Gaza book!

Obviously I'm supposed to be slogging away on my Leila Khaled book at this moment, but everyone deserves a little displacement activity and I'm overexcited about Sharyn and my book being on Amazon now. That kind of puts it out there in the real world – it's been getting more and more real, with finalised cover designs (including an afterward from Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, and blurb quotes from Jeremy Hardy: ‘An honest, forthright account full of compassion and insight. It plunges the reader into Gaza.’) and page proofs. But that's behind doors; Amazon is out in the real world. Woohoo.
This also seems like an appropriate time to flag up that people in the UK can get the book for £10 direct from Sharyn or me – that's £2.99 discount on cover price and includes P&P. From Sharyn, see http://talestotell.wordpress.com. I think she's taking cheques only at the moment. From me, people with Paypal accounts can transfer the tenner to Paypal account ID mail [at] sarahirving.net (that needs typing out as a proper email address but I'm not writing it out as one for anti-spam purposes). Don't forget to include a postal address in the Paypal message field. Cheques, made payable to Sarah Irving, should be sent to my Openspace address, which is Unit 1, 41 Old Birley St, Manchester M15 5RF – and again, don't forget a postal address. I know from my days at Ethical Consumer how many people manage to send cheques without adding information on what they're for or who they're from... and please note that Sharyn and I won't actually be getting our stocks of the book until early January, but if anyone wants them as Christmas (and other seasonal celebration) presents we can do vouchers to give to people.

Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Trust - bottling it under right-wing pressure

Last week, representatives of Physicians for Human Rights - Israel, an internationally respected human rights organisation, were scheduled to speak at MRI. As a result of threats by the Zionist Central Council, MRI bosses cancelled the meeting at just a few hours' notice and disseminated false information, ie that the meeting had been cancelled rather than just moved across the road. This was an invitation-only meeting for health professionals on a topic of concern to them as health workers. Below is the story, from organiser Asad Khan, of what happened and what action people can take to congratulate the Pennine Acute Trust which refused to bow to Zionist bullying, to highlight the pathetic cowardice of Central Manchester Trust and to condemn the racist lies of the ZCC.

PHYSICIANS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN MANCHESTER: AFTER THE EVENT, WE NEED YOUR HELP

Dear all
A big thank you to all who attended, publicized or supported Miri Weingarten's day (The Right to Health in a Conflict Zone: a Rendezvous with Physicians for Human Rights-Israel) in the Greater Manchester area.
I think you need to know the full story of how it nearly didn't take place.
The MRI lecture theatre was booked on 14 August and the Grand Round at the Education Centre at Bury on 14 Sep- both by local consultants and well in advance of the date of 22 Oct.
Everything seemed to be going well with the organization of the day, and we were getting a phenomenal level of interest. Nobody at either institution expressed any doubts/disapproval.
However on the evening of 20 Oct I found this on the website of the Zionist Central Council of Greater Manchester:

START
Urgent Call To Stop Anti-Israel Meeting at Manchester Royal Infirmary and Fairfield Hospital
The anti Israel Group, Pysicians for Human Rights - Israel are arranging a talk called 'The Right to Health in a Conflict Zone' at 1830 on 22 October 2009 at Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) and at Fairfield General Hospital, Bury at 1230.

An example of their anti Israel sentiment can be found on the website below
( http://www.facebook.com/l/fccbc;www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/07/israel-gaza-human-rights-report)
and an example of one of their sponsors is as below:
http://www.facebook.com/l/fccbc;pimapalestine.com/site/Cats/view_main/80

If you are upset that an Institution like MRI or Fairfield Hospital could allow such an organistion to speak on its premises.
Contact (this is followed by the contact details for both hospitals' press offices)
and let them know in your own words that their reputation will be tarnished allowing such a group to speak.
END

Needless to say, I was worried sick. First thing on the 21st, we made some enquiries which revealed that someone had already contacted the Press Office of Pennine Acute Hospitals (of which Fairfield is a part) to complain and demand that this 'anti-Semitic' talk be cancelled. We managed to meet the Chief Executive of Pennine that day and he was appalled at this interference in the hospital's affairs by an external agent. He reassured us that he would investigate and within hours he gave orders that the talk was to go ahead.

