[OccupyComms] NCIA / NatCan Info

Sat Jul 14 10:57:10 GMT 2012

Hey Occupiers 

The following national organisation NCIA is a good one for Occupiers to think about linking in/up with, imho. 

Have a read of their newsletter and check out their web-site. 

Also NB: Paul Feldman and Corinna Lotz of A World to Win and Real Democracy WG will be speaking about power, the state and peoples assemblies at the NCIA / NatCan (National Community Activist Network)  conference this Thursday (19 July) 10am-4pm at Resource for London, 356 Holloway Road, N7 6PA (see below for more details) 

There is also info below on Manchester and other UK wide events and happenings, including our very own Runnymede Diggers. Aww.. 

X 
Sent from phone

-----Original Message-----
From: NCIA - National Coalition for Independent Action <info at independentaction.net>
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2012 11:21:45 
To: <marknbarrett at googlemail.com>
Reply-To: info at independentaction.net
Subject: Newsletter No 28

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We’re not an arm of the state – we have our own arms

www.independentaction.net ( http://www.independentaction.net/ )  ..…
indyaction at yahoo.co.uk

Want to talk back to us? Plenty of opportunities to make your mark on
our bloggy-friendly websitewww.independentaction.net (
http://www.independentaction.net/ )

Newsletter No: 28                                      July 2012

Where’s the tipping point? Where’s the breaking point?

A friend once said to me that my problem was that my ‘circle of
concern’ was wider than my ‘circle of influence’. Maybe this
explains why I spend so much time being cross? But consider the
following. Over the last week I have heard that:

*
Bob Diamond of Barclay’s Bank resigns in disgrace but is given
£1.5M and a nice pension to make him feel better;
*
A spokesperson for an official report on school examination boards
says on the radio that “competition is driving down quality”;
*
The director of Lambeth’s Children’s Services declares that paying
lots of money (£200k per child per year) to private and charitable
care homes does not buy quality services;
*
Homelessness is up by 20% in one year;
*
The charity Kids Company has started feeding centres for childrenand
families – up to 70 at one centre alone – to stick a finger in the
dyke for the 2.2 million children living in poverty.

All this stuff concerns our world of voluntary action and history will
ask – in looking back – what we all did about it. We’re
currently doing a tiny bit of research to try and sort out who, in the
VCS, can be called an ‘activist’ in these terrible times. What’s
coming up, again and again, are groups that we are calling ‘(maybe)
getting ready for activism’. These are mostly professionally
oriented, obsessed with funding, overtly complaining about what is
happening but still playing the game, trying to keep their seat at the
table but feeling deeply uneasy about the cuts and compromises that
are being demanded. These groups are the backbone of the historic
voluntary sector. In truth they are being decimated by the
commissioners, the SERCO’s, the NACRO’s and the rest of the
corporate charity raiders. Whether they decide to bite back or give in
will be an important sign of just how lost we are in the fight for
social justice and a radical alternative.

News and events

Last chance!!Gaining power: the challenges facing activists – 19th
July - London

The next in our series of events to look at the crucial issues facing
us will focus on activists and community action and will take place on
the 19th July. This is being organised jointly with the National
Community Activist Network (NatCAN) and will be at the Resource for
London, 356 Holloway Road, N7 6PA.

If you’re taking action on behalf of people in your area, want to
share tactics with others, or find out how to get help to keep going,
then this event is for you. The morning is for discussion about big
issues around democracy, markets, and community action and includes a
presentation on People’s Assemblies from World to Win. The afternoon
will hear from people active around different themes including
anti-racism, anti-privatisation, provision of local services and
solidarity networks. We’ll be looking at how to keep going and
figuring out what support activists need. There will be plenty of room
for discussion. And lunch. And FREE.

To book a place, email Maxine atMaxine at grantmoarcommunities.com or you
can sign up via the NatCAN website here
-http://nationalcan.ning.com/events/gaining-power-challenging-facing-activists
(
http://nationalcan.ning.com/events/gaining-power-challenging-facing-activists
)  (if you go this route, you’ll need to sign up to NatCAN first, if
you haven’t already done so).

