the world news headlines (06/12/12)
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The World News Headlines (06/12/12)TRANSCRIPT
[email protected] 356 December 2012
The World News Headlines
MP had warned against abstaining, but UK decided to abstain on Palestine vote
Rushanara Ali MP had urged the UK Govern-ment to show leader-
ship and courage at the UN General Assembly when it votes on a resolution granting ‘non-member observer state’ status to the Palestine Authority.
Responding to a House of Commons statement given by the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, Rushanara said: “Given our country’s distinct history in the region and the legacy that was left behind, does the For-eign Secretary agree that Britain has a unique responsibility to take a stand, show international leadership and courage and generate some hope for both the Palestinians and the Israe-lis who want peace? Surely, the resolution would be one way to signal our role in show-ing that leadership. I ask him to think again before tomorrow.”
Rushanara joined Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander in call-ing on the Foreign Secretary to reconsider Britain’s position ahead of the UN General As-
sembly vote, due to take place on Thursday 29th November.
The Shadow Foreign Secre-tary told the Commons: “When will the Foreign Secretary un-
derstand: statehood for the Pal-estinians is not a gift to be given, but a right to be acknowledged.
“I warn the Foreign Secre-tary, if the UK abstains tomor-
row it will not be a measure of our growing influence, it will be a confirmation of our growing ir-relevance to meaningful engage-ment in the search for peace.”
Meanwhile, the Mus-lim Council of Britain called on the UK to support Pal-estine. “Our Government must vote to recognise Pal-estine as a Sovereign State, with no conditions attached,” said the MCB in a statement.
The Muslim Council calls on the Government and the inter-national community to ascribe
the Palestinians their basic hu-man rights and not delay the UN membership of Palestine. An opinion poll conducted by Avaaz, one of the world’s big-gest campaigning organisa-tions, showed that 72% of the UK public want a Palestinian state and a petition launched by them has so far been signed by over 1.6 million people and increases by the minute.
Farooq Murad, Secretary General of the MCB said: “The events we have witnessed over the last few days in Israel and Gaza points to the fact that now, more so than ever, there is an urgent need for Palestine to be recognised as an independent state. The news report that our government is imposing con-dition that for such UK sup-port the Palestinian state must pledge not to pursue Israel for war crimes is plainly shame-ful and will be rejected by all fair minded British citizens”.
President Barack Obama, in his speech in Cairo in 2009, insisted: “Israelis must ac-knowledge that just as Israel’s right to exist cannot be de-nied, neither can Palestine’s.” It is high time now for these words to be put into action.
“We have seen too many lives being lost, too many con-flicts and too many innocent people suffering. Both Palestine and Israel have the right to live without fear, have rights to live life in peace and prosper as a na-tion. Only when Palestine takes its place as a sovereign member of the international community, lasting peace in the region will prevail,” said Farooq Murad.
Palestine gained enough votes to become a semi-recognised state at the UN, despite the UK abstaining
On the occasion of In-ternational Volunteers Day, Muslim Aid’s
trustees and staff expressed their sincere appreciation and gratitude to its volunteers in the UK and overseas for offering their valuable time and com-mitment to serve humanity.
This day provides Muslim
Aid, as well as other NGOs, the opportunity to acknowledge the contribution and achievements made by the millions of volunteers of charity around the world who selflessly give their time, resourc-es and ideas to support the needy.
A spokesman for Muslim Aid said: “Our volunteers are instru-mental in the successful planning
and implementation of the vast array of programmes and disaster and emergency campaigns which support thousands of people around the world. This day offers us an opportunity to honour these individuals who sacrifice their time, and sometime compromise their own personal safety, to ease the suffering of others. We en-
courage everyone, particularly the youth, to participate in Muslim Aid’s national and international development programmes.”
Throughout 2012 Muslim Aid volunteers in UK organised many events and helped raise money for different appeals. During the month of Ramadan Muslim Aid volunteers also took part in the
Charity’s Feed the Hungry pro-gramme, a project that works with homeless people. Muslim Aid volunteers also help raise funds for those affected by disasters.
