Green Mayoral candidate calls for immediate action on Homelessness

Shelter Request

Green candidate for Mayor of Greater Manchester Deyika Nzeribe [1] called on local councils to act on homelessness immediately.

Last week saw the deaths of two homeless men when an abandoned building was destroyed in a fire [2] as well as a group of young people placed under an eviction notice in order to remove them from the empty public-owned building they were occupying [3].

Speaking specifically about the situation in Manchester, Deyika said “This is both is both a tragic and outrageous situation the Council has created. Whilst it’s understood that government policy over the past few years has dramatically increased the levels of extreme poverty [4], local decision-making has not made things better.

Practical things that the Council can do immediately are

1.    Stop chasing organised groups of homeless people out of the city centre using its legal injunction [5]. It just means that they are more dispersed, it doesn’t make them disappear.

2.    Stop the eviction of the young homeless people supported by the Manchester Activist Network [6]. The building is empty and due to be demolished in over a year. The Council should be working with the group to improve the space, until they can move the young people in there into homes.

3.    Re-open the homeless shelters in Hulme and Harpurhey [7]. There is no reason for them not to be available again AND they are easier to get to than other provision.

4.    Create a committee to address housing and homelessness. All Councils should do this where, like Manchester, there is a crisis in these areas.

At the moment, while offering plenty of words of sorrow and condolence, Manchester’s leaders’ actions on homelessness and housing seems desperately lacking.”

Notes

1.  https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1118858218198041&id=137183923032147
2.  http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-homeless-crisis-austerity-government-12232907
3.  http://www.salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=3575
4.  http://www.mancunianmatters.co.uk/content/140773910-benefit-cuts-will-force-more-manchester-families-rely-food-banks-warns-study
5.  http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/barbaric-court-order-says-homeless-6206730
6.  https://www.facebook.com/MancActivists/?fref=ts
7.  http://www.mancunianmatters.co.uk/content/111275217-we-have-do-something-hulme-library-opened-homeless-ahead-christmas

  

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Fracking no part of Energy Future

Green bloc at United against Fracking rally

Speech at United Against Fracking rally Saturday 12^th November 2016

Hello people and welcome to Manchester. 

My name is Deyika Nzeribe, the Green Party candidate for Mayor of Greater Manchester.

Thanks - to everyone who has come to speak loud and clear against fracking. Thanks to the amazing organisers who have pulled together this event, they're brilliant.

Thanks also to the media who are going to report the enormity of what’s at stake here. And thanks in advance that they are going to give the fracking industry the robust scrutiny it deserves.

There are many great speakers here today, I’m just going to concentrate on a few points.

To be topical, there has been a lot happening in America. 

United Against Fracking rally

We need to make sure that no matter who is President of the United States, whoever is in Number 10 for that matter - the shale gas industry is not allowed to hoodwink the public into believing that fracking is any kind of part of an energy strategy for the future.

We also need ensure that the democratic voice of the people in Lancashire is respected.

We also need to remember that YOU are part of the long line of activists from all around the world, protecting Earth, air and the water against degradation. Barton Moss, Balcombe, Roseacre Wood, the South Africa Wild Coast, the XL pipeline, North Dakota.

Same line.

These Green issues are everyone’s issues.

You might not be aware of it but you are in the heart of the Northern Powerhouse, historical birthplace of the industrial revolution.

The Green Party vision, my vision, for a northern powerhouse - is one powered by clean, green, renewable energy,  produced here in the north and which creates more jobs per pound invested than shale gas ever can; clean energy powered by its people, its wind, waves and sun. Well daylight if not sun!  

And to close, we absolutely we need to remember WHY we are for these things and against fracking.

The environment. Our environment.

So, 

You can’t be against fracking AND for building on Green Belt.

You can’t be against fracking AND for expanding the airport.

You can’t be for and against the planet. 

We know whats coming, the facts are there and the science doesn’t negotiate.

So we respect the facts.

We fight the fossil fuel industry.

And we build a green future.

Because our lives depend on it.

Ends

A report of the event is printed in the Salford Star.

The Green Mayor fundraising event is on November 19th.

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