Friday 4th September Handover of petition “Don’t Fine Parents” 11am Sheffield Town Hall. Handover of the 111,000 signatures. Don’t punish parents! Let us decide when it’s safe to take our kids back to school. Jennifer Dunstanstarted this Change.org petition to Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Prime Minister).
If a small number of people can come so that I can get some photos for the Change.org/Dontfineparents petition site that would be great. What I don’t want is to encourage a large group though! Comment or inbox me if you can come along. Thank you.
“I am a lone parent to an amazing 9-year-old son who goes to a special needs school. If I get coronavirus, I’ll have no one to look after him while I’m ill. I’m terrified that the Government is going to try to force us to send our children to school while COVID-19 rates are still high. Parents should not be put in that position. I desperately want my son to go back to school, but I have a chronic illness called ME and we don’t have other people who can look after him if I get sick. So, I will only take him to school when the scientists agree that it’s safe. I should not be fined – and my son should not lose his place – just for trying to keep my family safe. Please sign my petition telling the Government that parents should not be forced to send their children to school until the coronavirus numbers are way down and scientists agree it is safe to do so.”
Friday 4th September Sheffield Palestine boycott demo outside HSBC
Meet 12 noon outside HSBC Bank on Fargate (by Marks and Spencers. Socially distanced/wearing masks.
“With the latest attacks on Gaza these boycott actions are increasingly more relevant to be reminding people of HSBC’s complicity in arming Israel. We are also in a situation with the current LP leadership where MPs are failing to speak out and hiding behind so called parliamentary conventions in favour of their own careers. Voicing simple platitudes is no longer enough…. we need action!”
Please consider joining Sheffield PSC and Sheffield Labour Friends of Palestine tomorrow.
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Saturday 5th September SHEFFIELD NEEDS A PAY RISE! Sponsored Walk up Kinder Scout.
Come and join us – no need to register! If you can’t, then please sponsor us instead! 😁👍 https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/sheffieldneedsapayrise
This weekend we’ll be heading up Kinder Scout to honour the Kinder Mass Trespass workers and raise money for Sheffield Needs a Pay Rise! It’s hard to believe that, less than a century ago, workers were denied access to the Peak – the beautiful heather moorland was reserved for rich people to shoot Grouse. But in 1932, workers from Sheffield and Manchester organised a mass trespass of Kinder Scout to demand access to the countryside. Their actions led to the opening of the countryside to everyone, and ultimately the founding of the National Parks. Join us for a celebration of what organised workers can achieve, and help SNAP raise money to fund organising in 2021 and beyond.
*Guidance*
- Raising money: This is a fundraiser, so donate £20 or even better, get sponsored!
- Meet: Saturday 11am outside Old Nags Head. Grindsbrook Booth, Edale, Derbyshire, S33 7ZD
- Route: Mixture of paved footpaths & steep rocky inclines. About 10k / 7 miles. Estimated time 3h30min with stops for snacks and snaps. View route here: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33978151
- Parking: Next to the village hall at S33 7ZP. Cost is £5 for up to 10 hours. Relatively limited spaces.
- Train: Sheffield 10.14 > Edale 10.47. Trains are every hour back.
- What to bring: Decent shoes that you don’t mind getting a little muddy. Sensible clothes & jacket in case it rains (forecast isn’t looking too bad, but this is the Peak!). Nibbles to keep you going / packed lunch. Water. Hand sanitiser. Mask in case you need it for transport or in a shop
*After*
We are hoping that everyone can grab a pint &/or food afterwards at the Ramblers Inn in Edale. The pub has a large beer garden and is ideal for COVID safety. However, we can’t book for large groups during COVID, so we will sit in small groups where we can find tables.
*COVID guidelines*
Although this is a relatively COVID-safe activity, please ensure you keep sensible! Maintain social distancing of 2m on the walk and when gathering at the start / end. Avoid contact with each other and don’t share water or food.
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Tuesday 8th September GMB & Sheffield TUC protest rally “Save Our Jobs at SCT!”
2pm Outside Sheffield Town Hall (before Council Economic and Environmental Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee meets at 4.30pm). This will be a socially distanced event. Please bring a face mask – and your union banner!
Protect jobs at Sheffield City Trust! Save our sports, arts and leisure facilities. Bring SCT back in house under City Council now! Over 300 jobs at risk! Our arts, sports and leisure facilities are closed and may not reopen. Sheffield City Council is paying good money after bad to keep SCT afloat. There was never a better time to demand SCT come back under City Council control
Formerly known as Sheffield International Venues (SIV), Sheffield City Trust (SCT) was outsourced by the Council in 1987 to operate and run our arts, leisure and sports facilities. It has been a catastrophic failure, badly managed and haemorrhaging money for years – Sheffield City Council is paying out millions to keep it afloat yet has no control over it! Now hundreds of low paid jobs are at risk, yet almost all the top directors’ jobs are safe!
Please see below the GMB press release https://www.gmb.org.uk/news/staff-face-misery%E2%80%99-sheffield-city-trust-plan-axe-hundreds-more-jobs
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Tuesday 8th September Sheffield TUC CV-19 Council of Action
7pm -8.30pm Zoom meeting. A chance for activists and community campaigners to link up with Sheffield’s trade union movement and discuss the latest developments in the pandemic. More importantly, an opportunity to plan a response and organise a fight back. Agenda to be confirmed but we will certainly deal with the GMB campaign to protect jobs at Sheffield City Trust and hear from the NEU about their response to the return to school.