Muslim Aid has a compre-hensive procedure for select-ing its volunteers. To become a volunteer, visit the website muslimaid.org
Muslim Aid sends out special message on International Volunteers DayRushanara Ali MP
Rushanara Ali MP calls on UK to back Palestine
This WeekBangladesh protest deathOne protester was killed and dozens were injured in clashes with police during a country-wide day of protest in Bang-ladesh called by the country’s largest political party. The protester was killed in the northern town of Chirirbandar ahead of Tuesday’s shutdown of businesses and schools called for by the Jamaat-e-Islami Party. A special court is trying senior leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami for allegedly carrying out atrocities during the 1971 independence war, the BBC reported. Other party leaders say the charges are politically motivated.
Egyptians continue protests Egyptian police have fired tear gas at opposition protest-ers demonstrating against Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s drive to hold a snap referendum on a controversial draft charter, as the country plunges deeper into crisis. Live television footage showed that some protesters broke through police lines and got too close to the presidential palace. Al Jazeera’s Rawya Rageh, re-porting from Cairo said: “They broke through the barbed wire [and] the police reacted and fired tear gas straight away. This has been an issue for the protesters as they are not al-lowed near the palace.”
NATO warns Syria Any use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the ongoing uprising to overthrow his gov-ernment will draw “an imme-diate reaction” from the world community, NATO’s chief has said. Secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s warning on Tuesday came as Syrian forces continued to hit rebel districts near Damascus, while state media reported that rebel forces had hit a school, killing dozens of children.
NATO missiles in TurkeyThe NATO military alliance has agreed to the deployment of Patriot missiles as requested by member Turkey to help de-fend its border against possible threats from Syria. “NATO has agreed to augment Turkey’s air defence capabilities in order to defend the population and territory of Turkey and to con-tribute to the de-escalation of the crisis along the alliance’s border,” a statement released on Tuesday said.
‘I warn the Foreign Secretary, if the UK abstains tomorrow it will not be a measure of our growing influence, it will be a confirmation of our growing irrelevance to meaningful engagement in the search for peace’
News36 6 December 2012
Muhammad Ab-dul Bari MBE, the former Sec-
retary General of the Mus-lim Council of Britain, has been awarded with an hon-orary doctorate in education from UEL’s Cass School of Education today at the North Greenwich Arena in London.
Born and raised in Bangla-desh, Dr Abdul Bari moved to the UK after gaining a schol-arship to study for a doctor-ate at Kings College Lon-don. Following this he did post-doctoral research work at Royal Holloway and then trained as a science teacher, eventually becoming a spe-cial educational needs teacher.
From 2006 to 2010, Dr Abdul Bari was secretary general of the Muslim Coun-cil of Britain, the country’s largest Muslim umbrella group. He received an MBE in 2003 and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an honorary fellow of Queen Mary, University of London.
He said of the award: “I am deeply honoured and humbled to be given this gracious award from one of the most thrilling universities in the UK. I am excited about local communi-
ties, with which UEL has phe-nomenal links. The Olympic and Paralympic Games left a huge legacy of optimism and hope within the local com-munity, with 2012 nearly over, let’s work together to make these promises a reality.”
The Muslim Council of Britain is a national repre-sentative Muslim umbrella body with over 500 affiliated national, regional and local organisations, mosques, chari-ties and schools. The MCB
is pledged to work for the common good of society as a whole; encouraging individual Muslims and Muslim organi-sations to play a full and par-ticipatory role in public life.
The MCB’s aims and objectives include:
> To promote coopera-tion, consensus and unity on Muslim affairs in the UK.
> To encourage and strengthen all existing ef-forts being made for the ben-efit of the Muslim community.
> To work for a more enlightened apprecia-tion of Islam and Mus-lims in the wider society.
> To establish a position for the Muslim community within British society that is fair and based on due rights.
> To work for the eradi-cation of disadvantages and forms of discrimina-tion faced by Muslims.
> To foster better commu-nity relations and work for the good of society as a whole.
Over 600 residents took the opportunity to get advice about the changes tak-
ing place to welfare benefits, and the impact that they might have, by attending a Money Matters Month event during November.
Money Matters Month events were held in Idea Stores and com-munity centres, to give residents ‘one stop shop’ access to employ-ment, housing and finance advice.
While pensioners are protect-ed from the changes, the govern-ment’s welfare reforms will still affect thousands of households in Tower Hamlets. The introduction of the ‘benefit cap’ will limit the amount of benefits that a person
can receive to £350 per week for single people without children and £500 per week for everyone else.