Upcoming event!Shared Values, Collective Action – 26th July 1pm-5pm
- London

An event from the Community Sector Coalition (CSC) to look at what’s
going on for community groups in these bleak times and at ways of
working for individuals, groups and coalitions that can get better
results. Speakers from Third Sector Research Centre, CSC and London
Civic Forum plus plenty of discussion time.

The event will be at LVSC, 200a Pentonville Road, London N1 9JP. If
you want to book a place then email Matt Scott atso204ms at gold.ac.uk or
give him a call on 020 8692 8784

Upcoming event!Our Barnet - NOT "One Barnet", torch relay and
community parade – 21st July - London

Following a successful conference on the 7th July to organise against
Barnet Council’s plans for a total sell-off of council-run public
services, the Barnet Alliance for Public Services is holding a torch
relay and community parade on Saturday 21st July. To make the point
and have some fun, assemble at Friern Barnet (ex) library, Friern
Barnet Road at 10.30am for an 11am kickoff, culminating in a party at
lunchtime in Victoria Park, Finchley.

The Barnet Alliance, working with Barnet Unison, have produced a load
of useful evidence showing how damaging is the outsourcing and
privatisation of public services. You can clock this material and find
out more about their activities here -http://barnetalliance.org/ (
http://barnetalliance.org/ ). Or email
to:barnetalliance4publicservices at gmail.com or phone 07957-486 379.

Upcoming event!Had it with the Olympics? Get it off your chest –
28th July – noon - London

If you’re sick of being assaulted by the biggest branding
opportunity ever, then you might like to join the anti-Corporate
Olympics protest being organised by the Counter Olympics Network
(CON). ‘Whose Games? Whose City?’ will be shouting ‘NO LIMOS! NO
LOGOS! NO LAUNCHERS! on Saturday 28th July, warming up at noon at Mile
End Park, East London and then marching to Victoria Park for a
People's Games for All. Billed as a ‘family-friendly protest’, you
can get the gen here:http://bit.ly/MPwLfm ( http://bit.ly/MPwLfm )

Upcoming event! Wandsworth Against Cuts Benefit Night – 20th July -
London

An evening of music and comedy with Arthur Smith (Comedian, BBC’s
‘Grumpy Old Men’) Attila the Stockbroker (Political Punk
Poet/Musician) Richard Anderson and The Emigres (Folk/Country Rock
singer/songwriter) and Bruce McKenzie (Singer/Songwriter, Green
activist). Friday 20th July, 8pm. @ The Bread n Roses, 68 Clapham
Manor Street, SW4 6DZ. £6 (waged), £4 (unwaged). Here you go
-http://bit.ly/NgqRDt ( http://bit.ly/NgqRDt )

Goodbye to Rachael and Melaina…. But not goodbye from us

This month our joint-share national co-ordinators, Rachael and Melaina
leave us for more artistic concerns (they both want to finish their
novels). So it’s the right time to say many thanks to them for their
work over the last two years, leaving us better thought out and better
known. We’re now figuring out how we can do without them, so some
things may go a bit quiet over the couple of months while we attend to
this.

Meanwhile, our self styled ‘sector leaders’ can now once again be
afraid - be very afraid - because we have got some more funding! This
will allow us to continue snapping at their heels for another couple
of years or so, whilst trying to provide a platform for a more
positive vision and celebration of independent voluntary action,
pitting itself against the truly awful status quo and not taking
‘no’ for an answer.

Volunteering as dissidence gets an airing

Another sign that dissidence is starting to appear on the radar is
indicated by an event that took place in Newcastle on 3rd July.
‘Hearing Uncomfortable Messages: Volunteering as
Activism/Dissidence’ was even mounted by the ESRC, not known for its
radical agenda. NCIA’s Sue Robson did a storming presentation on the
role of community development as radical activism. Her powerpoint
presentation is available if you want to get the flavour of this –
we can email you a copy if you ask –info at independentaction.net

Upcoming event! Dealing with power – anti oppression training –
20th-22nd July - Manchester

This is an “advanced training for trainers” aimed at people who
are experienced activist trainers (nonviolence, direct action,
facilitation, consensus decision-making and

so on) or who have helped facilitate large-scale activist or radical
community organising group processes (such as Climate Camp, Occupy, G8
). Participants are expected to be actively planning to engage in
activist training or large-scale facilitation in the next two years.
The training will look at how conflict develops in activist groups
around issues of oppression and how these can be used creatively.

