Greater Govanhill Issue 2

Issue 2

Spring 2021

FREE • Gratu it Ücretsiz • • Grati s Zadarmo • Besplatno

THE STORIES THAT MATTER TO YOU

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT RUBBISH

SPECIAL ISSUE

and what we can do about it

PLUS: New Scots Guide to Voting in the Elections • A Kurdish Recipe • Ghost Signs & Wally Closes Local Makers • History & Culture of The Roma • Govanhill Community Garden (from above) Featuring articles in:

Polskie

Română

čeština

E M O C L E W R U O Y TO E T O V E M O C L WE E M O C L WE E M O C L WE E M O C L WE E M O C L WE

r 6 or ove 1 d e g a If you’re Scotland, you in Scottish and live e h t in e vot can now election. nt Parliame

REGISTER BY REGISTER BY

APRIL 19TH 19 APRIL

TO GET YOUR VOTE, REGISTER NOW AT: GOV.UK/REGISTERTOVOTE

Letter from the Editor

Featured Contributors

Dear Readers

As the daffodils start to push their way into Queen’s Park, we can hopefully start to move forward and leave this hard winter behind us.

Being plunged back into a strict lockdown right after the first magazine came out has been tough on us all. But it’s been heartwarming to hear stories of how Issue 1 helped to make you feel more connected to your neighbourhood – and your neighbours.

In this issue, we take on rubbish, and what can be done about it. This is not a problem unique to Govanhill, but it still impacts the area. We also hear what it means to have refugee status and be able to vote in Scotland for the first time. There’s a chance to learn more about the history and culture of the Roma community. And we go treasure hunting for ghost signs and wally closes. There are all the regulars too, covering music, history, and food. But most of all, the magazine is about community, and how ours continues to grow stronger.

We are going to print right after a high-profile debate around racism in the media.

There is a serious lack of diversity in journalism. And when news is viewed through a single lens, we only hear a fraction of the story. This magazine was launched to provide a platform for those voices that too often go unheard. And we’re excited to announce that we’ll soon be launching journalism skills training to empower more local people to get involved.

Rhiannon J Davies

Editor-in-Chief, Greater Govanhill

A special thanks goes to our advertisers: Bike For Good, Coding Division, GOBike, Gulabi, Inhouse Events, Kieron Redmond, Rumpus Room, South East Integration Network, Scottish Refugee Council, Studio70 and WEvolution. If you’d like to advertise in the next issue, contact: notices@greatergovanhill.com With additional support from FirstPort.

This magazine would not be possible without the support Become a of our community. If you member! want to help keep it going, sign up to be a member for as little as £3 per month: greatergovanhill.com/support

Ahlam Al-Bashiri

is a former Yemeni diplomat and the co-founder of To Yemen with Love. She now works with Saheliya Organisation and is also Voices Network ambassador. She campaigned for the right to vote for New Scots.

Alexander Hoyles

is a Glasgow based photographer who, alongside his ongoing commercial and portraiture work, takes on commissions from arts organisations, collects reflected light in the wild and directs the occasional music video.

Magazine Design by Laura Hurst www.hursto.co.uk Cover Image The Big Back Court Community by Virginie Chabrol Words by Ahlam Al-Bashiri, Arthur Oliver, Audrey Bizouerne, Craig Hunter, Danny Macphearson, Emilia Gaziova, Giacinta Frisillo, Graham Steel, Jamie Dyer, Katie Dibb, Laurent Tighe, Louise Nicolas, Marion Nisbet, Marzanna Antoniak, Mikey Jarrell, Peter Armstrong, Rachel Carmichael, Rhiannon Davies, Romano Lav, Ruth Cape, Sean Wai Keung, Zan Phee Editing Support Bruce Downie, Chris Jarrell, Clare Harris, CJ Lazaretti, Craig Hunter, Giverny Tattersfield, Katie Dibb, Kate Holford, Mikey Jarrell, Rachel Carmichael, Saskia McCracken Translation from Ania Marchwiak, Romano Lav, Scottish Refugee Council Featuring the Photography of Alexander Hoyles, Audrey Bizouerne, Eoin Carey, Giacinta Frisillo, Jamie Dyer, Michael Paley, Simon Murphy, Steven McLaren, Toni Bruce, the Roma Youth Photography Project, Virginie Chabrol. Drone photography by The Glasgow Snapper.

Giacinta Frisillo

is an artist and educator from New York. She finds Govanhill to be the neighborhood most similar to home: vibrant, diverse, a bit rough around the edges, but so full of heart. She works facilitating groups with new Scots, all survivors of torture, all incredibly inspirational.

Illustrations by Giacinta Frisillo, Laura Hurst Printed by Gladstone Media Ltd

All content, unless otherwise stated, is copyright © Greater Govanhill CIC. All rights reserved. No part of this independently published magazine may be reproduced without permission.

Greater Govanhill CIC is a community interest company registered in Scotland: SC656194. Any queries, comments or letters, get in touch via: hello@greatergovanhill.com To make a complaint, visit: greatergovanhill.com/complaints

Contents REGULARS

FEATURES

06

20

News in Brief Does what it says on the tin

We Need to Talk About Rubbish Living Rent Govanhill The Power of Rubbish What’s Worked Elsewhere Living with Waste

08

Meet the Volunteer At The Larkfield Centre

09

Like My Grandmother Used to Make Kurdish Biryani

10

Roma News and Views Is the Romanian anti-gypsyism law making things worse?

12

27

13

30

14

32

Local Makers Turning plastic rubbish into furniture In Conversation with Local DJs Rebecca Vasmant and Oliver Melling Style Icon Designer Roma fashion

16

Behind the Portrait With Keep On Pushing’s Peter Hughes

18

Arts and Culture Reviews and previews

19

Your Govanhill With Nadine Gorency from Rags to Riches

Lassies Who Climb Barriers Glasgow’s women fighting for equality Ghost Signs of Govanhill Do you enjoy a bit of ghost sign busting?

Equality Means the Right to Vote Scotland grants refugees the right to vote

33

Voting in the 2021 Scottish Parliament Elections FAQs for New Scots in English, Farsi, Kurdish and Arabic

36

Peek into the Past Life in Govanhill during WWII

40

Schnitty’s Cuisine One of the area’s exciting new takeaway offerings

41

SEIN Presents The Youth Community Support Agency 4

Language Quiz Issue 2 Spring 2021

By Marzanna Antoniak

TRAVELLING WORDS

Some words seem to travel across languages. They may look the same, but they often carry completely new meanings. How many can you translate to English?

Govanhill Community Garden A bird’s eye view of of this hidden gem

42

The History and Culture of the Roma A fascinating insight

44

Tenement Tiles The origins and designs of the wally close

46

Govanhill in the Olden Days Originally published in 1914, sharing stories of the 1870s!

48

What’s On Round up of the latest on and offline - events

50

Hot Shot Audrey Bizouerne shares her favourite local photo

50

Poetry Corner Sean Wai Keung presents Rum Shack

Competition time!

To be in with a chance of winning some exciting locally-made goodies, share a photo of this copy of this magazine somewhere in the Govanhill neighbourhood. Make sure to tag us in and use the hashtag #GreaterGovanhill

@govanhill_mag

Cong ra to ou tulations r prev ious winn e the D rs, ix Comm on unity

cutie (RO)

women

horn (RO)

apples

mere (RO)

old

baby (PL)

box

fart (PL) stare (PL)

soon

arena (ES)

foot

pie (ES)

chimney

sin (ES)

poor

plot (SK)

luck

more (SK)

great

bald (DE)

sand

arm (DE)

without

tall (DE)

greatergovanhill @greatergovanhill

fence

sea

Answers: cutie – box • horn – chimney • mere – apples baby – women • stare – old • fart - luck pie – foot • arena – sand • sin – without plot – fence • more – sea • bald – soon arm – poor • tall – great

38

Draw lines to match these words in German (DE), Polish (PL), Spanish (ES), Slovak (SK) & Romanian (RO) with their English meanings.

Winners will be announced at the end of May.

5

news in brief MILK Cafe Launches new Services MILK and Tenue Legal are holding free legal surgeries to help Roma families in Govanhill who have not signed up to the EU Settled Status scheme: • Monday 15th and 22nd March (Romanian) • Monday 29th March (Slovak) • Monday 5th April (Czech) An interpreter will be available to answer any questions people may have and a solicitor will help ensure online forms are filled out correctly.

Appointments will be held in MILK. To book, visit: www.teneulegal.com/ settled-status-appointments Also, starting at the end of March, MILK will be running a series of Computer Skills Workshops. These six week blocks will be aimed at migrant women and designed to help those with very basic computer skills to improve their digital literacy, gain confidence using devices and programmes, and be able to navigate the internet safely and securely.

They will be free and held in person in MILK cafe. For more info, email: hellomilkcafe@gmail.com

Ați aplicat pentru schema ROM ANIA N de înregistrare pentru statul de rezident în UK a cetățenilor UE (rezidență) ?

Aveți nevoie de ajutor să aplicați la rezidență sau aveți nevoie de un sfat de la un avocat?

Sfaturi legale și ajutor pentru aplicație GRATUIT la MILK Cafe adresa 452 Victoria Road, Glasgow, G42 8YU Prihlásili ste sa do SLOV systému vyrovnania AK Európskej únie?

Potrebujete pomoc alebo radu od právnika?

Bezplatné právne poradenstvo v kaviarni MILK Cafe - 452 Victoria Road, Glasgow, G42 8YU

Female and Non-Binary Footballers Wanted To take part in an outdoor ‘Feminist Economics Co-Operative Footbal Match’ run by Swap Market. Expected to take place in early summer, it will be a fun way of looking at different themes in feminist economies. Players will be playing for three different teams all aiming to form allegiances rather than beat the other teams.

Footballers will be paid for their time. For more info, contact: events@swapmarket.info

Funding for South West Govanhill Housing Strategy

Eoin Carey

A total of over £17million in funding has been provided from the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council and the Govanhill Housing Association to enable the association to continue to acquire and repair homes in the neighbourhood aimed for social rent.

Locality Plan Needs Your Input

by Marzanna Antoniak, Thriving Places Govanhill Community Connector How do people in Govanhill meet each other? How do they make decisions? Does everyone have equal access to information? We want to find answers to these questions in order to make information more inclusive and accessible to everyone in the community and engage more residents in activities they might otherwise miss out on.

Get involved by filling in our online survey, which covers the Community Engagement and Information Strategy for Govanhill.

Your insights will guide work towards positive change that’s informed by local people, so it can address the real needs and aspirations of the community. www.govanhill.info/locality-plan.

We believe that innovative community engagement and information are key to bringing us closer together and realising the huge potential of Govanhill’s unique diversity. This means tapping into our residents’ skills and interests.

That’s why, in February, we took the Bhasha Glasgow Language Festival to the Govanhill streets. Multilingual chalk stencils and posters by local designers could be spotted in windows and on the pavements.

We’re proud that, through online events, our residents exchanged insights into their languages and cultures with their neighbours and attendees from around the world.

Govanhill truly is a vibrant, multicultural and multilingual neighbourhood that has lots to offer to its residents and the whole city. Let’s make the most of it!

Repair Stop Moves to Victoria Road The Repair Stop is moving to 241 Victoria Road – the old Cash Converters Shop. They’ll be offering affordable tech, electrical, and textile repairs to help Govanhill reject throw-away culture.

Project Lead, Lauren Hooper said: “We launched last July in the middle of the pandemic via a pop-up at the Deep End and we’ve now outgrown our space.

Our team all believe strongly in providing a practical alternative to throwaway society – and in creating a social enterprise model that builds local jobs too. Since July, we’ve received nearly 300 items – from toasters to record players, jumpers, phones, and toys.”

The team have also been accepting donations of unwanted computers and phones which are being prepared for reuse and either sold to keep the project going or donated to folk who need them as part of our digital inclusion efforts.

Alexander Hoyles

news in brief Govanhill Open Museum Plan to Take Heritage to Streets

by Thriving Places Govanhill

During the Community Conversation events held by the Thriving Places initiative, it became apparent that the people of Govanhill were eager to celebrate their neighbourhood. But, if we want to do justice to our shared heritage, we must take things outdoors, so that all residents, across ages, cultures, and social backgrounds are aware that they are being celebrated.

During the first stage of the project, we will work with a local artist to create a collaboratively designed mural. Throughout the process, the residents will develop a series of ideas that will enable us to shape a street-based representation of Govanhill’s identity that reflects the people, heritage, and physicality of this uniquely diverse area.

This heritage-based project, developed as part of the Thriving Places strategy for the neighbourhood, is a collaboration between Govanhill Community Development Trust, Community Renewal, and Glasgow Museums. For more info, visit: www.Govanhill.Info or the Thriving Places Govanhill Facebook page.

Big Noise Launch New Groups If you live in Govanhill and are in Primary 4-7, you can sign up for the exciting new Kickstart Band. If you are in Primary 3, you can learn the cello at home.

Grown-ups can join in too, if they like!

Sessions will be on Zoom once a week, and both the classes and instruments are all free. To find out more, email govanhill@sistemascotland.org.uk or find Big Noise Govanhill on Facebook.

Jamie Dyer

Campaign to Save Langside Synagogue from Development Local campaign group, Save Langside Shul is celebrating the fact that the historic building failed to meet its reserve price at auction on the 25 February. The synagogue - or shul - on Niddrie Road opened in 1927, but closed seven years ago. Last year, following public consultation, it was given official protection when it was category-C listed by Historic Environment Scotland.

The campaign group said that: “We want to see the shul be restored to community ownership, rather than sold to developers who will simply demolish it or desecrate it for the sake of profit and gentrification. We want to maintain this space as a place for Jewish worship and a community centre for all the residents of Govanhill.”

Meet the Volunteer Elizabeth Murray The Larkfield Community Centre Photo by Virgine Chabrol

M on the Larkfield Centre management committee.

y name is Elizabeth Murray and I am a volunteer

Larkfield is a community centre based in Inglefield Street, Govanhill. It was set up by members of the local community back in 1992. It has gone from strength to strength, meeting the needs of the people in the local area.

The centre offers both educational and recreational classes and groups along with a number of events over the course of the year. It also provides vital space for services delivered by other organisations to meet the needs of our diverse community. This is what makes the Larkfield Centre such an interesting place to be involved with.

I have lived in Govanhill my whole life and before lockdown, I attended several groups at the centre. These included the art, photography, Tai-Chi and women’s groups. I was made to feel so welcome when I went along to my first group, which was digital photography.

It got me out of the house and I met other people.

As a result of this I thought about giving something back to the centre, knowing the good work they do in the local community. So, when the opportunity came to join the management committee, I had no hesitation in putting my name forward. Because without the Committee, there would be no centre. And I knew I would have the opportunity to encourage members of the community to come along, find out what is available at the centre, and join in.

I love being involved with the centre, particularly around the events we run. I enjoy making the tea and coffee or juice to serve to those attending the various events. It’s great, you get to meet new people and they are such happy times, especially the children’s events.

They are so excited when they come in and see the way the hall is set up. In particular, at Halloween with the open fire in the main hall. The fire looks real, but is made of leaves, logs and Christmas lights. It’s still magical for the children!

The centre is like a family bringing the community together and here’s hoping they can do so for many more years to come.

8

like my grandmother used to make

Kurdish Biryani

By Tara There’s nothing quite like your grandmother’s cooking to transport you to a more familiar setting. And the kitchens of Govanhill tenements are filled with the aromas of a multitude of different cuisines reflecting the diverse make-up of the neighbourhood.

In this series, we ask people to provide a recipe that transports them to their homeland.

Got a recipe to share?

Get in touch: hello@greatergovanhill.com

When I was eleven, my mom left me alone at home and asked me to cook for the family. I made rice and I was so excited that I was able to do that. When they came home, I put the food on the table and the whole family came and sat down and they were so excited. They started to eat it and then began to make faces like something wasn’t quite right. I got nervous that something was wrong and then I realized that I hadn’t put in any salt at all. But my family ate it anyway because that was all they had to eat!

There was another time when I was little and I had made soup and invited my friends. I put the pot on the table and they served themselves. They said, “Wow! It’s so lovely! It’s a very unusual soup.” They were so impressed. They thought it was delicious. I thought: “What’s so special about it?” And then I tasted it – I realized I had used sugar instead of salt in the soup. My mother had filled the salt box and the sugar box and accidentally confused the two. At least they still liked it! I don’t use sugar in my soup anymore.

This biryani is a traditional Kurdish dish that can be cooked at any time, but especially on religious holidays, at weddings, and on Fridays, which are like Sundays here – a day when everyone is off work.

Kurdish Biryani Recipe This recipe is taken from new cookbook, entitled ‘New Scots Cooking: Food for Freedom’, created

by Freedom from Torture. It features recipes from countries including Nigeria, Iran, Cameroon, Algeria, and this from Kurdish Iraq. The following is taking from the introduction: “When we leave our homes, whether that’s our childhood homes, hometowns, or countries, the most palpable feeling of loss often comes in the form of food. We just can’t cook it the way grandma used to! We can’t find the ingredients in this new neighborhood!

We don’t know the names of foodstuffs in another language! These are problems shared by everyone who’s ever moved away. However, through community, we relearn, find, and exchange. We sink deep into the spices, flavours, and delicious memories of our past, nourishing both our hearts and bellies.”