That day, enquiries to the MRI revealed that they had received a few complaints but the Education Centre were not prepared to bow to pressure and the talk was going ahead.

On the 22nd itself, the talk at Fairfield was a grand success with the highest Grand Round attendance for a long time (approximately 50). However at 1430- 4 hours before Miri's MRI talk- I learned that due to continued threats and complaints, the management of Central Manchester University Hospitals (of which MRI is a part) had cancelled the event. The exact content of the complaints is not known to us but what I have heard is that the hospital cancelled to 'avoid trouble'. With hardly any time to spare, it looked like there would be no lecture but luckily we managed to find an alternative venue across the road from the hospital. We stationed people outside the MRI postgrad to direct them to the new venue and also put up a notice. In the end, we had a brilliant meeting lasting two hours attended by approximately 100 people- mostly healthcare professionals. However I have come to know that some people- especially within MRI- did not make it to the new venue as the Trust intranet had put up a notice about the cancellation. Also, there are reports that MRI security personnel were asking guests to leave the hospital premises as the event was no longer taking place. Interestingly, by 9 pm (when the talk finished) the call to block the meeting had disappeared from the ZCC website.

At neither of the meetings did anyone object to- or even disagree with- what was said. Miri is wonderfully charismatic, with a real passion for justice, and an excellent speaker. I have already received enquiries from people wanting to host her and even some who wish to go to work in Israel/Palestine.

The whole idea that Physicians for Human Rights-Israel is anti-Semitic or even anti-Israel is ludicrous given that the organization is overwhelmingly comprised of Jewish Israelis of whom Miri is one. The talk itself was about the violation of the right to access healthcare, and was entirely appropriate for an audience of healthcare professionals. The orchestrated bullying tactics of the Zionist Central Council are well-known in the Northwest and violate the fundamental right of freedom of expression. If they disagreed with what was going to be said, they were welcome to come and express an alternative viewpoint. However, their objective has always been solely to silence any criticism of Israel. In this case, they failed.

PIMA is a registered charity which takes healthcare professionals and equipment to the Palestinian territories. It is not a political organization. And to use a brief newspaper report as 'proof' of an organization's 'anti-Israel sentiment' is ridiculous.

As for Central Manchester University Hospitals- it is regrettable that they panicked in the face of pressure and an event that had been booked for two months was cancelled with a few hours' notice. No attempt was made to determine if indeed there was anything objectionable in the subject matter of the talk and the Trust took the easiest option of simply stopping the talk. Had we not been fortunate enough to find the alternative venue, over 100 people- some of whom had travelled from Liverpool and Bradford- would have been deprived of the opportunity to hear a speaker from an internationally respected human rights organization.

Using the above points, I am asking you to do as many of the following things as you can-

1. Congratulate Pennine Acute Hospitals: If you were at the Fairfield talk or study/work within Pennine Acute, please convey your appreciation to Mr John Saxby, Chief Executive for his principled stance in favour of freedom of expression and institutional autonomy in the face of external pressure.

You can email him via his executive assistant: Janette.Melia [at] pat.nhs.uk
Or phone him on 0161 604 5462
Or write to him at
Mr John Saxby, Chief Executive, The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, North Manchester General Hospital, Manchester M8 5RB

2. Make your disgust known to the Zionist Central Council
Let them know that their allegations that the talk was anti-Semitic or that PHR-I is an anti-Israel group are baseless (for the reasons outlined above). Also tell them that the talk was a grand success and therefore they failed in their motive. Their attempts to silence any meaningful criticism of Israel will only be met with further determination on our part to organize and support such events. Inform them that we will be working to expose their primitive attempts at censorship by spreading the word in the wider media.
ZCC tel no 0161 740 8835 email zccoffice@zcc.org.uk

3. Complain to Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Trust
Convey your disappointment at the fact that they took the easy option and bowed to external pressure. Say that it was extremely impolite to cancel at a few hours' notice a meeting with an internationally respected human rights organization booked months in advance. This was a medical meeting by invitation only in a hospital and was no business of the general public. Seek reassurance that in the future, they will seek to establish the facts first before caving in to pressure. They also ignored the fact that among the organizers were Medsin and Medact, which are nationally respected networks of medical students and doctors concerned about global health inequalities.