The ‘spare room tax’ will affect all people of work-ing age who receive Hous-ing Benefit if they are living in council or other social housing with more bedrooms than the Government says they need.
Steve Hill from the Tower Hamlets Housing Benefits Ser-vice said, “The cap on benefits which is being rolled out in April 2013 will affect many hundreds of households in Tower Ham-lets. Many of those in high rent households may have their hous-ing benefits cut. As we have seen
though, Tower Hamlets residents are taking these changes very seri-ously and hundreds have received one to one advice from us”.
Tower Hamlets Mayor, Lu-
tfur Rahman, joined staff and residents at the Chrisp Street Idea Store event lend his sup-port to the Money Matters Month Campaign. He said, ‘The gov-
ernment’s welfare reforms may have a devastating impact on our residents, and we are doing all we can to help residents prepare for the changes that are coming in April 2013. I am pleased that so many residents have made the most of Money Matters Month’.
Cabinet Member for Hous-ing, Rabina Khan said, ‘I be-lieve that the government’s welfare reforms, particularly those associated with changes to housing benefit, could dis-proportionately impact on fami-lies in Tower Hamlets and in particular, single mothers. It is important for residents to seek advice about their options’.
Ahead of tomorrow’s Autumn Statement which could see
council budgets slashed fur-ther, local Labour council-lors have joined with Tower Hamlets’ two MPs and Lon-don Assembly Member to urge against further cuts.
In a letter to the Chancellor the politicians highlight the disproportionate £200 a person cuts our deprived borough has already suffered. They say that further cuts to the poorest bor-oughs would be unacceptable, especially when some richer.
The letter comes only days after Labour highlighted the damning state of the Coun-cil’s finances and called on the Mayor to rein in his new spending pledges rather than leave the Council bankrupt.
Labour’s Lead Member for Resources, Councillor Carlo Gibbs, said: “With the Government intent on sav-agely cutting the budgets of the poorest boroughs in the country, it is clear that Tower Hamlets will be harder hit that almost anywhere else.”
Former MCB leader awarded doctorate
Hundreds of residents turn up for advice as Mayor pays a visit
Labour calls on Chancellor not to cut funding
Former Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain recognised with honorary doctorate from UEL
Mayor Lutfur Rahman Cllr Rabina Khan
Cllr Carlo Gibbs
This WeekPhilippines typhoon kills 40 Typhoon Bopha, the strongest tropical storm to hit the Philip-pines this year, has slammed into a southern island, killing at least 40 people, destroying homes, cutting power and forc-ing the cancellation of flights and ferry services, officials said. The state weather service said Bopha made landfall on Mindanao island’s east coast at dawn on Tuesday, raking across the island of 10 million people, packing gusts of up to 210km an hour and bringing heavy rain. Local media said at least 40 people were confirmed dead and dozens injured, but there was no official verification at the time of writing..
Ban calls for green action Ban Ki-moon, the secretary-general of the United Nations, has called on world leaders to confront a global warm-ing “crisis” and show “strong political commitment” and compromise in dealing with it. Speaking at the annual UN climate talks in Doha, Ban noted that there were “mixed feelings” among delegates who were negotiating deals, but that the situation posed an “exis-tential challenge for the whole human race”. “This is a crisis,” said Ban on Tuesday, as a string of scientific reports warned the world could be headed for calamitous warming way above the limit of two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) being targeted by the UN.
Iran captures US drone Iran has claimed to have captured a small US drone that penetrated its airspace over Gulf waters, but the US Navy in the region denied any of its unmanned spy planes were missing. The naval arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said in a statement on its website Sepahnews.com on Tuesday that “the unmanned US drone patrolling Persian Gulf waters, performing recon-naissance and gathering intel, was captured as soon as it entered Iranian airspace”.
Assistant referee killed Prosecutors in the Netherlands have charged three teenaged football players after the death of a linesman during a youth football competition. Richard Nieuwenhuizen, 41, died on Monday hours after he was attacked following an Under-17 match in Almere, near Amster-dam on Sunday.
News376 December 2012
Councillors have re-solved that the Tower Hamlets Mayor should
put his controversial decision to sell the much loved Old Flo sculpture on hold. The move came as it emerged that the Council has been contacted by lawyers working on behalf of the Art Fund who have raised serious questions about the Council’s claim of ownership.