Find out more and order your copy: http://bit.ly/FFTcookbook

Serves: 10

Prep time: 30 mins

Ingredients 1kg Rice 150g Vermicelli Pasta 1lb Cooking Oil (approx) 250g Sultanas 250g Almonds, roasted 1kg Chicken Breast

Cook time: 2 hours

3 cups Water (approx) 250g Green Peas 1kg Potatoes 1 Large Onion 2 handfuls Chickpeas Biryani/Baharat Powder, to taste

Method 1. Wash rice, then soak it in warm water for 2 hours.

2. Peel and cut potatoes into cubes. Fry in 5 tbsp oil on high heat.

3. In a separate pan, fry almonds and sultanas in 1 tbsp oil until lightly brown. In another separate pan, fry peas in 1 tbsp oil.

4. Boil the vermicelli pasta in salted water with 1 tbsp oil.

5. Cook chicken breast on a low heat in 1 cup of water on the stovetop until water disappears. Add half the onion chopped and 1 cup boiling water. Add 1 tbsp oil and leave to cook for 30 minutes at a medium heat.

6. Cut chicken into strips. Place chicken and fried vegetables in a large pot.

7. In a separate pan, add a half a cup of cooking oil and cook the vermicelli with a pinch of salt until golden.

8. Add rice to the vermicelli with biryani/baharat powder and chickpeas. Boil in shallow water for 30 minutes, until the water is gone.

9. Mix everything together and let sit for 10 minutes.

10. Serve with green salad.

9

Is Anti-Gypsyism Law in Romania Actually Making Things Worse?

Legea antigiganusmului în România face lucrurile mai rele?

In episode two of Roma News and Views, the Roma Youth Team, focussed on news about the historic anti-gypsyism law that has recently passed in Romania.

În episodul doi din Roma News and Views, echipa de tineri romi din spatele emisiunii a ales să includă știri despre legea istorică anti-țigănism care tocmai a fost adoptată în România.

by Romano Lav

T hate speech against Roma people. It is the first of its kind he law will, amongst other things, bring in jail time for

R O M A N IA

Ldiscursuri de ură împotriva romilor. Este primul de

egea va aduce, printre altele, închisoare pentru

in the world. It is a big leap forward in the fight for the rights of Roma people, who face racism on a global scale, and have done so for hundreds of years.

With anti-Roma discrimination still very much a reality, this move should be a step in the right direction. However, there are worries that before things get better, the law could actually be making things worse.

Due to the pandemic, some of our correspondents from Govanhill are still in Romania. This means they have been on the ground to see the immediate effects of the law passing.

In the city of Lugoj in Western Romania, Rahela Cirpaci has already felt the repercussions. She said: “I feel like the law is making things worse in some way because racism seems to have actually increased. A few incidents happened just recently after this new law became official.”

She recalls one such incident which happened to a family member, Ioan* (name changed). While shopping in a supermarket, Ioan walked past two security guards, neither of whom were wearing a facemask. One of the guards coughed and sneezed near him, so Ioan told the security guard to put his mask on. The guard quickly became aggressive and demanded that they go outside and fight. Ioan called the police. But instead of dealing with the security guard, they issued Ioan with a £40 fine.

Anti-Roma discrimination has been a problem in Romania for a long time, so incidents like this are not new. However, our correspondents worry that these occurrences could be a direct result of this law.

They feel that the problem is introducing jail time for hate speech without addressing why there is the hate speech in the first place, and that this is whipping up hostility and aggression towards Roma. Furthermore the law doesn’t actually even seem to be being enforced.

Rahela worries that: “Rather than actually addressing the problem of racism, this law is just like putting a tiny plaster over a gaping wound.”

acest gen din lume și pare a fi un mare pas înainte în lupta pentru drepturile romilor, care se confruntă cu rasismul și discriminarea la scară globală și au făcut acest lucru de sute de ani.

Având în vedere că discriminarea împotriva romilor este încă o realitate, această mișcare ar trebui să fie un pas în direcția cea bună. Cu toate acestea, efectul imediat al trecerii ar putea de fapt să înrăutățească lucrurile. Întrucât unii dintre corespondenții noștri de la Govanhill sunt încă în România din cauza pandemiei, au fost la fața locului pentru a vedea efectele imediate ale adoptării legii.

Corespondentul nostru Rahela a resimțit repercusiunile în care se află în prezent în Lugoj, România. „Simt că legea face lucrurile să se înrăutățească într-un fel, deoarece rasismul pare să fi crescut de fapt. Câteva incidente s-au întâmplat chiar recent, după ce această nouă lege a devenit oficială. ” Un astfel de incident i se întâmplă unui membru al familiei, Ioan*. În timp ce ieșea la cumpărături într-un supermarket, Ioan a trecut pe lângă doi agenți de securitate, niciunul dintre ei nu purta o mască de față. Unul dintre gărzi a tușit și a strănut lângă el, așa că Ioan i-a spus agentului de pază să-și pună masca. Paznicul a devenit rapid agresiv și le-a cerut să iasă afară și să lupte. Ioan a sunat la poliție și, în loc să se ocupe de paznicul de securitate când au ajuns, l-au vizat imediat pe Ioan, iar el a ajuns cu o amendă de 40 de lire sterline.

Discriminarea împotriva romilor este o problemă în România de mult timp, astfel încât astfel de incidente nu sunt nimic nou. Cu toate acestea, corespondenții noștri se tem că noua lege a sporit efectiv discriminarea, iar astfel de incidente ar putea fi un rezultat direct al adoptării acestei legi.

Ei consideră că acest lucru se datorează faptului că, prin introducerea timpului de închisoare pentru discursurile de ură, fără a aborda de ce există discursul de ură, în primul rând, acest lucru crește și mai mult ostilitatea și agresiunea față de romi - și, în plus, legea nu pare să fie fiind pus în aplicare!

Legea abordează de fapt problema rasismului sau pune doar un tencuială minusculă peste o rană căscată?

Follow Roma News and Views on YouTube for further updates on this story.

10

N

Způsobuje ve skutečnosti rumunský protirómský zákon ještě horší situaci?

CZECH

Ve druhé epizodě Romských zpráv a pohledů se romský mládežnický tým, který stál v pozadí přehlídky, rozhodl zahrnout zprávy o historickém zákonu proti Romum, který právě přijaly v Rumunsku.

ZRomum. Jedná se o první svého druhu na světě a zdá se

dvou strážců, z nichž ani jeden neměl obličejovou masku.

Jeden ze strážců zakašlal a kýchl poblíž něj, a tak Ioan řekl strážníkovi, aby si nasadil masku. Strážný rychle začal být agresivní a požadoval, aby šli ven a bojovali. Ioan zavolal policiji a místo toho, aby jednali s ochrankou, když dorazili, okamžitě se zaměřili na Ioana a on skončil s pokutou 40 liber.

Proti romśka diskriminace je v Rumunsku problémem dlohou dobu, takže takové incidenty nejsou nic nového. Naši korespondenti se však obávají, že nový zákon ve skutečnosti zvýšil diskriminaci, a takové incidenty by mohly být přímým důsledkem přijetí tohoto zákona.

Cítí, že je tomu tak proto , zavedením doby odnětí svobody pro nenávistné projevy, aniž by se řešilo, proč jsou nenávistné projevy na prvním místě, to ještě více podněcuje nepřátelství a agresi vůči Romum a navíc se zákon ve skutečnosti ani nezdá být vymáhání. Řeší se zákon skutečně problémem rasismu, nebo se jedná pouze o přilepení malé omítky přes zející ránu?

ákon mimo jiné přinese vězení za nenávistné projevy proti

být velkým krokem vpřed v boji za práva Romu, kteří čelí rasismu a diskriminaci v celosvětovém měřítku a činili tak po stovky let.

Jelikož je Proti romska diskriminace stále ještě realitou, měl by být tento krok do značné míry krokem správným směrem. Okamžitý účinek průchodu by však ve skutečnosti mohl zhoršit situaci.

Jelikož někteří naši korespondenti z Govanhillu jsou kvůli pandemii stále v Rumunsku, byli na místě, aby viděli okamžité účinky přijetí zákona.

Naše zpravodajka Rahela pocítila dopady na to, kde v současné době pobývá v rumunském Lugoj.

“Mám pocit, že zákon nějakým způsobem zhoršuje situaci, protože se zdá, že rasismus skutečně vzrostl.” Několik incidentů se stalo jen nedávno poté, co se tento nový zákon stal oficiálním. Jeden takový incident se stal členovi rodiny, Ioan * (změna jména).

Zatímco nakupoval v supermarketu, Ioan prošel kolem

Photo by Toni Bruce

11

Local Makers

Still Life Workshop

Words and photo by Giacinta Frisillo

W

ith backgrounds in fine art and illustration, some traditional learning in furniture building and a YouTubebased tuition in plastics recycling, Will Jenkins and Aaron Cook have become Renaissance men. They work as material sorters, designers, plastic recyclers, marketers, furniture builders on a daily basis.

Before they formed Still Life Workshop, in Torrisdale Studios, Jenkins and Cook could be found building more traditional wooden furniture together in London. But then they came upon Precious Plastics, a design and recycling open-source information sharing system.

After adapting a workshop press and getting some help in making moulds from Jenkins’ father, a tool maker, they got started creating colourful one-of-a-kind recycled plastic furniture and objects that include stools, coasters and trays.

Though many plastics can be recycled, they stick to High-density Polyethylene

or HDPE (#2) plastic; the kind of used for a bottle cap or a 35mm film canister.

Different plastics have different melting temperatures. Even different colours melt differently,which can cause some complications in the process. They no longer accept plastic donations after receiving plenty of non-usable pieces and foul-smelling unwashed milk bottles.

Instead, they collect their own plastic and partner with local purveyors, such as Locavore, where they can take only the type of plastic they need.

After sorting delightfully bright colors into large containers, the shredded bits are melted. “It’s like chewing gum on a hot day,” explains Cook. The molten mess is then pressed into a mould to take its shape. They hope to share this process more fully with others in the future through teaching and workshops. While this currently isn’t possible, you can still get involved with the design process, through a template which allows you to

choose your own colour and pattern.

In keeping with their eco-conscious theme, they’re planning a shop update for sometime around the upcoming vernal equinox, with new distinctive, readymade products to keep both your home and the environment looking stylish. @stilllifeworkshop www.stilllife.earth.com

Your neighbourhood yoga studio Offering you livestream yoga & pilates classes 7 days a week from the comfort of your own home and welcoming you back forin person classes when it’s safe to do so.

www.studio70glasgow.com @studio70glasgow

in conversation with...

Sound Lab Coming together for shared musical experiences has been one of the things so many of us have missed during the pandemic. But The Sound Lab, have kept the music playing by delivering free music, media and arts tuition to young people and disadvantaged groups in Glasgow and the surrounding areas. In this conversation, Lauren Tighe from The Sound Lab caught up two of the tutors, DJ/producers Oliver Melling (from We Should Hang Out More) and Rebecca Vasmant to chat about what they’ve learned from the experience.

You’re established names in the Glasgow DJ scene.

What was your route in?

Oliver: I guess for me it was a case of playing a lot of house parties and bar gigs, buying loads of records and going to loads of nights. I watched a documentary the other night that referred to Glasgow as ‘the world’s biggest village’ which is certainly true of its music scene. Once enough people realise you’re not bad at what you’re doing, word spreads!

So how have you coped without live gigs during the pandemic?

Rebecca: I’ve really missed live gigs, togetherness and being able to share live music experiences with my friends and family. I’ve coped Photo by Steven McLaren by doing things like working with Sound Lab and teaching young people on Zoom, and that’s helped us to feel closer together, just doing what we can.

Oliver: If the pandemic had been more competently managed by people with even the vaguest understanding of the creative sector, it would have been a lot easier.

As working professionals in the music industry, we’ve been the last priority, and that’s been a really unsettling experience. On the positive side, there has been a really amazing collective response from our scene. Community radio, like Radio Buena Vida in Govanhill, has been a huge outlet. Radio stations are essentially venues at the minute!

And how did you get involved with The Sound Lab? O: About two and a half years ago after having released a few records with We Should Hang Out More, I got talking to Paul from Sound Lab, about running a sound production course around sampling. I’ve since been involved with so many incredible projects. I’m often humbled by our participants and the way they’ve navigated life’s challenges, constantly drawing inspiration from them.

How are you finding working on Musicares; the first national music programme exclusively for care experienced young people?

R: I try to work on the practical aspects of learning skills, but also things that I think are important which could help young people in the current climate, like using social

media with mental health in mind, staying safe online, positivity towards their achievements and recognising when they have done well. I have taught a few female-only programmes, which have led to some amazing, talented young people producing tracks, and also playing sets for their peers and on the radio.

Tell us about the Beats Without Borders programme you’re working on.

O: It’s about bringing people from all over the world together to share, learn, discuss and enjoy music. We aim to make it accessible across multiple languages and locations, breaking down as many barriers to access as we can. We’re focusing on displaced and marginalised groups, in order to create as welcoming and as international a space as we can.

How have you found delivering sessions during the pandemic – for you and the participants?

R: It has been both wonderful and challenging.

The tech side of things has made things a lot harder, but after some persistence and patience from the young people, we have got to a point where we have found a Photo by Big Bad Llama good way of working. It has helped us feel like we are moving forward and achieving something despite of all the limitations, and above all, looking forward to the lessons has hugely helped, mental health wise.

What would you say to anyone keen to get involved with The Sound Lab? O: Do it, do it, do it! Sound Lab constantly shows me how much we all stand to grow from sharing our knowledge and experiences. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you want to learn or what you think you’re capable of, give yourself a chance and get involved. I guarantee you’ll be teaching me a thing or two before long!

Finally, tell us what’s on your turntable right now.

R: Latin music – and lots of it O: Very hard to keep brief because all I do is listen to music at the minute, but I’ve been loving Overmono, Little People and Avalon Emerson lately!

Style Icon Govanhill local, Omar, is a carpenter and metal worker for theatre, film and TV and, as a result, claims to often be covered in “sawdust, rust and dust”. But today he’s looking hot off the runway!

Hey Omar! What are you wearing today?

It’s a custom made tracksuit by Zita Moldovan, a Roma designer (@loly_by_zita_moldovan on Instagram). Zita uses traditional Roma fabrics and has her own fashion house.

I feel that in an era where Roma culture is so often stolen by fashion brands, it’s good to support authentic Roma design. Having said that, I borrowed this from a friend.

So do you dress in designer clothes like this often?

Just this one time! I would love to own something

by Zita though. Her stuff is great.

Do you have a favorite article of clothing?

Perhaps this is a boring answer, but I love my black biker jacket.

That’s not boring at all! Why do you love it?

Makes me feel invincible.

Do certain colours, textures or prints make you feel a certain way?

Never thought about this... I guess they do yeah.

Despite being a happy man, I wear a lot of black.

Where do you get most of your clothes?

Charity shops and the Barras.

How would you describe your style?

I went to art school and lived in Romania for a while. I’m sure both had an effect on me.

Who’s your style icon?

My six-year-old son and my dad.

Do you plan what you’re wearing differently based on where you’re going that day?

I definitely look more ‘utilitarian’ some days. Think steel-toed boots and Carhartt workie jeans.

Has lockdown affected your style?

I spend a lot more time lounging about in trackies.

Any final thoughts?

I’ve been living in Govanhill for a couple of years and I love it. I am fiercely defensive of Govanhill.

It’s the best neighbourhood in Scotland!

Interview by Giacinta Frisillo Portrait by Alexander Hoyles

Street Level Photoworks is Glasgow's Centre for Photography based in Trongate 103 in the city centre

Coming soon to Govanhill: LOOK OUT for opportunities to be involved in Creative Photography starting summer 21 streetlevelphotoworks.org

reception@streetlevelphotoworks.org

Interview by Rhiannon J Davies

BEHIND THE PORTRAIT Photo by Simon Murphy

1

Peter Hughes

The thwack of a fist on pads and the repetitive slap of jump rope are now part of the sonic tapestry of Queen’s Park during lockdown.

The bandstand has become a makeshift training ground for everyone from dancers to skaters, aerial performers to Japanese sword fighters. If you’ve passed by recently you may have seen the Thai boxing school that pops up in the arena.

Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, Peter Hughes worked as an audio engineer, travelling the world working on events and cruise ships. Grounded by the pandemic, and stripped of his livelihood, he decided it was time to change tack. He set up Keep On Pushing, a fitness training company, specialising in Muay Thai. Below he shares his motivations.

This portrait forms part of Simon Murphy’s Govanhill series. Keep your eye on Instagram (@smurph77) for limited release of his Govanhill photography newspaper.

I grew up in Mozambique, so I’m not from Glasgow. But my mum is – that’s why I ended up here. I was in London before that. It’s been an interesting change.

I first went to Thailand ten years ago. I spent four months training in Muay Thai. During that period, I saw my body transformed. Last year, I finally went back and got my teaching qualification.

Three years ago, I weighed over 14 stone and was really unhealthy. I’d lost my way. There were days when I couldn’t get out of bed. My mental health, depression and anxiety were really bad. I had to make a change.

I began by training my neighbour in the back garden. Then last summer I jogged past the arena and thought it would be perfect. I started off with just two pads, but now I arrive with a huge trailer of gym mats and all the proper equipment needed for training.

