Issue 9 of the East End Howler is out now!

Click here to download a free pdf copy or click on the link on the right panel.

All of the articles are posted on this blog, click on HOWLER INDEXES to find the articles easily.

As always, we’re hungry for feedback and input, if you’re interested in what we’re doing, then email us at actioneastend@gmail.com

Saturday November 27th, 1pm. 

Meet outside Spitalfields Church, Commercial Street.    E1 6LY

£6 waged, £3 unwaged

Bring stout walking shoes. Finish at a café afterwards where there’ll be time for questions. All proceeds go towards printing the East End Howler.

Nearest tubes: Liverpool Street, Aldgate East

ANARCHISTS, SOCIALISTS, SQUATTERS AND STRIKERS

A Radical History Tour around the East End, raising funds for the East End Howler, The radical voice of East London

Let a seasoned anarchist veteran introduce you to all the rich and unknown history of the East End.  Take a trip around the “narrow, crooked streets”, by-lanes and alleys of the East End. THRILL as we visit the site of the Sugar Loaf pub, famed for its weekly anarchist meetings and tempted “poor flies into the trap”. GASP as we visit the sites if the first organising attempts among Jewish workers and the scenes of mass strike meetings. SOB as we see the soup kitchens which fed the poor and hungry.

 Your pulse will race when we come upon the site of the Russian Social Democratic Party, where the split between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks first emerged. You will gaze in wonder at the door through which Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin all went. Your heart will beat loudly when you gaze upon the place where two Latvian revolutionaries held off armed police and Guardsmen for many hours.

 You will be awestruck by our visits to the two great Anarchist clubs of the East End, home of many speeches, plays and musical diversions and you will mutter in outrage when you hear about the brutal attacks by the police on the Anarchists there. You will wonder at the streets which were squatted lock stock and barrel in a confrontation with the authorities and you will be intrigued by the building which housed one of the several free schools in the East End dedicated to enlightened education.

So down your tools, pick up your red and black flag, and dive into the inspiring world of East London’s Radical History.

ANARCHISTS, SOCIALISTS, SQUATTERS AND STRIKERS

A Radical History Tour around the East End, raising funds for the East End Howler- The radical voice of East London

Let a seasoned anarchist veteran introduce you to all the rich and unknown history of the East End.  Take a trip around the “narrow, crooked streets”, by-lanes and alleys of the East End. THRILL as we visit the site of the Sugar Loaf pub, famed for its weekly anarchist meetings and tempted “poor flies into the trap”. GASP as we visit the sites if the first organising attempts among Jewish workers and the scenes of mass strike meetings. SOB as we see the soup kitchens which fed the poor and hungry.

Your pulse will race when we come upon the site of the Russian Social Democratic Party, where the split between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks first emerged. You will gaze in wonder at the door through which Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin all went. Your heart will beat loudly when you gaze upon the place where two Latvian revolutionaries held off armed police and Guardsmen for many hours.

You will be awestruck by our visits to the two great Anarchist clubs of the East End, home of many speeches, plays and musical diversions and you will mutter in outrage when you hear about the brutal attacks by the police on the Anarchists there. You will wonder at the streets which were squatted lock stock and barrel in a confrontation with the authorities and you will be intrigued by the building which housed one of the several free schools in the East End dedicated to enlightened education.

So down your tools, pick up your red and black flag and dive into the inspiring world of East London’s Radical History.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jamrat.mason#!/event.php?eid=163919843624963&ref=mf

Indymedia: https://london.indymedia.org.uk/events/5620

Click here – for a PDF of the above poster…

Wednesday 6th October – 7pm at Durning Hall Community Centre, Earlham Grove, Forest Gate E7 9AB

YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO QUESTION representatives invited from the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Corporation on their plans for Wanstead Flats in 2012.

SAVE WANSTEAD FLATS is completely opposed to plans by the Metropolitan Police to base its Olympics operational centre on Wanstead Flats in 2012. We believe that by attempting to amend the Epping Forest Act of 1878, which protects Wanstead Flats from enclosure and development, just so that the police’s plans can be pushed through, the City of London Corporation proposes to set a dangerous precedent. We are demand a proper explanation about how Wanstead Flats was chosen over other more appropriate locations and why there has been absolutely no consultation with local residents.

On Sunday, 6th September about 200 people gathered for a mass picnic against the planned Metropolitan Police operational centre for the Olympics 2012 on Wanstead Flats. Although the sky was grey and a brisk wind was keeping the kite flyers busy, the announced rain never came. The superintendent for the park was brave enough to attend and got grilled by local residents about numerous issues with the plans, such as lack of consultation with the local residents, the changes that would be made to Epping forest act, concerns about traffic and much, much more.

Ever since over 250 people attended a packed public meeting in July, residents living near Wanstead Flats have been demanding answers about plans by the City of London Corporation to allow the Metropolitan Police to base its Olympics operational centre on the Flats in 2012. In order to push this proposal through, the Corporation would need to amend an Act of Parliament that has protected Wanstead Flats from enclosure and development for well over a century.

