in relation to Jeremy Corbyn and, prior to him, Ed Miliband. This is all to the good, as Attlee has always been eclipsed by Churchill and Attlee is far from being the household name he should be. The wider public (especially younger generations) – in as far as they have heard his name – will have no comprehension of the relevance and timeliness of his story: as a Mayor, as MP, as deputy wartime leader, as Prime Minister and the fact that he remains (despite many attempts to remove him) the longest serving Labour Party leader (1935-55).

Clement Attlee’s government shaped our society for seven decades to come. How do we want the next seven to seventy years shape up? How do we prize and protect the notion of ‘generosity towards the future’ so powerfully embodied in the Attlee administration?

ATTLEE REMEMBERED WEEKEND

Programme: We have a wonderful line-up of contributors for our films, discussions & performance programme. PDF version here.
Contributors biographies (with yet more names TBC).
Booking
Single sessions on Eventbrite.

Films are free (but must be booked), discussions £3, Theatre £5.

Weekend pass to all events £10 and only available by calling the Box Office on 020 7231 2209.
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Autumn news & events for your diary

Posted on September 6, 2017 by TPNS • Posted in 1. Recent Posts

Autumn Newsletter & Save the Date: films, events, campaigns

Dear friends, supporters and colleagues,

We hope your summer has been a good one and provided you with some rest and recreation.

Below is our autumn update – there’s lots going on! We have some new projects underway as well as some key calendar moments around our three ongoing campaigns.

We hope to see you at one of our events!
Best wishes from all at TPNS.
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Attlee Remembered

Posted on September 6, 2017 by TPNS • Posted in Past Events • Tagged Attlee

“Charity is a cold grey loveless thing. If a rich man wants to help the poor, he should pay his taxes gladly, not dole out money at a whim”
— Clement Attlee

This is a project developed by TPNS embracing a festival – an Attlee Festival – framed by a wider public awareness campaign we call ‘Attlee Nation’. Intended for all generations, it wants to illustrate how, 70 years ago, politicians did push back powerful vested interests for a caring social democracy as Clement Attlee’s government oversaw the largest and most wide-ranging domestic social reform programme. Despite being in the most difficult of times, his 1945-51 administration borrowed, invested and nationalised in order to lay down the foundation for the welfare state and the NHS; expanding public housing and revitalising core industries. All this delivered a rapid rise in living standards, decreasing inequality and growing prosperity.

“Attlee’s political genius was to give people a sense of hope, a clear route map out of depression, war and austerity towards the social and economic justice they craved. His government rebuilt Britain, and the next government needs the political courage to do the same – including giving working people a voice so we can help build a more equal, more democratic country. We must not miss the chance again.”
— Frances O’Grady, Gen Sec TUC (The Guardian, 26/4/13)

Attlee set the ‘terms of reference’ for progressive domestic policy for the next 70 years. While many older citizens know this history, many others do not. What lessons we can bring forward for today’s ‘austerity’ debate? How do we ensure that the ‘terms of reference’ for the next 70 years are just as ambitious; that they rebuild the legacy by pushing back those economic interests that would ultimately destroy this legacy? How do we prize and protect the notion of ‘generosity to the future’ so powerfully embodied in the Attlee administration?

Attlee was “the twentieth century’s greatest prime minister’’ according to an IPSOS-MORI poll of historians and political scientists (2004)

If you have heard of Churchill, then you should also know about Attlee. And if you don’t know much at all, check the history, and ask why?

Read more on the background and the project here.

Attlee Nation website: attleenation.org

ATTLEE REMEMBERED WEEKEND

Our first Attlee Festival was hosted by Sands Films Studios, Rotherhithe, London. ‘Attlee Remembered’ took place on 7^th and 8^th October 2017, marking 50 years since Attlee’s death on 7 October 1967.

Programme: We have a wonderful line-up of contributors for our films, discussions & performance programme. PDF version here .

Contributors biographies (with yet more names TBC).

Booking
Single sessions on Eventbrite .

Films are free (but must be booked), discussions £3, Theatre £5.

