Claremont Road Kurdish bakery

Despite the shite weather, less-than-marvellous waste disposal and occasional pissed/gouched neighbours staggering past at all hours, sometimes I love living in Moss Side. One of the best things to pop up in our neighbourhood recently is the new Kurdish bakery on Claremont Road, between the Natwest Bank on the corner with Lloyd St and the old Maine Road ground.


There are no complicated choices to make here. You walk in and give the guys at the desk the number of hot, fragrant flat breads you want (in multiples of four). One young man flips the fat balls of dough waiting on the side with his hands until they're about a foot wide and flat, then the other uses a kind of cushion to slap them onto the inside of the oven and tongs to whisk them back out, seconds later. They come out a bit like a nan bread, but lighter, and absolutely delicious. And at a pound for four, a total bargain.

Manchester Anarchist Bookfair

Message from Dave at Manchester Anarchist Bookfair:

We can now announce that the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair will take
place from 11.00am until 5.00pm on Saturday 2nd October 2010 at The
Dancehouse Theatre, Oxford Road (opposite the BBC).
The venue is bigger and more importantly brighter than last year!
Are you interested in having a stall at the next Manchester Anarchist
Bookfair?
Stalls cost £10 per table.
If you are a bookstore or distributor and require more you can book
more tables at £10 per table.
Let us know how many you need.
We'll be posting details of stalls as they are confirmed at:
http://www.bookfair.org.uk
Follow us on twitter
If you live in Manchester and want to get involved in organising
things get in touch.

Ivor Dembina at Manchester Peace Festival

Tickets for anti-Zionist Jewish comic Ivor Dembina's show 'This is Not a Subject for Comedy', running in Manchester for one night only as part of Manchester Peace Festival, are now on sale. The show will be on Wednesday September 22nd at 7.30pm.

According to The Independent, the show tells “the story of how Dembina, 58, had his own unconditional support for the Jewish state challenged when he visited Israel and the West Bank between 2003 and 2005, and the hostility he faced from friends and family for his views.” A review of the show can be seen here, and an interview with Dembina here.

All proceeds from this event will be split between the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and the Free Gaza movement.

Manchester Peace Festival will be launched with an opening concert on September 18th, headed by folk singer Leon Rosselson.

Full details of how to buy tickets for Ivor Dembina, as well as information on the many other events taking place during Manchester Peace Festival, can be found at http://manchesterpeacefestival.wordpress.com/whats-on-at-the-peace-festival/

Tom Hurndall killer released

Anyone familiar with Israeli concepts of justice will be depressed but unsurprised to hear - from a report in Ha'aretz earlier this week - that the soldier who shot peace activist and former MMU student Tom Hurndall is to be released before his sentence is up. Taysir Heib was sentenced to eight years in jail for manslaughter in 2005, so he has been released 3 years early, on the orders of an Army committee acting against official legal positions. The Israeli military's culture of impunity strikes again.
It's rare for Israeli soldiers to be prosecuted or even disciplined for killing or wounding unarmed people, even in the very few cases when those killed are international activists, rather than Palestinians. This week a not-atypical sequence of stories appeared in Ha'aretz, an earlier one stating that a Palestinian shot dead while trying to break into the Barkan settlement in the West Bank was "apparently armed," while an update today revealed that a preliminary enquiry showed that actually, he was unarmed. Guess which version will get quoted by Israel's supporters, and which will vanish down the memory hole? I can't give a link to the second version as it only appeared on the 'breaking news' feed. Will it even get a full story?
It is likely that one of the reasons that a soldier was even convicted for Tom Hurndall's death is that the man who fired the shot was Bedouin, and therefore subject to routine racism in Israeli society anyway.
The Hurndall family have expressed their anger and distress at the move, which they heard about from the British FCO, not the Israelis, but Tom Hurndall's sister commented that it was the Israeli system they were concerned about, not the fate of an individual soldier who they extended compassion to. The family have previously been openly critical about the lack of support they received from 'Middle East Peace Envoy' (WTF? I mean, really) Tony Blair while he was still Prime Minister.