The Council motion was supported by a clear majority of councillors with the Mayor’s cabinet refusing to support it. The Mayor refused to an-swer questions put to him by Councillors but will now have to indicate whether he will abide by the Council’s wish.
Separately, a letter from law-yers for the Art Fund, support-ed by the Tate Gallery, Henry Moore Foundation and Mu-seum of London, has detailed what they say could be evi-dence which shows the Council doesn’t actually own the sculp-ture. The lawyers have asked the Council for urgent clarifi-cation of its claim to owner-ship and have written to Chris-tie’s detailing their concerns.
Labour’s spokesperson for Heritage and Culture, Cllr Den-ise Jones, said: “The Mayor’s handling of this issue has been
disastrous from the start. First he decides to sell a much loved sculpture without consider-ing any alternatives, then he completely ignores the public’s outcry. Now we hear that the
sculpture might not even belong to the Council. The motion the council passed tonight was a clear message to the Mayor that he needs to stop the sale and get his house in order, considering
all the options and returning the sculpture to the borough.
Labour Councillor, An-war Khan, who seconded the motion, said: “We know the Mayor is desperate for money to fund his pet projects but try-ing to sell sculptures he may not even own is a new low.
“With possible legal chal-lenges on the horizon he must listen to the Council and put this process on hold until we have all the facts.
“Ownership should be the first thing the Coun-cil checks when proposing
to sell assets such Old Flo, this really does defy belief.”
Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, Rushanara Ali, said: “Thanks to our campaign to save Old Flo and keep her in Tower Hamlets, we now find there are serious questions about whether Tower Hamlets Coun-cil even owns the sculpture. We will continue to work with the 2,500 people who have signed the petition to keep Old Flo in the borough and do our utmost to prevent the Mayor of Tower Hamlets from selling off this very special East End treasure.”
As Tower Hamlets To-ries join forces with Joshua Peck’s La-
bour to oppose the Mayor’s plans to sell the Henry Moore statue, Draped, Seated Woman to invest in social housing, heritage and young people’s projects, Council-lor Rania Khan says her team’s investigations reveal that in 2010 Peter Golds’ To-ries actually proposed sell-ing the statue themselves.
Councillor Rania Khan is
the Tower Hamlets Cabinet Member for Culture. She said: “If wasn’t for a glance at records anyone would have believed that the Tories were genuinely interested in keeping the Henry Moore statue locally.
“Despite their current po-sition against the Mayor, back in March 2010 they brought a council motion proposing to sell the sculpture at auc-tion in order to raise funds.
“This has nothing to
do with heritage and eve-rything to do with po-litical opportunism.
“The borough – and the country as a whole – is in a worse financial posi-tion now than in 2010 but suddenly they’re in fa-vour of keeping Old Flo.
“It seems the only prin-ciple Peter Golds’ Tories follow is to oppose the Mayor at all costs – in-cluding consistently at the welfare of the residents.”
Rushanara Ali MP has called on the UK Government to
set out its plans for tack-ling HIV and AIDS, follow-ing an event in Parliament to mark World AIDS Day.
Rushanara spoke with ac-tivists from the Stop AIDS Campaign about the progress made in tackling the HIV epi-demic, with 8 million people now accessing HIV treatment across the world, and AIDS-related deaths declining from a peak of 2.2 million in the mid-2000s to 1.8 million in 2010.
Cllr Khan accuses ‘opportunist Tories’ of hypocrisy over sale of Old Flo sculpture
Rushanara Ali MP calls for more action on Aids and HIV
Councillors urge Mayor to suspend Old Flo sale
‘We will continue to work with the 2,500 people who have signed the petition to keep Old Flo in the borough and do our utmost to prevent the Mayor of Tower Hamlets from selling off this very special East End treasure’
This WeekRoyal pregnancy souvenirs News of the royal pregnancy is set to spark a wave of souvenir manufacturing, industry experts have said. Sales of Jubilee and London 2012 memorabilia have injected more than £300m into the UK economy, according to the Centre for Retail Research. It said £199m was spent on 2011 royal wedding souvenirs and a baby could prove almost as popular. The Duchess of Cambridge’s pregnancy was announced on Monday after she was diagnosed with acute morning sickness.
