By©Muhammad Haque
2015 Hrs GMT
London
Wednesday
14 May 2008
Khoodeelaar! observed how Lib Dems group leader on Tower Hamlets Council [upto the May 2006 council elections] Janet Ludlow wasted opportunities to identify with the community. She failed to join the community opposition to the corrupt clique on the Crossrail hole-inviting Tower Hamlets Council.
She did so apparently on 'advice' 'from reliable' sources 'within the community' including parts of the borough where the main targets of the Crossrail hole attacks were...
This was typical of the one remaining member of the 'Lib Dem coup' that had originally made its appearance on the Council at the 1986 local elections.
When the Lib dems eventually got defeated at the 1994 council elections in Tower Hamlets, the only one from the '[SDP-turned Lib De,s’] group in power' that was considered 'suitable' as 'leader' of the remaining ‘entity’ was of course Janet Ludlow....
None of the ‘others’ was ‘politically’ around after the Council elections [1994].
When they lost their council seats, they staged an almost collective exit from the scene in Tower Hamlets.
It was left to Janet Ludlow to carry on the Lib Dems banner.
That banner got weaker by the year.
There was none of the allegedly innovative ideas - of which one of the original group recently boasted in a rare appearance as letter writer to a local paper - and there was no rallying issue.
Uni the community campaign against the Crossrail hole attacks gave the group the ideal opportunity to show if they were genuinely with the community....
And what did the group do?
Time after time, Janet Ludlow claimed to be ‘critical’ of the controlling clique [she did not sue the two words,m there are the Khoodeelaar! campaign and the community description ] on Tower Hamlets Council for failing to allow the Lib Dems a place on a joint consultative forum that should have been set up about Crossrail and what Tower Hamlets Council was doing on Crossrail.
This was impractical, unrealistic, ignorant and totally diversionary.
The Khoodeelaar! campaign against the controlling clique's collusion with the Crossrail hole plot was AGAINST the controlling clique's policies. Those polices were well known to the campaigners. And we were making them known to others in the community, including to the ‘Opposition group’ on the Council as it was still ‘led’ by Janet Ludlow on Tower Hamlets Council. We did so on a daily basis.
If not even more frequently at times.
And we have been doing the diagnosis of the dire state of the CRASSrail on an even more frequent basis every day now, well into the fifth year of the campaign against the agenda of Crossrail hole and against the Crossrail hole Bill.
There is no trace of the ‘Lib Dems’ ‘group’ on Tower Hamlets Council being involved in opposing the Crossrail hole plot now.
I shall return to what is ‘happening with the Lib Dems group on Tower Hamlets Council’ now, after this part.
Back to the way Janet Ludlow allowed the controlling clique to carry on behaving in the Council as if there was no real sustained political opposition.
Of course there was bickering, gossip, whisper, smear.
There were loads of ‘bitchiness’ and bile.
But there was no significant, substantial sustained campaigning advocacy of a cohesive community position as against the misbehaving, misconducting controlling clique on the corrupt and the corrupting Council.
But then, what would Janet Ludlow know about constitutional campaign against corruption ?
For years, the ‘main’ Lib Dems who held power between May 1986 and May 1994, went out of their way to DISCOURAGE anyone in the borough who wanted to see an end to corruption via the Council.
There was no chance in the foreseeable future that the controlling clique would allow the Lib Dems to appear as their equals. Least of all on a matter like Crossrail that was deeply flawed and open to embarrassing exposures if the truth about the claque’s role in inviting the Crossrail hole the plot to the East End became known.
In other words the only forum that was going to create the legitimate and practical atmosphere that would force disclosure on what the Council clique was doing for Crossrail hole plot was the campaigning forum.
By the time the May 2006 coun cil election neared in January 2006, it was obvious that the only political movement worth the attention of the ‘ambitious’ wannabe councillors and such like in Tower Hamlets was taking place via Khoodeelaar!
I said so on 11 February 2006 when speaking about the movement. I said that Khodoeelaar! was not, [and it is not, almost 3 years later] a bureaucracy. It had no register of members. It had no sponsorship in cash. It is the expression of the democratic preferences of the community which is maintained by efforts dedicated entirely without any plans for or expectations of a career..for any involved individual campaigner.....
Khoodeelaar! exists for the defence of the community. In the widest rational and real sense of the word.
It is therefor open to all parties and all groups.
Except the truly anti-social or the really vile and poisonous ...
