CITIZENS UK Blog

The Chinese community in Deptford BREAKING silence to STOP crime

admin — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:44:38 +0000

On 26^th July, the Chinese community in Deptford came out in force. An unexpected turnout of over 80 people including young children and mothers with pushchairs who live and work in the area from a modest 50 estimation. They chanted one voice, one community, stop crime, no more, for our family, for our neighbourhood, protect neighbourhood, united in action; IN a UNIFIED voice which created a very positive 1st step in working together to tackle the issue of persistent crime.

Surrounding shopkeeper came out with curiosity and people in the area peeked through their windows to see what the chanting was all about. The action was public and noted. The message was clear that the Chinese community have had enough, BREAKING their silence to STOP crime. This has brought people together who share same experience being targets of crime. The march included pit stops at several sites which the community mapped out where persistent robbery at knife and gun point occur before the final destination at Deptford police station where the delegation was received by Chief Inspector Shaun Willshire and his neighbourhood team. The Chinese leader in ms xiao qin she presented case and asked him to work with the chinese community to ensure 100% crime is reported and to start working with them to erase crime in all its form to make the neighbourhood safer for all. The chief inspector acknowledge the problems of language barrier and trust; through negotiations, he had offerred a meeting to meet with the Chinese leaders in Deptford to discuss next steps and what mechanisms can be put into place so the community can report crime safely without fear. The action ended with a little 7 year old boy who presented an amulet to the chief inspector and said "I carry this with me all the time to keep me safe, you can have it. I do not need this anymore because now I have hope that you will PROTECT us".

Mission: Money Mentors, July 2010

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:09:05 +0000

Short film made by London Citizens' Money Mentors about their month teaching financial literacy across London.

Nick Clegg announces end of detention for families at Yarl’s Wood

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:54:00 +0000

On Wednesday 21st July at Prime Minister's Questions, Nick Clegg announced the end of child detention at Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre.

This is fantastic news - and a major step forward towards ending child detention altogether. Mr Clegg promised a fuller statement in the near future which would offer more details.

It is less than a year since Canon Jim Rosenthal and Canon Nick Sagovsky were infamously turned away from Yarl's Wood when trying to deliver gifts for the kids dressed as St Nicholas. Now it seems likely that this Christmas there will be no children locked up in Yarl's Wood, or anywhere else for that matter.

Don't forget that you and people like you made this happen: ordinary citizens who persuaded your prospective parliamentary candidates to sign the Sanctuary Pledge, and who won the commitment to end child detention from Nick Clegg, and to set up a working group to advise on alternatives from David Cameron, at the CITIZENS UK Assembly on May 3rd. That was evident in the fact that the MP who asked the question at PMQs, Dr Julian Huppert, was one of sixty MPs who signed the Sanctuary Pledge. He was convinced to do so by a hard-working CITIZENS for Sanctuary team in Cambridge.

Since then leaders from CITIZENS UK have played a key role in the working group set up to advise on alternatives, and have helped to ensure that the coalition government sticks to its promise to end the detention of children for immigration purposes.

Much of the hard work of finding humane and robust alternatives to child detention is still to be done, but thank you for supporting the Sanctuary Pledge campaign thus far. And for now let's celebrate this important step, tell our friends the story of how organised citizens made this happen, and count our blessings that the Immigration Minister will not have to dress up as St Nick this year!

Leading universities receive Living Wage awards at Young Citizens Assembly

admin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:46:17 +0000

Seven of the University of London’s major colleges have agreed to pay their low-wage staff the London Living Wage, fixed recently by the mayor, Boris Johnson, at £7.85.

The London Living Wage (LLW) is a London-weighted minimum wage which takes into account the higher costs of living in the capital. Since it began campaigning for the LLW in 2001, London Citizens has persuaded banks, hospitals, universities and shopping centres to pay it. Since 2004, the rate has been set by City Hall – currently £7.85 as opposed to the national minimum wage (NMW) of £5.80.

