|
‘VOTE NADER 2005’
Nader A-Naderi's Independent Anti-War Candidate Campaign, South Shields seat, May 2005 General Election, was supported by South Tyneside Stop The War Coaltion ...
Opening Press Release ...
South Shields trader Nader Naderi is standing as an independent local candidate to be the town's M.P. in the coming election.
Nader, 48, who is part of the Aquila Computers family business in Laygate, said: 'I am fighting to win - which is to get the best possible result for the people of South Shields. It seems as if many people in this town have ceased to believe in their own capabilities. We have to regain that belief - and turn people who feel like losers into winners.'
Nader believes the main parties now act in their own interests, not in the interests of the people.
He said: 'People don't need professional politicians to lead them, they can take control of their own lives. Locally, no one can do this better than we who live here and have invested our precious lives in this town.'
Iranian-born Nader has lived and worked in South Shields for more than two decades. He married locally and has a wife and son. He is highly qualified as a computer scientist as well as being a practical trader in information technology equipment.
His election agent Philip Talbot, 41, of St Cuthbert's Avenue, South Shields, said: 'I was born and bred in this town and recognize Nader as the best possible genuine local candidate for the town in 2005.
'Nader cares about South Shields and will stand up for its interests - unlike the sitting M.P. David Miliband, who seems to represent the interests of Westminister in South Shields, rather than the interests of South Shields in Westminster.
'I have voted Labour all my life, and gave Mr Miliband the benefit of the doubt when he was parachuted into South Shields from London just before the last general election. I believe he has betrayed my trust in him over the last four years and has betrayed the town he claims to represent. I could not vote for him or his party this time.
'I also note that the candidates for the two other main parties do not live or work here either.'
Nader has been active in politics for many years, and has stood as a Liberal Democrat candidate.
But he is disillusioned with what he sees as the dishonesties of the political process and feels he can no longer support any of the main parties.
He is concerned that more and more people are not voting, but believes this cannot be written off as 'voter apathy' - he thinks people are making a statement by not voting. By standing himself he hopes to give disillusioned voters a real alternative to vote for.
Nader believes it is important for citizens to remain active even when they are disillusioned.
As one of the founders of the South Tyneside Stop the War Coalition, he has been working locally and nationally over the past few years as part of the developing global anti-war movement.
He is angry that sitting M.P. David Miliband falsely told the people of South Shields there was 'overwhelming evidence' Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, including anthrax and nerve gas, before the war began.
[Source: Shields Gazette, 15 March 2003.]
'There is overwhelming evidence that that claim was just a lie by Mr Miliband, intended to trick the people of South Shields into going along with the war plans,' Nader said.
Nader is appalled by the way hate and fear are now being used in the 'war on terror' to divide people - in order to prop up in power political leaders whom he sees as bankrupt of ideas and morals, and shielded from reality in a make believe world.
He says: 'I don't claim to have all the answers, but I am damned if I am going to sit back, do nothing, and not look for better answers. I cannot do this alone, and I know that there are a lot of other people who find themselves in my position and without any voice - we are the majority, yet fail to get proper representation.'
Nader thinks that to refresh politics there has to be a real competition of ideas - rather than the pretty vacant sound-bite and photo opportunity charade that now passes for political debate.
As a computer scientist and I.T. businessman, one of Nader's major concerns is the way modern communications systems, which could be used to liberate people, are instead being used to imprison people.
He says: 'People are being reduced to brainwashed consumers of throwaway products made elsewhere - instead of being expanded into truly empowered cosmopolitan citizens, making things and trading things, and taking responsibility for their own lives and their own futures.
'With innovative new technologies, we-the-people need to approach governance with innovative new methods. We are already creating our own organizations, our own media, and our own communities. We are acting locally but thinking globally.'
Nader is also very concerned about the way the climate of fear and increase in state power in the so-called 'war on terror' is making people more suspicious of unfamiliar people - in ways that are breaking up normal human relations.
'It is as if an English person's home is becoming a prison,' he said.
As a businessman is he also concerned about the effects the 'war on terror' is having on trade - which relies on trust and a stable trading environment.
He said: 'There is no doubt that the world is a less stable place because of the 'war on terror'. Peace and stability is the best way to create a stong economy. War is only a destructive waste of humanity, resources and money.'
Despite all the New Labour claims of 'improvements' since they came to power, Nader sees around him evidence of decay, degradation and depression - and general uncertainty and lack of direction.
This negative atmosphere aids the continuation of the same old deadly politics, he said.
He believes the gulf between the spin version of New Labour Britain and the reality of many people's lives in modern Britain increases cynicism.
In a traditional Labour seat like South Shields, he thinks people are right to feel their loyalty to that party has been taken for granted and betrayed.
'If they are betraying loyal voters who supported them during all those long years of opposition, then something is rotten in the state of New Labour Britain,' he said.