There’s a lot of play in Muay Thai. It’s completely different from Western boxing, which is more serious. It has a different energy to it, and I like to think I’m bringing that playful energy to the arena.

When people first arrive, they think they can’t do it. But after one or two sessions, you see their confidence grow. And it has an impact on other aspects of their life; the stress seeps away and they’re able to focus again.

I work with a core group of just eight people. I have a long list of people waiting to join, but there’s too much risk. We already wear facemasks and sanitise all equipment between sessions. But it would just take one person getting Covid to shut everything down.

Exercising outdoors with others keeps your mental health strong. Sometimes people arrive having a terrible week. But they always leave with a smile, energised and ready to go.

Muay Thai is musical and rhythmical. It’s very calming. When you can show that calm in the pressure of a ring, you can show it in your workplace or other relationships. It changes people.

Every time we start a session, we bow to each other. It builds a respect between instructor and student that you don’t often get in Western approaches to fitness.

We look after the arena. Sometimes we arrive and it will be in a horrific state, with broken glass everywhere. We go with brooms and we sweep it up.

There’s a lack of sheltered outdoor spaces in Glasgow. Not just for fitness but for social activities, too. Once I came to the arena, and there were two guys sitting on the floor playing chess. Why is there nowhere for people to go and play chess?

We don’t need more coffee shops. We need to have spaces where people can exercise at no cost. It’s something the community needs. Creating that space is one of my dreams.

You have to push. When you push, you can pull other people up. And when they push, they can pull you up. There are no shortcuts.

17

arts and culture Josh Thorpe Love and Weather

BHASHA Glasgow Language Festival in Govanhill

The latest album from Govanhill resident Josh Thorpe finds the self-described artrocker in a contemplative mood, reminiscing about the past and pondering the present over the course of its six tracks.

Steve Malkmus and his former band Pavement seem like the obvious touchstone for this sort of thing, and the Canadian Thorpe’s playful delivery certainly points in this direction.

However, there is more of a storytelling approach to the lyrics on Love and Weather, contrasting with the more cryptic offerings of his forebears.

Opener Rita and George reminds us of the glory of chance encounters (surely one of the biggest absences of the past year), wistfully cataloguing the people who gave him a lift to university in his youth over a grinding Velvets stomp. Manhattan brings things forward chronologically with recollections of time spent living in New York, before a break from the indie rock riffing with the mellower strains of Down to the Ground and its expressions of love and comfort.

Why Try is altogether less hopeful. Railing against a world where “corrupted countries dig diamonds, burn coal, wage war” and where people are “kicking dogs and throwing cats in trashcans,” the understated verses contrast with the crashing guitars accompanying Thorpe’s despairing chorus. The gently epic Honeysuckle Moon and slight Mountains (Styles Régionaux) close the set at a more sedate pace, bringing to mind Bill Callahan’s musings, as the album drifts to a conclusion.

Fans of 90s US college rock should definitely give this a listen, and there is solace to be found in his reflective ruminations in these trying times. A concise collection from an interesting voice.

The BHASHA Glasgow Language Festival took place in February. Greater Govanhill was pleased to take part as one of the lead partners. We held an event called Greater Govanhill Talks, which paired up complete strangers with a different mother tongue for a meaningful conversation about language, culture and everything in between. We had such positive feedback about the benefits of chatting to someone outside of the usual social bubble, that we plan to make it a regularly, monthly event.

Craig Hunter

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thi wurd Issue 4 Govanhill-based artist Kate McAllan is one of several Southside writers whose fiction will feature in the next issue of thi wurd magazine. Kate has also created all of the illustrations for the magazine and its cover. It will include twenty new short stories, poetry, three essays – two on the life-changing power of brilliant records (in this case the work of Frightened Rabbit and Stockholm Monsters) – and one by author Duncan McLean on the late New Zealand writer Frank Sargeson.

There’s also an interview with the internationally acclaimed Glasgow-based artist Rachel Maclean and a reprint of a classic short story by Sargeson.

Kate works at Southside Studios in Govanhill and took part in the Wild City project and the related exhibition held at Govanhill Baths in 2018. thi wurd began in 2006 and is dedicated to publishing quality fiction. Three works by James Kelman are among its recent publications. Issue 4 of thi wurd will be available from www.thi-wurd.com in April.

Rachel Carmichael

New Artist Residencies Street Level Photoworks have been awarded funding to support four community-based artist residencies in Govanhill and the Gorbals. They join the Govanhill Baths Community Trust as a recipient of support from the Culture Collective. This Scotland-wide initiative, managed

by Creative Scotland, aims to support cultural recovery in communities, by bringing new thinking and collaboration to make a positive difference locally and nationally in response to the pandemic.

Although Street Level Photoworks is a photography centre based in the city centre, last year they supported Simon Murphy’s exhibition, Govanhill Street Level. Their resident artists will offer people opportunities to take part in a creative photography programme starting in the summer of 2021, which will run for 12 months. All activities will be delivered in line with the ongoing COVID guidelines. If you are an individual or teacher or part of a group that would like to get involved, or just find more out about opportunities as they develop, get in touch via: reception@streetlevelphotoworks.org or 0141 552 2151

N

adine Gorency, aka ‘Blanche’, is the Artistic Director of Rags to Riches, the upcycling project of the Govanhill Baths Community Trust.

Born in Paris to parents from Martinique, she studied Community Arts at the University of Strathclyde and was a freelance practising Community Artist for 15 years before joining Rags to Riches in 2011.

What’s kept you going through lockdown?

My friends and family of course.

But also my wee back garden was a godsend during the first lockdown and the spring/summer months. I was home-working from there and couldn’t see the laptop screen properly.

But I managed it and it was a blessing to have this green space all to myself and be outside.

What have you been reading lately?

The usual suspects; Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams and Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo. But I just started a new book; a sci-fi novel (my favourite genre!) called Lovestar by Icelandic author Andri Snaer Magnason.

Do you have a favourite spot in Govanhill?

Sustrans new pocket parks off Victoria Road’s dead end streets.

Your

How about local public art?

The bottle top mosaic in the Peace Garden on Calder Street. It was created in 2014 and is still not looking too bad.

It is the epitome of upcycling and shows the potential of working with waste to create anything really.

Govanhill

If you fancy a takeaway, what are you ordering?

My favourite ever, and a regular repeat order, is Shahed’s Spinach Paneer.

Do you have an easy upcycling tip that people can do?

Keep your bottle tops and make art!

What are you watching?

Videos of nature, mountains and faraway lands on YouTube.

What’s on your headphones at the moment?

I’ve had Fever by Horace Andy on repeat since last Friday. Another favourite listen of the moment is Thornato, particularly Tu Luz, featuring Lido Pimienta. And I regularly listen to Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s How To Save A Planet podcast.

What are you most looking forward to when lockdown restrictions lift?

Travelling farther than five miles away from my home.

Rags to Riches uses waste to promote environmental sustainability, community engagement and education. They are currently supporting people by sending out upcycled craft packs and they aim to deliver physical workshops once Covid restrictions are lifted in order to transfer upcycling skills to our community. They are currently planning a monthly Big Zero Waste Market (see our What’s On page for more). And a series of events and interventions which will coincide with COP26.

editorial

w

hen we first asked what you wanted to read about in a Govanhill magazine, so many of you brought up the issues around cleansing, recycling facilities, waste management, fly-tipping and littering. That’s why, in this issue, we wanted to shed some light on what happens to our waste and what folk are doing to tackle the issue, both in Govanhill and beyond.

There’s so much to love about these streets but many of us would like to see them kept a bit cleaner.

The reasons behind the issue are complex. But what’s really clear, is that Govanhill is wrongly demonised for this issue. Rubbish is not unique to our neighbourhood. This problem is citywide.

However, many of these problems have worsened during the pandemic.

It’s clear that further investment of time, money and resources are needed from Glasgow City Council.

But until that happens, there are still plenty of enthusiastic groups and individuals prepared to get their hands dirty.

Local resident, Lesley Robinson litter picks while taking her dog out. She says: “Making a bit of time to clear some rubbish is really satisfying, especially seeing the results of your efforts immediately.

It's good for your wellbeing and for the environment.” She has now set up a Friends of Govanhill Park group on Facebook, and hopes to carry out regular group litter picks when restrictions lift.

Meanwhile, backcourts have become a battleground. In March 2020, the council stopped collecting food waste bins, and in some cases, waste has lain rotting in unemptied bins ever since. New service arrangements are only now being brought in. Bulk uplift was also stopped for the majority of last year resulting in fly tipping going through the roof. Photos and videos have circulated on social media showing

Illustration by Laura Hurst

bin areas piled high with rubbish or rats running from bins.

Speaking about the issue Chris Mitchell, Convenor for GMB Scotland, the trade union which represents around 90 per cent of the council’s refuse collection workforce has said: “There’s so much pressure on workers to deliver a service that's in crisis, and an expectation to keep levels of productivity as if you have a full complement of workers. Covid 19 has just shown how much the public needs this service... But at the end of the day we are only human… anxiety and depression have become a common problem. The workload changes every day because of cuts and a lack of resources, with no back up plan in place. It’s a case of just ‘get on with it’.”

Some local residents have got fed up with waiting for the council to sort out their backcourts. Last year we shared the story of how residents of Craigie-Bowman-CalderVictoria Road block in neighbouring Strathbungo were motivated by what they refer to as ‘The Great Bin Disaster of 2018’ to take action. They set up a WhatsApp group and now meet every Sunday morning with litter pickers, bin bags, trowels, and gloves to do what they can to make improvements to their shared space.

Writing for Greater Govanhill, resident Bethany Scott said: “For me, being part of this little community has given me a sense of place and ownership that I didn’t have prior to getting to know so many of my neighbours. Lockdown is a difficult time for many, but for the residents of our block, we have a little patch of green that provides not only solace, but friendship and solidarity during these hard times.”

What do you think should be done about rubbish? Any innovative solutions you think could work here?

Write in to our new ‘Letters Page’ at notices@greatergovanhil.com

taking on the council with Neighbourhood Power

by Louise Nicolas

l

ike so many other Govanhill residents, I’m fed up with the mess we see in our streets and backcourts, caused by insufficient investment from Glasgow City Council and slum landlords who profiteer from shoddy housing. So, last summer I joined a fast-growing group of local tenants and residents building a neighbourhood branch of Living Rent, Scotland’s tenants union.

The sole purpose of Living Rent Govanhill is to bring residents together to fight collectively for everything our area needs. Whether that means challenging unscrupulous landlords or holding politicians to account, we’re stronger when we come together.

Our first step was to speak with hundreds of our neighbours to understand the issues affecting residents.

We heard time and time again about overflowing bins, fly-tipping and pest problems. So, we decided that our first campaign would be for investment in local cleansing services. It was clear how deeply the need was felt, but demanding investment from a council intent on budget cuts was never going to be easy. We would need to be organised, strategic and stubborn.

We mapped out this campaign in detail, thinking about our specific demands, potential allies, opponents and tactics. We decided it would be vital to link up with our city’s intrepid cleansing workers who work daily in the unacceptable conditions which so clearly need to change.

We reached out to the GMB, the trade union of cleansing workers in Glasgow, who were excited by the idea of a joint resident and worker campaign. Together we settled on the following demands:

• Only one fly-tipping fine was issued in Govanhill between July and December 2020.

• Reports of fly-tipping in Glasgow increased by 245 percent between April and August 2020.

• Responsibility for tackling fly-tipping incidents across all of Glasgow is left to just four council officers.

The culmination of first stage of the campaign was a ‘day of action’ where dozens of residents and workers collected over 100 black bags of rubbish from the streets and backcourts of Govanhill and heaped them at the Queens Park gates as evidence of Glasgow City Council’s neglect. This allowed us to show the need for investment in our cleansing services as well as proper enforcement on fly-tipping to prevent the issues from getting worse.

We arranged for the rubbish to be collected so we were not leaving any mess behind.

Faced with mounting pressure, Glasgow City Council agreed to talks and the Thriving Places Govanhill group, agreed to support the proposal for backcourt teams.

1. A dedicated backcourt team responsible for uplift and upkeep within backcourt areas.

(This work was once done as part of the general cleansing service.)

2. Greater enforcement to crack down on fly-tipping and litter in the area.

3. A more targeted education programme on recycling and waste, including educational materials translated for those with English as their second language.

Many hoped that the council might finally be willing to invest in lasting solutions for the area, but those hopes proved premature. The talks were treated as an exercise in public relations and council representatives spoke evasively about “workstreams” and “locality plans,” without discussing any solution which involved further investment.

Unfortunately for Glasgow City Council, this campaign is only just getting started; both Living Rent Govanhill and GMB members are committed for the long haul. In the second stage of the campaign, we aim to mobilise the vast numbers of people who have supported our calls for investment via banner-drops, postering, letter-writing and a number of other strategies. We are out to win – not only so we can look at our backcourts and smile – but so we can prove the power of collective action in winning change for the Govanhill community.

To back this campaign, contact us at govanhill@livingrent.org with testimony of how cleansing issues have impacted you.

Campaigning through a pandemic brought challenges, but the support from residents and cleansing workers alike quickly propelled the campaign forward. Dozens of Living Rent and GMB members got to work with streetstalls, online outreach and hitting the phones. We placed petitions in almost every close in Govanhill. Signatures surged past 1500 in a matter of weeks.

Meanwhile, other members used Freedom of Information requests to uncover: • Only 46 fly-tipping fines were issued in Glasgow in a year when there were 20,367 reports of flytipping.

22

the power of rubbish So, what’s the big deal with the Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre?

It’s that big place run by Viridor in Polmadie that turns your green bin waste into energy.

Wait, my green bin waste? I thought it was a recycling centre?

Yes, but it doesn’t process your recycling.

I’m already confused.

I’m not surprised. But bear with me.

Your blue bin ‘dry mixed recycling’ that you so carefully clean and separate goes elsewhere to be made into new products.

Or sold overseas…

Let’s not get into that right now. What the Polmadie centre does is process all of Glasgow’s green bin waste so that it doesn’t go into landfill. Or nearly all of it – 90 percent is saved from landfill and their target is to get that up to 95 percent by 2025. In total, they process the weight of two aircraft carriers in rubbish every year.

Ok, so what do they do with all this lovely black bag waste?

They turn it into heat and electricity through state-of-the-art technology.

It’s one of the first places in the country to do it.

But how can you turn rubbish into power? Surely burning it is bad for climate change?

Yes, it is. And that’s what a lot of processing plants do. But here, they don’t burn it. They actually have two different processes that both generate clean energy. In the first one they separate all the organic and food waste and feed it to bacteria.

What about all the rest of the waste that isn’t organic or recyclable?

That makes up about 75 percent of all the waste that they receive, and this is the clever bit. They superheat it without oxygen to around 800 degrees until it turns into a ‘synthetic gas.’

Isn’t that just burning it though?

Pay attention. There’s no oxygen, so it isn’t actually burned. The gas produced can be burned more cleanly though, and that heats water into steam which turns a turbine to produce electricity. Fossil fuels and nuclear plants also heat water into steam in the same way – the difference is just where the heat comes from.

So, they actually turn all the non-recyclable landfill rubbish into a gas?

It’s a brand-new technique called Advanced Conversion Technology.

Or just ‘gasification.’

That rolls off the tongue a bit better. What do they do with all the heat and power?

At the moment, the electricity goes to the national grid, and they use some of the heat to run the plant.

But in future they plan to use it for district heating.

Lucky bacteria.

Sort of. It gets turned into ‘sludge’ first by shredding it and mixing it all up with water. Like a really gross soup.

OK, I take that back.

But the bacteria like it. They digest it and produce methane ‘biogas’ which is burned to produce energy.

It doesn’t produce waste greenhouse gasses like burning fossil fuels does.

It’s fairly widely done around the world.

23

By Mikey Jarrell and Peter Armstrong Photo by Michael Paley

Hang on, I’ve heard of this. It’s where we don’t heat our own houses anymore, and the heat is piped in instead?

That’s the badger. It’s one of the many ideas being tried around the world to make our energy more efficient and combat climate change.

All the heat in a district would be produced by one green power plant, like in Polmadie, and then piped into everybody’s homes and businesses in the area. Our plant could in theory heat 8000 homes.

Does that mean that plumbers will finally fix the climate problem?

No. But in theory, every area could have its own futuristic energy recovery facility, just like Govanhill does. In the future the plants could also heat their districts too. In Scotland, district heating is part of the proposed Green New Deal. And rubbish has such a key part to play.

All you have to do is put it in the bin.

Amazing, I’ll stop trying to cut down my waste then will I? Hold your horses. This is all pretty fancy, but it still produces some byproducts and isn’t the ideal scenario for your non-recyclables.

The best thing for the planet is still to reduce the amount of waste that you throw out. Check out the Zero Waste Scotland website for loads of easy tips on how to do it. You’re welcome.

what works elsewhere Different approaches from around the world Mismanaged waste and litter pose a major global health threat, made worse by the explosion in plastic pollution. But there is cause for hope. Initiatives from communities and organisations throughout the world point the way to a cleaner future.

waste watching in vienna While many communities and NGOs are left to tackle waste problems, some city authorities have been pro-active.

In 2006 over 160,000 citizens of Vienna signed a petition railing against rising litter problems. The city council’s response was the introduction of Waste Watchers.