The training will be led by George Lakey, a longtime US activist
trainer. The cost will be between £30-£70. You can get an
application form herehttp://peacenews.info ( http://peacenews.info/ )
or call Milan Rai  on 07980 748 555.

The evidence builds….

Delivering Public Services That Work (vol.2)

Another valuable source of evidence to disprove the idea that the only
way of improving public services is to find someone else to run them
comes from John Seddon’s Vanguard Consulting. Here are a series of
case histories that tell the stories of real managers – policemen,
fire and rescue staff, food safety inspectors, care workers, town
planners – wrestling with real issues in their daily work. All are
based on the use of Vanguard’s now well known approach to service
improvement, and illustrate the dramatic improvements that are
possible through the application of intellectual curiosity, a genuine
focus on what people want from their services, and a willingness to
abandon mass production, tick box, top down approaches to service
design and delivery. You can order the book here
(£15.50):http://bit.ly/LbTwnF ( http://bit.ly/LbTwnF ).

“Meteoric rise in contracts” says NCVO

The latest edition of NCVO’s UK Civil Society Almanac shows that
earned income, generated from contracts and open market trading,
accounted for over half the voluntary sector's income in 2009-10. But
while open market trading has grown but a little, the majority of this
increase is in contracting. Public sector contracts have now grown to
one third of all voluntary sector income. Needless to say NCVO sees
all this as nothing more than business opportunities – “We (the
voluntary sector) are often working successfully in markets where the
private and public sector also compete. This is testament to the
excellent quality of the work we do, and the skills that voluntary
sector people have developed in communication, marketing and sales, as
well as managing contracts.” Think it’s time I retired.

Commissioning is even doing in the big boys

Not normally a friend of NCIA’s view of the world, New Philanthropy
Capital has just produced a halfway useful survey of how big charities
are faring with commissioning. This reveals an unsurprisingly
depressed picture. NPC surveyed 101 charities with an annual income of
more than £800,000 and which earn some of this income from government
sources. Over 90% believed they now face more risk in the current
commissioning environment than before, a result of new funding
mechanisms (payment by results, contracts and personal budgets),
pressures to operate in increasingly complex arrangements (consortia,
sub-contracting and ‘partnerships’) and general cuts in income
(especially from local government). 65% had already closed services or
expected to, and nearly three quarters had made redundancies or will
do in the next 12 months. Interestingly, half of the sample was being
sub-contracted by other organisations to deliver public services
(“…negatively affecting their finances”) and nearly a third
sub-contracted work out to other organisations.

The report has, however, little to say about remedies beyond tired
rhetoric about increasing skills and capacity, creating level playing
fields, and getting core support trusts and foundations. ‘When the
Going Gets Tough’ can be downloaded here:http://bit.ly/NOYxVt (
http://bit.ly/NOYxVt )

And another one – voluntary sector role in social care
under-researched

Yet another research report – this time concerned with social care -
concludes that “there is a relative lack of robust research relating
to the role of third sector organisations in delivering social care
services. This is despite the long history of this role and its
growing, and changing, importance in recent and current policy
contexts.” It concludes that the supposed distinctiveness (and by
implication quality) of non-statutory provision needs to be examined
critically and specifically calls for comparative studies as to the
achievement of social care outcomes “…across providers in the
public, private and third sectors.”

So once again we have evidence from the research community that
outsourcing of public services to VCS agencies in this arena too is
not based on sound evidence of improved services and better outcomes.
Will this make politicians and policy makers sit up in surprise? Well,
pigs might fly.

‘The Role of the Third Sector in Delivering Social Care’ comes
from the NIHR School of Social Care Research. You can get more detail
and download the report here:http://bit.ly/KqbX6W (
http://bit.ly/KqbX6W )

Radical take on the Big Society Show gets seven out of ten

‘The Big Society Debate: A New Agenda for Social Welfare?’ is an
attempt to look at the policy the government would most like to forget
about from a radical perspective. This latter is, of course, welcome
and there is some good stuff in this book (including NCIA material
which is totally brilliant). But there is also some rather densely
argued theoretical material that will be good for insomniacs. And
maybe it’s just too late since nobody really wants to talk about the
big society anymore – ‘yesterday’s agenda’ as they say down at
the business schools. You can snap up a paperback copy at £19.95 by
emailingDirect.order at marston.co.uk.