The political reach and impact of the Khoodeelaar! movement has been to encompass all concerned and it is a phenomenon that is unique in the history of community-based campaigns in the East End of London. To that too, I shall return in later parts of these commentaries
Apart from joining the Khoodeelaar! movement Janet Ludlow the former Lib Dem Group leader on Tower Hamlets Crossrail hole-inviting Council could exercise her interest in democracy on the floor of the Council.
At both, Janet Ludlow failed to make the mark. Both as ‘the official leader of the opposition on the Council’ as well as the leader of the ONLY numerical and therefore politically significant opposition group on the council at the time.
NOTWITHSTANDING displays of ‘extremely generous attitude’ to her as shown by the local ‘East London Idiotiser’ which would give her utterances more frequent and prominent coverage than the utterances would deserve in an objective context. Or on merit.
And who might have ‘advised’ Janet Ludlow against joining and being a part of the Khoodeelaar! movement?
[To be continued]
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Campaigning foot marks of a local councillor, who bothered about saying No to Crossrail hole attacks on the East End....
By©Muhammad Haque
1255 Hrs GMT
London
Wednesday 14 May 2008
What makes a councillor worth the people’s votes?
The simple answer is: the work of representing the people.
And what does that involve?
Here is the Khoodeelaar! summary of the constitutional role and of the democratic duties of an elected local councillor in an inner city borough such as Tower Hamlets in the first decade of the 21st century:
It involves ‘the 'Ward' [constituency]’ work, in that taking up cases on behalf of electors and people in the ward. But more importantly, keeping an alert, intelligent relevant and active watch on what the ‘officers’ in the council are doing.
Assuming that the councillor is one of the ruling group.
For an opposition councillor or one who is of no party or group allegiance, their worth is tested in the quality of their advocacy on issues that affect both their word and the lives of the community in the borough.
Given that the Khoodeelaar! campaign came into being on issues that affect a wide cross section of people in the borough in many ways, participation in the work of the campaign by any opposition councillor on Tower Hamlets would have been of serious long term impact.
We made available information and facilities to a good number of those from the very start.
It is significant to note who took up our offers and how far they went with that.
One of the early opportunities to get involved with Khoodeelaar! was made plain in our printed campaign publications.
We also prepared questions, briefings and other information materials for anyone interested to use.
The aim in all of this was to educate the person about the issues and in the case of opposition councillors, to use their position within the council, to raise the questions that would bring out the information from the Council’s executives.
Eventually, the issues that we have been campaigning on would get the support of all concerned.
It would therefore have been clear to anyone observing events from the very start of the campaign in January 2004 that anyone on the opposition benches on Tower Hamlets Council who wanted to make an impact on behalf of the voters in Tower Hamlets could not ask for a more ideal campaign to get involved with.
So what did the opposition councillors at various times do? Did they join en masse and did they want to know how the campaign was doing at various stages.
The interest was almost unrecognisable until Sunday 22 January 2006.
On that day, at the Brady centre in Hanbury Street, the No to Crossrail hole Campaign meeting in support of the Khoodeelaar! campaign took place.
Among the speakers were several opposition group councillors.
Included among the speakers were:
Janet Ludlow [Opposition leader on Tower Hamlets Council]
Akikur Rahman [Janet Ludlow’s colleague on the sam e council]
and
Louise Alexander [councillor in the same group]
Shortly after that meeting, the Khoodeelaar! campaign got in touch with a number of those who had taken the platform and made statements variously supporting the opposition to Crossrail hole plot.
The ONLY one of those who actually sent a reply was Louise Alexander!
Until that occasion, the Khoodeelaar! campaign had had no contact with councillor Louise Alexander. We had not heard any comments that she might have made about Crossrail either , other than our assumption that she would support her group line on the matter.
But when she did communicate to Khoodeelaar! after the 22 January 2006 public meeting in Hanbury Street, she in fact came across as genuinely interested in the campaign.
She of course said positive things that could be put down to her politeness. But the one thing that she did convey was the fact that she acknowledged that the Khoodeelaar! campaign had contributed to holding the councillors to account.
This communication was followed by a series.
One of the follow up steps she then took of them was that at the full Council meeting of the Council on 1 March h 2006, Louise Alexander in fact tabled a motion against the Crossrail hole which in most respects was identical to the Khoodeelaar! motion that I had proposed at the meeting on 22 january 2006.
This was remarkable.
Because neither I nor any other member of the Khoodeelaar! campaign had asked Louise Alexander to put that motion forward. Nor had we any conference about what was going to happen at the Council meeting.