Weekend pass to all events £10 and only available by calling the Box Office on 020 7231 2209.

Like & Share our new Facebook Page and follow us on Twitter at @attlee_nation.

Venue:

Sands Films
82 St Marychurch Street
London SE16 4HZ

Marking Mandela Day 18 July 2017

Posted on July 18, 2017 by TPNS • Posted in 1. Recent Posts

Throughout July, Make Apartheid History is promoting the UK Tour of the utterly brilliant one man show AND HERE I AM, directed by Zoe Lafferty, performed by Ahmed Tobasi and based on his life story. On Mandela Day, we will screen a selection of MAH films at the Edinburgh dates 17/18 July.

This outstanding play and performance is part of the Shubbuk Festival and as was deservedly well reviewed by the Guardian.

And this Mandela Day We also join the effort to help raise awareness and funds for MahraJazz Festival – the first-ever Palestinian music festival to take place in Haifa (Palestine) on 24-26 August – 31-2 September. MahraJazz is a non-profit, volunteer based event which aims to reach a wider Palestinian audience as well as through radio broadcasting. Most importantly, it also offers an alternative for international musicians to divert from performing for Apartheid Israel and contributes to the importance of the Palestinian effort to boycott Israel.

Find out more here

https://www.facebook.com/%D9%85%D9%87%D8%B1%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B2-MahraJazz-1733078293387662/

And donate here! https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mahrajazz-haifa-alternative-jazz-festival#/

MAKE APARTHEID HISTORY –ONCE AND FOR ALL.

To help you understand more about why apartheid applies to Israel, our MAH video page has a number of short films where Palestinians, Israelis and South Africans explain why.

https://makeapartheidhistory.org/video-gallery/

Military tourism in Israel

Posted on July 17, 2017 by TPNS • Posted in Blog, The 5% Campaign, What interests us • Tagged Israel, Militarism, Militarization, Military-entertainment complex, Military-Industrial Complex

It was only a matter of time before local entrepreneurs figured out they could channel Israel’s vast experience in war and counterterrorism in this direction. Today, about half a dozen facilities around the country offer tourists the opportunity to learn from Israeli combat officers, in most cases graduates of elite units. (Understanding that they have nothing to sell the locals because military service is compulsory in Israel, these businesses only target tourists.)

At Caliber 3, the two-hour “shooting adventure” – for which the group from Hong Kong has signed up – includes a simulation of a suicide bombing in a Jerusalem marketplace, immediately followed by a stabbing attack, a live demonstration with attack dogs and a sniper tournament. The cost of this basic package is $115 per adult and $85 per child, with discounts available for large groups. Continue reading →

Africa subsidises the rest of the world by over $40 billion in one year, according to new research

Posted on May 24, 2017 by TPNS • Posted in #MLKGlobal, What interests us • Tagged Global South Trends, Globalisation, Neoliberalism, Tax

Global Justice Now press release:

Download the report

Much more wealth is leaving the world’s most impoverished continent than is entering it, according to new research into total financial flows into and out of Africa. The study finds that African countries receive $161.6 billion in resources such as loans, remittances and aid each year, but lose $203 billion through factors including tax avoidance, debt payments and resource extraction, creating an annual net financial deficit of over $40 billion.
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Celebrating A Visionary Citizen Scientist

Posted on May 8, 2017 by TPNS • Posted in 1. Recent Posts, From Pink to Prevention • Tagged Breast Cancer

RACHEL CARSON DAY 27^th MAY

Man has put the vast majority of carcinogens into the environment and he can, if he wishes, eliminate many of them. The most determined effort should be made to eliminate those carcinogens that now contaminate our food, our water supplies, and our atmosphere, because these provide the most dangerous types of contact – minute exposure repeated over and over throughout the years.

