A-Infos (en) Britain, Walthamstow's THE UNDERDOG #11 - rabble rousing rebel rag March 2005

£6,000 a year allowances: Community councils scam exposed
The Underdog can reveal that Councillors who
chair Community Council meetings are get-
ting £6,000 in allowances. And that's on top of
the £8,000 they already get, plus expenses!
Council chairs are pocketing £6,000 each for
a few formalities, while the `community chair',
who deals with the real discussion at the meet-
ing, gets nothing. What a slap in the face for
the hundreds of us who turn up to these meet-
ings every year, thinking that we are "having
our say".
A great step forward in local democracy?
Community Councils
take place in the six
w a r d councils five
times a year around
the Borough. Set up
in 2003, Waltham For-
est Council claimed
they were a great step
forward in local de-
mocracy, involving lo-
cal people in council
`decision-making', and
in how our money is
spent. So what hap-
pens in reality? Turn up
a t a meeting, and
you'll have the oppor-
tunity of a lifetime.
They trust us so much,
that they are letting us
decide how 0.004% (£10,000) of the total
Council budget is spent. Of course, the other
99.9996% is kept in the safe hands of our Coun-
cillors with their superior intelligence and
knowledge.
These are the same councillors, remember,
who were described by auditors in 2003 as
being one of the worst run Boroughs in the
country.
And the same councillors who shortly after-
wards voted to give the Council's Chief Execu-
tive a "Golden goodbye" of £261,000 for his
central role in leaving residents up the pro-
verbial creek without a paddle.
And the same councillors who trebled their
own expense allowances in 2002.
So what's the alternative?
While we give politicians ­ both nationally and
locally- ultimate power over what happens,
they are more influenced by powerful lobbies
such as big business or religious groups. Just
as Blair gives knighthoods to his millionaire mates
in return for backhanders, so local politicians
can often be found making deals behind closed
doors with big business, that go against the
wishes of local people. For instance, look at
the power that supermarket chains have in
                            muscling in on areas
                            l i k e Leytonstone,
                            only to cause loss of
                            trade and closures of
                            local shops, there-
                            fore further breaking
                            up the community.
                            And look at the billions
                            of taxpayers money
                            being spent on occu-
                            pying Iraq, despite
                            massive public oppo-
                            sition.
                            D i r e c t democracy
                            not sham democracy
                            We at the Underdog
                            support the idea of
                            ordinary        people
                            getting together and
making informed decisions about the running
of local services, and anything else that affects
us. As anarchists, we are clear about the or-
ganisational structures that are needed to run
society. It makes sense for people in local com-
munities and workplaces to take direct con-
trol of the things that affect us every day. But
the structures need to ensure that everyone
is involved and has a say on what affects them.
In every old people's home, every hospital,
every workplace, we need organisations where
workers and users of services are in control.
And we need a system where people who are
given responsibility to do something they do
it, other wise they are immediately replaced
b y someone
else. It's not
rocket sci-
ence. This
i s Direct
Democracy,
where people
t a k e real re-
s p o n s i b i l i t y for
what is around us.
There are many practi-
cal examples of this happening around the
world successfully now (check out `We are
everywhere':
w w w. a r t a c t i v i s m . m e m b e r s . g n . a p c . o r g /
home.htm).
Community Councils give a chance for us to
meet each other, to ask questions, and to get
some information about what the council are
up to that it would be difficult to get else-
where.
But we mustn't lose sight of the fact that
they are a big con. The Council will make
the bigger decisions (the other 99.996 %
o f our money), about flogging off our
schools to big business or cutting play-
groups or youth clubs, agreeing hand-outs
to themselves and dodgy chief executives
behind the doors of the Town Hall, where
they hope we won't notice. If we take
o u r eye off the bigger picture, they'll
keep getting away with it.

        Politics as usual

Councillor Keith Raynor showed just how
deeply he really cares for local residents
w i t h his comments about the recent
council tax fiasco. Many single residents
were sent a `bullying' letter that threat-
ened withdrawal of the 25% single per-
s o n s discount - described by Citizen's
A d v i c e as "harassment" and "wholly
i n n a c u r a t e for most people". Raynor
called this `a standard letter'. So is this
the kind of treatment we can expect as
standard?