Heros, heroines, & keeping on keeping on

Alternatives to ‘austerity’

The Labour MP, John McDonnell has released a statement outlining an
alternative to austerity and is asking for expressions of support. The
statement focuses on redistributive measures that would release the
money needed to reform the economy, rebuild infrastructure and improve
public services. He is asking for people to sign up to the statement
which you can do here:http://bit.ly/JSzvDP ( http://bit.ly/JSzvDP )

This month’s ‘That Takes the Biscuit’ Award

NCVO wins again!

In an unprecedented two wins in a row, this month’s prize goes again
to NCVO and – astonishingly – for the same disregard for their
reputation!! Last month it was the proud association proclaimed via
the NCVO/Barclays Leadership Programme. Give the fall from grace of
Bob Diamond, Barclay’s own odious ‘dear leader’, this tie up now
looks especially comical.

But no lessons learnt, for, next on, NCVO has been consulting us all
about what to put in good practice guidance for those silly enough to
sub-contract themselves to the private sector. And who are their
partners in this jolly useful exercise – why none other than SERCO!
Alongside G4S (today caught with its trousers down over Olympic
security failures), SERCO are specialists in security and control,
running prisons, detention centres, taking over Police work and in
other ways acting as the strong arm of the state. Their track record
and reputation is appalling and they have been the subject of several
investigations for brutality and harassment (e.g. Yarl’s Wood
Detention Centre or Hassockfield Secure Training Centre). Most
chilling was the revelation in March of this year that staff in
SERCO’s Australian immigration detention centres had been
specifically trained in how to inflict pain on detainees in ways which
would be defensible in court (have a look at the story
herehttp://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=4264 (
http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=4264 )).

NCVO’s association with Barclays is misguided and embarrassing;
NCVO’s association with SERCO casts shame on the organisation. One
wonders whether there are staff inside NCVO (there are 120 of them
after all) who are now prepared to stick their foot in the door and
object to this kind of stuff?

Disability campaigners get a result - MPs condemn work capability
test!

WinVisible have been working with John McDonnell (here he is again) to
raise the anti on the ATOS Work Capability Assessments. He has tabled
an Early Day Motion deploring the hardship created by the benefit cuts
involved in these flawed assessments and condemns the
alice-in-wonderland sponsorship of the Paralymics by ATOS (alongside
Dow Chemical’s sponsorship of the Olympics – remember Bhopal and
the 25,000 people killed there?). 62 MPs have signed so far. You can
check if your MP is one of them
here:http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2012-13/295 (
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2012-13/295 ) (and then hassle him/her if
not).

Digger group seize eco-village site in Surrey

Nearly 800 years after the last event of any note to happen at
Runnymede – the signing of the Magna Carta – the Diggers (early
anarchist groups active around the time of the English civil war in
the 17th Century) are back.  Invoking the spirit of the original
diggers, activists have occupied disused woodland in the area to spark
a debate on land

ownership and have declared:

"We: peaceful people, declare our intention to go and cultivate the
disused land of this island; to build dwellings and live together in
common by the sweat of our brows. We have one call: every person in
this country and the world should have the right to live on the
disused land, to grow food and to build a shelter. This right should
apply whether you have money or not. We say that no country can be
considered free, until this right is available to all." - the Windsor
Diggers.

If you want to see how they’re getting on check
out:www.diggers2012.wordpress.com (
http://www.diggers2012.wordpress.com/ ) or give them a call on 07963
475 195 or 07905 283 114

‘Our Society’ – heros and heroines not keeping on keeping on

The group that set up and have been running the social network forum
‘Our Society’ have decided to jack it in.  The idea was “…to
create an alternative space to the government’s ‘big society’
rhetoric: one where people could network and discuss, sharing
information and learning on their own terms.” But activity has
tailed off, reflecting the tailing off of debate about ‘big
society’ and the realities of life for many people, where “just
getting by has become the priority”. The Ning platform will remain
open for a time so you can start off a wake there if you’re minded
–http://oursociety.org.uk/ ( http://oursociety.org.uk/ )