Fifty full-time Waste Watchers patrol the streets, with authority to ask for identification and issue on-the-spot fines for littering, ranging from 50 euros for minor offences like discarding a cigarette butt, or up to 2000 euros for fly tipping.

The initiative is popular, with 85 percent of residents reporting a positive view; the desire to live in a clean city clearly outweighs the fear of being punished. Public involvement is encouraged – citizens can use a hotline or app to report litter problems – and the service has been measurably successful. To give just one figure, in 2007, 2100 fridges were disposed of illegally. In 2018 that number was just 850; a reduction of 60 percent.

recycling plastic waste in kinshasa More than 12 million people live in the DRC’s capital, the third largest urban area in Africa, which has gone from being known as Kin La Belle (Kin the beautiful) to Kin La Poubelle (Kin the bin). Infrastructure and services for waste collection and treatment are lacking. Waste accumulates on the streets, polluting rivers and clogging sewers.

The UN-Habitat project predicts that by 2075 Kinshasa will be the largest city in the world. For the DRC to meet its Sustainable Development Goals, it must get to grips with Kinshasa’s waste problem.

Since an EU-funded project ended in 2015, private organisations and individuals have had to deal with over 7000 tonnes of the city’s daily waste.

Newly-formed NGOs such as Recovad are teaching residents the value of a circular economy. Recovad pays residents to collect plastic waste, then uses it as raw material to manufacture supplies for the construction industry.

As 90 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, waste collection can prove a valuable source of income. Schemes like this allow some of the city’s poorest residents to improve their quality of life while improving the urban environment. Similar schemes, like Wecyclers in Lagos, Nigeria, are found in other large African cities.

24

By Danny Macpherson

pursuing zero-waste in kamikatsu The most effective way to reduce litter is to avoid producing waste in the first place. The zero-waste movement has gathered momentum worldwide, with great success in the Japanese town of Kamikatsu.

In 2000, Kamikatsu had to shut its two incinerators due to new emissions regulations. As an alternative, the community sought to reduce and recycle as much as possible. In 2003, it became the first town in Japan to make a zero-waste pledge.

Residents have to separate household waste into 45 categories before taking it to a recycling centre where volunteers ensure that everything lands in the right bin.

Household items in good condition go to a recycling store, where items are exchanged free of charge.

The town currently recycles over 80 percent of its waste. The national average in Japan is 20 percent.

‘feed me’ bins in berlin While the threat of punishment can be effective, it isn’t the only way of influencing behaviour.

The Berlin Waste Management service uses humour, its website proclaiming that taking care of the environment can be good fun.

Colourful orange bins throughout the city are embossed with funny slogans, jokes and puns, such as: “By using this bin, you agree to our data protection policy” or “Feed me!” – with some referencing local landmarks or events.

a community-led approach in karachi Located on the Indian ocean, Karachi is Pakistan’s largest city, with a population of over 15 million. Many of its poorer citizens live in one of more than 700 katchi abadis – informal settlements. Karachi lacks a centralised approach to waste disposal and treatment, with different bodies responsible for each area. Affluent areas tend to receive the best service, while poorer districts whose residents don’t pay taxes are often neglected.

Nearly half the population live in settlements such as Shar Rasool colony in the south of the city. Home to around 3000 people, it has developed with little regard for infrastructure and amenities. By the late 1990s, the area faced a serious environmental crisis: burning waste polluted the air, pest infestations were rife and the incidence of illness was high.

The local population wanted change and, with the help of NGOs, devised a community-led approach. Local volunteers raise community awareness of the importance of waste management and its impact on daily life and wellbeing.

A team of female volunteers take care of the day-to-day business of waste management – household refuse collection, hiring street sweepers and liaison with the municipality to ensure secure disposal of waste. The successful scheme has been replicated in many settlements in Karachi.

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do you know of any solutions that have worked elsewhere?

Write to our letters page: notices@greatergovanhill.com

living with waste

Allison Street, you may spot calls for action and people attempting to find volunteers to help clean up parts of the area. People have, and always will, want to live in a safe and clean community.

Recently Glasgow City Council piloted reduced bin collections in the East End. Now main door properties in the Southside are moving to three weekly green bin collections. Much of the frustrations felt during the pandemic around bulk uplifting and certain bin collection days ending has been accepted within the context of a public body struggling to focus resources on fighting an unpredicted pandemic. The fundamental fact that during a health crisis, refuse collection is one of the first public services to feel the brunt of austerity has understandably been met with anger. Organisational bodies have orientated frameworks to try and change policy and give voice for those who simply want cleaner streets and back courts.

The GMB Union continue to do great work in highlighting the poor working conditions of refuse collectors as well as standing in opposition to any policy that has the potential to cause further health implications for communities across the city.

Their Facebook page is an important resource in understanding the conditions they are met with everyday, and the type of organised action they take in order to improve policy at council level. Living Rent, Scotland’s tenants union have now set up a Govanhill branch and are working alongside GMB to push for change.

There is impetus and there is action. There are organisational frameworks and a desire to find solutions to Glasgow’s and Govanhill’s refuse-related issues.

Glasgow City Council’s app used to report issues such as these directly may seem cumbersome and inconsistent but many have found action is taken quickly when using this system. Ultimately, the blind reporting of issues through an app feels unpersonal and fails to resolve the roots of the issue, but it is none the less a resource worth having.

Through bodies such as Living Rent and access to the workings of unions like the GMB, we can take ownership of the conversation and engage positively with policy-makers about the problems people face every day. Community is built from the bottom up, through collectivised action and an understanding of one another.

This issue must be dealt with through dialogue, respect and a refusal to accept a poorly maintained Govanhill.

By Jamie Dyer Photo by Michael Paley

t

he issue of refuse collection, sanitation and ultimately the control of vermin is one that every citizen in every city around the world has to deal with. The progress made over the last two centuries to rid populations of the diseases spread by vermin, by creating systems of waste management and disposal has delivered safer conditions for millions of people worldwide.

Yet we continue to see communities across the world living in unsanitary conditions. We see images of mountainous rubbish tips and we hear a constant narrative around how we as a species can best deal with the insurmountable amount of waste our consumption creates.

The everyday process of bin interaction; the selecting of items for specific coloured recycling bins and the choosing of items for relegation to landfill is an interaction with the politics of both the global and the local.

A lack of clear dialogue between communities and the city about how we all must act, can lead to individualism and division. We notice when neighbours fail to follow the often vague and poorly communicated guidelines and pour scorn on those not privileged enough to buy the non-plastic wrapped consumable.

When people talk about Govanhill, often the issues raised are around refuse control, fly tipping and the potential for interaction with vermin. But this is not an issue for the people of Govanhill; when you walk the back courts of Strathbungo, Shawlands and Crosshill – or elsewhere in the city – you see the same buildup of rubbish and similar levels of fly tipping. I often feel the direct link made specifically with Govanhill is sadly orientated around potential racial prejudices. It ignores the exploitation and overcrowding forced upon communities here, and the impact that has on waste control alongside an ability to ignore the same issues in other areas. We create what feels like cultural superiority and a reduction in community.

The history of vermin control is long, and represented beautifully through the cat sculptures found on the walls of the back courts off Daisy Street. If you walk down 26

Lassies Who Climb Barriers Glasgow Women’s Fight for Equality

By Marion Nisbet

Photo by Lesley Mitchell, CC BY-SA 4.0

G

ovanhill has been good to me.

I arrived here in 2005, almost a year to the day after a serious accident which resulted in a broken spine. I was finally ready to admit I had a problem with alcohol.

Sixteen years later, am still on my feet and aff the bevvy and am noo a member of Crosshill and Govanhill Community Council. We do have problems here. But these are mostly due to austerity cuts to cleansing and other services, as well as the result of slum landlords and poverty. Like all working-class communities, we have people damaged by the generational trauma of poverty and problematic substance use. Aye, the bevvy plays a big part in our culture; good and bad.

When I arrived in Govanhill, I was given a beautiful wee cooncil hoose with a garden and a park out front.

I have neighbours from all over the world, from different religions and from all walks of life: social workers, artists, postal workers and students. Many of them are hard working mammies, big sisters and aunties hanging oot washings and making dinners in between shifts.

And we have clever, beautiful weans. I don't care where in the world they started life, they’re oor weans noo and I will fight for them all to have the same chances and life expectancy as the weans up the road in Jordanhill. To have access to decent social housing, a clean environment and free education – a chance to fulfil their full potential. I fight for a community that encourages wee lassies to climb barriers, poke holes in fences. One that encourages them to reach out and embrace whoever is on the other side.

The social history of Glasgow, and the homes we live in, is a history of women standing up for each other.

The house I am the custodian of, was built in the interwar years as a direct result of the 1919 ‘Homes for Heroes Act’, which was itself a direct result of the 1915 Glasgow Rent strike.

In 1914, women like Helen Crawfurd formed the Glasgow Women's Housing Association to combat appalling living conditions. Seventy percent of Glaswegians were living in one or two rooms, usually in slum conditions, and the media was labelling the working class as lazy drunkards. Unfortunately slum landlords are still prevalent in Glasgow's Southside. They just moved business from the Gorbals to Govanhill.

The rent strike was organised by the women of Glasgow in response to profiteering landlords evicting families of men fighting in WWI. Activist Mary Barbour was one of the leading organisers and the women were referred to as Mrs Barbour’s army.

They would batter pots and pans to 27

alert other women of an eviction. They would rally and attack the sheriff’s officers, occasionally wrestling them out of their trousers to humiliate them and often pelting them with flour and insults; anything to stop the eviction.

It came to a head when a landlord took 49 women to court. A demonstration of over 10,000 gathered in George Square. Crucially the women were backed by the trade unions who were threatening strike action in support of the rent strike. This would have halted wartime production of munitions and those in power wur pure shittin’ their breeks that they would have a full-blown revolution on their hands.

They announced the ‘Rent Restriction Act’ in 1915, which froze rents at prewar levels. The Red Clydesiders (people like Helen Crawfurd and John Maclean) continued to fight for better working and living conditions, and all of this resulted in the 1919 ‘Homes for Heroes Act’. Helen Crawfurd described the rent strike by saying, “This fight is essentially a women's fight, but we welcome the solidarity of all... we are not asking for mercy… we are not asking for charity, we are asking for justice.”

In the 1970s, women like Betty Stevenson, Ann Scott and Joan Laing, having witnessed the demolition of tenements in neighbouring Gorbals, fought to ensure the same didn’t happen to Govanhill. From meetings in each other’s homes, they went on to form the Govanhill Housing Association – which puts a roof over ma head today.

The tradition of standing up for what’s right was continued in 2005 with the Glasgow Girls. This group of schoolgirls and local women in Drumchapel fought and ended child detention and dawn raids on asylum seekers in Scotland. And just three years ago, 8,000 Glasgow women working in cleaning and caring services stood up against wage discrimination.

They took on the cooncil and won a historic battle for equal pay.

Today, through community action and activism, women in Glasgow continue to refuse the scapegoating of migrants, asylum seekers and other vulnerable groups. They continue to fight for one another.

I end on a quote from Spanish political activist Dolores Ibárruri. It’s written on the memorial to the people of Glasgow who fought against Fascism in the Spanish Civil War: “Better to Die On Your Feet Than Live Forever On Your Knees.” Viva Govanhill!

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By Kenneth McElroy ovanhill is a treasure chest. An exciting and eclectic combination of the traditional and the new in a fast-moving, yet historical neighbourhood. It has been a culturally vibrant and bustling area for hundreds of years, with successive waves of peoples and cultures calling Govanhill their home: Highlanders (like myself) and Lowlanders, Poles and Pakistanis, Italians and Irish have all set up shop here.

Indeed, shops and trade are at the heart of the tenement story, and there has always been a strong retail presence in the area. And if you look closely, you can find traces of some of the businesses that once sold their wares in the area – namely, in the form of ‘ghost signs’.

You may already be aware of what a ‘ghost sign’ is; signs from the past – sometimes over a century old. They can range in style, age, type and size. From a small painted house number, to the name of a shop on a shopfront, to

an advertisement adorning the side of an entire tenement.

They even include carved signs, such as the Camphill Tenement buildings.

I’m a purist – or perhaps an anorak – and prefer the painted signs, but glasswork and mosaics found at the entrance to buildings can be included, too. There’s a fantastic range of historic signs and designs to discover.

I’ve enjoyed a bit of ghost sign spotting (also known as ghost sign busting) ever since one in Thurso, my hometown, was ‘discovered’, a few years ago. The workmen removed the sign that had been covering it, in preparation for a new business, and ‘Bruces Grocer & Tobacconist’ was once more revealed after some fifty years. This discovery was undone only a few months later when it was daubed over, with a depressing grey paint, and replaced with a cheap, drooping plastic banner.

A travesty.

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ies ick it: D Cred k or W we

ar

Nowadays, however, there seems to be a predilection amongst businesses for retaining these signs. At the Vegan and Veg Café on Victoria Road, Sandeep and Billi Singh uncovered a sign proclaiming ‘Insist on the Citizen’ (a reference to the Glasgow Evening Citizen, published between 1864 and 1974) as they prepared to open up their new health food café. Sandeep has owned the premises for around thirty years but was surprised to see the sign when workmen revealed it. He plans to keep it there for at least a little longer. After all, it has even attracted a few visitors to the café.

But why might these signs have developed such an allure? There have been attempts at an academic level to understand just why we value ghost signs. Research has shown that the fascination with yesteryear seems to have gone hand-in-hand with gentrification and that the urban ephemera of the working classes has become especially fetishised.

This “valorisation” is exemplified, for example, in the baring of brick walls, or the inclusion of Singer sewing machines as ornamentation, or wooden shopfronts, or even the return of the now seemingly ubiquitous shopkeeper’s apron. Is this part of genuine affection for the past? Or just quirky added attraction to lure in potential shoppers?

The general appeal and pull of the past should not be overlooked. Perhaps we ought not to delve too deeply or too navel-gazingly into why we like things that are old. We just do. And it shapes our beliefs, our thoughts, our tastes, our styles – there seems to be a constant commandeering and re-use of the past. A quick wander down Victoria Road and you might think you’ve been transported back to the 1990s.

Bleached blonde hair, platform shoes, chains and garish ski jackets are all back in style.

This re-use even extends to old signs. There has been a recent upsurge in hand-painted signs, in particular the eyecatching ‘two-tone’ design that provides a kind of shadow effect – a style that owes a fair amount to signs of the past.

Rachel Millar is a traditional signwriter who has been creating such signs since 2015, after graduating from Edinburgh College of Art and the Massachusetts College of Art. She explains that there has been huge resurgence in traditional signwriting over the last ten years, which can be attributed to a return to more traditional forms of making: “This is due to the increased interest in craft and makers, helped along by the popularity of craft beer, pottery and other slow processes, which reject the overwhelming online world.”

We might also feel some sort of fondness for ghost signs, given that they require a steady hand and skilful approach in their creation. It is hard to argue that the plastic, digitally designed signs are an improvement

on the hand-painted signs.

That’s all subjective, of course, but one cannot underestimate the appreciation of an accomplished artisan.

Cr ed This is something Rachel i t: Di ck ies Wor k w ear also acknowledges: “Business owners have realised that cheap vinyl just doesn’t last. If you pay for something to be painted, it will stand the test of time...and our glorious Scottish weather!”

You may already be familiar with the Instagrammable Kelvingrove Café sign in the West End, or perhaps you’ll have seen the huge ‘J.D. Galloway’ sign near Glasgow Cathedral, but Govanhill and the Southside can also lay claim to their fair share of ghost signs.

Have you spotted the attractive Seafresh Shop sign above a tattooist on Skirving Street in Shawlands? At Niven’s cafe on Nithsdale Road, there’s a gorgeous and golden ‘William Bennie and Sons Butchers’ at the back, with ‘Motor Engineer’ at the front. A pair of early 20th century designs can be found opposite one another on Allison Street: ‘Nicholls Shoe Repair’ and an unnamed tobacconist, again above another tattooist.

More signs are revealed and recovered regularly. As I write this, a new one has just been revealed at the corner of Allison Street and Pollokshaws Road. An unsightly black board was peeled off to reveal a startling orange and brown hand-painted, block-font sign belonging to the former premises of the ‘Glasgow South Co-Op Society LTD.’ The design, which is certainly pre-1950s, will soon be covered again by plywood sheets, disappearing as fast as it was uncovered. It is this transience that makes ghost sign busting a real pleasure, and even a little addictive.

What lies in the future for ghost signs? A cursory glance at social media (and the #ghostsign hashtag) reveals that thousands more enjoy a bit of ghost sign spotting.

Glasgow City Heritage recognised this when they created the ‘Ghost Signs of Glasgow’ project, which provides information and background on some of the signs that can be found within the city and is well worth checking out.

The beautiful hand-painted remnants of forgotten proprietors feature on faded shopfronts: two-tone descriptions of longgone wares and goods, hoisted by flourishes of the English language that are rarely uttered in today’s vernacular.

Their mementos of the past are alluring, transient, nostalgic, precious and peculiar.

These hidden and not-so-hidden features provide an evocative glimpse of Govanhill’s past and, while their fronts may have faded, our shared passion for ghost signs remains as strong as ever.

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EQUALITY MEANS THE RIGHT TO

I

BY AHLAM AL-BASHIRI Ambassador for Voices Network UK

never thought I’d be a refugee.

I didn’t choose this situation.

Nobody does. We should take that as a fact and treat people equally.