Silent Spring 1962

RACHEL CARSON marine biologist, writer and conservationist

In the year 1962, Rachel Carson was not only another breast cancer statistic, but the woman whose writing skills and scientific acumen shocked the world upon publication of ‘Silent Spring’ in which her research findings of irreversible reproductive and genetic damage to aquatic-life forms resulting from the use of pesticides were presented in her signature narrative style. Her attention to smaller aquatic life forms at the bottom of the food-chain revealed the multiplier effect for life forms at higher levels, with major predictable effects for we humans in our position at the top of the chain. The changes being observed and recorded by Carson were an early warning of the future scenario for all life forms. As such they still stand as the first scientifically-based predictions of both real and potential harm to life from manmade chemicals.

Fifty years on and the shocking difference between then and now is that there are many thousands more manmade chemicals being produced and released into the environment than the number developed by the smaller scale post-war chemicals industry of Carson’s time. Many of these are linked to breast cancer risk and right now there is a battle to ensure that post-Brexit UK remains within existing EU chemicals legislation (REACH), which is regarded as the best in the world.
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Vital Call: MPs want post-Brexit UK to keep to EU’s main chemicals law REACH

Posted on April 30, 2017 by TPNS • Posted in From Pink to Prevention, What interests us • Tagged Chemicals, EDCs, EU, UK

The UK House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has today published the report of its inquiry on chemicals regulation after the EU referendum, which particularly focussed on the EU’s world-leading REACH system for regulating chemicals. The EAC criticise the UK Government’s lack of openness about its post-Brexit plans, and point out that most respondents want the UK to remain ‘as closely aligned to REACH as possible‘.

The EAC’s main conclusions

- The chemicals regulation framework established by the EU through REACH is difficult to transpose directly into UK law. Writing EU regulations into UK law could not be done simply by having a line in the “Great Repeal Bill” deeming REACH to apply in the UK. REACH was written from the perspective of participants being within the EU, with much of it also relating to Member State co-operation and mutual obligations, oversight and controls, and freedom of movement of products

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The 1917 Balfour Declaration: ‘Settler Colonialism’ 100 years on

Posted on April 27, 2017 by TPNS • Posted in 1. Recent Posts, Make Apartheid History • Tagged Balfour

From Balfour to the present day: a century of colonialism in Palestine

This year’s November 2nd marks the centenary of the Balfour Declaration of 1917. It signifies 100 years of suffering of the Palestinian people and the colonisation of their land.

In 1917 the British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour wrote a letter to the wealthy British banker and Zionist Lord Rothschild, in which he declared :

“His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

This short letter had no legal status, but was later incorporated within the terms of Britain’s Mandate for Palestine. Thus it became one of the most significant documents leading eventually to the creation of the state of Israel and the on-going quagmire of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

From the outset the Declaration was controversial, and almost all the opposition came from within the Jewish community itself, because very few Arabs were even aware the existence of such a proposal. The Declaration was seen largely as a means for diverting Jewish immigration from Britain to Palestine. The most prominent British Jewish politician of the day, Sir Edwin Montagu, opposed it vigorously. Later, when the language of the Balfour Declaration was included in the Mandate for Palestine, the House of Lords voted to reject this in a motion passed by 60 to 29, on the ground that the Declaration was opposed to the “wishes of the great majority of the people of Palestine”.

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Ken Loach on Corbyn

Posted on March 1, 2017 by TPNS • Posted in Attlee Nation, What interests us • Tagged Corbyn, UK

The spate of calls for Jeremy Corbyn to quit since last week’s byelections in Stoke and Copeland has been as predictable as it was premeditated. It says everything about the political agenda of the media, and nothing about people’s real needs and experiences.

I went to Stoke and Whitehaven, in Cumbria, a few days before polling. Momentum arranged screenings of Daniel Blake. We went to Labour clubs in neglected areas, old estates away from the centre. At one club I was asked: “Why have you come here? No one comes here.”

Joe Bradley and Georgie Robertson, the organisers, were a model of how Labour activists should work: full of energy, hard-working and brilliantly efficient. They had a warm greeting for everyone, checked the screening facilities, made space for local contributors so people from that community felt it was their event and that they were being heard. This is how Labour can reconnect.

Both screenings were packed. The discussions were passionate, informed and invigorating, a world away from the tired cliches of the public discourse. This was not a marketing exercise but a real engagement with people and their concerns.