Khoodeelaar! found out about the Louise Alexander motion in the course of our normal research. And we publicised that motion on our web sites and in our campaign literature.
Because it reflected what we had been saying for exactly two years about what the Council should do. SAY NO to the Crossrail hole Bill!
[To be continued]
1255 Hrs GMT
London
Wednesday 14 May 2008
What makes a councillor worth the people’s votes?
The simple answer is: the work of representing the people.
And what does that involve?
Here is the Khoodeelaar! summary of the constitutional role and of the democratic duties of an elected local councillor in an inner city borough such as Tower Hamlets in the first decade of the 21st century:
It involves ‘the 'Ward' [constituency]’ work, in that taking up cases on behalf of electors and people in the ward. But more importantly, keeping an alert, intelligent relevant and active watch on what the ‘officers’ in the council are doing.
Assuming that the councillor is one of the ruling group.
For an opposition councillor or one who is of no party or group allegiance, their worth is tested in the quality of their advocacy on issues that affect both their word and the lives of the community in the borough.
Given that the Khoodeelaar! campaign came into being on issues that affect a wide cross section of people in the borough in many ways, participation in the work of the campaign by any opposition councillor on Tower Hamlets would have been of serious long term impact.
We made available information and facilities to a good number of those from the very start.
It is significant to note who took up our offers and how far they went with that.
One of the early opportunities to get involved with Khoodeelaar! was made plain in our printed campaign publications.
We also prepared questions, briefings and other information materials for anyone interested to use.
The aim in all of this was to educate the person about the issues and in the case of opposition councillors, to use their position within the council, to raise the questions that would bring out the information from the Council’s executives.
Eventually, the issues that we have been campaigning on would get the support of all concerned.
It would therefore have been clear to anyone observing events from the very start of the campaign in January 2004 that anyone on the opposition benches on Tower Hamlets Council who wanted to make an impact on behalf of the voters in Tower Hamlets could not ask for a more ideal campaign to get involved with.
So what did the opposition councillors at various times do? Did they join en masse and did they want to know how the campaign was doing at various stages.
The interest was almost unrecognisable until Sunday 22 January 2006.
On that day, at the Brady centre in Hanbury Street, the No to Crossrail hole Campaign meeting in support of the Khoodeelaar! campaign took place.
Among the speakers were several opposition group councillors.
Included among the speakers were:
Janet Ludlow [Opposition leader on Tower Hamlets Council]
Akikur Rahman [Janet Ludlow’s colleague on the sam e council]
and
Louise Alexander [councillor in the same group]
Shortly after that meeting, the Khoodeelaar! campaign got in touch with a number of those who had taken the platform and made statements variously supporting the opposition to Crossrail hole plot.
The ONLY one of those who actually sent a reply was Louise Alexander!
Until that occasion, the Khoodeelaar! campaign had had no contact with councillor Louise Alexander. We had not heard any comments that she might have made about Crossrail either , other than our assumption that she would support her group line on the matter.
But when she did communicate to Khoodeelaar! after the 22 January 2006 public meeting in Hanbury Street, she in fact came across as genuinely interested in the campaign.
She of course said positive things that could be put down to her politeness. But the one thing that she did convey was the fact that she acknowledged that the Khoodeelaar! campaign had contributed to holding the councillors to account.
This communication was followed by a series.
One of the follow up steps she then took of them was that at the full Council meeting of the Council on 1 March h 2006, Louise Alexander in fact tabled a motion against the Crossrail hole which in most respects was identical to the Khoodeelaar! motion that I had proposed at the meeting on 22 january 2006.
This was remarkable.
Because neither I nor any other member of the Khoodeelaar! campaign had asked Louise Alexander to put that motion forward. Nor had we any conference about what was going to happen at the Council meeting.
Khoodeelaar! found out about the Louise Alexander motion in the course of our normal research. And we publicised that motion on our web sites and in our campaign literature.
Because it reflected what we had been saying for exactly two years about what the Council should do. SAY NO to the Crossrail hole Bill!
[To be continued]
The UK House of Commons NEEDS MPs with courage, not time-serving 'rebels' and poodles... Brown needs to know the truth....and tell the truth... always
The UK House of Commons NEEDS MPs with courage, not time-serving 'rebels' and poodles... Brown needs to know the truth....and tell the truth... always
Khoodeelaar! gave the 'Lib Dems' the support the Lib Dems 'leadership' failed to recognise...
Khoodeelaar! gave the 'Lib Dems' the support the Lib Dems 'leadership' failed to recognise...
More, here, shortly.
More, here, shortly.
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