Welfare Reform is Not Welfare Reform

This little treat of a 4 minute film explains why 'Welfare Reform" is
not real welfare reform. It shows how the UK government is targeting
the poor and disabled people for cuts and explodes some of the myths
of welfare reform. This comes from our friends at the Centre for
Welfare Reform in Sheffield. Sit down with a cup of tea and catch it
here -http://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/ (
http://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/ )

The madness continues

National charities “asset-stripping” local voluntary groups

More evidence of predatory corporate behaviour by national charities
comes from Birmingham. Martin Holcombe, chief executive of Birmingham
Settlement has complained that they have lost a money advice service
through a re-tendering exercise to NACRO, despite the national charity
having no experience delivering a service of this sort. He added that
NACRO did not have the necessary Consumer Credit Licence and planned
to deliver the contract by taking advantage of the transfer of
undertakings regulations, or TUPE, which allow organisations to take
over the contracts of staff who deliver services. "How asset-stripping
local charities that have spent years building trust, local
understanding and knowledge sits in terms of NACRO’s value base is
another question” said Holcombe. You can read the whole of
Martin’s blog here -http://martinholcombe.wordpress.com/ (
http://martinholcombe.wordpress.com/ )

On a wider scale, NAVCA’s annual survey of their CVS membership
revealed, amongst other things, that the number of CVS chief
executives who knew of a local organisation that has lost service
contract funding in competition with a national charity had this year
leapt from 33% to 56%.

New ‘community rights’ hit the street

The end of June saw the introduction of the last two main provisions
of the Localism Act – the so-called ‘community rights’ to
challenge the provision of Council services, and to bid for the sale
of certain ‘community assets’ when they come up for sale. The
‘right to build’ relating to small scale, site-specific
developments is already in force as part of the Neighbourhood Planning
framework. The most troublesome of these provisions is likely to be
the right to challenge as it is intended to pressure local authorities
to tender out their directly run services (there is no right to
challenge public services that have already been contracted out). If
you want to bone up on the official line on what these rights comprise
and their supposed intentions, then this is probably the best place to
start -http://bit.ly/MpgmZW ( http://bit.ly/MpgmZW ).

Meanwhile an £11.5M support scheme has been launched by the Social
Investment Business, with ACEVO and Locality “…to help voluntary
organisations take over the running of public services in their
communities.” This will include grant funding to help takeover bids.
And in a separate development, Michael O’Toole has been appointed as
the government’s ‘crown representative’ for the voluntary
sector.  This new role is intended to “open up more public sector
business opportunities for charities and social enterprises and help
improve the relationship between government and the sector.”
According the Francis Maude, speaking a year ago, it is also intended
“….to ensure we’re really using the scale of government to push
down prices." More reasons to retire….

Government cracks down on whistleblowing “by the back door”

David Lewis, professor of employment law at Middlesex University and
convenor of the International Whistleblowing Research Network has
accused the Government of bringing in an amendment to the law on
whistleblowing "by the back door", which he believes will deter
workers from making important disclosures about wrongdoing.

The protest concerns an amendment introduced into the Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform Bill, currently going through Parliament. The change
will mean that whistleblowers will only be protected from dismissal or
detriment where they can demonstrate that their action is “in the
public interest”. This will create much uncertainty for people
wanting to expose wrong doing and will deter many from doing so. "What
the bill is going to do is drop a bomb on the whistleblowing
provisions by simply saying there is now going to be a public interest
test for all cases in all circumstances, which completely sabotages
the legislation”, said Lewis. You can read more about this threat
here -http://bit.ly/LZ4ujt ( http://bit.ly/LZ4ujt )

Morale in charities hits “all-time low”

Morale in the charity sector has hit an all-time low, according to
results from the latest annual Charity Pulse survey of voluntary
sector employees. Of the 579 employees surveyed

*
only 29% think morale in their charities is high (43% last year);
*
only 56% would recommend their organisations as employers (down from
70%);
*
30% said they don’t think management is capable (19% last year);
*
34% don’t believe it is safe to challenge their leaders (23% last
year);
*
and 38% now think their leaders are out of touch (up from 30%).

Given the direction of travel of which we have been complaining for
years none of this is especially surprising to us. You can see the
dismal picture here -http://bit.ly/MpD6sM ( http://bit.ly/MpD6sM )

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