Gaza art exhibition at Manchester Cathedral

Image converted to jpg from pdf by the wonderful zamzar.com

Carbon Co-op - events in Moss Side

Email from friends at the Carbon Co-op:

In March 2010 The Carbon Co-op launched its Moss Side project with the Carbon Co-op
Manual offering advice on saving energy in the home. Now we’re inviting you to take the next steps by joining us for a free workshop and tour of local green projects.

*Moss Side Carbon Co-op workshop*
6pm-8pm, Tuesday 22nd June 2010
Greenheys Centre, Gt Western Street, Moss Side
How do you use electricity and gas in your home?
What simple ways are there to save energy and cuts bills?
How might local people club together to make savings cheaply and simply?

Come along to this free workshop to pick up some practical hints and tips and share
experiences with other Moss Side residents.
Arrive 5.30pm for complimentary food and refreshment

*The Big Red Bus Tour of Green Projects*
Midday-4pm, Saturday 19th June 2010
- See energy saving projects up close
- Meet people who have transformed their houses and hear how they did it
- See renewable energy projects from the top deck of a red London bus!
Departs midday from Greenheys Centre, Great Western Street, Moss Side, returns 4pm.
Complimentary food and refreshments available

Book spaces
Both events are FREE! To book a space on the workshop or the Big Red Bus tour call 0161 408 6492 or email info@carbon.coop

Find out more about the Carbon Co-op: 0161 408 6492 or www.carbon.coop

In collaboration with Great Western Street Residents Association and Peace FM.

Sharyn Lock on Gaza flotilla killings (and Israeli hasbara)

As someone who was in Gaza during the 08/09 attacks, working with the ambulances, I saw first hand the contradictions to all the lies Israel told then.

It makes it impossible for me to trust their side of the story now, when they are preventing us not just from contacting our friends for their side of the story, but from even finding out if they are alive or dead.

I personally know my close friends on board the boats would take an Israeli bullet rather than resist violently in any way - and in the past, some of us have - Caoimhe Butterly for example.

But isn't the question we should be asking instead - why didn't the Navy just stay home and let the aid through, when the flotilla was going nowhere near them, as FreeGaza boats never had in the past?

From Sharyn Lock, founding member of the FreeGaza movement, nonviolence trainer, passenger on the first and fourth FreeGaza boat trips, and author of Gaza: Beneath the Bombs

Local food event, June 12th

I'll be at a wedding somewhere terrifyingly countrified, but in Manchester on 12th of June this very worthwhile event will be happening:

“Create your own Abundance” open event
Saturday 12th June, 11am-1pm at Madlab,  36-40 Edge St, Northern Quarter, Manchester City Centre, M4 1HN
Abundance Manchester invites groups and individuals in Greater Manchester to find out how they can cut food waste, have fun, reduce food miles, get fit, help vulnerable people and strengthen their communities.....all at the same time. How? By coming to an open event designed to help them set up an 'Abundance' project in their area.
Abundance Manchester is a small voluntary group that harvests surplus and unwanted fruit and veg from gardens, allotments and public places and distributes it to places that need it, like homeless hostels and refugee projects. It has been running for 2 years in South Manchester, covering Chorlton, Didsbury, Withington, Fallowfield & Whalley Range. Jointly with several other Abundance projects in the country, it is one of 3 schemes shortlisted for the ‘Best Grassroots Project’ award at the Observer's Ethical Awards 2010.
“Abundance is a great project, but we can only cover a tiny fraction of Greater Manchester, and we want people in other areas to take advantage of the 'abundance' of fresh produce that's going to waste where they live” said Debbie Clarke of the group. “And we'd like to help get them started”.
On Saturday 12th June, Abundance Manchester is holding a short open event in Manchester city centre where people can find out just how easy it is to start and run their own Abundance project, or something like it. The group will provide tips and advice on getting started, plus the chance to connect interested people from the same areas.
Starts 11am with a short presentation, followed by discussion and one to one advice. Those interested are asked to book by Monday 7th June, as places are limited.
For more info (& to book) - email: abundancemanchester[at]yahoo.co.uk, phone: Nicola: 07515 116 730 or Debbie: 07967 227 981, website: http://abundancemanchester.wordpress.com/