The failure of Labour governments – and, importantly, Labour councillors – was a common theme. It is not hard to see the neglect around Stoke. Solid Labour, for sure, but what good has it done them? A 2015 report into the area found 60,000 people in poverty, 3,000 households dependent on charity food, and £25m in council tax arrears. The presence of the BNP, now replaced by Ukip, shows how Labour’s failure left space for the far right.

It was a similar story in Copeland. Industries have been lost – steel, mines, a chemical factory – without any plan to replace them. Labour is seen to be as culpable as the Tories. Someone said that in Copeland it was an anti-establishment vote, and Labour is the local establishment. It was a vote against Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and previous MPs Jack Cunningham and Jamie Reed.

In both constituencies the Labour candidates, neither from the left of the party, were invited, but both candidates ignored the meetings. With coverage on television, radio and the press, this is bizarre. Could it be because Momentum were the organisers? We were there to support Labour. There was not even the courtesy of a reply.
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On Martin Luther King Day – PROJECT 2018

Posted on January 16, 2017 by TPNS • Posted in News

PROJECT 2018 Poor People’s Call to Action – Dr. King’s work re-envisioned fifty years on

Poor Peoples Campaign Next April 2018 will mark the 50^th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. His ‘last great exertion’ in 1967/68 was The Poor People’s Campaign – a march on Washington DC that was a more radical effort than 1963. Its aim was to get racial and economic justice for all poor Americans. He was becoming an ever greater threat to anti-progressive forces as he realised that, in addition to race, class was becoming an equally critical part of the struggle. At what was to become the end of his life, he was now mobilising black and white Americans.

At the heart of this campaign was an Economic Bill of Rights, addressing employment, health, education, land, finance and participatory government. Today in the USA, there is a renewed push to mark and re-envision the Poor People’s Campaign.

We think the time is right to build on those USA efforts and today we launch a new project to ‘internationalise’ Dr. King’s Poor People’s Campaign and place a renewed vision for the Economic Bill of Rights at its heart.

Why? Because 50 years since Dr. King’s death

The USA, UK and many other rich nations are more unequal now than in 1968 with greater levels of poverty – and in the USA with far greater levels of incarceration and war spending.
The richest 85 people across the globe share a combined wealth of £1trillion, as much as the poorest 3.5 billion of the world’s population.
And 69 out of the world’s top 100 economies are corporations.

Dr. King’s calls in 1967/68 speak to the present day, not least in his ever growing critique of capitalism, poverty and inequality.

“You can’t talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can’t talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of slums. You’re really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then. You are messing with captains of industry. Now this means that we are treading in difficult water, because it really means that we are saying that something is wrong with capitalism.”
Speech to staff, 1966

“If America does not use her vast resources of wealth to end poverty and make it possible for all of God’s children to have the basic necessities of life, she too will go to hell.”
Bishop Charles Mason Temple of the Church of God in Christ in support of the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike on March 18^th, 1968, two weeks before he was assassinated.

anti-capitalist-protest Over the coming year PROJECT 2018 A Poor People’s Call to Action is reaching out to partners across the secular and non-secular spectrum to call for April 2018 as the first of five major mobilisations between 2018 and 2028 with King’s updated Economic Bill of Rights at their heart – mobilisations that link USA social justice movements with other social justice movements around the world.

This is the time for a global call-out of governments, institutions, big corporations and business. The 50-year anniversary of the life and work left by Dr King presents us with an opportunity to join hands, voices and actions together in our shared quest for peace and justice

In solidarity
Dionne, Deborah, Yolande and Ho-Chih.

Find out more
https://tippingpointnorthsouth.org/project-2018/
Project Summary (PDF)
Contact us if you’d like to know more, support or work with us to develop Project 2018.

PROJECT 2018

In 2018 it will be 50 years since Martin Luther King was assassinated. His ‘last great exertion’ in 1967/68 was the Poor People’s Campaign and Economic Bill of Rights.

