Sad news that blacklisted union activist, socialist and musician, Gerry Kelly has passed away. As a young construction union activist from Birmingham in the 1970s, Gerry was involved in disputes in the midlands and London. After finding it difficult to get work he retrained as a teacher and was active in the NUT, becoming a well known socialist figure in his adopted Waltham Forest. After the Consulting Association blacklist was exposed he spoke on behalf of the Blacklist Support Group at union meetings in East London. Gerry was also a musician, recently being a songwriter and occasional guitarist for The Fred Hampton Appreciation Society, the London soul band named after the murdered Black Panther.
Save our Square
Last Thursday 11th February campaigners form Save our Square, and others, attended the live-streamed Mayor’s Question Time at City Hall. We swarmed there like bees! We did this because the WF Planning Committee passed new plans for the town square, which includes constructing 2 monster blocks of 34 and 26 storeys, with over 500 flats – but none of them affordable for the 9000 on the housing waiting list, the low paid or even for teachers and nurses. They are just a profit-making venture for a South African investment company.
The next stage is for the plans to go the GLA to be approved – or not – by the mayor. Despite the quite controlled event, we put in loads of questions, and organised our forces to make such an intervention that Sadiq Kahn referred to us as “the People’s Republic of Waltham Forest”! The event had a bit of a Gamestop flavour!… Read on ...