Zoom link will be sent out separately over the weekend
Wednesday 9th September “Campaign against sexual harassment at work”
1030am Zoom meeting organised by “Know the Line” the Sheffield campaign organisation raising awareness against sexual harassment by men and boys. N.B. Know the Line campaign reps are meeting from 10am, and others are invited to join in from 10.30am using the same link.
Maureen Storey is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Know the Line Zoom Meeting
Time: Sep 9, 2020 10:00 AM London. Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87100202710?pwd=UXA5ZXB3Z08yQjB3eHlXeDUzNjJ1UT09
Meeting ID: 871 0020 2710 Passcode: 447993
Friday 11th September “Justice for George Floyd”
6pm -6.45pm outside Sheffield Town Hall, Pinstone Street, Sheffield. Also, events taking place at the same time outside Hillsborough Leisure Centre; Des Ami café, Chesterfield Road; and Tesco’s Spital Hill
Public · Hosted by Stand Up To Racism Sheffield and Take The Knee – TTK
“This is the date that the trial hearing of the four ex police officers charged with the murder of George Floyd starts. On that day the judge is to hear whether those accused of George Floyd’s killing will be tried collectively or as individuals. We are asking all those who are supporting the fight for justice to #TakeTheKnee in solidarity with George Floyd and to oppose racist policing in the UK. The issue of racist policing is at the heart of the #blacklivesmater movement. We stand with those facing racist harassment and violence at police hands. Join our socially distanced solidarity events. Bring banners and placards.”
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Saturday 12th September “Take Action for Pay Justice” #NHSPay15
11am Barkers Pool. Rally and March for 15% pay rise for NHS staff. Organised by Nurses United – a rank and file movement now organising nationwide. Now the clapping for our NHS is over, it’s time to join the fight to get these vital workers the pay rise they desperately need – and deserve. See flyer for details NHS Pay Justice 12 Sept-Leaflet.pdf
Also 7pm, Tues 15th Sept Zoom meeting: How can we win the fight for 15%? https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84417337760
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Saturday 12th September “Battle of Cable Street” Sessions to Inform and Inspire from Ella Baker School 11-1pm Zoom meeting Sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf93XEJUg8azf_pRbE_xmGQQ_G1kpIyLhR91TKYXq8iwKjXzA/viewform?usp=sf_link
In 1936, when Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists sought to march through Whitechapel, the beating heart of the Jewish East End, the community turned out in their hundreds of thousands to oppose him. They formed a human barrier that the police could not breach and the march was abandoned. How was this unity between the areas diverse communities built and sustained, and what can we learn from this when facing narratives of division today?
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Wednesday 16th September Zoom meeting “Leicester in Protest, Leicester in Lockdown” 4.00pm – 8.00pm (online event) CAMEo Research Institute for Cultural and Media Economies, University of Leicester
The massive Leicester Black Lives Matter protest in June, and Leicester’s unique lockdown extension due to pandemic outbreaks in July 2020, revealed polarised discourses and racist scapegoating targeting minority and migrant communities, and hostility towards those who interrogate the politics of the city, both in explicit acts and in their very being. This online symposium invites civil society actors, protest organisers, and new political formations to join academics from the University of Leicester, and examine the protest and the lockdown.
Claudia Webbe, Member of Parliament for the constituency of Leicester East, will kick off the event. Speakers will participate across two 2-hour panels, with the first discussing the lockdown and the second the protests in Leicester:
BLM activists, Leicester City Councillor George Cole, Sharon Anyiam, Gavin Brown, Cyrus Bryan, Paul Campbell, Raul Carstocea, Alberto Cossu, Teqeela Davidson, John Goodwin, Will Green, Athina Karatzogianni, Kenneth Lebbi, Pierre Monforte, Henrietta O’Connor, Idil Osman, Jackie Sanchez-Taylor, Zakia Shiraz, Wajeeda Yusuf, Olla Zaidoun.
Join the Facebook event. Eventbrite tickets are now sold out. Watch the livestream on our Facebook page.
Thursday 17th September “Self-Care for Activists” Sessions to Inform and Inspire from Ella Baker School 11-1pm Zoom meeting Sign up here:
Perhaps not surprisingly, our latest training session ‘Self are for activists’, one of a series designed to build capacity within #MutualAid groups, is proving really popular
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Tuesday 22nd September Sheffield Trade Union Council Delegate Meeting
7pm. A decision will be made shortly about whether to continue with zoom for this meeting or begin meeting at the Trades and Labour Club again
Tuesday 22nd September “Reflections on Organising” Sessions to Inform and Inspire from Ella Baker School 7pm – 9pm Zoom meeting Sign up here:
We are bringing some of the best organisers we know together for a series of discussions about what they have learnt as organisers and how we get to ‘win’. The interactive sessions are launched with Arnie Graf, Mahmooda Qureshi and an exciting further guest (we are just awaiting confirmation) to be confirmed.