Project April 2018 proposes the internationalising of the 1968 Poor People’s campaign with the first of 5 global mobilisations over the coming decade 2018-2028 linking USA social justice movements with other social justice movements around the world

Project April 2018 proposes linking these mobilisations with a renewed international recognition and call for Dr King’s ambitious 1968 Economic Bill of Rights – updated for today, it offers a universal economic bill of rights fit for the 21^stcentury that will reverse economic inequalities, racism, militarism and climate change. All these factors combined are destroying families, communities, nations and the very planet we live on.

Project April 2018 – international mobilisations and a renewed Economic Bill of Rights

On Martin Luther King Day – PROJECT 2018

Posted on January 16, 2017 by TPNS • Posted in #MLKGlobal, 1. Recent Posts

PROJECT 2018 Poor People’s Call to Action – Dr. King’s work re-envisioned fifty years on

Next April 2018 will mark the 50^th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. His ‘last great exertion’ in 1967/68 was The Poor People’s Campaign – a march on Washington DC that was a more radical effort than 1963. Its aim was to get racial and economic justice for all poor Americans. He was becoming an ever greater threat to anti-progressive forces as he realised that, in addition to race, class was becoming an equally critical part of the struggle. At what was to become the end of his life, he was now mobilising black and white Americans.

Wishing You A Peaceful Holiday Season

Posted on December 20, 2016 by TPNS • Posted in News

Dear colleagues and friends, supporters and funders,

Season’s Greetings

It’s been a tough year. We end 2016 with the June Brexit vote and Trump election win in November; devastating conflicts in Syria and Yemen and news that has seen Arctic temperatures rising far higher and faster than scientists had predicted.

After Trump’s USA election win, there were some in the USA who drew strength from the idea that it’s ‘darkest just before the dawn’ and that now is the time for progressives to rise to the challenge with policies and campaigns that can push the far-right back. Let’s hope this observation proves to be the case as we do all we can to support those ever-growing justice movements around the world who are fighting to make this a reality.

Below is our 2016 round-up. Please be in touch if you want to know more, get involved or help our work in any way. Where-ever we are, what-ever we do, there’s a lot to ‘push back’ in the coming months and years.

Best wishes this Christmas,

Deb, Kevin, Justin, Ho-Chih

FILMS

We Are Many The July release of the Chilcot Report led to a second wave of interest in Amir’s film throughout the summer and into the autumn/winter, with dozens of public cinema screenings across the UK We hosted a special TPFF post-Chilcot Report event at Friends Meeting House in London and joined Amir for a special Oxford city screening with Larry Sanders, brother of Bernie, who joined Amir for the post film debate. It is now available to buy on iTunes and DVD.

Open Bethlehem continues its journey with releases across the Middle East and North America and we were thrilled that our partners Development & Peace hosted our Canadian premiere in Montreal. “A ninety-minute epic that transcends politics and normal cinema” wrote Daoud Kuttab, Middle East Monitor. The film is now on demand at Vimeo https://vimeo.com/ondemand/openbethlehem and DVD (£15.99) can be purchased here

CAMPAIGNS

Make Apartheid History Our December 2015 calendar was very well received and our WALL video went viral . In July, we marked MANDELA DAY with our first year video highlight loop and in August, we were delighted to showcase MAH at the Edinburgh Fringe and on the opening night of the Greenbelt Festival

From Pink to Prevention & environmental links to breast cancer A busy year! In February we finally secured a meeting with the CEO of UK’s leading breast cancer charity Breast Cancer Now (formerly Breakthrough Breast Cancer) and a blog of this important meeting is here. In May, we shared our Rachel Carson Day communication and we had a very active October Breast Cancer Awareness Month with interactive posters; an Early Day Motion tabled by Caroline Lucas; and book launch of writing by the late USA activist Barbara Brenner, hosted by UNISON. We ended the year with an article published in ‘Women & Environments’- a leading international magazine celebrating its 40th anniversary and illustrated by our campaign colleague Di Ward.

Five Percent Campaign – military spending is a ‘development issue’. In October, we attended the International Peace Bureau’s annual global gathering in Berlin. Subsequent to our presentation, strong new Five Per Cent campaign contacts were secured in East Africa, Australia and USA and in November, we were invited to present the campaign to a regional East African peace movement gathering in Uganda.

