Brixton Bugle | April 2017

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APRIL 2017

OPINION 9

brixtonblog.com

We all care about our children and it’s unfair to say otherwise

BRIXTON BUGLE

COMMENT History remembers fighters

Jane Pickard, Lambeth cabinet member for families and young people, says playgrounds are important and she will continue to fight for services everyone agrees are vital

We all know what happens.

Someone who stands up for their principles, especially if those principles are not flavour of the month with the rich and powerful, is dangerous, a wrecker, a threat to society.

Later, when that person passes on and their principles have become accepted – or seem to be – the dangerous rebel transitions smoothly into a national treasure who bravely spoke truth to power.

So it is with Darcus Howe.

Except, of course, that the people suffering oppression in Brixton, Notting Hill and elsewhere knew that he was right along and that nothing was going to change without a fight.

He was a fighter, a thinker and a talker. Talents not many of us can combine as well as he did.

In the 1970s one of the things Darcus Howe fought was the invisibility to government and media of London’s Black population – even when 13 young members of it died in a fire.

Today in Brixton we are in danger of watching a whole new section of people become invisible.

Restaurants about to open in Brixton – and we quote – describe it with staggering ignorance as “an affluent neighbourhood”.

It isn’t. But that is what many people with money would like it to be.

The thousands of poor people struggling to get by are an obstacle to their plans to make money from land, bricks and mortar.

Anybody who gets in the way – whether they are independent traders who have been here for decades or people earning low incomes doing jobs in the NHS, schools or emergency services that are vital to society – can get out of the way.

For many developers, the best thing these people could do would be to become invisible and disappear.

So next time you hear someone suggesting that people objecting to developers and landlords riding roughshod over people in Brixton are exaggerating a problem, being difficult or too unruly, remember Darcus Howe and all the other rebels who were proved right – but only because they put up a fight.

I’ll never forget my first visit to an adventure playground after taking over as the Lambeth cabinet member responsible for them.

After I’d walked round, watching dozens of children dangling from ropes, whizzing down zip wires and pottering with bikes, I strolled out of the front door and almost fell over yet more children, aged between about eight and 12, patiently queueing for their turn to enter.

If any further evidence was needed of the popularity of these sites, that day provided it.

To the children, the playground must have seemed magical. It gave them fresh air, exercise, friends, fun and an outlet for their imaginations. To adults, they are places where children can be left for a few hours, safe and supervised.

The playgrounds are particularly important to inner-city children living in flats – often over-crowded – with no gardens.

Many also provide cookery, art and other indoor activities.

For younger children, Lambeth’s one o’clock clubs perform a similar role while also bringing parents together who might otherwise be isolated.

That is why Lambeth council has bent over backwards to make sure adventure playgrounds and one o’clock clubs stay open.

Facing funding cuts, it decided in 2012 to hand them over to the voluntary sector and schools while gradually making savings and helping providers to seek new funding. That plan is now nearly complete.

As a result, with one or two exceptions, all 14 one o’clock clubs previously run by the

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A doughty fighter Devon Thomas pays tribute to Darcus Howe, a citizen of Brixton for 30 years and leading campaigner for the rights of Black people The old street warrior Darcus Howe has of the Race Today collective and editor of its passed over to the Ancestors. monthly magazine during the 1970s and 80s.

I met him in Notting Hill in the late 1960s I assisted the new Race Today in 1975, when when I was working at the Notting Hill they had to relocate from Kings Cross and Adventure Playground and he was a member they moved to a property that my organisation of the Mangrove, a restaurant and community at the time, BYFHAA, controlled at 165 hub on All Saints Road owned by fellow Railton Road, now occupied by the Brixton Trinidadian Frank Critchlow.

Advice Centre.

He came to national prominence as a As a member of Race Today, Darcus became defendant in the Mangrove 9 trial. The a leading figure in the New Cross Massacre Metropolitan police targeted The Mangrove in Action Committee and the Black People’s Notting Hill as a “place of ill repute”, claiming Day of Action that highlighted the death of 13 that drugs were sold there . young people in a fire at a birthday party.

In truth, it provided a symbolic space He was also a leading figure in the where locals and their guests socialised and establishment of the International Book Fair discussed the issues of the of Radical Black and Third day and organised against World Books, the premier The Black Cultural efforts by the authorities to annual event of its kind at Archives is hosting an suppress the rebellious spirit that time. outdoor film screening that was abroad in those Later in the 1980s he found “Swinging Sixties”. a consistent place in the and indoor photo The community, including broadcast media, making and exhibition on Sunday Darcus and Frank, mobilised presenting TV programmes 9 April from 7pm to against the continual raiding such as Bandung File and honour Darcus Howe and harassment and a Devil’s Advocate. demonstration and march Even in the latter part of from Notting Dale to Paddington police station his life when he was afflicted with prostate took place. The police tried to disrupt the cancer, he made a TV special, describing his march. Fighting ensued and they arrested a experience of the disease and advised men of number of the participants, later singling out African-Caribbean origin to “get themselves the nine most active, who included Darcus. checked out early” to maximise the chances They were charged with a series of very of recovery. serious public order offences.

Most people had firm views about Darcus, A sophisticated collective strategy was but whatever these may have been, no one can organised, including Darcus defending himself deny that he was a doughty fighter in the cause when they all appeared at the Old Bailey. of Black and oppressed people’s interests.

They won their battle against these state May his spirit find rest. forces and Darcus went on to become a public Ajomasé commentator, journalist, activist, later leader Devon C. Thomas – The Griot

HE LOVED A SCRAP WITH BUREAUCRACY Fred Taggart, secretary of the Brixton Advice Centre, pays tribute to Darcus Howe Darcus was a big man in every sense. Big in stature, big in personality and big in heart.