Judge criticised A judge who said burglary needed “a huge amount of courage” has been given a formal reprimand, the Office for Judicial Complaints (OJC) has said. Judge Peter Bowers made the comments at Teesside Crown Court in September as he spared an offender jail. The judge reportedly told him: “I wouldn’t have the nerve.” An investigation led by the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Jus-tice found the use of the word courage was a “serious error of judgement”.
PM praises schools plan David Cameron has hailed plans to squeeze spending in most Whitehall departments and use the money to build new schools and transport schemes. All but four departments will be asked to save an extra 1% next year and a further 2% the following year. The PM said the £5bn saved would be spent on capital projects to kickstart growth.
MPs beat human rights billMPs have defeated a bid by a Tory MP to scrap the Human Rights Act. Richard Bacon said the act had been used by the Eu-ropean Court of Human Rights to influence British law, which was “fundamentally undemo-cratic”. But Labour’s Thomas Docherty said Mr Bacon had misunderstood the legal impact of the act and praised it as one of Labour’s most important reforms during government.
Man murdered toddler A County Tyrone man has been found guilty of murdering his former partner’s toddler. Barry McCarney was also found guilty of sexual assault and the grievous bodily harm of Millie Martin. Millie’s mother, Ra-chael, was cleared of allowing her daughter’s death.Cllr Rania Khan
Old Flo has caused much debate in Tower Hamlets. The sculpture’s official name is Draped, Seated Woman, and it was created by Henry Moore
[email protected] 6 December 2012
Features
It is commonly said that newspapers are a first draft of history, the rough and ready stories about contemporary life to which historians, in a more academic and scholarly way, later refer
in order to understand a particular moment in life. Ishaque Kazal has been writing first drafts of history for several decades, having spent many years plying his trade at regional and national newspa-pers in Bangladesh, including Daily Banglabazar Patrika, where he was awarded Journalist of the Year in 1996.
He is currently one of the senior members of the editorial staff at Janomot, which became the first Bangla-language newsweekly published in Britain when it was founded in 1969. Janomot still enjoys widespread respect and a relatively healthy circulation despite the dozens of other newspapers, magazines and television stations currently competing in the same market.
How such a small community of Bengalis in Britain can sustain so many media operations is beyond my albeit limited understand-ing of economics. What is for certain in my mind is that most people who work in newspapers have a strong interest in people, communities, societies and, perhaps above all, history.
And for Kazal, that interest in history has led to his writing a fascinating book about an aspect of Bangladeshi life which is both integral to the feelings of national pride as well as a source of anguish, as he explains in the book.
Entitled Tea Workers’ Movement in the Surma Valley – a His-tory and Perspective, the historical work begins with a time when China was the only nation on Earth which produced tea, journeys through the days of the British colonisation and their ownership
of all the tea gardens, and brings the reader bang up to date with young female tea workers getting drunk during their free time. He also throws in some shady insinuations about Arabs buying up some tea gardens, but then, Arabs are the subject of a lot of insinu-ations, shady or otherwise.
Kazal implies that there is a mix of ownership of tea gardens, but then later mentions some of the largest tea companies in Bang-ladesh: Ispahani, James Finlay, Duncan Brothers and Raj.
In fact, he writes: “There are a total of 156 tea gardens in Bang-ladesh. Of them, 33 gardens are British-owned and managed by three companies. James Finlay owns 15 companies produce 42 per cent of the total tea production of Bangladesh. Of the rest, BTMC [Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation] owns 25 gardens, which are managed in collaboration with Bangladesh Tea. The National Tea Company, or NTC, owns a total of nine gardens. NTC is public limited company – 51 per cent of its shares are owned by the government and the remaining 49 per cent is private sector. Individual owners account for the rest of the gardens.”
While that ownership mix seems inkeeping with global conven-tions, the treatment of the workers does not.
He claims that, “Of all the countries in the world that produce tea, only the tea workers of Bangladesh suffer indescribable hard-ships.” He goes on to claim that workers are beaten and tortured and do not even enjoy the facilities that other Bangladeshi workers in other sectors of the economy enjoy; nevermind workers in other countries.
Child labour, while technically illegal in Bangladesh, is none-theless prevalent on many tea plantations across the country, and daily wage for a teenage tea worker in the Sylhet area is less than 10 takas, which works out to be less than 7 pence.
“Tea workers are a neglected class,” writes Kazal. “They are neglected by their union leaders, by the garden authorities, and even by the government.”