EVENTS

Martin Luther King’s Economic Bill of Rights from 1968 to 2018 and beyond. Marking the 50^th anniversary of the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King, Project April 2018 puts his 1968 Economic Bill of Rights at the heart of a renewed global call for us all to march on power with a progressive manifesto for transformative change. Working with partners in the USA, key founding documents are now being finalised. We aim to soft launch in the USA on MLK Day January 2017.

Attlee Festival October 2017 Reviving the much under-valued story of Clement Attlee with a fresh, contemporary cultural project looking at his legacy. This year we have been refining the project and discussing with potential partners, venues and contributors. The Attlee Nation and Unity Festival will explore how, 70 years before, politicians did push back powerful vested interests for a caring social democracy and what lessons we can bring forward for today’s vision for the future.

Next year…

Alongside the projects above, next year will see us embark on several new film partnerships which connect to our three campaigns (5%, From Pink to Prevention and Make Apartheid History).

We will also develop next-stage development of a TPFF-led documentary ‘Generosity towards the Future’. This is a project designed to lift the level of political understanding through high quality ‘essay’ or ‘vision’ films on critical issues facing ordinary British people today – rising poverty; Dickensian levels of inequality; the utter failure of housing policy; crisis across the NHS.

Finally, a big thank-you to our funders

The Ratcliff Foundation, Polden-Puckham Charitable Foundation, Amiel and Melburn Trust, Trust Greenbelt; major donors and regular givers.

Thank you.

Progressives need more heart and fewer stats

Posted on November 15, 2016 by TPNS • Posted in Blog, What interests us

When you watch Trump surrogates or key Brexiteers on TV – and I have, painfully, for hours – some common tactics immediately emerge. One is dedication. The populist right has no qualms over hogging airtime, talking continuously and batting off attempted interruptions and just relentlessly, repeatedly hammering the case on and on until their political opponent is exhausted and overwhelmed and gives up trying. To nice progressives, this approach seems rude – it feels aggressive. This will be 10 times truer for women, who are already battling all kinds of biases and who, however little they speak, will often be viewed as monopolising airtime.

But there is something to be said for taking up more space – politely, while making clear that your point deserves and commands attention.
Continue reading →

Watergate Babies and the loss of the anti-monopoly and anti-bank tradition in the Democratic Party

Posted on November 15, 2016 by TPNS • Posted in #MLKGlobal, Blog, What interests us • Tagged Deregulation, Economy, Financial Regulation, Neoliberalism, USA

A wonderful article. Brilliant analysis.

Indeed, a revolution had occurred. But the contours of that revolution would not be clear for decades. In 1974, young liberals did not perceive financial power as a threat, having grown up in a world where banks and big business were largely kept under control. It was the government—through Vietnam, Nixon, and executive power—that organized the political spectrum. By 1975, liberalism meant, as Carr put it, “where you were on issues like civil rights and the war in Vietnam.” With the exception of a few new members, like Miller and Waxman, suspicion of finance as a part of liberalism had vanished.

Over the next 40 years, this Democratic generation fundamentally altered American politics. They restructured “campaign finance, party nominations, government transparency, and congressional organization.” They took on domestic violence, homophobia, discrimination against the disabled, and sexual harassment. They jettisoned many racially and culturally authoritarian traditions. They produced Bill Clinton’s presidency directly, and in many ways, they shaped President Barack Obama’s.

The result today is a paradox. At the same time that the nation has achieved perhaps the most tolerant culture in U.S. history, the destruction of the anti-monopoly and anti-bank tradition in the Democratic Party has also cleared the way for the greatest concentration of economic power in a century. This is not what the Watergate Babies intended when they dethroned Patman as chairman of the Banking Committee. But it helped lead them down that path. The story of Patman’s ousting is part of the larger story of how the Democratic Party helped to create today’s shockingly disillusioned and sullen public, a large chunk of whom is now marching for Donald Trump. Continue reading →