North Edinburgh’s Covid-19 Foodshare Group has written to city councillors to update them on the work of the local coalition:
Elected member,
Since the setting up of North Edinburgh Covid-19 Foodshare Group we have kept elected members informed of the work the community organisations, volunteers and funders have been carrying out in these very challenging times.
Attached is a newsletter which, by the end of this week, will be delivered, by volunteers, to 14,000 households in North Edinburgh. Please circulate this to any individuals or groups who will find the information helpful.
Over the recent period the Peoples Assembly Scotland, along with trades unions and other progressive groups, have rightly focused on the absence of support for NHS workers which, coupled with governments across this island’s unpreparedness, has worsened the extent of the Covid 19 crisis.
However they are not the only group of workers for whom the crisis is changing both the nature, and perhaps the future, of their industries.
At its most recent meeting it was agreed to sponsor a number of “public” meetings to hear from those in other sectors whose members are facing similar challenges but whose stories are rarely the focus of the main stream media.
The first of these addressing the plight facing those who work offshore will be TONIGHT (Tuesday 12th May) at 7pm, the invitation below will facilitate entry to the meeting.
We will be welcoming RMT officer Jake Molloy along with UNITE Regional Officer, John Boland, as Chair and Vice Chair of the Offshore Coordinating Group who will be talking about the crisis facing workers with thousand’s of job losses looming in the North Sea.
Its a crisis not just for those directly employed in oil and gas but across the offshore sector, their supply chains including ferries. As it appears that the industry is heading into recession join the Peoples Assemblies meeting to hear those who represent those workers affected and how the unions must address not just their immediate concerns but the long term effects on our economy .
Attached is the most recent report of the Offshore Coordinating Group “Crisis behind the Crisis”.
There is no better time for the citizens of Edinburgh to pitch in and contribute to a Manifesto for the CityCreating Our Manifesto for the City ⋆ The Citizen Network
Calls for no return to unequal and unjust normalcy following Covid-19 have come from many quarters, some of them quite unexpected, and there’s no doubt that many of the persistent problems of city life will be reassessed by those who govern us, whether that be Westminster, Holyrood or Edinburgh City Chambers.
But let’s not fool ourselves, what’s promised by politicians now may never transpire. Real change will not happen without direct action by citizens; for Edinburgh, Citizen’s Manifesto is the first step.
The need for citizens to hold politicians to account is already evident from reports of ‘stakeholder’ discussions pertaining to post-pandemic Edinburgh.
Consider first what Council leader Adam McVey had to say about the city’s Summer festivals: “By working together we can make sure that when our festivals return, they do so with even more of a focus on our people, place and environment.” So far so good but one is tempted to question the ‘even more’ – there has been scant attention to people place and environment in festival planning in recent years.
In the same Scotsman article note that the city’s residents are absent when our cherished heritage is flagged up as needing not just preservation but enhancement by the festivals. Clearly, this pipe-dream does not extend to those who live in this ‘remarkable backdrop’.
But it’s the reaction of Essential Edinburgh that confirms that not all stakeholders are thinking about anything other than business as usual post Covid-19.
Roddy Smith, the Chief Executive, says “We need to reactivate the city, promote it strongly and widely and seek over the next couple of years to return to our numbers pre the virus.”
The same message can be deduced from the report from the meeting last week of the new tourism ‘oversight group’ for Edinburgh.
The group includes Edinburgh Tourism Action Group (ETAG), Edinburgh Airport, Festivals Edinburgh, Visit Scotland, Essential Edinburgh and the Chamber of Commerce – again not one resident has a seat at the table. Adam McVey reported that the group had reaffirmed the aims of Edinburgh’s new Tourism Strategy which was agreed pre-pandemic.
How can this be? Have we learned nothing these last few weeks?
So, the coronavirus will not miraculously change our world for the better. The citizens will have to insist on it, and the Manifesto for the City is an excellent starting place.
Let’s face it, change is difficult – most of us are stuck with at least one foot in the past and are in some way resigned to the way things are. To paraphrase a French philosopher, we are all ‘half accomplices’, demanding radical change while at the same time clinging to what we have become accustomed to.
But the city will change whether we like it or not, and citizens need to rise to the challenge and drive that change – now is the time to articulate our values and our aspirations; now is the time to really get beyond ourselves.
North Edinburgh activists are to meet tomorrow to formulate a community response to tackling problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The meeting will take place in West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre at 2.30pm.
Meeting organiser Willie Black said: “We have already seen communities coming together to do what they can to help their neighbours and our more vulnerable residents, and the purpose of tomorrow’s meeting is to co-ordinate this community response to make sure no person is being missed or left out.
“By working together and pooling our resources we can better respond to the challenges posed to our community by this pandemic.”
Local voluntary sector organisations, food banks, community centre representatives, council officers, community councils and local elected politicians have all been invited to attended.
What can you do to help? Why not attend the meeting and find out!
This course is for community activists and others who wish to develop and practice their skills in facilitating deliberative (e.g. citizens’ assembly type) events – for example to support the development of local climate emergency response plans.Continue reading Skills development training for community activists
The 2019 annual lecture is now only two months away, on Thursday 10 October.
In conjunction with the University of Glasgow, the lecture will be given by Scotland’s leading human rights lawyer, Aamer Anwar. Currently, Aamer is the Rector of the University of Glasgow, as Jimmy Reid was in the early 1970s, and will give the lecture in the Bute Hall where Jimmy gave his famous rectorial address in 1972 called ‘Alienation’ and known as the ‘rat race is for rats’ speech.
The title of Aamer’s lecture is ‘The struggle for justice, equality and freedom in Scotland’.
In it, he will not only discuss the state of justice, equality and human rights in Scotland but also examine how the battle for these can be pursued in the face of opposition from the Scottish establishment.
Join us to celebrate Citizen our latest long-term creative programme working in partnership with organisations across Edinburgh, listening to people’s views about the communities in which they live.
Led by Scottish-based writers-in-residence, Claire Askew and Eleanor Thom, Citizen aims to give a voice to communities, offering residents an opportunity to explore their connection to each other and their relationship to neighbourhoods. Come to hear, see and meet some of those who have been taking part so far.
West Pilton’s Betty McVay MBE is among the contributors.
We invite you to Pay What You Can for this event. You may choose to pay an amount between £0 and £25 for your ticket, taking into consideration what you can reasonably afford to spend. This pricing has been introduced to help make the Book Festival accessible to those with limited means. If you are able to pay more for your ticket, you will help support our efforts to provide financial flexibility to those who most need it.
Today: the second in a series of free monthly Sunday Sessions where local residents, community activists and specialists can informally share information about what’s happening in Leith and in communities across Scotland.
Tomorrow at North Edinburgh Arts: International Women’s Day
CAN’s contribution to International Women’s Day is a celebration of the life of our friends Alice and Roberta. Alice died on Christmas Day 2018. She always participated actively in International Women’s Day. Continue reading International Women’s Day: remembering our own