What does equality mean? It means having the same rights as every other person in Scotland.

I was working for the Yemen Embassy in London when the war broke out in 2014. It was impossible for me to go back, so I moved to Glasgow and applied for asylum.

Back in my country we host over a million refugees, mostly from Africa.

But I never really paid them any attention. I never imagined that one day I would be in their situation.

When I first arrived in Scotland, I was a little afraid. I’m a Muslim woman and wear the hijab. In London you see many people in a headscarf, but it’s not the same here.

I didn’t know if I would be welcome.

And then there was the weather – it was even worse than London!

One day I was at a bus stop, reading on my phone and feeling sad about what was happening in Yemen. There was an older Scottish woman sitting there and she saw how I upset I was and offered me some chocolate. I’ve come to realise that Glasgow is a really friendly city. I feel at home here.

I was one of the lucky ones. For some reason, I really don’t know why, when I was seeking asylum, I wasn’t stripped of the right to work. So I thought that all asylum seekers were allowed to work. I didn’t realise until later how rare that is. And my claim was processed in just five months. I’ve since met people who have been in the system for years. They’re stuck at home, unable to work, to contribute to society. They’re losing their skills and even any sense of themselves.

I found the process traumatic.

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Can you imagine the impact it has on their mental health?

A couple of years ago, I went to an event at the Scottish Parliament which was encouraging more women from minority ethnic backgrounds to stand in elections. It was then that I found out that, as a refugee, I didn’t even have the right to vote. Then I learned that my neighbour, who was a refugee from a Commonwealth country could vote. I couldn’t understand how that could be the case.

I learned about the Scottish Refugee Council’s campaign for the right to vote and joined the committee of representatives from refugee communities. We were invited to the Scottish Parliament and they asked us why we thought refugees should be given the vote.

As an asylum seeker, you don’t have the right to work, you don’t have the same right to education – you have a lot of rights taken from you.

You are waiting to get refugee status.

Then when you get that, you are still waiting for the right to be a citizen.

We should all be treated equally.

If you give people the right to vote, you empower them. You let them have a say in the future of Scotland.

It shows New Scots that that they are welcome here. It makes people more likely to engage with, and integrate in, society. It can have a huge impact on people.

I am so happy that this year I will be able to vote in the Scottish Parliamentary elections for the first time and the day when the bill giving refugees the right to vote was passed was one of my happiest moments.

This is a very important step forward for equal rights in Scotland. But we are still campaigning for asylum seekers to have the right to vote.

Produced by The Electorial Commission, Scottish Refugee Council and COSLA

VOTING IN THE 2021 SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT ELECTION Can I vote in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election?

Do I have to vote?

You do not have to vote if you don’t want to. In all elections in Scotland, your vote belongs to you. You can decide whether or not you want to vote and who you want to vote for. It’s illegal for anyone to influence you to vote a certain way against your will.

If you are a qualifying foreign citizen resident in Scotland and 16 or over, you can vote in the Scottish Parliament election. A qualifying foreign citizen is a citizen of another country who has permission to enter or stay in the UK, or who does not need such permission.

What happens when I go to vote?

When you arrive at the polling place a member of staff will ask for your name and address and then give you your ballot papers. You will then be directed to take your ballot papers into a polling booth where you can fill out your ballot paper.

If you have questions about registering to vote you can contact your local electoral registration team.

You can find their contact details by entering your postcode at electoralcommission.org.uk/ i-am-a/voter/your-election-information.

On the first ballot paper you should mark the person you are voting for with an ‘X’. On the second, you should mark the party or independent candidate you are voting for with an ‘X’.

What does the Scottish Parliament do?

The Scottish Parliament makes laws in a number of areas, including health, education, training, housing, tourism and economic development. It also debates issues, conducts inquiries and holds the Scottish Government to account. It is made up of 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament or ‘MSPs’.

You should then fold up your ballot papers and place them in the ballot box. If you need assistance at any point just ask a member of staff.

How do I decide who to vote for?

Why should I register to vote?

You should choose the candidate that you feel would be the best person to represent you. They might share your views or prioritise issues that you think are important.

If you want to have your say about the issues that matter to you and who you want to represent you in the Scottish Parliament, you need to register to vote.

How do I register to vote?

The list of candidates standing at an election in each local area is usually available on your council’s website a couple of weeks before the election.

You can register online at gov.uk/registertovote.

The deadline for registering to vote in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election is midnight on Monday 19 April 2021.

Political parties publish a document outlining all of their policies and priorities before a Scottish Parliament election. This is called a manifesto.

They will be available on political parties’ websites.

You can also ask candidates and their teams questions about issues that are important to you.

If you’re unable to register online, you can register by post. Download a form at www.gov.uk/government/ collections/register-to-vote-paper-forms.

If you don’t have a National Insurance Number, you need to state this on your registration application then continue to submit it. Your Electoral Registration Officer will then contact you to ask you to provide documentary evidence to prove your identity.

Is my vote kept secret?

Yes. Your vote is yours alone and you do not have to tell anyone how you have voted. Once you have put your vote in the ballot box, or returned it by post, then it will be kept safe and secure until all the votes are ready to be counted.

Where do I go to vote?

Everyone in your household who is registered to vote will receive a poll card before the election. Your poll card tells you where you need to go to vote.

All the ballot papers are mixed together at the count so no one will be able to tell how you have voted.

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‫‪ISH‬‬

‫‪KURD‬‬

‫ئەیا دەتوانم لە هەڵبژاردنی پەرلەمانی سکۆتلەندا لە‬ ‫ساڵی ‪ 2021‬دەنگ بدەم؟‬ ‫ئەگەر شارومەندی بیانی هەڵگری مەرجی نیشتەجێبوونی‬ ‫سکۆتلەندان‪ ،‬و تەمەنتان لە سەرەوەی ‪ 16‬ساڵە‪ ،‬دەتوانن‬ ‫لە هەڵبژاردنی پەرلەمانی سکۆتلەندا دەنگ بدەن‪.‬‬ ‫شارۆمەنی بیانی هەڵگری مەرجەکان‪ ،‬شارۆمەنی واڵتێکی‬ ‫دیکەیە کە ئیزنی هاتنە ناو یان نیشتەجێبوونی واڵتی‬ ‫بریتانیای هەیە‪ ،‬یان پێویستی بە ئیزنی وەهای نییە‪.‬‬ ‫ئەگەر سەبارەت بە ناونووسی بۆ دەنگدان پرسیارتان‬ ‫هەیە‪ ،‬دەتوانن لەگەڵ تیمی ناونووسی ناوچەی‬ ‫هەڵبژاردنی خۆتان پێوەندی بگرن‪ .‬ئەتوانی وردەکاری‬ ‫پێوەندی پێوە گرتنیان بە دانانی پۆست کۆدی خۆت لە‬ ‫ناو ئەم ماڵپەڕە بدۆزیتەوە ‪electoralcommission.org.‬‬ ‫‪.uk/i-am-a/voter/your-election-information‬‬ ‫پەرلەمانی سکۆتلەندا چ ئەرکێکی لە سەر شانە؟‬ ‫پەرلەمانی سکۆتلەندا لە زۆر بواری جۆراوجۆردا یاسا‬ ‫دادەنێت‪ ،‬وەکوو تەندروستی‪ ،‬خوێندەواری‪ ،‬پەروەردە‪،‬‬ ‫خانوو‪ ،‬گەشتیاری و بەرەپێدانی ئابووری‪ .‬هەروەها‬ ‫سەبارەت بە کێشەکان وتوووێژ دەکات‪ ،‬داواکارییەکان‬ ‫بەڕێوە دەبات و دەوڵەتی سکۆتلەندا بە بەرپرس‬ ‫دادەنێت‪ .‬و لە ‪ 129‬نۆێنەری پەرلەمانی سکۆتلەندا یان‬ ‫‘‪ ’MSP‬پێک هاتووە‪.‬‬ ‫بۆچی دەبێت بۆ دەنگ دان ناونووسی بکەم؟‬ ‫ئەگەر دەتەوێت دەنگی خۆت سەبارەت بەو مەسەالنەی‬ ‫کە بە التەوە گرینگە دەر ببڕیت‪ ،‬و ئەوەیکە دەتەوێت‬ ‫کێ لە پەرلەمانی سکۆتلەندا نوێنەرایەتیت بکات‪،‬‬ ‫پێویست دەکات کە بۆ دەنگدان ناونووسی بکەیت‪.‬‬ ‫چۆن دەتوانم بۆ دەنگدان ناونووسی بکەم؟‬ ‫دەتوانیت ناونووسی ئۆنالین بکەی لە ماڵپەڕی ‪gov.‬‬ ‫‪ .uk/registertovote‬دواهەمین دەرفەتی ناونووسی‬ ‫بۆ دەنگدان لە پەرلەمانی سکۆتلەندا بۆ ساڵی ‪2021‬‬ ‫نیوەشەوی دووشەمە ‪19‬ـی مانگی چواری ‪2021‬ـە‪.‬‬ ‫ئەگەر ناتوانیت ئۆنالین ناونووسی بکەیت‪ ،‬دەتوانیت‬ ‫بە پۆست ناونووسی بکەیت‪ .‬فۆرمەکە لێرە داۆنلۆد بکە‬ ‫‪www.gov.uk/government/collections/register-to‬‬‫‪.vote-paper-forms‬‬ ‫ئەگر ژمارەی بیمەی نیشتامنی (‪National Insurance‬‬ ‫‪)Number‬ـت نییە‪ ،‬دەبێ لە سەر فۆرمی ناو‬ ‫نووسیەکەت ئەمە عینوان کەیت‪ ،‬و دوایی فۆرمەکەت‬ ‫بنێرە‪ .‬پاش ئەوە بەرپرسی ناونووسی کردنی هەڵبژاردنی‬ ‫(‪ )Electoral Registration Officer‬ئێوە لەگەڵتان‬ ‫پێوەندی دەگرێت تاکوو داواتان لێ بکات بەڵگەی‬ ‫سەڵامندنی پێناسەی خۆتان نیشان بدەن‪.‬‬ ‫ئایا دەبێ دەنگ بدەم؟‬ ‫ئەگەر ناتەوێت مەجبوور نیت دەنگ بدەیت‪ .‬لە هەموو‬ ‫هەڵبژاردنەکانی سکۆتلەندا دەنگی ئێوە تەنیا بۆ خۆتانە‪.‬‬ ‫دەتوانیت بڕیار بدەیت کە ئایا دەتەوێت دەنگ بدەیت‪،‬‬ ‫و بۆ کێ دەنگ بدەیت‪ .‬ئەمە نایاساییە کە کەسێک‬ ‫بیەوێت کاریگەری لە سەر تۆ بکات کە بە شێوەیەک بە‬ ‫بێ حەزی خۆت دەنگ بۆ کەسێکی تر بدەیت‪.‬‬

‫رأیدادن در انتخابات‬ ‫پارملانی سال ‪2021‬‬ ‫اسکاتلند‬ ‫بگیرید که آیا میخواهید رأی بدهید یا خیر و اینکه‬ ‫به چه کسی رأی بدهید‪ .‬ترغیب شام توسط هر‬ ‫کسی برای رأی دادن به روشی خاص خالف میل شام‬ ‫غیرقانونی میباشد‪.‬‬ ‫هنگام مراجعه برای رأی دادن چه اتفاقی میافتد؟‬ ‫هنگام وارد شدن به محل رأیگیری‪ ،‬یکی از کارکنان‬ ‫نام و آدرستان را میپرسد و سپس برگههای رأی را‬ ‫در اختیارتان قرار میدهد‪ .‬سپس راهنامیی میشوید‬ ‫تا برگههای رأی خود را به غرفه رأیگیری بربید که‬ ‫شام میتوانید برگه رأی خود را آنجا پر کنید‪.‬‬ ‫شام باید در اولین برگه رأی‪ ،‬نام شخصی که‬ ‫میخواهید به او رأی دهید را با عالمت ‘‪ ’X‬مشخص‬ ‫کنید‪ .‬در برگه دوم‪ ،‬باید نام حزب و یا کاندیدای‬ ‫مستقلی که میخواهید به او رأی دهید را با یک‬ ‫عالمت ‘‪ ’X‬مشخص کنید‪.‬‬ ‫شام سپس باید برگههای رأی خود را تا بزنید و در‬ ‫صندوق اخذ رأی قرار دهید‪ .‬چنانچه در هر مرحله‬ ‫نیاز به کمک داشتید‪ ،‬کافی است از یکی از کارکنان‬ ‫درخواست کنید‪.‬‬ ‫چگونه تصمیم بگیرم که به چه کسی رأی بدهم؟‬ ‫شام باید کاندیدایی را انتخاب منایید که احساس‬ ‫میکنید بهرتین فرد برای منایندگی شام خواهد بود‪.‬‬ ‫ایشان ممکن است دیدگاههای شام را به اشرتاک‬ ‫بگذارند یا مسائلی را که فکر میکنید دارای اهمیت‬ ‫هستند در اولویت قرار دهند‪.‬‬ ‫فهرست کاندیداهای داوطلب در هر انتخابات‬ ‫در هر منطقه محلی معموالً چند هفته قبل از‬ ‫انتخابات در وبسایت شورای شهر شام در دسرتس‬ ‫خواهد بود‪.‬‬ ‫قبل از هر انتخابات پارملانی در اسکاتلند‪ ،‬احزاب‬ ‫سیاسی با انتشار یک سند‪ ،‬همه سیاستها و‬ ‫اولویتهای خود را تبیین میکنند‪ .‬این سند بیانیه‬ ‫انتخاباتی یا مانیفست نامیده میشود‪ .‬این اسناد در‬ ‫وبسایتهای احزاب سیاسی در دسرتس خواهند‬ ‫بود‪ .‬شام همچنین میتوانید درباره مسائلی که برای‬ ‫شام مهم هستند‪ ،‬سواالت خود را از کاندیداها و‬ ‫تیمهای آنها بپرسید‪.‬‬ ‫برای رأی دادن به کجا مراجعه منایم؟‬ ‫هر فردی در خانواده شام که برای رأی دادن ثبتنام‬ ‫شده است‪ ،‬پیش از انتخابات یک کارت رأی دریافت‬ ‫خواهد کرد‪ .‬کارت رأی شام مشخص میکند که برای‬ ‫رأی دادن به کجا مراجعه کنید‪.‬‬ ‫آیا رأی من مخفی خواهد ماند؟‬ ‫بلی‪ .‬رأی شام فقط متعلق به خودتان است و‬ ‫مجبور نیستید به کسی بگویید چگونه رأی دادهاید‪.‬‬ ‫هنگامی که رأی خود را به صندوق بیندازید یا آن را‬ ‫از طریق پست ارسال کنید‪ ،‬تا زمان آماده شدن همه‬ ‫آرا برای شامرش‪ ،‬رأی شام به صورت امن و مطمنئ‬ ‫نگهداری خواهد شد‪.‬‬ ‫همه برگههای رأی هنگام شامرش آرا با هم مخلوط‬ ‫میشوند بنابراین هیچ کس قادر نخواهد بود بگوید‬ ‫شام چگونه رأی دادهاید‪.‬‬ ‫‪34‬‬

‫‪I‬‬

‫‪FARS‬‬

‫آیا میتوانم در انتخابات پارملان اسکاتلند در سال‬ ‫‪ 2021‬رأی بدهم؟‬ ‫چنانچه شهروند خارجی واجد الرشایط مقیم‬ ‫اسکاتلند هستید و ‪ 16‬سال یا بیشرت سن دارید‪،‬‬ ‫میتوانید در انتخابات پارملان اسکاتلند رأی بدهید‪.‬‬ ‫شهروند خارجی واجد الرشایط‪ ،‬شهروند کشوری‬ ‫دیگر است که اجازه ورود و اقامت در بریتانیا را‬ ‫دارا میباشد‪ ،‬یا فردی است که نیاز به داشنت چنین‬ ‫مجوزی ندارد‪.‬‬ ‫چنانچه سواالتی درباره ثبتنام برای رأی دادن‬ ‫دارید‪ ،‬میتوانید با تیم ثبتنام انتخاباتی محلی‬ ‫خود متاس بگیرید‪ .‬با وارد کردن کد پستی خود‬ ‫در وبسایت زیر میتوانید اطالعات متاس تیم‬ ‫انتخاباتی را پیدا کنید‪:‬‬ ‫‪electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/voter/‬‬ ‫‪.your-election-information‬‬ ‫پارملان اسکاتلند چه کاری انجام میدهد؟‬ ‫پارملان اسکاتلند قوانینی را در زمینههای مختلفی از‬ ‫جمله سالمت‪ ،‬تحصیل‪ ،‬آموزش‪ ،‬مسکن‪ ،‬گردشگری و‬ ‫توسعه اقتصادی وضع میکند‪ .‬همچنین‪ ،‬به مباحثه‬ ‫و مذاکره در خصوص مسائل مختلف پرداخته‬ ‫و ضمن مطرحکردن سواالت‪ ،‬دولت اسکاتلند را‬ ‫ملزم به پاسخگویی میداند‪ .‬این نهاد از ‪ 129‬عضو‬ ‫پارملان اسکاتلند (‪Members of the Scottish‬‬ ‫‪ )Parliament‬یا ‘‪ ’MSP‬ها تشکیل شده است‪.‬‬ ‫چرا باید برای رأی دادن ثبتنام کنم؟‬ ‫چنانچه متایل دارید درباره مسائلی که برایتان‬ ‫اهمیت دارند و کسی که میخواهید مناینده شام‬ ‫در پارملان اسکاتلند باشد اظهارنظر کنید‪ ،‬میبایست‬ ‫برای رأی دادن ثبتنام کنید‪.‬‬ ‫چگونه برای رأی دادن ثبتنام کنم؟‬ ‫شام میتوانید به صورت آنالین در وبسایت ‪gov.‬‬ ‫‪ uk/registertovote‬ثبتنام کنید‪ .‬آخرین مهلت‬ ‫ثبتنام برای رأی دادن در انتخابات پارملانی سال‬ ‫‪ 2021‬اسکاتلند‪ ،‬نیمهشب دوشنبه ‪ 19‬آوریل ‪2021‬‬ ‫میباشد‪.‬‬ ‫چنانچه قادر نیستید به صورت آنالین ثبتنام کنید‪،‬‬ ‫میتوانید از طریق پست ثبتنام کنید‪ .‬فرم ثبتنام‬ ‫را از وبسایت ‪www.gov.uk/government/‬‬ ‫‪collections/register-to-vote-paper-forms‬‬ ‫دانلود کنید‪.‬‬ ‫در صورتیکه شامره بیمه ملی (‪National‬‬ ‫‪ )Insurance Number‬ندارید‪ ،‬باید آن را در فرم‬ ‫درخواست ثبتنام خود قید کنید و سپس فرم‬ ‫را ارسال منایید‪ .‬سپس مأمور ثبتنام انتخاباتی‬ ‫(‪ )Electoral Registration Officer‬با شام متاس‬ ‫میگیرد تا از شام درخواست کند که شواهد مستند‬ ‫جهت تأیید هویت خود را ارائه منایید‪.‬‬ ‫آیا باید رأی بدهم؟‬ ‫چنانچه متایل ندارید‪ ،‬مجبور نیستید رأی بدهید‪ .‬در‬ ‫همه انتخابات اسکاتلند‪ ،‬رأی شام متعلق به خود‬ ‫شامست‪ .‬این اختیار با خود شامست که تصمیم‬

