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East London Against Gentrification: Two Events this week

fight_displacement | 20.05.2008 11:51 | Social Struggles | London

Both Wednesday the 21st and Saturday the 24th will see two events held in East london hosting international activists from the Vancouver Anti Poverty Committee, (Canada) and the Movement for Justice in El Barrio (Harlem, NYC) both fighting gentrifcation and displacement. See details below.

Vancover Anti Poverty Committee Fight the Olympics:
Public Talk on Wednesday the 21st of May 8pm

Action Eastend and London Coalition Against Poverty
(LCP) are organising a joint public meeting for a
Canadian comrade involved in the Anti Poverty
Committee in Canada and anti-olympic solidarity there,
she is going to be in London on the Wednesday 21st May
and is going to introduce the 'Five Ring Circus' film
about the travesty of the 2010 Winter Olympics and is
willing to discuss and answer any questions people
have.
Please feel welcome to attend and please distribute as
widely as possible.

Venue is at
 http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=bowl%20court%2C%20shoreditch&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&um=1&sa=N&tab=wl

Film Trailer
 http://www.thefiveringcircus.com/

Anti Poverty Committee
 http://apc.resist.ca/

Movement for Justice in El Barrio: Gentrification from Harlem to Dalston
Public Talk Saturday the 24th of May

Juan Haro, a speaker from Movement for Justice in El Barrio will talk in Dalston, about their struggle against displacement by gentrification in Harlem, New York city. On Saturday the 24th of May @ Passing Clouds, on Richmond Rd, just off Kingsland road in Dalston, 10 mins from Dalston Kingsland Station. Buses: 149, 242, 243, 67.Free or donation entry to talk from 7.00pm.

Followed by Latin bands and DJs hosted by Movimientos at around 9pm "From folkloric to electronic Movimientos is the sound of London's Latin alternative". (£5 entry)

Dalston, like many other parts of London is undergoing development that will mean rent rises for tenants already struggling to pay extortionate London rents. When an area becomes appealing for investors and "regeneration" it's those people with money who end up enjoying the new housing, expensive cafes and shops, and the people with less money who end up having to move further away from the centre of the city or who, if they stay, lose the shops, cafes and resources they rely on. Movement for Justice, the organization of tenants in Harlem, New York that have been struggling against the landlords that want to price them out of their area say;

"This displacement is created by the greed, ambition and violence of a global empire of money that seeks to take total control of all the land, labor and life on earth. Here in El Barrio (East Harlem, New York City), landlords, multi-national corporations and local, state and federal politicians and institutions want to force upon us their culture of money, they want to displace poor families and rent their apartments to rich people, white people with money. They want to change the look of our neighborhood, with the excuse of "developing the community."

The talk will explore issues around resisting gentrification and the model of organization that Movement for Justice have used to work with each other – an inspiring and educational example from across the Atlantic that we could learn from in London.

"Together, we make our dignity resistance and we fight back against the actions of capitalist landlords and multinational corporations who are displacing poor families from our neighborhood. We fight back locally and across borders. We fight back against local politicians that refuse to govern by obeying the will of the people. We fight back against the government institutions that enforce a global economic, social and political system that seeks to destroy humanity."

Talk organized by Hackney Solidarity Network, Hackney Independent, Haringey Solidarity Group and London Coalition Against Poverty.

Contact:  hackneysolidarity@hotmail.co.uk

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