Email the Chief Executive via his PA at Michelle.Green@cmft.nhs.uk
Or telephone her (via switchboard unfortunately) 0161 2761234
Or write a formal complaint to
The Chief Executive, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Headquarters, Cobbett House, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9WL

PLEASE REMEMBER- be brief, stick to the facts, use polite language and stay calm. Write/phone as individuals giving your name and designation (rather than as an organization). However, be firm and make it clear that you expect a response.

4. Disseminate this in the wider media
Email the local/national press. And if any of you are Jewish and object to the tactics of the ZCC, please consider writing to papers such as the Jewish Chronicle to express your disapproval.
Please do not ignore this email. It is too easy to shrug our shoulders and say 'the Zionist lobby are so powerful'. For they are not- if we get our act together.
Best wishes
Asad Khan

Jan Moir's career to die of perfectly natural causes

Just a quick little post to share an amusing bit of biteback to the vile Jan Moir column on the death of Stephen Gately, from Newsarse, which is funny without falling into the otherwise marvellous Onion's trap of going on FAR too long.
And here is a less frothy but more pertinent piece on why Moir might have been made by her bosses at the Hate Mail to do some grovelling... the power of advertising.

Signs o' the times

It was very odd the other morning to witness the Mail and the Express using the word Bigot in big headline letters to describe the execrable Nick Griffin of the BNP in the wake of his BBC TV debut. Mainly because the gap between the views on immigrants and women regularly espoused by said papers is usually pretty damn close to those of Mr Griffin. But I supposed they prefer their reactionary racism to be spouted by people at least one remove from out-and-out fascism, so they need to put some clear blue water between him and themselves. Weird to watch though.
On the subject of clear blue water - and, indeed, borderline fascism - a lurking cold, brain fatigue (the Leila Khaled book is due in in a week) and the NHS's ongoing slowness in offering any solution to my knackered hip have driven me once again into the arms of NCIS. A truly appalling show, but my goodness Mark Harmon is some quality eye candy. Hence the gratuitous pic. Just look at those lovely twinkly eyes.
Brian Candeland of Manchester Green Party has some good points to make about the decline of the local press here, as well as also pointing out the fallacy of assuming that because it's a less tangible Thing, the internet doesn't have a whopping environmental impact. To add to his info, I'll point out that the average server has similar climate change emissions to that bugbear of environmentalists, the SUV.
I suspect that Candeland and other Manchester G/greens will have their work cut out on coming months opposing Tesco's plans for one of its biggest grounds in the UK, being plotted in collusion with the corporate whores at Lancashire Cricket Club. There's a new campaign website here and I suspect that if Trafford council are stupid enough to let the proposals through the planning stage, this will turn into a big campaign - as one south Manchester environmentalist, a veteran of the Newbury and Manchester Second Runway direct action campaigns and now aspiring to a quiet life and parenthood (if those two are remotely compatible), said a while back, "Oh God, I hope it doesn't go through, or I'll have to go and sit on diggers and down tunnels again, won't I?" Well, there was an opening demo last week, and probably loads more to come. I'll be with you, guys, just as soon as I get that new hip...

Manchester food

There are some brilliant local food projects happening in Manchester at the moment. One of them is Abundance, which, inspired by a similar initiative in Sheffield, picks surplus fruit and veg and - in a proper example of joined-up thinking - distributes it to places like homeless hostels, projects supporting destitute asylum seekers and inner-city programmes supporting people with mental health needs. That is, the kind of people who are often excluded from getting good-quality, beautifully fresh local fruit.
Today, though, I'm excited about the news that the lovely Dig, who deliver my Tuesday morning veg box (today featuring a really spectacular bright purple cauliflower) are branching out from delivery into growing their own supplies. They're taking on some of the land at Dunham Massey, where a lot of the veg they deliver comes from already, and experimenting with new polytunnels to get a wider variety of veg over longer seasons. And being thoughtful kinds of people, they're also busy having a think about how environmentally focused food projects like this will get their produce into urban centres in the most sustainable way.