His contribution to the fight against injustice and for racial equality was both brave and unmatched. As an Irish person I know he fought our corner too.

Race Today magazine, which

he published as part of the collective, was based next door to the Centre and I got to know Darcus over 30 years. He was a great supporter and friend of the Centre, especially when we needed help with the council.

Darcus loved a scrap with bureaucracy.

Darcus and his wife Leila visited the Centre in 2015 to launch our new window art dedicated to, and celebrating,

distinguished local Black people who share a strong connection to our premises on Railton Road.

Once again he lifted our spirits and reminded us that the fight for justice and equality is also rooted in organisations like the Brixton Advice Centre.

Darcus had the great facility to mix political vision with learning and culture, and to make us laugh as well.

Far from closing, the club in Max Roach Park is scheduled for almost £100,000 of investment. Mulberry in Myatts Fields and Brockwell Park one o’clock clubs are also set to benefit council around the borough, including four in the Brixton area, are still open and being run by the voluntary sector or by children’s centres. Two are closed temporarily for building repairs.

So for Laura Silva (“We all need these clubs” Brixton Bugle P9 March 2017) to say that one o’clock clubs are “disappearing” from Brixton is highly misleading.

Far from closing, the club in Max Roach park is scheduled for almost £100,000 of investment from the Big Lottery funded Lambeth Early Action Partnership. Mulberry in Myatts Fields and Brockwell Park one o’clock clubs are also set to benefit.

Twelve out of 16 former council-funded adventure playgrounds are still open, two are allocated to new providers and I’m supporting residents keen to re-establish another.

Fourteen out of 16 is not a bad record when our Government grant has fallen by 56%.

No-one would deny that life in austerity Britain is tough. I know many valued staff who have lost their jobs. This is extremely sad.

But to imply that a callous and inept council is surreptitiously closing children’s services across Brixton is grossly unfair.

The fact is that we do care, we do value these sites and we will continue to fight for services we all agree are vital.

14 BRIXTON PEOPLE

brixtonblog.com

2017 APRIL

It’s bustling – but it’s not Brixton What happens when you are evicted from your Brixton shop of 11 years?

Anna McKie finds out Husband and wife Mohammed and Shahida Shafiq stand in their shop in Walworth, surrounded by metres of colourful fabric

but, behind the swathes of African laces, cotton, muslin, satin and chiffon, they talk of the difficulty they have had getting here, and the uncertainty they still have for their future.

The couple ran S&S Textiles on Atlantic Road for 11 years, until September 2016 when Network Rail forced its tenants in the arches along

Mohammed and Shahida Shafiq outside their shop in Walworth and, below, their former premises boarded up with no sign of work starting

Brixton Station Road and Atlantic Road to leave for what the company says are essential repairs.

The battle between the tenants and Network Rail has been running since February 2015, when shopkeepers were told they would be evicted to make way for refurbishment of the arches and they would be able to return, but with starkly increased rents.

“It was a shock when we first found out we would have to leave – and within the next six months,” Mohammed says, as Shahida tends to a customer. “This is our only business. It’s our lives.”

Tenants and supporters banded together and created Save Our Shops. A small victory meant that the deadline for eviction was pushed back until the latter half of 2016.

But despite a strong campaign, numerous objections to Network Rail’s planning application and criticism from local MP Helen Hayes, Lambeth council approved planning permission for the redevelopment.

The council said it had “worked hard with Network

Rail and tenants to reach an agreement on stepped rents making it more attractive for the 75% of businesses who want to return”.

From 19 September, leases were terminated and new ones will be drawn up that could eventually lead a triple increase in rents for the traders.

“They gave us compensation that covered us for a few months, which we desperately needed because what could we do?” Mohammed says. “We have all this stock, how could we find something else when we’ve got so much money invested in this?”

The couple decided to find other premises and, after six months, they opened,

at the end of February this year. A fellow arches tenant helped them move in. “He doesn’t know what’s next either, he’s waiting too,” Mohammed says.

The new premises are on East Street in Walworth, a bustling market in south London – but it’s not Brixton.

“We have told our old customers that we’re here,” Shahida says. “We went down to Atlantic Road today to put up posters on the boards covering our shops.”

“Some have popped by to say hello, but people from Brixton don’t come here to shop,” Mohammed says. “It’s as if we have had to start all over again. It costs a huge amount of money.”

“They have said that we can come back but to stepped rents that will eventually increase to three times what we paid before,” Mohammed explains.

The main problem, however, is that the unit that S&S Textiles inhabited will no longer exist – Network Rail’s plans show that it will be a pathway.

“Network Rail said we could have a unit around the back, but it’s not the same, and even that is not guaranteed,” Mohammed adds.

“I’m not happy with what they’ve offered.”

Meanwhile, it’s a still a waiting game, as work is unlikely to be finished in a year, as was promised. “I know others tried to stay and fight,” Mohammed says. “But we couldn’t, we felt we had no choice but to leave when we were told.”

The couple say they support the need to fight, but needed to run their business.

“It has been so difficult. It has been two years of uncertainty,” Mohammed says.

“If this hadn’t happened, we’d still be there, we were very happy there. We had regular customers. We would have happily stayed at least another ten years.”

■■ S&S Textiles can be found on 70 East Street, SE17 2DQ. ■■ Are you an evicted tenant from the Brixton Arches who would like to tell their story?

Email newsdesk@brixtonblog. com.

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