Page 2
The Olympic Bid 2012 - Don't believe the Hype
Waltham Forest Councillors are already
throwing our money at the Olympic Bid for
2012. After the Millennium Dome disaster,
and the abandoned plans to stage the 2005
World Athletics Championships at Picketts
Lock in Enflied, many of us are skeptical of
the Blair Governments' competence to han-
dle international events or so-called `regen-
eration' projects.
But they're at it again: together with Lon-
don Mayor Ken Livingstone, business leaders
and the four affected London Boroughs, in-
cluding our own, they are promising us that
there are nothing but benefits to hosting the
Games in the capital. Anyone who questions
the astronomical £2.375 billion bill for the
Olympic project is denounced as "opposing
regeneration" - a clever way of shutting down
any debate about the implications of hosting
the Olympics. So, before you get excited
about `backing the bid', here's a few things
they like to keep quiet about:
- In the name of sport, Hackney Marshes,
where hundreds of people play football every
week, will be bulldozed.........to make way for
a giant a car park. Great logic!
- Despite futuristic artists' impressions of the
`Olympic Park' in the local Guardian, this "de-
velopment" would actually bulldoze much of
the Lower Lea Valley - currently an extensive
network of water-
ways with impor-
tant wildlife. The
R i v e r Leas Trust
have told the Lon-
d o n Olympic bid
c o m m i t t e e that
`landscaping' the
area in this way is
"inappropriate."
- Residents of the
proposed Olympic
site are already be-
ing threatened with
C o m p u l s o r y Pur-
c h a s e Orders if
they do not agree
to sell their homes and move. With the pro-
posed Site spanning four London Boroughs ­
Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Newham and
Hackney, there's going to be a lot of homes
and communities being bulldozed.
- Job creation? It is estimated that close to
100 workers were killed in Athens in the prepa-
ration for the 2004 Olympics. The head of
the Greek Construction Workers Union fa-
mously said "We have paid for the Olympic
games in blood"
We at the Underdog are not being killjoys:
most of us like watching and playing sport as
much as the next person, but we have to ask
who really will benefit? The Olympics will cost
London millions of pounds that could be spent
on more worthwhile projects, like sporting
facilities within our communities. Couldn't
these facilities be designed for people like us
to get involved in, not just for us to watch as
a spectacle on telly for a couple of weeks.
The government pushes the idea of `regen-
eration' but the London Olympics will, if the
bid succeeds, be paid for initially by £1.5 bil-
lion from the National Lottery and up to £550
million from London council tax payers. A fur-
ther contribution of £75 million will come
from council taxes and £250 million from the
London Development Agency. Bidding rules
mean that a successful Olympic bid would
lock us into paying whatever it costs to be
ready on time ­ the host city underwrites all
liabilities of the Games with no option to pull
out (unlike with the cost overruns for the
World Athletics Championships stadium at
Picketts Lock). So each household in London
is effectively taking a £1,300 insurance con-
tract on the 2012 Games. No wonder they
don't want a proper discussion!
If where you live, work or play is threatened
from the proposed Olympics, there are plenty
of people in the same boat ­ not least hun-
dreds of footballers who will be "turfed off"
their pitches. Many groups of people are
already getting organised and sticking up for
each other.
No to London 2012:
http://www.nolondon2012.org/ - campaign in-
formation and the effect the Olympics had
on other cities like Sidney and Athens.
--------------------------------------------
Prison cover-up over Zahid Mubarek's