And congratulations to Abundance, especially Nicola, on that Observer Ethical Awards shortlisting. Full details of the shortlist for this year's awards are here - we'll know if Abundance gets the top prize in June.

Manchester Peace Festival benefit gig

10th May 2010
Benefit night for Manchester Peace Festival
Sand Bar, Grosvenor Street (off Oxford Road) 7.30-late
Music from Vanessa Lewis, Black Jack Barnet, Uncle Meat and the Highway Children, and poetry from Lauren Bolger. And cake. All proceeds to Manchester Peace Festival

Another reply on Palestine (pity about the literacy...) and more election communications

The free postal leaflets for Marc Ramsbottom, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Manchester Central, finally turned up yesterday (a bit late for us postal voters...). This was the biggest of the lot - an A3 size sheet of paper folder into 4 to make an A5 flier. Sadly, the concept of 'less is more' hasn't been introduced to Lib Dem designers. The example below was, unfortunately, crumpled up and put in the recycling by Beloved Husband, so it's a bit creased, but you can see what I mean:






Yesterday's other bit of election communication was the second response I've received to my second round of candidate-mithering via the Palestine Solidarity Campaign website. The first came from Marc Ramsbottom, and yesterday's came from Gayle O'Donovan, the Green Party's main hope for a council seat in Manchester, even though her chances of dislodging Tony Lloyd at Parliamentary level are about level with the survival hopes of a Louisiana seabird.
The email read as follows:

Hi Sarah,
I campaign allot on this issue with Action Palestine, the Free Gaza Boat Project and the PSC. This is a subject close to my heart and I will do whatever is within my power to fight for the rights of Palestinians.
Best Wishes
Gayle O'Donovan

Commendable sentiments, of course. Bit ropey on the literacy side of things, what with 'allot' being a verb meaning to allocate or hand out. It should, of course, be two separate words, 'a lot'. Churlish of me, I know, and I'm sure our pressurised candidates have bigger things to think about than their grammar at this point. But standards, dear boy, standards. It also doesn't specifically say whether she is signing up to the pledge which the email she's replying to asks her to support, and which the Green Party candidates for Manchester Gorton (Justine Hall) and Manchester Withington (Brian Candeland) have signed, according to the list on the PSC website.

A reply on Palestine!

As with the Refugee Council pledge on asylum, the prize for quickest response goes to Marc Ramsbottom, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Manchester Central. If nothing else, this guy's got an effective campaign office.
Having sent a second round of the PSC's automated election lobbying messages to all candidates who'd supplied emails - I think a couple of days ago, lost count now - this arrived in my email inbox this morning. He says he can't sign the pledge - which seems a little odd, since six of his Lib Dem colleagues have, according to the PSC's list here. However:

Dear Sarah
Thank you for your question. As described in the Manifesto, we seek peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, involving two separate Israeli and Palestinian states which both recognize each other and are internationally accepted, following the borders before the Six-Day War. We will also push Britain and the EU to pressure Israel and Egypt to end the Gaza blockade. We also support an International Arms Trade Treaty to regulate the sale of arms to dangerous regimes and would stop British arms from being sold to states which use them for internal oppression.
Therefore, in answer to your questions, we will call on Israel to relinquish the territories you mention. We will lobby to end the siege in Gaza. In accordance with our manifesto, if Israel is shown to be using arms for internal oppression, we will not sell British arms to Israel. We would also go further, addressing the factors causing such conflict. If elected, the Foreign Secretary would actively work for both the establishment of two separate states in acceptable borders, and for an International Arms Trade Treaty including an international ban on cluster munitions. As we have already agreed policies for the Party in the Manifesto, we are unable to sign pledges outside this. However, as you can see, we specifically support the goals which you are understandingly concerned about.
Marc
Cllr Marc Ramsbottom
Liberal Democrat Councillor - City Centre Ward