‫التصويت يف انتخابات‬ ‫الربملان االسكتلندي لعام‬ ‫‪2021‬‬ ‫ميكنك أن تقرر ما إذا كنت تريد التصويت أم ال ولِ َمن‬ ‫تريد التصويت‪ .‬ال يجوز قانونًا ألي شخص أن يؤثر‬ ‫عليك للتصويت بطريقة معينة ضد إرادتك‪.‬‬ ‫ماذا يحدث عندما أذهب للتصويت؟‬ ‫عند وصولك إىل مكان االقرتاع‪ ،‬سيسألك أحد املوظفني‬ ‫عن اسمك وعنوانك ثم يعطيك أوراق االقرتاع‪.‬‬ ‫سيُطلب منك بعد ذلك أخذ أوراق االقرتاع الخاصة‬ ‫بك والتوجه إىل غرفة اقرتاع حيث ميكنك ملء ورقة‬ ‫االقرتاع الخاصة بك‪.‬‬ ‫يف ورقة االقرتاع األوىل‪ ،‬يجب وضع عالمة “‪ ”X‬عىل‬ ‫الشخص الذي تود التصويت له‪ .‬يف الورقة الثانية‪،‬‬ ‫يجب وضع عالمة “‪ ”X‬عىل الحزب أو املرشح‬ ‫املستقل الذي تود التصويت له‬ ‫يجب عليك بعد ذلك طي أوراق االقرتاع الخاصة بك‬ ‫ووضعها يف صندوق االقرتاع‪ .‬إذا احتجت للمساعدة‬ ‫يف أي وقت‪ ،‬فقط اسأل أحد املوظفني‪.‬‬ ‫كيف أقرر ملن أصوت؟‬ ‫يجب عليك اختيار املرشح الذي تشعر أنه أفضل‬ ‫شخص ميثلك‪ .‬قد تكون بينك وبينهم آراء مشرتكة أو‬ ‫يعطون األولوية للقضايا التي تعتقد أنها مهمة‪.‬‬ ‫عاد ًة ما تكون قامئة املرشحني املتنافسني يف‬ ‫االنتخابات يف كل منطقة محلية متاحة عىل موقع‬ ‫مجلسك املحيل عىل اإلنرتنت قبل أسبوعني من‬ ‫االنتخابات‪.‬‬ ‫تنرش األحزاب السياسية وثيقة توضح جميع سياساتها‬ ‫وأولوياتها قبل انتخابات الربملان االسكتلندي‪ .‬وت ُسمى‬ ‫هذه الوثيقة بالبيان‪ .‬ستكون هذه الوثائق متاحة‬ ‫عىل املواقع اإللكرتونية لألحزاب السياسية‪ .‬ميكنك‬ ‫أيضً ا طرح أسئلة عىل املرشحني وفرقهم حول القضايا‬ ‫التي تهمك‪.‬‬ ‫أين أذهب للتصويت؟‬ ‫سيحصل كل فرد مسجل للتصويت يف أرستك عىل‬ ‫بطاقة اقرتاع قبل االنتخابات‪ .‬توضح بطاقة االقرتاع‬ ‫الخاصة بك املكان الذي يجب أن تذهب إليه‬ ‫للتصويت‪.‬‬ ‫هل يبقى تصويتي رسيًا؟‬ ‫نعم‪ .‬تصويتك شأن خاص بك وحدك وليس عليك‬ ‫إخبار أي شخص كيف صوتت‪ .‬مبجرد وضع صوتك يف‬ ‫صندوق االقرتاع أو إرساله بالربيد‪ ،‬سيتم الحفاظ عليه‬ ‫وتأمينه حتى تصبح جميع األصوات جاهزة للفرز‪.‬‬ ‫يتم خلط جميع أوراق االقرتاع م ًعا عند الفرز حتى ال‬ ‫يتمكن أي شخص من معرفة كيف صوتت‪.‬‬

‫‪IC‬‬

‫‪ARAB‬‬

‫هل ميكنني التصويت يف انتخابات الربملان‬ ‫االسكتلندي لعام ‪2021‬؟‬ ‫مقيام يف اسكتلندا‬ ‫مؤهال‬ ‫ً‬ ‫إذا كنت مواط ًنا أجنب ًيا‬ ‫ً‬ ‫وعمرك ‪ 16‬عا ًما أو أكرث‪ ،‬فيمكنك التصويت يف‬ ‫انتخابات الربملان االسكتلندي‪ .‬املواطن األجنبي‬ ‫املؤهل هو مواطن من دولة أخرى لديه إذن‬ ‫بالدخول أو اإلقامة يف اململكة املتحدة‪ ،‬أو ال يحتاج‬ ‫إىل مثل هذا اإلذن‪.‬‬ ‫إذا كانت لديك أسئلة حول التسجيل للتصويت‪،‬‬ ‫ميكنك االتصال بفريق التسجيل االنتخايب املحيل‪.‬‬ ‫ميكنك العثور عىل تفاصيل االتصال الخاصة بهم عن‬ ‫طريق إدخال الرمز الربيدي الخاص بك من خالل‬ ‫املوقع اإللكرتوين‪electoralcommission.org.uk/i-‬‬ ‫‪.am-a/voter/your-election-information‬‬ ‫ما دور الربملان االسكتلندي؟‬ ‫يس ُن الربملان االسكتلندي القوانني يف عدد من‬ ‫املجاالت مثل الصحة والتعليم والتدريب واإلسكان‬ ‫والسياحة والتنمية االقتصادية‪ .‬كام يناقش القضايا‬ ‫ويُجري التحقيقات ويُحاسب الحكومة االسكتلندية‪.‬‬ ‫وهو مكون من ‪ 129‬عض ًوا هم مجمل أعضاء الربملان‬ ‫االسكتلندي‪.‬‬ ‫يل أن أسجل للتصويت؟‬ ‫ملاذا ع ّ‬ ‫إذا كنت تريد إبداء رأيك يف القضايا التي تهمك و َمن‬ ‫تريد أن ميثلك يف الربملان االسكتلندي‪ ،‬فأنت بحاجة‬ ‫إىل التسجيل للتصويت‪.‬‬ ‫كيف أس ّجل للتصويت؟‬ ‫ميكنك التسجيل عرب اإلنرتنت من خالل املوقع‬ ‫اإللكرتوين‪ .gov.uk/registertovote‬آخر موعد‬ ‫للتسجيل للتصويت يف انتخابات الربملان االسكتلندي‬ ‫لعام ‪ 2021‬هو منتصف ليل االثنني املوافق ‪ 19‬أبريل‬ ‫‪.2021‬‬ ‫إذا مل تتمكن من التسجيل عرب اإلنرتنت‪ ،‬فيمكنك‬ ‫التسجيل بالربيد‪ .‬قم بتحميل النموذج من خالل‬ ‫املوقع اإللكرتوين‪www.gov.uk/government/‬‬ ‫‪.collections/register-to-vote-paper-forms‬‬ ‫إذا مل يكن لديك رقم تأمني وطني‪ ،‬فيجب أن تذكر‬ ‫ذلك يف طلب التسجيل ثم متابعة إرساله‪ .‬سيتصل بك‬ ‫موظف التسجيل لالنتخابات بعد ذلك ليطلب منك‬ ‫تقديم مستند يثبت هويتك‪.‬‬ ‫هل يجب عيل التصويت؟‬ ‫يتعني عليك التصويت إذا مل تكن تريد ذلك‪ .‬يف‬ ‫ال ّ‬ ‫جميع االنتخابات يف اسكتلندا‪ ،‬صوتك ٌ‬ ‫ملك لك‪.‬‬

‫دەنگدان لە هەڵبژاردنی‬ ‫پەرلەمانی سکۆتلەندا لە‬ ‫ساڵی ‪2021‬‬ ‫کاتێک کە بۆ دەنگدان دەڕۆم چی ڕوو دەدات؟‬ ‫کاتێک کە لە شوێنی دەنگدان ئامادە دەبن‪ ،‬یەکێک‬ ‫لە فەرمانبەران ناو و نیشانی ئێوە دەپرسێت‪ ،‬و پاشان‬ ‫ئەوراقەکانی دەنگدان بە ئێوە دەدات‪ .‬دوایی ئێوە‬ ‫ڕێنموون دەکرێن بۆ ناو ژوورێک کە لەوێ بتوانن‬ ‫ئەوراقەکانی دەنگدانی خۆتان پڕ بکەنەوە‪.‬‬ ‫لە یەکەم الپەڕەدا دەبێت ئەو کەسەی کە دەنگی پێ‬ ‫دەدەیت بە ‘‪ ’X‬دیاری بکەیت‪ .‬لە الپەڕەی دووهەم دا‬ ‫پێویستە ناوی حیزبەکە یان ناوی نوێنەرە سەربەخۆەکە‬ ‫کە دەنگی بۆ دەدەیت بە نیشانەی ‘‪ ’X‬دیاری بکەیت‪.‬‬ ‫دوایی ئەوراقی دەنگ دانەکەت تا دەکەیت و ئەیخەیتە‬ ‫ناو سندوقی دەنگ دانەکە‪ .‬ئەگەر لە هەر کاتێکدا‬ ‫پێویستیت بە یارمەتی بوو لە یەکێک لە کارمەندەکانی‬ ‫ئەوێ بپرسە‪.‬‬ ‫چۆن بڕیار بەم دەنگ بۆ کێ بدەم؟‬ ‫تۆ دەبێت نۆێنەرێک کە پێت وایە دەتوانێت بە باشی‬ ‫نوێنەرایەتی تۆ بکات هەلبژێریت‪ .‬ئەوان لەوانەیە‬ ‫هاوبیری تۆ بن و یان ئەۆ شتانەی کە بە التەوە گرینگە‬ ‫لە پێشەوە دابنێن‪.‬‬ ‫لیستی بەربژێرەکانی خوازیاری هەڵبژاردن لە هەر‬ ‫ناوچەیەک دا دوو حەفتە بەر لە هەڵبژاردن لە سەر‬ ‫ماڵپەڕی ئەنجوومەنی شارەوانی ناۆچەکەتان لە‬ ‫بەردەست دەبێت‪.‬‬ ‫حیزبە سیاسییەکان پێش لە هەڵبژاردنی پەرلەمانی‬ ‫سکۆتلەندا بەڵگەیەک باڵو دەکەنەوە کە لەوێ هەموو‬ ‫سیاسەتەکان و پێشەنگییەکانی خۆێان هاتووە‪ .‬ئەمە پێ‬ ‫دەگوترێت مانیفێستۆ‪ .‬ئەمانە لە سەر ماڵپەڕی حیزبە‬ ‫سیاسییەکان لەبەردەست دا دەبن‪ .‬ئیۆە هەروەها‬ ‫دەتوانن لە بەربژێرەکان و تیمەکەی ئەوان سەبارەت بەو‬ ‫شتانەی کە بە الی ئێوەوە گرینگە پرسیار بکەن‪.‬‬ ‫بۆ دەنگدان دەبێت بۆ کوێ بڕۆم؟‬ ‫هەموو کەسێک کە لە ناو بنەماڵەی ئێوە بۆ دەنگدان‬ ‫ناونووسی کردبێت‪ ،‬پێش لە دەنگدان کارتی دەنگ دان‬ ‫وەردەگرێت‪ .‬کارتی دەنگ دانەکەت پێت دەڵێت کە بۆ‬ ‫دەنگدان بۆ کوێ بڕۆی‪.‬‬ ‫ئایا دەنگ دانەکەی من بە نهێنی دەمێنێتەوە؟‬ ‫بەڵێ‪ .‬دەنگدانی تۆ بەس هی تۆیە و پێویست ناکات‬ ‫کە بە کەس بڵێیت کە دەنگت بە کێ داوە‪ .‬کاتێک‬ ‫کە دەنگەکەت کردە ناو سندوقەکەوە‪ ،‬یان بە پۆست‬ ‫ناردتەوە‪ ،‬ئیرت بە مەزبووتی هەلدەگیردرێت‪ ،‬هەتا ئەو‬ ‫کاتەی کە کاتی ژماردنی دەنگ دانەکان دێت‪.‬‬ ‫لە کاتی ژماردنی دەنگەکان هەموو وەرەقەی دەنگ‬ ‫دانەکان تێکەڵی یەک دەبن‪ ،‬کەواتە کەس نازانێت کە تۆ‬ ‫دەنگت بۆ کێ داوە‪.‬‬

‫‪2021 SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS‬‬ ‫‪35‬‬

peek into the past part 2

LIFE IN GOVANHILL DURING

WORLD WAR II

By Arthur Oliver

I

n Issue 1 of this magazine, I gave readers a glimpse of Govanhill in the 1930s when I was a young child: carefree times playing football in the streets, helping with family chores, playing tricks on the neighbours. How life changed for all of us towards the end of that decade. World War II broke out in September 1939. I was just eight years old.

There were few immediate signs of warfare as far as Govanhill was concerned, but there were some changes.

Everyone, including children, had to carry identity cards and we were all issued with gasmasks in case of attacks with poison gas. To protect against bombing by air, we had to black out all signs of light in our homes with heavy curtains.

Even car headlights were covered, with only thin strips of light showing. Blackout laws were strictly enforced but it was dangerous, causing many road accidents and pedestrian deaths.

We could see other changes around us. Metal railings of churches and gardens were cut down and removed, to be used to make munitions. Most have never been replaced. Air raid shelters were built in the back gardens of some homes.

Brick walls known as baffle walls were built at the entrances of tenements, and were very easy—and painful—to walk into during the blackout. The entrances were strengthened with heavy beams to safeguard tenants in case of bombing.

Another big change was the introduction of rationing.

Petrol was first to be rationed, though this was not a very noticeable change as few people owned cars back then.

But in 1940, food rationing came in, affecting everyone.

Imports were restricted by the war and rationing was to give everyone a fair share of limited supplies. Clothes were rationed in 1941, and soap in 1942. It was not until 1954 that all rationing ceased.

Most men were called up to the armed forces, with only those who were too old or in certain jobs left at home.

Women came to the fore by working in munitions factories, keeping transport running and working on the land in farms.

Those Land Girls are fondly remembered.

My father wasn’t called up because he was a bus driver, based at the corporation garage in Butterbiggins Road. My mother was also busy at home as a housewife looking after me and my younger sister, but life soon changed dramatically for many children in Glasgow. In March 1941, there was a huge air attack a few miles from Govanhill: the Clydebank Blitz. Over two nights, German bombers targeting factories and shipyards on Clydeside killed around 650 people in Glasgow, over 500 of them in Clydebank, prompting the mass evacuation of children out of the city.

A TYPICAL WEEK’S RATIONS FOR AN ADULT Bacon & Ham

4oz

Other Meat

value of 1 shilling and 2 pence (equivalent to 2 chops)

Butter

2oz

Cheese

2oz

Margarine

4oz

Cooking Fat

4oz

Milk

3 pints

Sugar

8oz

Preserves

1lb every 2 months

Tea

2oz

Eggs

1 fresh egg (plus allowance of dried egg)

Sweets

12oz every 4 weeks

My sister and I were evacuated to Bridge of Allan near Stirling to live with my aunt and uncle for the rest of the war.

Staying with relatives, we were luckier than most children.

