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Stop Harris’s Sardine Academy!

Lord Harris, the carpet trader, is proposing to build a new 950-strong Boys’ Academy (with our money) in East Dulwich, on a tiny disused school site previously only holding 400 pupils. On a wet, cold Sunday in November, the local campaign fighting the proposal, East Dulwich for a Good Education (EDGE) held a passionate public meeting of over 70 people. EDGE was kicked off in May by local residents horrified at the scale of the proposed school and in response to Harris' application for building planning approval from Southwark Council. The campaign quickly drew together people with diverse perspectives, but all focussed on preventing planning approval. Some were primarily worried about the impact of the building on their homes, but many others were concerned about the quality of education that could be offered, and some of them were opposed to school privatisation. EDGE was able to unite around opposition to the density of the school, which would leave virtually no outdoor space for play nor sports - and this at a "sports specialist" academy!

A campaign during the summer had forced Harris to withdraw their planning application, including a large and heated meeting with councillors at which NUT representatives and Respect supporters argued vociferously against Academy policy, to applause and to the obvious discomfort of the Labour councillors. This counteracted attempts to get EDGE to stick to issues about the building only. Round One to EDGE, forcing Harris back to the drawing board.

The public meeting in November opened the debate further. Chaired by a sympathetic Labour councillor, and with a platform including NUT branches and the Campaign for State Education (CASE) the meeting heard of the abject failure of existing academies, of grubby contracts at public expense, and of the broader context of political attack on public services. The debate was passionate and well-informed, and the meeting voted unanimously against the creation of an Academy on the site.

LibDem-run Southwark has managed to privatise almost all its secondary schools, of course without consultation. The sponsors include Ark (offshore venture capitalists), Lord Harris and the Church. The Labour Group have failed to oppose this process, but individual councillors appear uneasy. The need to gain planning approval for the building created a democratic hook for us to build a campaign. Opponents of privatisation have been able to work and debate with a broad-based campaign around the educational viability of the school. Next step - a lobby of the Council demanding that they withdraw support for the revised Harris plan, and rescind existing contracts.

Watch this space.

Report from campaigners in Southwark
 

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.