On the Refugee Council pledge, I still have nothing in the post from Tony Lloyd, despite an email saying I would be getting something 'in the next few days' - ten days ago. I also have zilch from the Tory Suhail Rahuja, but then he might not have got round to clearing out his inbox to know what messages he's actually got...
On other issues, this morning we get confirmation - thirty years late - that anti-fascist campaigner Blair Peach was indeed murdered by a copper who then, along with his mates, lied about it. Well, golly gee.

Tony Lloyd's Big Smiley Leaflet

Well, no sign of the promised reply from Tony Lloyd on the subject of the Refugee Council asylum pledge, but this morning the postie did deliver a slightly scary leaflet featuring Mr Lloyd smiling broadly. The punctuation's a bit ropey, though. And there was only one copy, addressed to Beloved Husband. Our surnames are only a letter away from each other in the alphabet, so I'll assume that mine's on its way, rather than Labour are following the Tories' views on matrimony.

Banksy and the Bethlehem Donkey

Last weekend, at a symposium to accompany the opening of the Contemporary Art Iraq exhibition at the Cornerhouse in Manchester, I encountered someone who was possibly the most breathtakingly rude, arrogant and self-aggrandising journalist I have ever had the misfortune to meet. Which was a pity, because the symposium was fairly interesting (although the speaker count was pretty much halved by the effects of the Icelandic ash cloud) and this woman's aggressive, narrow-focused interrogation of the presenters racked up the tension amongst speakers and audience so much that little real debate seemed possible. It was also a pity because she had some really useful insights and very interesting experiences and information - she just chose to present them in such an exclusionary way that engaging with her was impossible. She is on the editorial team of a magazine I've long respected and have written for in the past; I suspect I won't be going near it again, and from the conversations I've had subsequently, she comprehensively alienated a room full of people who should have been amongst her publication's target market.
However, I should be grateful to her for one thing. She reminded me that I should write up a little anecdote I've been trotting out for a while as an example of the confusions which can plague political art.
On a return visit to the West Bank in spring 2009, my friend Samer pointed out to me the places near Bethlehem checkpoint where graffiti artist Banksy had left his mark. Several of Banksy's wittier contributions to the many murals, stencils and tags on the Israeli military's Separation Wall remained but, as reported widely in December 2007, an image depicting a donkey being id'd by an Israeli soldier had been painted over by irate locals.
According to Samer, Banksy's images had heightened debates amongst locals over whether drawing, painting and spray-painting on the Wall was an act of defiance or a beautification of the unforgivable, something to make the Wall easier to live with and detract from its role in wrecking the Palestinian economy, cutting people off from jobs and hospitals and educational opportunities, and stealing large areas of Palestinian land.
But the donkey cartoon had been singled out for particular criticism by some Bethlehemites. To call someone a donkey the Middle East is excruciatingly insulting, and locals felt that the image compared them with the creature depicted. Hence the mural's fate under a layer of new paint. And, on the roundabout heading into Bethlehem from the checkpoint, even fourteen months later in 2009 and unnoticed by the reporters who initially recorded the story, several concrete blocks bore the sinister message 'R.I.P. Banksy.'

Blog also posted at Menassat, the Arab media community.

I've voted!