In March 2000, Zahid Mubarek, a young
Walthamstow man was murdered at Feltham
Young Offenders Institution. Finally, after a four
year campaign by his family, the tragic and
disturbing events in the prison are being
brought to light at the public Inquiry into his
death, due to conclude in March.
Nineteen year-old Zahid had no previous con-
victions, but was sent to Feltham, notorious
for mistreatment and neglect of its young and
vulnerable prisoners. He was placed in a cell
with a Robert Stewart, well-known to other
prisoners and officers as a disturbed, violent
racist. When his father visited him shortly be-
fore his murder, Zahid was fearful, and wanted
to be moved away from Stewart. The prison
authorities did not listen.
On March 22 2000 - the
very day Zahid was due to
be released - he was vi-
ciously beaten to death
with a chair leg by Stewart.
Zahid died later in hospital
after doctors tried to save
his life with an emergency
brain operation.
S o what crime did
Walthamstow magistrates feel compelled to
send Zahid to prison for? It was stealing razors
worth £6 and interfering with a motor vehicle.
Evidence presented at the later murder trial
revealed Stewart, who had a long previous
record of assaults and intimidation, to be seri-
ously disturbed and openly expressing fascist
and racist sympathies. So what was going on?
In December, the Commission for Racial Equal-
ity reported that Prison officers at Feltham
"routinely" discriminated against and racially
abused black and ethnic minority offenders,
and treated them worse than white inmates.
Last May, it was alleged that prison officers at
Feltham deliberately put white and black
youths in the same cells and bet on how long
it would be before they attacked each other.
The campaign by Zahid's family has now forced
out evidence that points to a cover-up by
prison authorities:
- When Prison Officers discovered Zahid had
been attacked, the call to medics was not
specified as urgent, so a healthcare officer
attended without rushing
- As the call gave no details, the medical offi-
cial arrived with the wrong equipment - plas-
ters and bandages instead of a neck brace
and oxygen
- After the attack, warders moved Stewart to
a cell with a basin where he could have washed
off some of the evidence
- It was eight minutes before an ambulance
was called.
- The night patrol report sheets from that
night were "lost".
Sadly, Feltham is not an isolated case. In De-
cember, an all-party group of MPs and peers
found the state is failing to protect the most
vulnerable in detention - people with a his-
                     tory of self-harm, mental ill-
                     ness or addiction - with
                     someone in custody either
                     killed or dying in question-
                     able circumstances almost
                     every other day. Between
                     1999 and 2003 434 prison-
                     ers in England and Wales
                     took their own lives, many
                     of them young and on re-
                     mand.
Zaheed Mubareks' family had to fight the op-
position of two Home Secretaries in the courts
before they got an Official Enquiry. Politicians'
first concern is to cover up abuses in their
system, and whatever comes out in the en-
quiry, nothing will change unless they are pres-
surised .
If you want to support the family of Zahid
Mubarek, you can contact them through:*
The United Families and Friends Campaign are
relatives and friends of the many people who
have died in prison, police custody or psychi-
atric care. See: www.uffc.org
Exhibit @ is a new London-based prisoner sup-
port initiative committed to supporting pris-
oners and opposing the state. For more infor-
mation email: prisonisacrime@yahoo.co.uk or
write to Exhibit A, c/o 56A Crampton Street,
London SE17
INQUEST: www.inquest.org.uk (phone 0207 263
1111) legal advice and support for bereaved
families around deaths in custody.

(page 3)

THE UNDERDOG'S Survival Guide Tackling Bullying at work
We continue our regular column on surviving the worst effects of capitalism.