Even as a child, Kazal was made aware by his elders that the tea workers were “different”. He was discouraged from mixing with them. He talks about this early on in the book, and at the same time time thanks the Workers’ Party – which he became a part of – for the opportunity to get to know these much-maligned and neglected community.
He does point out that are some who try and raise awareness of the plight of the tea workers, and they happen to be people, like him, in the news media.
I don’t think I’d be giving much away if I said that Kazal’s book illustrates the sad fact that little or nothing has changed for the tea workers. From being treated literally as slaves by the Brit-ish during the colonial days to the current situation in which they are nominally free but, in practice, they are just as enslaved as they always were.
While that central conclusion seems clear, the book is nonethe-less a revealing look at one of the most important industries in Bangladesh – both in terms of culture and well as trade: Bangla-desh exported 48.26 million kilograms of tea in 1992-93, and the country is the eighth-largest tea exporter in the world.
Kazal spends little of the book offering solutions to the prob-lems tea workers face. Nor does he address the fact that foreign companies are doing such massive trade in a commodity that grows from under the feet of 140 million poverty-stricken Bangla-deshis. But that’s not a journalist’s job; neither is it a historian’s.
It was American newspaperman Philip Leslie Graham who described newspapers as the “first rough draft of history”. Graham, who lived from 1915 to 1963, was the publisher and co-owner of The Washington Post.
And like most journalists – and non-journalists – Graham acknowledged that much of what we write in newspapers and history books is really about things we understand all too little. In April 1963, just before his death, Graham delivered a speech to the overseas correspondents of Newsweek in London: “So let us today drudge on about our inescapably impossible task of providing every week a first rough draft of history that will never really be completed about a world we can never really understand…”
Tower Hamlets Re-spect has launched a campaign to protect
the borough’s heritage. It has been announced that the Boundaries Commission is keen on dropping “Bangla-town” from the Spitalfields and Banglatown ward. It is also looking to remove “Lans-bury” from the East India and Lansbury ward.
The announcements have been made after the Tower Hamlets Tory Group wrote to the Commission, suggesting those changes. Their inconsid-erate behaviour is a testament to how aloof Peter Golds and his councillors are from the local population.
Banglatown was added to the Spitalfields ward in 1998, in recognition of the Bangla-deshi community’s achieve-ments in the area. For many, it is symbolic of the struggle the early Bangladeshi set-tlers faced in their fight for justice and equality. Many have spilt blood, sweat and tears in creating a safe haven for the Bangladeshi commu-nity in the area.
This action by the Tory Group is a direct attack on everything the Bangladeshi settlers and local population fought for, in the 80s and early 90s. In effect, it is an attempt to rewrite the history books.
George Lansbury [after whom the East India and Lansbury ward was named] was a local MP, Labour Party National Leader and a cham-pion for the working class. George was famously jailed for supporting the suffragette movement, to grant women the right to vote.
Removing his name from the ward is a partisan attack by the Tories, to erase the legacy of a local hero. This attack on the heritage of Tower Hamlets is an affront to those who have fought and cam-paigned for a more just society. Respect rejects the call by the Tower Hamlets Tories to erase the borough’s rich history.
Respect will be holding a public rally to defend the lega-cy of George Lansbury and the early Bangladeshi settlers, and their sympathisers.
Tea workers in Bangladesh
Respect rallies to save Banglatown and Lansbury
‘Tea workers are a neglected class,’ writes Kazal. ‘They are neglected by their union leaders, by the garden authorities, and even by the government’
‘Of all the countries in the world that produce tea, only the tea workers of Bangladesh suffer indescribable hardships’
Book reviewTea Workers’ Movement in the Surma Valley – a History and Perspective
ViewpointAbjol Miah
[email protected] 396 December 2012
Features
Human Aid UK, the international charity based in Wh-itechapel, which aims to alleviate the suffering of the poorest people world-wide, turns its attention to
the local community by aiming to raise £5,000 in 2013 for London’s Air Ambulance, the charity which delivers an ad-vanced trauma team to critically injured people in London. The partnership was initiated by Human Aid supporter, Runu Miah, who was treated by London’s Air Ambulance in 2009.