... in the Manchester local elections, at least - where the choice in Moss Side was between the Big 3, the Greens and an independent who I can find no policies for online and who hasn't been round canvassing, so has somewhat missed the boat. My early vote is because for some historical reason I can't remember, I have a postal ballot, and once you have one of these it seems to be automatic (isn't this one of the reasons it's potentially open to fraud? Surely I could die or emigrate and Beloved Husband, who has a rough idea of my signature, and possibly an even rougher one of my date of birth, could just keep on voting...anyway).
I'm not saying who I voted for. Suffice to say it wasn't the Tories, whose execrable leader is currently smarming his way down the airwaves at me, although the R4 callers are poking him with sharp enough sticks to stop me haring down the stairs for the Off button. He's currently trying to justify his regressive, socially conservative attempt to bribe people into matrimony.
For some bizarre reason, the Conservative Party has forked out for phone box advertising in Moss Side, which is affording me mild amusement each time I leave the house, seeing how much more of the ads have been peeled off, especially from the one by the cashpoint where I guess bored people have a bit of a rip while they're queuing.
Certain items haven't yet arrived in the post. One is my General Election ballot papers, which is fair enough; I'm not expecting them till next week. The other is the letter from Tony Lloyd, giving his position on asylum and immigration, which I was told a full week ago now had been posted.
And absolutely no reply to a SECOND shot at emailing all my candidates from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign lobbying website. The list was interesting: the PSC seems to have acquired the emails for Tony Lloyd and Suhail Rahuja (if he's bothered to clear his inbox out), but doesn't yet have contacts for 3 candidates I didn't know about - those from the Workers Revolutionary Party, the vile UKIP, and one from Socialist Equality. What the PSC site does have is a list of which candidates have signed up to their pledge - a list dominated by Greens (although NOT including Manchester Central candidate Gayle O'Donovan), with some from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Respect, small numbers from various independents and devolved national parties, and none at all from the Tories (although it does say they've had some responses from Conservatives, which implies some have had the decency to get back saying why/why not).
Finding this list, I headed to Wikipedia, where I found out some interesting and generally unpleasant additional facts about Manchester Central. Firstly, that we have the second highest unemployment of any constituency in the country. And secondly, that as well as a Socialist Labour one I hadn't previously noticed and the creepy UKIP, we have a candidate from the fucking fascist BNP scum, some lowlife called Tony Trebilock. Mr Trebilock, unsurprisingly, doesn't seem keen to divulge much about where he lives, and I can't imagine he'll be showing his face in Moss Side too much...

Unlikely birdspotting

I was surprised enough to see a Greater Spotted Woodpecker in Moss Side last autumn, but today I got a really glorious bit of urban birdlife. Walking down the banks of the Irwell near the Lowry Hotel, I saw a rapid flash of turquoise, which zipped fast along the river, low above the water and off under Blackfriars Bridge. I thought I must be fantasising to think it could be a kingfisher, but several posts on the Manchester Birding Forum confirm that there have been a number of sightings on that stretch - right in the heart of the city. Wow.



Image pinched from some birding forum but copyright Cook Images.

Tony Lloyd on refugees... perhaps

In the latest installment of the Refugee Council Election Pledge saga (Manchester Central strand) I have an email reply from Tony Lloyd's office, in response to my reminder email, saying:

Thank you for your e-mail. A reply from Tony about this issue was posted to you yesterday, you should receive it in the next few days.
Yours sincerely,
George
Office of Tony Lloyd

The email was dated Friday 16th, and the letter hasn't arrived yet. Given the standard of postal services in Moss Side that could just mean it's been delivered to any of the six houses either side of mine. I await it with bated breath...
Still nothing from Suhail Rahuja for the Tories, although maybe that's because it's taking so long to clear out his full inbox...
Not one of the candidates has replied to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign message. I don't know if that's a technical problem, or a political one.
On a wider Manchester stage, the Tory council candidate for Manchester City Centre, Yan Zhang, who was supposed to be speaking at this evening's Manchester Climate Forum meeting scrutinising what the future of Manchester city council's action on climate change might be, has pulled out. No replacement seems to have been forthcoming - perhaps because most Tories have nothing useful or sensible to say on climate change, viz:

