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RESPECT Councillors shape the agenda and focus of last week’s Council meeting.

Councillors welcomed outstanding moves to tighten up use of licensing powers to regulate the spread of sex/strip clubs, but made clear that action is needed. Councillor Shahed Ali led demands for clear definitions of how powers to stop ‘adult entertainment’ in ‘close proximity’ to homes, schools and places of worship will be interpreted.


RESPECT councillors are calling on community groups, campaigners and everyone concerned to respond to the review now taking place on the impact of strip clubs and such venues in the borough.
Motions from RESPECT councillors set the agenda for debate.
Cllr Fozol Miah moving a motion on Anti-Racism and Community Cohesion, highlighted persistent institutional racism, quoting Tower Hamlets Unison's judgement that black or minority Ethnic workers are 'less likely to be short listed or appointed to a Council job, less likely to be promoted and to be in a management job, and more likely to be sacked for failing your probation, misconduct or redundancy.'
RESPECT councillors highlighted the need for community cohesion based on active promotion of multi-culturalism, which is under attack from the "New Racism", and proud and active anti-racism to reflect council policies.

Councillor Abjol Miah also highlighted the need for housing designed to meet the needs of all residents, including large extended families, cultural groups and the disabled e.g. open design kitchen and living room, toilet and bathroom joint; entering kitchen through living room is not
practical
for family use. Parking space should be made available for family car use and blue budges by reviewing policies on Car Free Zones and vote should be taken by full council to meet the need of Tower Hamlets Residents.
Councillor Mamun Rashid spoke up for Shadwell residents, calling for council help in raising the £400,000 needed to build a large multi-purpose community centre on the Tarling estate, an important contribution to addressing the many needs of groups in Shadwell.
"The council can find ways to continue pumping money into the failing 'Rick Mix Centre' which is used by city-slickers.
Why are they reluctant to find money for this much needed community centre for Shadwell residents?"
Councillor Shahed Ali moved a motion to extend the meeting by 30 minutes to conclude this motion but this was refused by lazy Labour councillors who could not care less, and simply wanted to go home. However, Respect councillors will pursue this through all channels, asking the Council and other bodies to help raise this much needed money.
Other RESPECT motions were successfully passed, with supportive amendments.

Councillor Abjol Miah, leader of the RESPECT group of councillors, says: 'This was a very positive outcome for the people of Tower Hamlets.
By raising these issues we have focused council attention and highlighted residents' concerns.
On tackling the spread of sleaze and racism, designing homes for local people, recognising the needs of disabled, elderly and blue badge households and families, we are getting the Council to act.'
 

News and articles of interest

Here are some articles and news reports we think are worth looking at

Gaza: The Real Terrorists - Stuart Littlewood
The patience of all decent men must surely be exhausted.
Today's slaughter of innocents in Gaza, with at least 230 reported killed in raids on "Hamas terror operatives" (as the Israeli military put it), amounted to "a mass execution", said Hamas.
Can there now be any doubt who the real terrorists are?
The killing spree couldn't have happened without the tacit approval of America, Britain and the EU. The political pea-brains that direct the pro-Israel western alliance were partying, gorging themselves on Christmas fare or binge-shopping while this massacre of hungry women and children and their despairing menfolk in Gaza was being planned and executed.

Stench of Death Hangs Over Gaza - Ola Attallah
With thick clouds of smoke billowing into the sky and dead bodies littering into the streets, a stench of death rose from the ruins of the Gaza Strip on Saturday, December 27.
"Where are my sons?" screamed Um Ibrahim as she ran hysterically looking for her little kids.
She lives near a security compound Israeli planes pounded to the ground on Saturday.
"I don't know what happened to them," cried the bereaved mother.
Her neighbor Um Abed fell unconscious when she saw her son among the dead in the attacks.
At least 206 Palestinians were killed in massive Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
"The number of victims has reached 195 martyrs with more than 300 wounded, 120 of whom are critically hurt," said Moawiya Hassanein, the head of Gaza emergency services.
"The toll has gone up because of new Israeli raids and the discovery of several martyrs under the rubble."

Gaza massacres must spur us to action - Ali Abunimah
"I will play music and celebrate what the Israeli air force is doing." Those were the words, spoken on Al Jazeera today by Ofer Shmerling, an Israeli civil defense official in the Sderot area adjacent to Gaza, as images of Israel's latest massacres were broadcast around the world.
A short time earlier, US-supplied Israeli F-16 warplanes and Apache helicopters dropped over 100 bombs on dozens of locations in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip killing at least 195 persons and injuring hundreds more. Many of these locations were police stations located, like police stations the world over, in the middle of civilian areas. The US government was one of the first to offer its support for Israel's attacks, and others will follow.

Face to face with the Taliban - Ghaith Abdul Ahad
Qomendan Hemmet sat cross-legged under a window of the mud-walled room. His shoulder, sunk in an old military jacket, rested against the wall and a radio antenna stuck out of his pocket. Next to him sat his deputy, wrapped in a big blanket, silent and sleepy. Around the room sat his men, their faces contorted by years of fighting and poverty, dressed in shalwar kameez and magazine pouches, eyes dark as the kohl lining them. Radios crackled, phones rang non-stop, and more fighters came, drank tea and left with orders.
"Salar is the new Falluja," declared Qomendan Hemmet emphatically. "The Americans and the Afghan army control the highway, and five metres on each side. The rest is our territory."

Communication Workers Union vows to fight any privatisation - Christine Buckley
The main postal union gave warning yesterday that it would fight any move to partly privatise Royal Mail as expectations grow that the organisation is facing a huge shake-up.
This week the Government is expected to publish an independent report that it commissioned into the postal service which will pave the way for an overhaul of Royal Mail.

Free Bush shoe-thrower, Iraqis urge - Aljazeera.net
Thousands of Iraqis have demonstrated in Baghdad's Sadr City in support of a journalist being held in custody after throwing his shoes at George Bush, the US president.
Muntazer al-Zaidi was detained for what the Iraqi government on Monday said was a "barbaric and ignominious act" during a news conference the previous day.