I remember a meeting at the school there, when other evacuated kids with their gasmasks and nametags tied round their necks were simply “picked” by local families— 36

Queen's Park UF Church, Langside Road, c.1900. Completed in 1869, it was the fourth and final church by Alexander “Greek” Thomson in Glasgow. It was destroyed by a German bomb in March 1943. [ Glasgow City Archives (P9240) ]

the children had no choice. I was also lucky that in Bridge of Allan I could go to school five days a week. The kids who remained in Glasgow only attended two or three days a week. When I came back to Glasgow at the end of the war, I was way ahead of the others, and when I went to Queens Park secondary school I was put into a class with pupils a year older.

There was a great fear of invasion by the German forces, who were already occupying France. The evacuation of our troops from Dunkirk in the summer of 1940, followed by the Battle of Britain, increased fears.

It was obvious we had to defend ourselves, so the Home Guard was formed by men who were too old to be called up or were in protected jobs. The Home Guard inspired the TV series, Dad’s Army, and although this series was a comedy, in many ways it felt true to life. Before the Home Guard, there was the Local Defence Volunteers. They had no uniforms, only armbands, and I remember seeing them looking rather ridiculous as they trained using long wooden poles—before rifles were available. Also looking after us were the Air Raid Precautions units (who were responsible for enforcing blackouts), as well as the normal fire service and medical units.

Govanhill itself was fortunate, as the main targets of air raids were the shipyards and munition factories. However, bombing damaged some houses in Boyd Street and Torrisdale Street, and there was a major loss to Govanhill in March 1943 when an incendiary bomb hit Queens Park Church in Langside Road. It was the last church designed by Alexander “Greek” Thomson to be built in Glasgow and the damage was so severe it had to be demolished.

War was a time for adapting. Everybody, adults and children alike, learned to sew, repair clothes, knit and even make food from what we could find in hedgerows, such as nettles for making soup and rosehips for vitamins. In the countryside, it was possible to hunt pigeons and rabbits, or go fishing to boost your food intake. Living off the land was essential, with campaigns encouraging everyone to “Dig for Victory” and “Waste not, want not.”

In Bridge of Allan, my uncle had a smallholding—a field actually—with a cow, two pigs, a goat and about a dozen chickens, so I scored there as well. I had more food than I might have had back in Govanhill, although I suppose my uncle could have got into trouble if this was found out. There was a prisoner of war camp nearby. The prisoners worked in the local farms, with occasionally one or two helping on my uncle’s smallholding. In general, they seemed quite happy (I suppose farm work was better than fighting) and some even made wee toys for me and my sister. Come to think of it, that could be termed as fraternising with the enemy!

Eventually the Nazis were defeated, war came to an end and on 8th May 1945, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced V.E. Day—Victory in Europe. My sister and I came back to Glasgow and to celebrate peace being declared, there were street parties all over Govanhill. After years of restrictions, tables, chairs and food seemed to appear from nowhere with all the residents mucking in. A great time was had by all!

In the next issue, I will tell you about the post-war years—the rationing, the homecoming of men from the forces, the Cold War and more.

37

LL I H AN V O G COMMUNITY N DE AR G STEEL B Y G R A H A M er’ n ‘Head Garde

Remembr ANce GARDEn and SiDE Entr ANce

A hidden gem

Main EntrAN ce

Veg ed is Ra ea Bed AR

FruIT TRees

Wildf lo GARDEwer n

38

Wild flow er GARDE n

Fru TRe IT es

Rais Bed ed Veg ARea

ANt l P c ti o Ex GARDEn

Govanhill Community Garden is entered through the car park of Samaritan House on Coplaw Street. Once a derelict space, it was transformed thanks to funding from Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council, Big Lottery Fund, Grow Wild campaign and was opened in July 2015. It is run by a dedicated team of local volunteers from the community for the community.

There are a number of elements to the garden which are popular with the community.

First and foremost, there is Govanhill Community Remembrance Garden, which has over 360 plaques and stars dedicated to lost loved ones. Twelve raised beds are used for growing a variety of flowers, fruit and vegetables. A community orchard featuring twelve fruit trees and a large raised bed of various fruit bushes was generously donated and maintained by The Orchard Project in 2019. In addition to the plants and shrubs planted in the garden when it was created, a substantial amount of bulbs and plants have been added around the garden. Marks & Spencers have generously donated items to the garden over the years.

Regular events that used to be held here have been suspended due to current restrictions. But we very much look forward to these returning at some point in the future. We ask that anyone coming to visit the garden, reads and follows the COVID instructions located at both entrances.

Fru RaisIT Bus ed B h ed

39

Drone photograph by The Glasgow Snapper

Schnitty’s Canteen:

Compassionate Cuisine

Promoted solely through Instagram and word of mouth, Schnitty’s Canteen is an Asian fusion takeaway with a difference. Started in lockdown and produced from a Southside flat (fully registered and certified), Schnitty’s – from head chef Shipei Wang (aka Schnitty) and souschef Alex Wei (aka Smex) already has a cult following in the area.

By Katie Dibb

The name is an homage to midcentury community canteens for Chinese workers, which, despite being themselves short-lived, had a long-lasting influence on Asian home cooking. The Schnitty’s Canteen chefs aim to rediscover recipes from these spaces and elevate them for the contemporary takeaway format.

The venture’s immediate popularity notwithstanding, it wasn’t started in the hope of profit. Instead, the goal is to spread community joy and encourage a deeper understanding of different cultures through food.

The project was initially created in response to the rising Anti-Asian racism during the pandemic. Stories on Schnitty’s Canteen Instagram act as educational prompts to “use food as a form of resistance against discrimination”. Schnitty herself hopes to: “promote more understanding of Asian, particularly Chinese, cooking, so that people can understand more about the thousands of years of historical and social inheritance of Chinese culture, which is very much reflected in its food.”

Schnitty has an innovative approach to fusion-style cooking, informed by her experience of living in five different countries – China, Canada, Germany, Sweden, and South Korea. Exploring such a wide range of cuisines from a young age, Schnitty started to ignore the differences and notice the similarities instead. By taking this borderless approach to food, she hopes to better reflect a: “more compassionate and connected global community”.

Schnitty and Smex offer a weekly changing menu, with a particular focus on making recipes that might be lesser-known in the west, such as the “forgotten cousin” of bao buns, the Lazy Dragon, which is a steamed bun filled with a mix of ground beef, onions, and carrots. Other standout dishes 40

include slow-braised pig knuckles, a Korean-style tiger omelette, and a wood ear mushroom salad.

Schnitty’s Canteen is pick-up only from outside Langside Hall, which adds an element of strange excitement to the usual takeaway experience. After a walk through an icy Queens Park, the pick-up itself was safe and socially distanced (with contactless payment on collection). And there is something just so lovely about getting the food directly from the person who cooked it – it felt much more intimate than the usual delivery experience.

Sitting down in my kitchen to eat my dumplings – which had that perfect/imperfect homemade shape – I realised that, as well as benefiting from the joy the dumplings gave me, I was indirectly celebrating the Lunar New Year for the first time in my life.

These dumplings were pot-stickers, generously filled parcels with a crispy bottom adding another layer of texture to each bite. There was a mixture of classic pork and vegetarian fillings, the latter of which were bright green with vermicelli noodle and courgette inside.

I was left thinking about them all week.

As many of us have discovered with our lockdown bread-making antics, making dough to the correct consistency is very difficult and a task that even professional kitchens often outsource. Schnitty’s Canteen’s homemade approach however excelled with lovingly fluffy sweet buns and each individually pressed dumpling. These are the levels of extra care that you will not find from your average takeaway.

This Lunar New Year, we say goodbye to the Year of the Metal Rat (a year historically associated with disaster) and welcome the Year of the Metal Ox. Here’s hoping it brings some of its characteristic stability (and maybe some prosperity to the iron industry)!

YCSA SEIN Presents….

Paolo Plotegher and Sarah Bower, both from the Youth Community Support Agency (YCSA), speak to Ruth Cape of the South East Integration Network (SEIN) about new projects being offered to young black and minority ethnic (BME) people, and their parents and carers, in Pollokshields and Govanhill.

T

his is a difficult time for everyone. We all need to find ways to process what is going on.” Paolo is an art therapist for YCSA’s ‘Healthy Young Minds’ programme which offers counselling and art therapy to young BME people aged 10-24, and their parents and carers.

Paolo, who recently moved to Glasgow, is passionate about helping people express themselves through colours and images. He explains: “I think people can sometimes be put off by the word ‘therapy’, and think they are going to have to talk about all their problems.

For me, art therapy is simply about empowering people, and it should be as playful and joyful as possible. You don’t need any artistic skills to benefit from art therapy! And you don’t need a diagnosis – it’s for everyone.”

Paolo’s colleague, Shameem Raza, is offering counselling as part of the programme in order to give a choice of different approaches. “Through both counselling and art therapy”, says Paolo, “we’re primarily offering you space for yourself; and hopefully the ability to develop a better relationship with yourself and the people around you. At the core of art therapy is expressing yourself non-verbally – sometimes you just can’t find the words, so this can be really helpful.”

‘New Tracks’ is another project which is just getting started at YCSA, delivered together with other local organisations; Community Renewal, Govanhill Baths, Urban Roots & Glasgow Life. The project will give young people (12-18) in Govanhill & Pollokshields the opportunity to do a wide range of outdoor activities and follow several youth-award programmes such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award and the John Muir Award.

Young people will be able to try out bushcraft, outdoor cooking, outdoor art making, and go on expeditions. Sarah Bower, who has recently joined YCSA as a Youth Development Worker says: “There are such a range of specialisms across all the partner organisations that we can offer a really varied programme through this project – and it will very much be led by what each young person wants and needs to get out of it”. Acknowledging the impact that

isolation and remaining inside for long periods of time has had on young people’s wellbeing and mental health, Sarah says: “This project is coming from a place of acknowledging how important outdoor youth work is - always - but particularly at this time.”

Both ‘Healthy Young Minds’ and ‘New Tracks’ are encouraging referrals at the moment; these can be self-referrals or come through schools or community organisations. For Healthy Young Minds Art Therapy & Counselling, contact: PaoloPlotegher@ycsa. org.uk or 07593 771897. For New Tracks, contact: SarahBowers@ycsa.org.uk or 07593 721 991.

The South East Integration Network (SEIN) is a network of community groups and organisations working across the south east of Glasgow providing services & activities to promote diversity & support community integration. YCSA are one of SEIN’s 70+ member groups. Meet the rest of SEIN’s members at: www.seinglasgow.org.uk/meet-our-members

The History and Culture of The Roma

By Emilia Gaziova Photos by the Community Renewal Roma Youth Photography Group, trained by Lisa Craig

M

any of the Roma who now call Govanhill home, started to settle here after the EU expansion in 2004, although some came earlier to apply for asylum. Along with many others, I arrived here having left behind an environment of racism and prejudice. In some countries in Eastern Europe, Roma do not have the same equality of opportunity when it comes to basic work benefits such as contracts, minimum wages and paid leave.

In Govanhill, however, we have organizations – such as Community Renewal, Romana Lav, GCDT, The Well – which do their best to help the Roma who live here. One of the most striking and positive changes is that people from Roma communities are increasingly involved in addressing these challenges. Since some Roma people tend to be distrustful of authorities, they find it much easier to accept help or apply for advice when dealing with people from their community.

The organizations where Roma staff work act like a beacon for Roma people. They know that they will have no problem understanding and that they can rely on them. Many find they can finally feel safe in the country they've spent so many years in.

But despite the prevalence of Roma in this neighbourhood, many others do not understand our history, culture and language. So, in this article, I wanted to give you a bit of background to my people.

Gelem, Gelem (I went, I went) Gelem, gelem, lungone dromensa Maladilem bahktale Romensa

Romani academic, Yanko le Redžosko, states that Roma in Europe were kept in slavery from 1856-1864, mostly in the Balkans (the territory that is now Romania) and also in other parts of Europe. They were put to work as blacksmiths, gold diggers and agricultural workers. Later, the Roma were used as domestic servants.

According to the National Museum of World War II, the first official attack against Roma dates back to 1885. The Bavarian Government had adopted a law tightening the distribution of licenses to Roma traders. This law made it possible to arrest or expel Roma who did not have the correct documents, which made entrepreneurship and development more difficult.

In 1933, a program was set up in Germany to wipe out the Roma, along with other minorities after Hans Globke claimed that: “Gypsies are of alien blood.” More than 1.5 million Roma were killed in the Holocaust, a fact that is commemorated by a plaque here in Queen’s Park.

I met happy Roma

E tsarensa bahktale dromensa?

O Roma, O fellow Roma

With tents on happy roads?

I once had a great family,

Murdadas la e kali legiya*

The Black Legions* murdered them

Aven mansa sa lumniake Roma,

Come with me Roma from all the world

Kai putaile e romane droma

For the Romani roads have opened

Ake vriama, usti Rom akana,

A history of persecution

I went, I went on long roads

A Romale katar tumen aven,

Vi man sas ek bari familiya,

Genetic and linguistic evidence suggest that the Roma have ancient Indo-Iranian or Aryan origin, and hail from the northern Indian subcontinent. However, about a thousand years ago, the Roma started to move out of this region and made a great journey to Europe and beyond. The exact reasons for this move is still unknown. This was their first journey, but not their last one. Today, there are about 20 million Roma all around the world.

Verse written in Serbian dialect of Romani language

O Roma where do you come from,

A Romale, A Chavale

In the beginning

Men khutasa misto kai kerasa

Now is the time, rise up Roma now,

A Romale, A Chavale

We will rise high if we act O Roma, O fellow Roma

42

The Roma Today

Fortunately, such atrocities are not happening today, but there is still a lot of discrimination against Roma in employment, education, and health. Hate speech against Roma is common across Europe.

Over the last few years, various NGOs, both national and international, have addressed Roma issues. Different approaches are being applied – economic, social, political and cultural – in the hope of improving the living standards of the Roma, promoting a fairer social policy and strengthening Roma cultural identity.

The outside world has not been kind to Roma and some therefore find it is harder to integrate into society. In the 1970s and 80s, many lived in camps (tabors) so that they could protect and support each other, as well as enjoy spending time together. When we are together, we feel like we belong somewhere. Family is the highest priority, so we like to live in a house with as many family members as possible.

Many in our community do not trust the state, due to painful history, demotivating experiences and mistrust passed down from previous generations. However, there are an increasing number of Roma, who have chosen to overcome these barriers and are very successful in schools and at work, adopting a healthier lifestyle and helping others to achieve this.

We are very pleased that there are organizations here in the UK that are an incredible asset to the Roma. Organizations such as Roma Support Group, the National Federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups and the International Romani Union are pushing support for the Roma to the next level, teaching people to trust the system and believe in themselves.

Culture, Language and Food Roma culture is very extensive and varied, but there are some common threads like: strong family ties, faith in God and an interest in community, music and dance. Then there are certain cultural norms, such as getting married at a young age or newlyweds living with the husband’s parents. Supporting the family is also an essential part of our culture. If an individual decides to be a little different or do things in a different way, then it can sometimes be difficult to fit in. But the Roma are adaptable too, we have had to be in order to survive, but that has also led to persecution.

The Roma language has been moderated over time and there is currently no universal language for Roma. Instead there are many dialects, even here in Govanhill. Roma from the same area (living in different parts) do not speak the same language.

Nevertheless, all dialects contain some common words.

Dishes of gnocchi, stuffed cabbage, schnitzel and potato salad are all popular among Roma communities. We don’t vary much from our traditional cuisine and meat is always a must. There are a few shops in the area where you can get good Slovak or Roma produce.

In a typical family, women are more likely to be the ones who cook and take care of children. Families love soap operas and like to watch them together, and Turkish programmes are particularly popular. Houses tend to be decorated colourfully, and music and dancing are a big part of culture. Gold jewellery is very much treasured. Being outdoors feels natural, so Roma like to meet and talk there, on street corners or in the park – even in the Glasgow weather!

The Roma anthem is titled Opre Roma or can be known as Gelem, Gelem. You would hear it at meetings which celebrate International Roma Day, on the 8 April. The verse on the opposite page is inspired by Roma held in concentration camps during World War II. But there are many different verses too.

Finally, the Roma flag is important to us. It was approved by representatives of different Roma communities at the first World Roma Congressin 1971. The bottom is green, representing grass, and the top is blue, representing the sky. In the centre, there is a red wheel. The same wheel is also found on the flag of India. In this way, the Roma link back to India, where their ancestors left millennia ago.

43

By Zan Phee

TENEMENT TILES Photos on this page by Fablevision Studios

44

W

alking from my front door to the shops or work, I’m always hoping to find another example of our wondrous tenement architecture. These artistic windows into Glasgow’s industrious past have sat for years, silently watching the changing shape of the city.

I run the Tnmnttiles online archive and I’m hoping, with the help of our online community, to turn the spotlight onto these shared artefacts. The project has been on the go for almost six years now. In that time, I’ve been collecting photographic examples of original tiles, stained glass and ironwork in the entrances and stairwells of domestic architecture, more commonly known in Glasgow as a ‘wally close’.

The term ‘wally close’ was given in the mid-1800s to tiled entrances of a tenement. The word ‘wally’ referred to something made of white china, such as a ‘wally dug’ (a ceramic dog statue, usually displayed on a fireplace) or wallies (ceramic false teeth, usually displayed in a smile).