The LSE, the Institute of Education, Queen Mary College, SOAS, Birkbeck, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Goldsmiths have all agreed to pay the LLW following campaigns by London Citizens. Awards were given to some of the colleges’ senior representatives, among them the Director of the LSE, Professor Howard Davies, and the Senior Vice-Principal of Queen Mary, Professor Philip Ogden.

Professor Simon Gaskell, Principal of Queen Mary, says:

“Paying the living wage and bringing the cleaning service in-house has brought dividends to Queen Mary. The college is cleaner, staff feel rewarded and the wider community – both on and off campus – have fully backed the idea.”

Professor Sir Andy Haines, Director, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine says:

“The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has a strong commitment to addressing disadvantage and reducing inequities in health worldwide. Paying cleaning staff a living wage is consistent with that commitment and a recognition that as an institution we value their role in keeping our environment safe and pleasant for staff and students alike. They make an important contribution by enabling us to deliver our mission.”

Professor Howard Davies, Director, London School of Economics and Political Sciences says:

“The LSE community is supportive of the living wage commitment, which we have now implemented successfully across the school.”

Professor Paul Webley, Principal, School of Oriental and African Studies says:

“The School of Oriental and African Studies is above all else a community that celebrates diversity and is respectful and collegial. Paying the living wage for catering and cleaning staff is an important part of this as it ensures that lower paid workers have a better standard of living in one of Europe's most expensive cities, allowing them to care properly for their families.”

Professor David Latchman, Master of Birkbeck, says:

“In March 2009, Birkbeck’s Governors supported a move to pay the living wage to our contract cleaning and catering staff. Governors responded positively to the views of the present college community – students, staff and Trade Unions – and acknowledged that this move was very much in keeping with the broader mission and ethos of the College. Since then, we have worked closely with our contractors and Trade Unions to implement changes in pay and to commence constructive discussions on the broader living wage agenda. We are now in discussion with ULU itself about extending the living wage to the ULU-contracted staff who provide our student and staff bar services and look forward to a positive outcome as the next step in our living wage implementation.”

Chris Pearson, Director of Human Resources, Goldsmiths College says:

“Goldsmiths College is delighted to be associated with the London Living Wage Campaign. We have already ensured that all our own staff at Goldsmiths are paid substantially above the Mayor’s recently declared figure for the Living Wage. Contractors know that they too will be expected to pay the Living Wage as a minimum to their staff who work in Goldsmiths. If they don’t already do so, they will have to as contracts come up for review or renewal shortly.”

Professor Geoff Whitty, Director of the Institute of Education says:

“The Institute of Education values the contributions of all colleagues who help deliver a first rate student experience. Our externally contracted staff are part of our community and moving to paying the Living Wage is one way in which we can demonstrate our recognition of their contribution to the student experience here at the Institute of Education. In times of financial constraint, making such a commitment will require considerable innovation and flexibility. However, we are intent on working towards the Living Wage as both a reflection of our institutional values and as good business sense.”

Nizam Uddin and Mazdak Alizadeh, President and Vice-President of the University of London Union (ULU), say:

“As University of London students, we’re very proud of the Colleges who are paying the London Living Wage. We expect those not doing it to follow suit. The University of London was founded in 1836 by King’s College London (KCL) and University College London (UCL) on the principles of fair access to education. The Living wage embodies this very principle by ensuring that no child is prevented from accessing Higher Education because of poverty.”

LIVE NOW – Citizens Youth Assembly 2010

admin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:13:54 +0000

Introduction:

Aisha here- i'll be blogging with Rohit and Rex. We're the digital media team.

Today we're going to be sharing how the London Citizen Youth Assembly unfolds.

Ashlee J and Tee J have been on stage and we have just had the roll call of all the groups and institutions involved.

Fantastic to see all these confident and bright kids on the stage. Showcasing and celebrating the diversity and phenomenal achievements over the past year.

Also will be having some LIVE negotiations.

13:12 - We're starting our new live blogging feed.