Runu was riding on his moped in Haringey, North London preparing for the ‘Knowledge‘ exam, before being tragicaly knocked off and run over by a car. Runu suffered severe limb and pelvic injuries and lost vast amounts of blood. A London’s Air Ambulance doctor and paramedic were at his side within minutes. They administrated pain relief, splinted his limbs and pelvis on scene and requested blood from The Royal London Hospital to be ready on the helipad as soon they touched down.
Runu Miah, Human Aid volunteer and ex-patient of Lon-don’s Air Ambulance, who initiated the charity partnership, said: “ Fundraising for London’s Air Ambulance ultimately means giving back to our local community, as you never know who will need their services next. Before they saved my life, I hadn’t realised how valuable the service London’s Air Am-bulance provides is and I want to help this amazing charity continue their operations.“
In the upcoming year, Human Aid UK will make an excep-
tion to their mostly international focus and will fundraise for local charity, London’s Air Ambulance. Based at The Royal London Hospital, London’s Air Ambulance attends over 2,000 life-saving missions in the Capital per year. Missions com-monly involve serious road traffic collisions, falls from heights, incidents on the rail network and assaults. Human Aid UK will be collecting donations from the local community, with local community Mosques as their main fundraising platform.
Commenting on the partnership, Chairman of Human Aid UK, Jilu Miah said: “London’s Air Ambulance saves thousands of lives in London every year. We are delighted to support this vital service that hugely benefits our local community. Apart from launching a number of fundraising activities in 2013, we also hope to raise awareness about the fact that London’s Air Ambulance is a charity that relies heavily on public donations.”
London’s Air Ambulance is the Charity which runs London’s Helicopter Emergency Medical Service. The service provides pre-hospital medical care to victims of serious injury, at the scene of the incident, throughout London - serving the 10 mil-lion people who live, work and commute within the M25.
Based at the Royal London Hospital and founded in 1989, the service is unique in that it operates 24/7, with the helicopter running in daylight hours and rapid response cars taking over at night.
The Team, which at all times includes a Senior Trauma Doctor and a specially trained Paramedic, perform advanced medical interventions, normally only found in the Hospi-tal Emergency Department, in time critical, life threatening situations. Missions commonly involve serious road traffic collisions, falls from height, industrial accidents, assaults and injuries on the rail network.
London’s Air Ambulance has an international reputation for clinical excellence and delivers pioneering procedures which have been adopted across the world.
Oxfam invited leading investment experts to Asia House in London
to learn how investment funds can help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) secure a stable income and how this can benefit poor communities.
The event, which had a particular focus on agriculture, was hosted by Amanda Feldman, Engagement Manager at Volans, with guest panellists Gavin Stew-art, Investment Propositions Di-rector at Lloyds Banking Group; David Pitt-Watson, former Chair of Hermes Focus Asset Manage-ment, and Susannah Nicklin, UK Liaison at Global Impact Invest-ment Network.
Two ground breaking ini-tiatives in Asia – the Enterprise Development Programme and the Small Impact Investing Fund – were showcased as investing in a variety of enterprises. Oxfam is taking a lead in demonstrating that investments can deliver both social and financial returns, but warns a lack of investment in SMEs is stifling progress.
Nicholas Colloff, director of innovation for Oxfam, said: “Countless small businesses in developing countries have the potential to prosper but are being held back by limited access to credit. Establishing viable invest-ment models for this ‘missing middle’ is a key aim for Oxfam.
“We have seen through direct experience the difference that investing in these SMEs in Asia can make, both for those working within the businesses and for the wider community. We hope that bringing more people’s attention to the potential of this sector through events like today will encourage further investment.”
Established in 2008, Oxfam’s Enterprise Development Pro-gramme (EDP) directly invests in small enterprises, helping some of the world’s poorest and most remote communities to establish commercially viable businesses. EDP builds their capacity, invests in them with a mixture of grants and loans, enabling each enterprise to generate wealth in a sustainable way.
To date, EDP has supported a variety of pro-poor enterprises in Asia, including seed produc-ers in Nepal, dairy producers in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, as well as processors of moringa (a plant used in cattle feed) in the Philippines.
Human Aid launches fund for Air Ambulance
Oxfam, Asia House show investment potential of SMEs
London’s Air Ambulance has an international reputation for clinical excellence and delivers pioneering procedures which have been adopted across the world
‘London’s Air Ambulance saves thousands of lives in London every year. We are delighted to support this vital service that hugely benefits our local community’
Press release Human Aid UK