Glasgow tenements are famous around the world for their grand entrances. The ornate tiled floors and walls, which are still found in many of Glasgow’s tenements today, lead you to amazing spiral staircases and past beautiful stained-glass panels.

Take an area like the Southside of Glasgow, dense with tenement living, and you’ll see the difference in condition and styles change from close to neighbouring close.

Govanhill itself is an amazing example of the eclectic styles of tenement design. Many of the tenement closes within this area fall under the ‘untiled’ category with thick gloss paint and cool grey cement floors. But the windows, staircases and banisters all contain original features from their creation over 100 years ago. When you do come across a tiled entrance, it’s usually of a floral or leaf design in an Art Nouveau style.

I’ve been asked on more than one occasion why some tenements are tiled and some are not tiled – and why some are more ornate than others. After six years of talking with many experts on the subject, I still have no solid answers.

What we do know is that a large majority of tenements were built by business owners of the time.

From the 1840s to the 1920s, there was a massive influx of families heading into Glasgow for work. Business owners wanted to create a living space for workers near their factories. A lot of workers would live in the tenements and work in the factories. They would have their rent deducted from their wage packets each pay period. (I’m not sure if I’d be all that comfortable having

a boss as a landlord, but it was a very different time.)

Keeping this information in mind, it is generally understood that the style of tiling within the tenement close would often reflect the business you would be working in. So, for example, you will find many examples of nautical and wheat themed tiles that signified the ship and baking industries of the time.

But why choose tiles, stained glass, or extravagant staircases at all? There are two lines of thinking here.

One is that if you, as a business owner, were selling the idea of a home and work life, it was important to put on a show to attract workers. Elaborate entrances implied wealth. So, if you had a super wally close, more people would want to work for you and, in turn, you’d have a greater choice when hiring.

Another reason, and this one is generally accepted as fact, is that tiles were easier to keep clean. Almost all tenements were open to the street with no security door. This meant that everyone – and everything – had access to the stairwell. Children playing away from the rain, mice coming in from the back garden and drunkards looking for an impromptu bathroom facility.

All these things created an unclean space which, if not cleaned regularly, could cause illness. The nicer the wally close, the more pride the residents took in keeping it presentable and clean. And the cleaner the area, the less likely an illness would have you off work (or in the workplace spreading sickness among your fellow workers).

As for why some tenements are tiled and some aren’t, the only answer I can find is cost. If the business owner who built those particular flats didn’t have the money, or in some cases, didn’t wish to spend the money on frills, you would end up with a vanilla version of your neighbour’s fancier stairwell. But over the years I’ve come to appreciate the more basic closes too. What little detailing was added, all those years ago, has stood the test of time – and they still have many stories to share.

The Tnmnttiles archive project was originally based around Glasgow tenement examples only. But through social media we have been sent amazing images from around the world celebrating the art of traditional craftsmanship. We want to raise awareness of our built environment and show how best to look after these historical features. Our aim is that these elaborate fragments of our living history will remain with us for future generations to enjoy.

45

M

y recollections lie in the vicinity of what is now termed Langside Road. Forty years ago, it did not rejoice in such a dignified name, being known then as Allanton Terrace. All around were green fields, extending on the west to Pollokshaws Road, on the north to the Gypsy Lane (now known as Butterbiggins Road), on the east to Kelburn Terrace (now known as Garturk Street) and on the south to Albert Road.

The field bordering Pollokshaws Road was used as a drill ground by the Third Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers. For several years, the volunteers camped there during the month of May, and on the evening of the twenty-fourth the inhabitants were treated to a grand pyrotechnic display, given in honour of Queen Victoria's birthday.

Nearly opposite the Catholic Apostolic Church was a ropeworks, and where the cooperage now stands was an organ builder’s workshop. Wheat was grown in the field where now stands the Victoria Baths right up to Cuthbertson Street.

Butterbiggins Road itself was only a quagmire, many a cart laden with bricks stuck there, and many a poor horse laboured mightily to do the work required of it. On the north side, gypsies sometimes encamped. These encampments had a great fascination for the youth of the district. Well do I remember of a death taking place among the gypsies and the difficulty they experienced in finding a cleric to officiate at the funeral, it was the first time I had ever seen a yellow coffin.

West of Victoria Road and in continuation of Allison Street, was a narrow lane running right through to Pollokshaws Road at Strathbungo. There were small, thatched houses about there, and also a church, the pulpit of which was occupied by an old Scottish ministerial worthy. He and an unmarried sister, who kept house for him, lived not far from my old home. She used to get we children to run messages for her, and this writer was sorely puzzled once on being sent for a ‘pund o’ inguns’.

My astonishment was great when I was served with succulent onions.

In those days there were no coal lorries such as we have now; householders bought their coal by the wagon or ton. A common sight, forty or more years ago, was a cart of coals followed by a man carrying a large creel with a long-legged stool and a spade. This coal heaver, as he was called, received the sum of one shilling and sixpence for filling the bunker and coal cellar. Tenements are put up now without any outside accommodation for such a quantity of coal, so exit the coal heaver.

A feature of those old days now forgotten was the street acrobat. These men went about with a kitchen chair and a square of carpet; when they came to a likely place, they divested themselves of their overcoats, resplendent in tights and spangles, they went through their performance, greatly to the delight of their audiences. Coppers were looked for as a reward.

Early in the spring of 1877, on a Saturday night, fire broke out in an old curiosity shop at the south east corner of Allison Street and Victoria Road. The Glasgow Fire Brigade was sent for, but it refused to come unless a guarantee was forthcoming that it would be paid for its services. I do not know how it was settled at last, being too young to understand the legal points involved, but I do know that the fire raged for an hour and a half before the firemen appeared on the scene. The entire corner tenement was completely destroyed although no lives were lost. I believe this incident was the final argument in favour of ‘No Man's Land’ being made into a burgh.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE SOUTHERN PRESS ON FRIDAY MARCH 13, 1914

Govanhill in the Olden Days: No Man’s Land and Neighbourhood

Our article this week comes from a pen of a lady reader, who resides in Langside, and who gives many interesting sidelights on life in Govanhill and Crosshill forty years ago.

Edited (and discovered) by Bruce Downie Illustrations by giacinta frisillo Translated into Polish by Ania Marchwiak Map reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland 46

M

OPUBLIKOWANO W GAZECIE „THE SOUTHERN PRESS” (GAZETA POŁUDNIOWA), W PIĄTEK, 13 MARCA 1914 ROKU.

Dawny Govanhill: Ziemia niczyja i okolice

POLI

SH

Nasz artykuł w tym tygodniu wyszedł spod pióra czytelniczki gazety, mieszkającej na ulicy Langside, która dzieli się z nami cennymi wspomnieniami o tym jak żyło się w dzielnicach Crosshill i Govanhill czterdzieści lat temu.

oje wspomnienia mają swój początek gdzieś w okolicach ulicy, która dziś zwie się Langside Road. Przed czterdziestu laty nie miała ona tak dostojnej nazwy i była znana jako Allanton Terrace. Wokół znajdowały się zielone pola rozciągające się na zachód aż do ulicy Pollokshaws Road, na północ do Gypsy Lane (teraz Butterbiggins Road), na wschód do Kelburn Terrace (teraz Garturk Street) i na południe do Albert Road.

Pole graniczące z ulicą Pollokshaws Road było używane jako pole ćwiczeń przez 3. Ochotniczy Oddział Strzelecki Lanarkshire.

Ochotnicy mieszkali tam w obozach każdego maja przez wiele lat, a wieczorem 24 maja urządzali pokaz sztucznych ogni na cześć królowej Wiktorii, która tego dnia obchodziła urodziny.

Niemalże naprzeciwko apostolskiego kościoła katolickiego mieścił się zakład wyrobów powroźniczych, a tam, gdzie teraz znajduje się pracownia bednarska był warsztat budowy organów. Na polu, na którym stoją Łaźnie i Pływalnia Królowej Wiktorii aż po ulicę Cuthberston Road, uprawiano pszenicę.

Sama ulica Butterbiggins Road była istnym trzęsawiskiem.

Można tam było znaleźć ugrzęźnięte furmanki wypełnione cegłami a biedne konie ciężko musiały pracować, żeby się przez ten teren przeprawić. Po północnej stronie czasami można było znaleźć obozujących tam Cyganów. Obozy te były przedmiotem fascynacji dzieciaków z okolicy. Dobrze pamiętam, kiedy po kogoś z cygańskiego obozu przychodziła śmierć i jak ciężko było im znaleźć duchownego, który zgodziłby się dokonać pochówku. Wtedy to po raz pierwszy widziałam żółtą trumnę.

Na zachód od Victoria Road i dalej na Allison Street znajdowała się wąska uliczka prowadząca bezpośrednio do Pollokshaws Road w dzielnicy Strathbungo. Były tam małe domki pokryte strzechą i kościół pod duszpasterstwem wiekowego, szkockiego duchownego.

On i jego niezamężna siostra, która zajmowała się jego domem, mieszkali blisko mojego dawnego domu. Często wysyłała dzieciaki na posyłki, a ja, Wasza narratorka, byłam raz całkiem poważnie zdezorientowana, kiedy wysłano mnie po ‘pund o’inguns’ [przyp. tłum.: ze szkockiego, pound of onions tj. około 450 gramów cebuli].

Moje zdziwienie było ogromne, kiedy wręczono mi cebulę.

W tamtych czasach nie było takich ciężarówek na węgiel jakie mamy teraz — mieszkańcy kupowali węgiel na wagony albo w tonach. Czterdzieści kilka lat temu, częstym widokiem była fura wypełniona węglem, za którą podążał mężczyzna niosący wielki wiklinowy kosz na stołku z długimi nogami i szpadel. Ten oto ładowacz węgla, jak go nazywano, otrzymywał jednego szylinga i sześć pensów wynagrodzenia za wypełnienie węglowni i piwnicy na węgiel. Obecnie buduje się kamienice bez miejsca na znoszenie węgla w takich ilościach, więc pożegnaliśmy i zawód ładowacza.

Charakterystycznym elementem tych zapomnianych już czasów byli uliczni akrobaci. Mężczyźni ci byli wyposażeni w kuchenny stołek i kawałek dywanu wykrojonego w kwadrat. Kiedy pojawiali się w odpowiednim miejscu, zrzucali swoje płaszcze i odziani w lśniące trykoty i cekiny występowali ku uciesze swojej publiczności.

W zamian za występ spodziewali się miedziaków.

Wczesną wiosną 1877 roku, w sobotni wieczór na południowowschodnim rogu ulic Victoria Road i Allison Street, w starym sklepiku z osobliwymi rzeczami wybuchł pożar. Posłano po straż pożarną miasta Glasgow, która odmówiła przyjazdu dopóki nie otrzyma zapewnienia płatności za usługę. Nie wiem jak to się skończyło, byłam za mała, żeby zrozumieć aspekty prawne tej niesnaski, ale wiem, że pożar szalał przez półtorej godziny zanim strażacy dotarli na miejsce. Cała kamienica na rogu ulic została zniszczona, aczkolwiek nikt nie zginął. Wydaje mi się, że cała ta sprawa przesądziła o przekształceniu tej „ziemi niczyjej” w niezależne miasteczko.

47

E ARS OF TH THS BA TING 20 YE CELEBRA N OF GOVANHILL OCCUPATIO

1

2001 –202

What’s On Below are one off events. For more regular events and groups, see our noticeboard: www.greatergovanhill.com/noticeboard

Events mar ked with a are part of the cele brations of

EETS: ON OUR STRCELEBRATION AND PROTEST 1 MARCH 202

DIVING IN: THE LOOK AT

As with everything at the moment, all events are subject to change. Please check online for more information.

A DEEPER GOVANHILL BATHS, OF HISTORY UST 2021 MARCH–AUG

DAY: CIRCUS FUN 2021 3RD JULY SATURDAY

information: For more com aths.com nhillbaths. govanhillb www.gova | archive@ 0141 433 2999

20 Years o f Occupatio the Govanhill n of Bat 2001-2021 hs

APRIL

MARCH

Banner & Occupation Exhibition

Glasgow Zine Fest is brought to you by the team at Glasgow Zine Library. Celebrates selfpublishing and DIY ethos, it’s an annual opportunity to come, see, make, share, and do. Spanning the full month of April, this year’s festival is host to an online zine fair of over 60 makers, in addition to workshops, talks, performances, and readings. All tickets are pay-what-you-can, and full information can be found at glasgowzinelibrary.com

When: Saturday 13 March onwards www.govanhillbaths.com

Creative Placard Making Workshop When: Saturday 20 March, 11am–12noon What: Hosted by Rumpus Room to honour UN Anti-Racism Day To book: rumpusroomteam@gmail.com

Anti-Racism Pop-up Picket Line When: Saturday 20 & Sunday 21 March Where: Peace Garden, Calder Street

Make Some Noise for Govanhill When: Sunday 21 March

International Roma Day

Ando Glaso and Unite Fight & Sing 5–6pm on Govanhill Baths Facebook

When: Thursday 8 April The Govanhill Roma Youth Project will be sharing videos, photos, and an exciting interactive map following the route the procession would normally take through Govanhill. Check out their Facebook and Instagram accounts for more.

Make Some Noise For Govanhill 6pm OURS Film Screening 7–9pm in the window of 126 Calder Street and Facebook Save Our Pool Protesters 8–9pm on Govanhill Baths Facebook Save Our Pool Songs 8–9.10pm on www.buenavida.co.uk

The Dark Philosophers Book Group | Stillicide by Cynan Jones When: Wednesday 21 April 6:30pm

Plugged In & Wired

Join The Dark Philosophers to read and discuss this prescient work. The group, which “brings the literature of Wales out of the shadows” will take some time to explore water imagery more broadly in Welsh writing, and its symbolism in relation to cultural as well as ecological crises. Contact: casidylan@gmail.com

When: From 26 March Southside Fringe’s first virtual festival.

Over 50 acts will be available to watch from the comfort of your couch.

Greater Govanhill radio show launches on Radio Buena Vida!

When: Wednesday 31 March We’re taking the magazine to the airwaves with a brand new show, aimed a giving listeners a taste of this incredible neighbourhood. Just as with the magazine, we’re keen to platform a diverse range of voices. To get involved, email: hello@greatergovanhill.com www.buenavida.co.uk

This Wonderful Game: a History of Sport in Govanhill When: Thursday 22 April 7pm Panel Discussion on Govanhill Baths Facebook

48

What’s On MAY

The Big Zero Waste Market When: Saturday 1 May 11am–4pm Where: The Deep End, 21 Nithsdale Street

JUNE

Glasgow International Festival When: Friday 11–Sunday 27 June One of the UK’s largest and most influential visual art festivals, will take place across the city.

Meet the Author: Bruce Downie When: Thursday 24 June 7pm Panel Discussion on Govanhill Baths Facebook

THE SOUTHSIDE'S ZERO WASTE MARKET!

SATURDAY 01 MAY

@11AM >>>>>> 4PM

THE DEEP END @ 21 NITHSDALE STREET WWW.GOVANHILLBATHS.COM @UpRags2Riches

@Ragstorichesgla

P C OE O T R R N Y ER

Rum Shack from the poetry collection ‘sikfan glaschu’

by Sean Wai Keung, to be published

by Verve Poetry Press, April 2021

still dont fully know what brought me here [to glasgow i mean] i just felt some kind of magnetic pull almost as if i had no choice in a good way for instance i still remember the first time we both came here [to southside i mean] which both of us had previously been warned about from people we had met who had moved away from here yet when we walked through here [southside i mean] down viccy road past the world food shops and through the parks and tenement-lined roads and by the train stations and through govanhill and pollokshields and further along we both agreed that we felt something good here – it seemed like a decent part of town – and we went to milk cafe and ordered a coffee and talked to someone who recommended that we give the rum shack a try and when we did give it a try [the rum shack i mean] we both agreed that our futures here seemed bright and now its years later and i still live here but you dont and milk cafe got redecorated and viccy road redeveloped but the tenements still stand and so does the rum shack and i still dont know why i came here [but here i am] [and i am mostly happy here] [and i hope that wherever you are now you are mostly happy too]

Hot Shot

Two Vapers on Calder Street This photo freezes a moment in my life that I’ll remember forever: the first time I asked strangers on the street if I could take their photo. I’ve been photographing almost every day for the past year, hanging out in Govanhill looking for new spots, people, anything interesting I can capture. I love seeing something different everyday.

This shot was almost too good to be true. I was a little bored of photographing ducks and trees in the park at the time and was looking for new inspiration. I could immediately picture the photo in my head when I saw these two men vaping on Calder Street. I am so glad they said yes when I gathered my strength to ask. My hands and legs were shaking. Thirty seconds and that was it. I won't forget the overwhelming joy that came from this moment, even more so when I saw the photo a few hours later. If they ever see it, I hope they like it.

Audrey Bizouerne is French artist who’s been in Glasgow for five years.

She was part of the music scene and toured extensively for years, but then the pandemic gave her the opportunity to focus on photography. She became really passionate about analogue photography is now learning how to process and print her own work. She hopes to be able to combine both passions full-time in the near future.

Instagram: @audreybizouernephoto

FILM DEVELOPING & SCANNING COLOUR • B&W • 35MM • 120

GU GLA SGO W’S

@GULABIPHOTO

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