Oldham Campaign Against Academies Demonstration before Oldham Council Meeting

Wednesday 21st May

4:30pm at the Rochdale Road entrance

Parents and residents are now taking the lead in the campaign to fight Oldham Council's misguided plans to impose three new Academy schools on Oldham. Two meetings of residents in the Waterhead area, where the proposed Academy which will replace Counthill and Breeze Hill schools is to be sited, have drawn attendances of over 100 people. It was decided to hold a public protest at the site on the 14th May (see picture below) and again over 100 demonstrators turned out. Many drivers sounded their horns in support, and passers by joined in as well. 

The next public demonstration will be to lobby the new Council as they arrive for the first Council meeting since the elections. It is to be hoped that the new Liberal Democrat - led administration will accept the OCAA arguments that Academies are not necessary to qualify for BSF money, and that Academies are highly unlikely to improve our children's education.

 

See our Campaigns Page for news of our Workers Memorial Day events on 28th April

 

  Far Right Trounced in Oldham - Again!

Oldham TUC is delighted that the people of Oldham have once again responded to the information put out by Oldham United Against Racism, and have decisively rejected the politics of hate.

This year, our enemies have resorted to desperate tactics in order to cultivate votes from people with legitimate concerns about immigration. Most appalling was this quote from BNP candidate Roy Goodwin's election leaflet in Chadderton Central:

"I am tired of seeing our pensioners treated like second class citizens and forced to survive on an extremely low income, while asylum seekers, many of them bogus, come here and get everything they want."

Elsewhere in the leaflet, the BNP states: "From free TV's to cheques for cars they get it all - at your expense."

There is only one problem with these statements: and that is that they are complete lies. Had Goodwin succeeded in winning the seat, OUAR and others would have lodged an immediate complaint with the Standards Board, on the basis that somebody with enough intelligence to stand for office would certainly know that these ridiculous assertions are not true.

Fortunately, the vast majority of Chadderton electors saw through this unashamedly racist campaign and rejected Goodwin. We are concerned, however, that 660 voters were taken in by Goodwin, and we will begin work immediately to address the concerns of these people.

We don't believe that the majority of these voters are rednecked fascists - although a small proportion certainly will be. As we said above, people have real concerns about immigration and its effect on the community, but these can be addressed by rational debate and understanding of the dynamics of globalisation. Setting one group of working class people against another weakens us all. Rather, we need to unite with all newcomers to counter the common enemy - unrestrained capitalism.

Here are the election results for the Oldham wards which had far right candidates (underlined) this year:

Chadderton Central

Hudson Con 966

Brownridge Lab 866

Goodwin BNP 660

Lord Lib-Dem 212

Chadderton South

Hibbert Lab 959

Berry Con 735

Brierley EFP 425

Dawson Lib-Dem 236

Royton North

Judge Lab 1093

Farquar Con 811

Raja Lib-Dem 742

Corbett Ind 376

Shaw

Sykes Lib-Dem 1496

Canning Con 422

Stott BNP 391

Fletcher Lab 303

St James

Stanton Lib-Dem 968

Fitzpatrick Lab 476

Atherton Con 392

Clayton EFP 327

 

 

See the Oldham Voice 2008 here 

See how the far right fared elsewhere at: 

http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/ 

 

One Extreme to the Other goes on tour

The play about extremism commissioned by Oldham Council, which has been intensively performed in the boroughs schools and youth organisations, will now be performed for open audiences through March to May at various venues.

See flyer for details here

And read our review on the Reviews Page