Call it what you will; harassment, coer-
cive management, intimidation or `just
a joke' ­ all are common labels for what
is really bullying. Racial or sexual har-
assment, or that based on sexuality or
disability, may also take the form of bul-
l y i n g . Bullying is any long-standing ag-
g r e s s i o n , physical or psychological, by
an individual or group directed against
s o m e o n e unable to
d e f e n d themselves.
Not just insulting re-
marks or open aggres-
s i o n , it can be sub-
tle, devious, with no
witnesses, and be
d i f f i c u l t to confront
f o r those whose con-
fidence has been
w o r n down.
It is a myth that only
quiet or `weak' peo-
ple will be victimized
since a bully will also
p i c k on the popular or successful per-
son if they are seen as a threat. Wide-
spread bullying by bosses is hardly sur-
prising since work is organized to con-
trol workers and management positions
give the perfect situation for bullying.
Spotting Bullying
B u l l i e s tend to surround themselves
w i t h supporters and spies while culti-
vating allies in senior management. They
create rivalries in the workplace, bring-
ing out the worst in people as they try
to be `in' with the bully.
Being bullied makes people feel vulner-
able, isolated and frustrated, and may
l e a d to stress related illnesses (head-
a c h e s , loss of weight, even ulcers or
kidney problems). It affects relationships
with family and friends: "Bill gradually
b e c a m e quiet and withdrawn. I knew
that it had something to do with work,
but whenever I tried to make him talk
about it, he became very irritable. He
lost weight too, and lost interest in eve-
r y t h i n g . He would sleep for hours on
end... for three years there was no laugh-
ter in our house".
Spotting what's going on early puts you
i n a much stronger position. Problems
often arise when a person is new or re-
c e n t l y promoted. The earliest sign is
that a relationship at work doesn't feel
right: is your boss responding to you in
a different way, belittling you or making
continual criticisms of your work when
i t 's standard hasn't changed; are you
starting to feel that supposed mistakes
are all your fault? Other signs are con-
stant assessment, useless errands, false
c o m p l a i n t s , persistent humiliation in
front of others, and an inability to ad-
mit they could be wrong. A bully will try
t o get rid of someone they see as a
threat; not promoting able people, tak-
ing credit for others' ideas or work, or
alternatively not giving enough work or
responsibility and then claiming lack of
initiative.
Fighting back
I t is important not to be undermined
and try to remain positive and confident
                           i n your own abili-
                           ties (easier said
                           t h a n done). Try to
                           t a k e responsibility
                           for your feelings
                           and behaviour, keep
                           t h i n g s in perspec-
                           tive and don't let it
                           d o m i n a t e your life.
However down
you feel, make
t i m e to do stuff
y o u e n j o y. Ta l k
t h i n g s over with
f r i e n d s , many of
them will have had a similar experience.
Stand firm against verbal attacks ­ tell
t h e bully you won't tolerate personal
remarks. Keep calm and say what has to
b e said firmly and coherently, even if
they try to shout you down. If instruc-
tions are unclear, ask for written clari-
fication - this can be useful as evidence
later. Avoid being alone with the bully if
you can. Keep a detailed diary, includ-
ing dates, times and locations, of every
v e r b a l attack, contrary instruction, or
unfair criticism. Check your job descrip-
t i o n isn't being abused. Write to the
b u l l y after incidents challenging them
and keep copies of all correspondence.
W h e n making a formal complaint stick
to the facts and avoid character assas-
sination. Where ever possible, insist on
a witness, either a friend or union rep,
being present at meetings. Tell you doc-
t o r what's happening as they will usu-
ally give you a sick note (and name the
bully on it for evidence), giving you time
to recover and plan your next move.
M a k i n g a complaint may make things
worse initially, but bullying usually af-
fects several members of staff who could
be potential allies and build a stronger
case. Quietly build solidarity with your
c o l l e a g u e s and when you have enough
information use it. Be creative; paste a
c a r i c a t u r e of them on noticeboards,
t h e i r PC or car. Contact us for advice:
using an outside group can be very ef-
fective, assuring anonymity, though it's
no replacement for solidarity at work.
The Law
T h e r e 's no specific legislation dealing
with bullying at work. Employers have a
legal duty to protect employees' health
a n d this can include bullying as it's a
workplace stress. Bullying involving a ra-
cial, sexual or disability aspect may be
challenged under the Sex Discrimination
act 1975, Race relations act 1976, or Dis-
a b i l i t y Discrimination Act 1995. Unions
should have policies to deal with bully-
ing (independent counseling should also
be available) and complaints procedures
should set out details of how a bully may
be suspended pending investigation. As
a last resort you can always resign and
try to prove to an industrial tribunal that
                you were forced to leave due
                t o intolerable conditions. You
                m u s t be employed for two
                years and will need a detailed
                log of the abuse to be able to
                claim `constructive dismissal'.
                Tr i b u n a l s w i l l e x a m i n e r e -
                corded incidents of abuse, but
                their main interest is in
                w h e t h e r correct procedures
                w e r e followed. A request for
                a n acceptable reference can
be built into a winning claim. Compen-
sation varies. In an out-of-court settle-
ment won by Unison, a social worker in
Scotland got £66,000 after being forced
to retire due to ill health caused by a
b u l l y i n g superior. A health visitor was
awarded £5,000 damages in 1997 after
persistent undermining by a nurse man-
ager.
B u l l y i n g will not be eliminated by the
`correct' policies, but these procedures
can form the basis around which to or-
ganize and help build wider confidence
and solidarity in the workplace (see Un-
derdog 9 for survival guide on fighting
back at work).

(Page 4)

