Monday 26 January 2009

Demonstration, Friday February 27th


Please download this leaflet, distribute it to friends and put on noticeboards. There is an A4 version and a 2xA5 version that will need cutting. RASC are also looking for musicians to entertain the crowds between the speeches. If you are interested in this please let me know.

Sunday 25 January 2009

Well done Tony Benn!

Well done Tony Benn for doing the BBC's job for them!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E21MdXe3BOQIf you agree with Tony Benn and I, that the BBC should have broadcast the Disasters Emergency Committees appeal, then please sign this petition.

Thursday 8 January 2009

More publicity for Station campaign


Forge Today an on-line magazine for Sheffield students, have published an article about the station campaign.http://newsforgetoday.blogspot.com/

There has also been further publicity in the Star, with Action Desk editor David Walsh saying the issue is about to explode in 2009. He may be right as EMT still seem resolute to press ahead with the barriers despite the united opposition of all the political parties on the Council, the local residents, SYPTE, the Civic Trust, Urban Splash and disabled groups like Sheffield Transport 4 all. People are now very angry with East Midlands Trains inability to recognise that they have made a mistake. Rail Journal Chief Executive Anthony Smith recently commented "Clearly it (gating) is not going to work in Sheffield, and they should just drop it, get it out of the franchise. It was daft. It was wrong". The next Residents Against Station Closure meeting is at Victoria Methodist Church, Stafford Road on Tuesday 13th January at 6.30pm. Please come along with ideas on how we can increase the pressure on East Midlands Trains to change their mind. If you haven't yet signed the petition to Geoff Hoon, please do so now, and get your friends to sign too.

Wednesday 7 January 2009

Sheffield Troublemakers


I am currently convalescing and am managing to catch up with some of my reading. I have really enjoyed reading David Price's book, Sheffield Troublemakers Rebels and Radicals in Sheffield History. George III described Sheffield as a 'damned bad place' at a time when the town was notorious for radical agitation. This book traces this radical tradition right up to the 1980s, when David Blunkett's Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire fought Mrs Thatcher. The book tells of dramatic events - the burning of the vicar's Broomhall residence, Samuel Holberry's attempted Chartist uprising, the 'Sheffield outrages' of the 1860s, John Ruskin's Communist experiment in Totley, the Sheffield mass trespass and the raising of the red flag over the town hall in 1981 and the planned attack on St Mary's Bramall Lane, now home to Sheffield Green Fair.It mentions 2 demos that I remember well- the Cutlers Feast, where we barracked Mrs Thatcher outside the Cutlers Hall in 1983 and the March against the Cuts, also in the Thatcher 80's.

The book includes many colourful personalities, such as Joseph Gales, a brilliant newspaper editor who fled to America; Mary Anne Rawson, an impassioned anti-slavery campaigner; John Arthur Roebuck, a radical MP who brought down the government; Edward Carpenter, a socialist prophet and gay pioneer; Father Ommanney, whose ritualism outraged Protestants, J.T. Murphy, who fraternised with Lenin and Stalin; and Ethel Haythornthwaite, who fought to save the countryside.

I found the local references particularly interesting. Skye Edge used to be used as a meeting place for Chartist rebels. Shrewsbury Hospital on Norfolk Road, used to be the home of Ted Wickham, who pioneered Sheffield Industrial Mission. GHB Ward grew up in the Park area and, like me, was formerly a Sunday School teacher at St John's Church, Park. Also like me he was driven out of the church by the vicar, who disagreed with his politics. He then went on to found the Sheffield Clarion Ramblers who led the struggle for access to the local countryside.

The book is valuable historically in describing the important part played in Britain's radical history by this great Northern city, with its dissenting middle classes, its independent-minded artisans, its championship of the weak against the strong and its unwillingness to be pushed around.

The only disappointment with the book is its weak conclusion, which can only quote the "City of Sanctuary" and "Closing the Gap" (now abolished by the Lib Dems) policies of the city as hope for the future of Sheffield radicalism. I certainly see the growth and success of the Green Party as being part of that radicalism, and in particular some of the heroes of recent years, such as Jenny Hales, who campaigned for peace in Iraq in both Iraq wars, Deacon Dave who has just returned from Palestine and the Greenpeace protesters who shut down the old incinerator, painting Toxic Crime on the chimney.The radical tradition is still very much alive in Sheffield, and long may it continue!

Saturday 3 January 2009

Why is climate change such a threat?

Happy New Year! Here is a very helpful animation about why climate change is now such a terrible threat to the planet.Please watch it, then decide on some simple actions you can take to reduce your carbon footprint. Even better, join the Green Party and help us make Sheffield a planet friendly city!

Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip from Leo Murray on Vimeo.