Local people want to know why the proposed site for this police base, west of Centre Road, has been chosen, how that decision was made and why the Olympic stadium site itself cannot be used. There has been no consultation, even though the plans involve locating a fenced, high-security compound – with buildings, parking areas, stables and apparently even police holding cells – for at least 120 days and so close to residential neighbourhoods.

From Blogger Pictures

From Blogger Pictures

Apparently Stratford Shopping Centre is worth a lot more money that I would have expected – £91.55 million to be exact, the price paid by investors from the venture capitalist firm Catalyst Capital, who have bought it from its current owners Land Securities as part of a deal that includes the properties at 44 Broadway and Morgan House.

Land Securities are selling up because they need the cash, or as their head of retail investment puts it, “funds from the sale will be channelled into other activities, including more immediate development opportunities”. So why buy a shopping centre in the midst of economic uncertainty? The obvious answer is its location, right opposition the new Westfield Stratford City development across the road, which will when it opens be the largest urban shopping centre in Europe. The fact that it is close to the Olympic park may also be a factor, but a secondary one.

It might seem that the last thing anyone would want is a retail centre that is about to become eclipsed by another huge shopping development. But Catalyst Capital has said that as well as a “strong tenant line up”, Stratford shopping centre also has “excellent development opportunities which will allow us to utilise our asset management and development expertise”. What this means is that it is seen as a prime site, one worthwhile grabbing now from another company that needs money, that has the potential for redevelopment in the future.

Nothing will change that much in the short term, but as Westfield Stratford City overwhelms the unloved and ugly old shopping centre, expect fewer new shops, even more pound shops and more short leases – and, in a few years time, even something more drastic. Capital Catalyst have bought it to make money for its investors and I wouldn’t be surprised if it isn’t eventually bulldozed, sold on and absorbed as an annex of an expanding Westfield.

What this will mean for low income Stratford residents is unclear – but by then, anyone poor will probably have been forced further east. In other parts of London, they call this process ‘gentrification’ but in Stratford, it’s something different: the area’s transformation into a new West Thurrock. Not for the first time, I’m glad I chose to live that liitle bit further away.

Here are some campaign materials for your use – a poster / flyer and a petition.

Click here for the poster / flyer – http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10181365/Mass%20Community%20Picnic.pdf

Click here for the petition – http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10181365/Wanstead%20Flats%20Petition.pdf

Location

On the spot to the west of Centre Road, where the police want to site their Olympic operations base in 2012 – Centre Road

More information

Ever since over 250 people attended a packed public meeting in July, residents living near Wanstead Flats have been demanding answers about plans by the City of London Corporation to allow the metropolitan Police to base its Olympics operational centre on the Flats in 2012.

In order to push this proposal through, the Corporation would need to amend an Act of Parliament that has protected Wanstead Flats for well over a century.

Local people want to know why the proposed site for this police base, west of Centre Road, has been chosen, how that decision was made and why the Olympic stadium site itself cannot be used. There has been no consultation, even though the plans involve locating a fenced – high security compound – with buildings, parking areas, stables and apparently even police holding cells – for at least 120 days and so close to residential neighbourhoods.

The Save Wanstead Flats campaign is organised by local people and on Sunday 5 of September, we’d like to invite you all to show your opposition to the City of London Corporation’s plans by joining us for a picnic – occupying the very spot where the police operations base would be constructed.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Centre+Rd%2C+Greater+London+E7+0%2C+United+Kingdom&sll=53.800651%2C-4.064941&sspn=20.488956%2C56.90918&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FXi8EgMdw2IAAA&split=0&hq&hnear=Centre+Rd%2C+Greater+London+E7+0%2C+United+Kingdom&ll=51.559691%2C0.021672&spn=0.010485%2C0.027788&z=16

For those of you unfamiliar with the High Street 2012 project, it is essentially a gentrification gimmick for the route from the City to the Olympic Site in Stratford. That is, of course, including Whitechapel High Street – Mile End Road.

Amongst other monstrosities, it’s logo appears on the website for  the Water Lily Development and presumably has something to do with the demolition of the council estate right opposite what will become the Waterlily for – you guessed it – more shops that we cant afford to spend our money in.

The High St 2012 project cannot be seen in isolation from the wholesale yuppification of our area.

They never asked us if we wanted any of this…until now!

The Mile End Waste Consultation will be taking place at the Genesis Cinema, 93-95 Mile End Road, this Wednesday 28th July at 6:30 PM.

It will be discussing the nicer parts of regeneration, namely the planting of trees, cleaning of statues, and the creation of parks. Whilst WAG would not disagree that these are all things the East End could benefit from, we aren’t naive enough to think that we will be around to enjoy them for long if High Street 2012 – and their partners in Tower Hamlets Council and the London Development Agency –  have their way.

Such improvements to the area serve two purposes: one, to make it appear to the existing residents of the East End that their lives are being improved by the Olympic development and two, to make investment by those who cater for transient, but profitable, sectors of population (i.e: tourists, first-time buyers and City workers) more attractive. It doesnt take a genius to realise that the interests of the rich will take priority over the working class communities of the East End unless we organise together, now.