Plums image pinched from Abundance Manchester.

Blog Action Day on climate change

Well, today's Blog Action Day on climate change, so I have a specific incentive to blog and to focus on climate change, which isn't unusual for me (see tags) but isn't the main thing I waffle on about.
There are various things I could have picked for this - including the head-exploding fatuousness of Radio4's perky little headline this morning that 'in ten years the Arctic Ocean might be open to shipping' - presented as an interesting and potentially useful bit of information rather than something REALLY FUCKING TERRIFYING. But there's the halfwittedness of BBC climate coverage for you.
But instead I'm going to harp on a bit about the secondhand bookstall outside Manchester Metropolitan University. This may not seem an obvious climate change issue, but of course given that - despite campaigning by Greenpeace on the subject - many books are still printed on unsustainable virgin-timber paper, contributing to climate-damaging deforestation, secondhand books are definitely an eco option.
But MMU's management are - after the best part of twenty years offering cheap, quality books to both students and the local community - trying to drive the bookstall out of its place at the front of the MMU student union. There's a strong student and community campaign and some unflattering coverage, though, and other organisations in the area have made it clear that they see the bookstall as an asset not a threat, so hopefully MMU's attempt to clean them off its steps will crash and burn.
This is an interesting choice of timing for MMU, since it should be busy trying to enhance its green and community credentials, given that it's attempting to stress the potential values of its massive new planned development in Hulme, on some of the few remaining green spaces within any kind of reach of Manchester city centre and a valuable biodiversity site for a whole range of interesting plants, as well as for goldfinches in the summer and migrant species like redwings and fieldfares in the autumn and winter. I'm not sure what's gotten into MMU at the moment - it also seems to be trying to shaft a few other community initiatives attached to the university, which must needs remain nameless, but I fear it's caught a bad attack of corporateness from its neighbours at Manchester University, and that bodes ill for academic freedom, community relations and Manchester generally.

Tories in Manchester...

On tonight's Channel 4 news coverage of the closing day of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, I just saw Alan Duncan fulminating against a tweeted question about Dave C's homophobic friends in Europe.
Duncan's concentration on the fact that he, as a gay man, doesn't feel threatened was unfortunately typical of Tories – in the upper classes, you've always been able to get away with behaviour outside of bourgeois respectability, because the highest strata of society is always cushioned by its money and privilege, even if it does things that get less affluent people – at best – ostracised and - at worst - kicked to death.
The question had been put online by that nasty little Manc Labour hack Kevin Peel, who was probably thrilled to get a pasting from a Tory on primetime TV. On this occasion, though, I have to acknowledge that he has a point, given the extremely unpleasant nature of the some of the right-wing, racist, homophobic, anti-semitic, misogynistic etc etc etc characters that Cameron's MEPs are hobnobbing with in the European Parliament.
I have to confess that, currently being a cripple with little incentive to head into the city centre this week, Conservative Conference has largely passed me by. I did actually want to go to one of the fringe meetings (quite an embarrassing confession, that) – one on future Tory Middle East policy, run by the Conservative Middle East Council and CAABU, the Council for Arab-British Understanding.
Unfortunately, it was behind the security cordon and therefore I would have had to fork out an eye-popping two hundred quid to get there. Which given that the Tories are trying to insist on their accessibility and relevance seems a little steep. It's also disappointing on CAABU's part. I used to be a member, and I always got the impression that they're rather desperate for members, and their research and other work is quite interesting. But my joining a few years back seemed to coincide with them giving up any attempt to run events outside London, and I am increasingly sick of the capital's assumption that it's the centre of the bloody universe and we should all be heading down there on a regular basis if we want to have any decent cultural, intellectual or political experiences. It is, therefore, a pity that their first non-London event in quite some years was in such a patrician and pricey environment.
So I just got to indulge in a little cheap schadenfreude last Friday at the 'we've still got a few places left...' round-robin from CMEC, apparently trying to drum up a little trade for their event-beyond-the-barricades.
So, as the Tories clear out, Manchester gets ready for a visit from a really, really nasty bunch of dirty little fascists.