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TOTALLY EXCLUDED FROM A GOVERNMENT INITIATIVE THAT IS MEANT TO BE INCLUSIVE

Mike Lane | 26.07.2002 10:44

At this present moment in history hundreds of poor communities throughout the UK have been earmarked for regeneration. Central government ministers are constantly trumpeting the virtues of community empowerment, a bottom up approach. But at local government level the bottom up approach is really a fallacy.

At the time of writing this document Friday 26th of July 2002 I have been totally excluded from a New Deal for Communities (NDC) initiative that is meant to be an inclusive grass roots bottom up approach. I believe that the real reasons behind this ruthless exclusion is because I am an expert in and espouse the teachings of the libertarian educationalist Paulo Freire and many other libertarian educationalists such as Henry A. Giroux. To get a better political perspective and to protect myself against possible future legal harassment I have joined the Socialist Labour Party (SLP) and People not Profit (PnP). Both of these organisations are aware of what I am campaigning against and totally support me.

To highlight the undemocratic way in which the Liverpool City Council and all the regeneration agencies on Merseyside are operating I have run in local elections on three occasions and was chosen by the SLP to run against MP and minister Jane Kennedy in the last general election.

Although the chief executive of the Kensington Regeneration will strongly deny this fact. Kensington Regeneration Partnership employees who post newsletters around the NDC areas advertising forthcoming NDC events and meetings never post them at the rented accommodation where I live. This means that I am being deliberately kept in the dark as to what is going on in my own community. I believe that this is a deliberate attempt to totally exclude me from community participation because I will not conform to the oppressive community participation methodology that is being imposed onto the community by regeneration administrators and community outreach workers. I believe that I am also being discredited by the £57,000 per year Chief Executive of the NDC inititive Mr Stephen Boyle. Already this man has levelled outlandish allegations of social misdemeanours against me in an obvious desperate attempt to discredit me in the eyes of the community and to justify the oppressive way in which his staff and outreach workers are domesticating the NDC community so that outside vested interests can impose their agenda onto the unsuspecting community. My principal fear is that this same person will after consulting with elitist senior council officers and solicitors, try to drag me through the law courts using the draconian harassment laws against me to try and silence me. He has already made veiled threats, which have caused me, a law-abiding person who has a strong sense of civic duty, to suffer from extreme stress and worry.

The means and the stealth like way in which I was excluded can be observed on my web site, page:  http://www.whistleblower.nstemp.com/catalog.html The home owner who sent a letter of complaint which eventually led to my exclusion was given a well paid job within the Kensington Regeneration Partnership. I was excluded from a Citizens Panel after only two meetings, which in total lasted just three hours, were is the democracy in this state of affairs?

Mike Lane (Campaigner for social justice and for real community empowerment)

Mike Lane
- e-mail: mickjlane@btinternet.com
- Homepage: www.whistleblower.nstemp.com