Tackling climate change not a priority for Tory candidates
"The new generation of Conservative MPs due to take power after the election does not share David Cameron’s professed commitment to tackling climate change, a survey being published this week suggests. “Reducing Britain’s carbon footprint” was rated as the lowest priority, out of 19 policies, by 144 Conservative candidates responding to the survey of the 240 most winnable Tory target seats... The results of the survey by the Conservativehome website, to be unveiled at a conference on the Tory manifesto on Wednesday, suggest a gap might be opening up between the leadership and rank-and-file MPs and activists on the issue." Financial Times, January 2010

'Local press rubbish on climate change' shocker

Nice little analysis by Manchester Climate Fortnightly of a fairly bobbins editorial from Crains Manchester Business. Having been on the receiving end of some of their 'reporting' I've also been quite surprised how amateurish the fact-checking and quoting was, since I presume they're selling themselves along those FT-style 'accurate information for the decision-makers' lines.

Party leader comes to Moss Side!

One of the Major Party Leaders came to Moss Side last night. I'm not sure which one it was, and it was a very fleeting visit, but I expect, not being a marginal or the like, it'll be the nearest we get to a party bigwig (not that that bothers me much).
Hopping my pathetic crippled way up Princess Parkway at about ten thirty, my first thought when a police motorcyclist whizzed past me, lights and siren going, was that someone had shot/stabbed someone else, which is something which, happily, happens round here less often than it used to.
But when about 5 more of them turned up and started blocking the road (maybe I should have though A Coup! and got all excited) it became apparent that something else was up. Then a massive great black 4x4 with tinted windows and a sort of silver people carrier type thing, with police cars too I think, came whizzing past at something that looked well over the speed limit. And I realised that it must have been one of Them, heading back South from the 'Leaders' 'Debate' at Granada Studios. Surely it would be much more cost effective if you're doing a high-security run like that to put the precious cargo in a silver Yaris or a red Fiesta and then no potential attacker would ever be able to track the right car down, and no need for squadrons of coppers.
Needless to say I hadn't been watching the debate, having been busy in the pub catching up on office gossip at Ethical Consumer and debating whether the net effect for the environment of the aeroplane-grounding volcanic eruption was going to be good or bad.
Last time we got a 'senior politician' in Moss Side, of course, they made a total twat of themselves. The Tory shadow home secretary Chris Grayling was taken round the neighbourhood by those sweeties at Greater Manchester Police, and came out with some ridiculous comment about us being 'like The Wire.' At which some enterprising publication got a crime hack over from Baltimore to comment on how his Saturday night out with GMP, where he witnessed some kids cycling suspiciously and someone having a spliff, didn't really compare to his city, with its 350+ a year murder rate.... Grayling, you are a knob. More details here.

Manchester Central: the story continues

Well, I've had replies from the Liberal Democrat and Green Party candidates for Manchester Central, but this afternoon I got a reminder email from the Refugee Council suggesting that I might want to re-contact any candidates which had not got back, asking them to sign the pledge on racism and asylum, and if they didn't feel able to, why not.
Having received a glossy leaflet with a rather scary picture of David Cameron looking all intense and moooooooody on one side, and telling me that "Suhail is always keen to hear your concerns, either about local or national issues, and can be contacted in the following ways..." on the other.




So, I used the email on the leaflet to drop him the suggested reminder. Seconds later I got a reply! Blimey, that's quick, I thought. But it said:

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at yourheartland.org.uk.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.
:
Mail quota exceeded.

So, not keen enough to have a flunky clear his inbox out then...
Sent the same reminder to Tony Lloyd on his shiny new gmail address too...

Spring in Moss Side

Well, spring has finally sprung, it seems, which in my little corner means the sounds kids running around playing boisterous games in the back yard at Rasta HQ, much feline cuteness lying in patches of warm sun, the magpies having lots of fun noisily winding up Tony's evil cats from up the road, and some gorgeous plum blossom (often filled with mysterious tweetings) outside my window: