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Tories show their true colours voting to end mother tongue funding
"I am utterly disgusted at the behaviour of the Tory councillors at tonight's full council meeting, when they voted to end mother tongue funding," said a furious Abjol Miah, Respect Group leader on Tower Hamlets Council. "They have singled out the Bangladeshi community in Tower Hamlets for attack. I wonder if any Tory councillor consulted with any of their Bangladeshi members. I don't think their Bangladeshi members would have given this any support had they known this was what the Tory councillors planned."
The funding of mother tongue studies for 500 young people in Tower Hamlets is fully justified in terms of promoting their self-esteem and real community cohesion.
Mother tongue funding is just £719,000 of the council's annual budget but makes a huge difference to the educational opportunities, the self-confidence and prospects of many young people from the BME communities in Tower Hamlets.
Not only does it show the respect for Tower Hamlets diverse communities which has been a central feature of the history of Tower Hamlets council, it promotes literacy and raises educational attainment.
The attack on mother tongue funding left the Tories completely isolated on the council and subject to withering attack from all the other parties.
Abjol Miah, who is Respect's candidate for Bethnal Green and Bow in the general election, continued: "This exposes the rancid under-belly of these Conservatives. They tried to pretend they were interested in the less well off and minorities but this was just a facade. We always knew they would expose themselves, I just didn't expect it to be so soon.
"They have shown their hypocrisy at turning up to 21st February International Language Day to try to get cheap popularity then to do this tonight. I am particularly disgusted they were joined by their newest recruit Ahmed Hussain in this insult to the Bangladeshi community in Tower Hamlets.
"However, we can't let New Labour off the hook," continued Councillor Miah. "New Labour are capitulating every day to the Islamophobic press and the fear the Tories will play the race card.
"They are doing it on immigration, the so-called war on terror and on many other issues. We need to fight this appalling agenda set by the likes of the Sun and stand up for our principles of equality, fairness and justice."
 

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.