Wot anarchists fink: Asylum seekers

Is it really true that without immigration con-
trols the whole world would move to Britain?
Look at the scare stories about extending
the EU to Eastern European countries last
year ­ where was the `flood' of immigrants
then?
And in the case of refugees, despite all the
focus on `bogus' asylum seekers, the fact is
that people don't leave the security of their
own homes lightly, risking travel to an uncer-
tain future. Most asylum seekers arriving in
the UK are fleeing war or human rights abuses.
Over the last three years, Iraq and Afghani-
stan have been in the top five refugee-pro-
ducing countries. Ever wonder why?
Lets get a few facts straight:
- In 2003, Britain hosted around 270,000 of
the worlds 9.7 million refugees, about 2.8%
of the total and 0.4% of the British popula-
tion.
- Britain, the world's
fourth largest economy,
is 9th in Europe in 2003
in terms of asylum appli-
cations per head.
- Most asylum seekers are
fleeing war and conflict
(3 out of 4 in June 2004)
- Britain spends £1.5
Billion a year to occupy Iraq and keep the oil
flowing
- 85% of asylum seekers experience hunger,
95% cannot afford to buy clothes or shoes
and 80% are not able to maintain good health
(Oxfam and Refugee Council 2002)
-2,000 asylum-seekers are detained each year
- in immigration detention centres, ordinary
prisons, or local jail cells ­ including many
children. The total number of immigration pris-
oners is closer to 11,000 a year. None have
committed any crime, but they have fewer
rights than other prisoners.
-Many asylum seekers work, and businesses
are happy to exploit their vulnerability to keep
wages low and conditions bad. The few asy-
lum seekers that do need support (0.5% of
those claiming government support in 2003)
cannot claim mainstream welfare benefits. If
destitute, they can apply for £38.96 a week,
equivalent to 70% of basic income support.
Behind the media hype
Do politicians and press really think that we're
so stupid to believe that the money spent on
support to asylum seekers causes the hous-
ing shortage and unemployment? Do they
really think that we haven't noticed that
there have been hardly any council flats or
houses built since the eighties? Despite
record numbers of homeless people, over
114,000 empty homes in London are enough
to give everyone a roof over their head. But
most of this is deliberately kept empty by
speculators and landlords, to keep rents and
house prices artificially high.
Meanwhile, the government is happy to waste
tax-payers money on handouts to Big Busi-
ness and the idle rich:
- Royal garden parties and official entertain-
ment get £7.9 million a year
- £3.9 billion a year in "benefit" to a bunch of
earls, lords, dukes simply because they own
loads of land! The Duke of Westminster ­ al-
ready worth £5 billion, owns chunks of the
West End and many country estates, and gets
£1,000 a day from the taxpayer.
- Blair's mate Rupert "The Sun" Murdoch,
made £1.387 billion profit since 1987. Through
scams, allowed by the Government, he has
paid no UK tax since 1988.
Lack of money is not the problem, it's about
who controls it. As well as tax breaks and
subsidies for corporations, there's money for
military and economic interference all around
the world (the occupation of Iraq is only the
most recent example). Companies go where
they like, destroying the environment, up-
rooting local communities and closing down
whole industries at a whim looking for the
highest profits. But when it comes to sup-
port for the many lives that are wrecked in
the global fallout ­ about 10p per person per
     week supports asylum seekers in the UK
         ­ out comes the media lies and
          government hypocrisy.
          Yes, it's difficult when housing is de-
                         liberately kept short, and
                         n e w - c o m e r s with no
                         money are expected to
                         b e fitted into already
                        s c a r c e resources and
                        services. But who's really
to blame? Immigration controls rely on racism
and fear of those who are different and have
nothing to do with the issue at hand ­ the
rich creaming off wealth created by the rest
of us - that we would spend on real needs
and services with plenty to go around.
Internationalism
Look at the response of the British people to
the recent Tsunami disaster, and contrast this
to the hypocrisy of politicians ­ who bleat
about public generosity, while the govern-
ment only stumps up a fraction of the aid
money promised. We should see through the
media lies and politicians' scapegoating and
be proud of our solidarity and hospitality.
As anarchists we do not believe in borders
and immigration controls, just as we think
the state that administers them is there to
maintain the privilege of the rich few ripping
off the rest of us. People should be free to
travel and live wherever they want, and move
away from danger or chaos if they need to.
If big business can move around the globe, so
should everyone else be able to. Media myths
about asylum seekers need to be exposed
for the nonsense they are. But we also need
to stand together with our brothers and sis-
ters from across the world, offer them asy-
lum in their hour of need, extend the hand
of friendship to newcomers, and together
fight the real enemy ­ big business and gov-
ernment - for a world with no borders, no
capitalist wars, and no government but the
freely organised people.
Pe o p l e have supported asylum seekers
through campaigns to close detention cen-
tres, disrupting flights to stop deportations,
socials for refugees and family support cam-
paigns. For information and action: Network
to End Migrant and Refugee Detention:
www.barbedwirebritain.org.uk and National
Coalition of anti-deportation campaigns, 131
Camberwell Rd SE5 OHF   www.nadc.org.uk

-------------------------------------------------
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We promote working class resistance
a n d self-organisation and through this
a i m to create a new society where
p e o p l e live together in freedom and as
e q u a l s . We believe in direct action as
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p e o p l e can begin to take control of our
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