The sitting M.P. David Miliband is in Nader's view a prime example of the dishonest trickery of New Labour spin.
He sees Mr Miliband as a mediocre man dressed up by image makers into a 'bright spark' of modern politics and a 'potential future prime minister'.
Nader says: 'If a limited man like Mr Miliband is seriously touted as a future prime minister, then what kind of limited future does this suggest for us all?'
+
Election Communication Tuesday 19 April 2005
From: Philip Talbot, acting as agent for Nader
A-Naderi, Independent Candidate for South Shields
To: Reg Keys, Independent Candidate for Sedgefield
Dear Reg
I am writing to you as election agent for Nader
A-Naderi who is standing as Independent
anti-war-focussed candidate in South Shields against
the sitting pro-war New Labour M.P. - and close ally
of Tony Blair - David Miliband.
Nader is a former Liberal-Democrat disillusioned with
that party's tepid opposition to the Iraq war and
failure to effectively challenge the New Labour
virtual one-party-state established set-up in South
Shields.
He was one of the founding members of the South
Tyneside Stop The War Coalition group in February 2003
and has been active in the anti-war movement over the
past two years.
Our campaign has its origins in the Stop-the-War
movement - and one of its focal points is the
disgraceful pack of lies told about 'weapons of mass
destruction', partly spread by the present South
Shields New Labour M.P. David Miliband.
However, we are not tied to any particular grouping,
party or 'single issue' - indeed, a core aim of the
campaign is to widen the scope of political debate
generally.
We want to help to deliver a shock to a complacent,
stale and increasingly deadly political system - with
a view to refreshing politics and making it more truly
democratic.
Our inclusive campaign team includes free-thinking
people from across a wide-spread of politics - from
One-Nation conservatives to Fresh-Thinking communists
- and includes people who are generally politically
disillusioned and not attached to any party or
grouping.
We are also campaigning on local South Shields issues
including:
* the problems faced by local independent businesses;
* the failure of New Labour to really tackle issues of
economic hardship and social exclusion among people
previously considered its 'core voters';
* the high incidence of mental health problems in
socially and economically depressed areas with
declining local manufacturing and trade bases
A general theme of our campaign is that New Labour has
betrayed its 'own' people - and can no longer be
trusted.
Please find below in this email:
* a statement of support from Nader for your campaign
in Sedgefield - which you are free to publish and use
as you wish in your campaign
* the text of Nader's general campaign press release
* the text of Nader's Open Letter to the people of
South Shields
* the text of a press release issued today to coincide
with the closing of General Election nominations and
the formalization of candidacies
* the text of Nader's Open Letter challenge to David
Miliband first issued today;
Please find attached to this email:
* Nader's basic campaign photograph, taken outside his
South Shields shop on Wednesday 6 April 2005 [JPEG
format]
* one of our campaign images of a 'Vote Nader' rosette
and nomination paper [JPEG format]
Yours sincerely
Philip Talbot
65 St Cuthbert's Avenue, South Shields, NE34 7LN,
acting as election agent to Nader A-Naderi who is
standing as an Independent candidate for the South
Shields constituency in the General Election.
Statement of Support
From: Nader A-Nader, Independent Candidate for South
Shields
To: Reg Keys, Independent Candidate for Sedgefield
First issued: Tuesday 19 April 2005
Dear Reg
I fully support your courageous and dignified Military
Families Against the War campaign to ask the voters of
Sedgefield to call Tony Blair to account for the
dishonour he has brought on the office of British
Prime Minister.
It was disgraceful and immoral of Mr Blair and his
allies to ask the Service men and women of this
country to risk their lives in an illegal war brought
about by a pack of lies.
Tens of thousands of human lives - civilian and
military - have been lost or otherwise ruined in that
illegally-started conflict, among them your own
Military Policeman son, Tom - who died in mysterious
circumstances on 24 June 2003 along with five other
MPs, including Paul Long from a South Shields family.
As you have said, Reg, the brave British military
personnel caught up in the terrible realities of Iraq
over the past two years deserve better than Mr Blair
has given them.
They particularly deserve proper explanations from Mr
Blair and his allies over his own misconduct.
Just why did Mr Blair and his allies send British
forces into that war on false pretences? - such as the
disgraceful untruths about Iraq's possession of
'weapons of mass destruction'.
And just why did Mr Blair and his allies ask British
forces - who deserve honourable political leadership
when they risk their lives in the service of this
nation - to take part in a war that even the Secretary
General of the United Nation Kofi Annan has described
as illegal.
A real Labour Prime Minister would never have taken
liberties like that with the lives and integrity of
British service personnel.
Nor would a real Labour Prime Minister be supporting
the insanely aggressive 'war on terror' scheme of an
ultra-right-wing U.S. President like George Bush.
For all his faults, the previous longest-serving real
Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson kept Britain out
of the disastrous U.S.-led Vietnam War.
The present time-serving fake Labour Prime Minister
Tony Blair betrayed global civilized values - and also
betrayed British interests in the process - and is
letting Britain be led by George Bush to what looks
terribly like a road to ruin.
I wish you all the best in your election campaign Reg
...
Yours sincerely
Nader A-Naderi
Independent Candidate for South Shields
*****
General Campaign Press Release
From: Nader A-Naderi, Independent Candidate for South
Shields
First issued: Wednesday 6 April 2005
South Shields trader Nader A-Naderi is standing in the
general election as an independent local candidate for
the town.
Nader, 48, who is part of the Aquila Computers family
business in Laygate, said: 'I am fighting to win -
which is to get the best possible result for the
people of South Shields. It seems as if many people in
this town have ceased to believe in their own
capabilities. We have to regain that belief - and turn
people who feel like losers into winners.'
Nader believes the main parties now act in their own
interests, not in the interests of the people.
He said: 'People don't need professional politicians
to lead them, they can take control of their own
lives. Locally, no one can do this better than we who
live here and have invested our precious lives in this
town.'
Iranian-born Nader has lived and worked in South
Shields for more than two decades. He married locally
and has a wife and son. He is highly qualified as a
computer scientist as well as being a practical trader
in information technology equipment.
His election agent Philip Talbot, 41, of St Cuthbert's
Avenue, South Shields, said: 'I was born and bred in
this town and recognize Nader as the best possible
genuine local candidate for the town in 2005.
'Nader cares about South Shields and will stand up for
its interests - unlike the sitting M.P. David
Miliband, who seems to represent the interests of
Westminster in South Shields, rather than the
interests of South Shields in Westminster.
'I have voted Labour all my life, and gave Mr Miliband
the benefit of the doubt when he was parachuted into
South Shields from London just before the last general
election. I believe he has betrayed my trust in him
over the last four years and has betrayed the town he
claims to represent. I could not vote for him or his
party this time.
'I also note that the candidates for the two other
main parties do not live or work here either.'
Nader has been active in politics for many years, and
has stood as a Liberal Democrat candidate.
But he is disillusioned with what he sees as the
dishonesties of the political process and feels he can
no longer support any of the main parties.
He is concerned that more and more people are not
voting, but believes this cannot be written off as
'voter apathy' - he thinks people are making a
statement by not voting. By standing himself he hopes
to give disillusioned voters a real alternative to
vote for.
Nader believes it is important for citizens to remain
active even when they are disillusioned.
As one of the founders of the South Tyneside Stop the
War Coalition, he has been working locally and
nationally over the past few years as part of the
developing global anti-war movement.
He is angry that sitting M.P. David Miliband falsely
told the people of South Shields there was
'overwhelming evidence' Iraq possessed weapons of mass
destruction, including anthrax and nerve gas, before
the war began.
[Source: Shields Gazette, 15 March 2003.]
'There is overwhelming evidence that that claim was
just a lie by Mr Miliband, intended to trick the
people of South Shields into going along with the war
plans,' Nader said.
Nader is appalled by the way hate and fear are now
being used in the 'war on terror' to divide people -
in order to prop up in power political leaders whom he
sees as bankrupt of ideas and morals, and shielded
from reality in a make believe world.
He says: 'I don't claim to have all the answers, but I
am damned if I am going to sit back, do nothing, and
not look for better answers. I cannot do this alone,
and I know that there are a lot of other people who
find themselves in my position and without any voice -
we are the majority, yet fail to get proper
representation.'
Nader thinks that to refresh politics there has to be
a real competition of ideas - rather than the pretty
vacant sound-bite and photo opportunity charade that
now passes for political debate.
As a computer scientist and I.T. businessman, one of
Nader's major concerns is the way modern
communications systems, which could be used to
liberate people, are instead being used to imprison
people.
He says: 'People are being reduced to brainwashed
consumers of throwaway products made elsewhere -
instead of being expanded into truly empowered
cosmopolitan citizens, making things and trading
things, and taking responsibility for their own lives
and their own futures.
'With innovative new technologies, we-the-people need
to approach governance with innovative new methods. We
are already creating our own organizations, our own
media, and our own communities. We are acting locally
but thinking globally.'
Nader is also very concerned about the way the climate
of fear and increase in state power in the so-called
'war on terror' is making people more suspicious of
unfamiliar people - in ways that are breaking up
normal human relations.
'It is as if an English person's home is no longer a
castle but a prison,' he said.
As a businessman he is also concerned about the
effects the 'war on terror' is having on trade - which
relies on trust and a stable trading environment.
He said: 'There is no doubt that the world is a less
stable place because of the 'war on terror'. Peace and
stability is the best way to create a strong economy.
War is only a destructive waste of humanity, resources
and money.'
Despite all the New Labour claims of 'improvements'
since they came to power, Nader sees around him
evidence of decay, degradation and depression - and
general uncertainty and lack of direction.
This negative atmosphere aids the continuation of the
same old deadly politics, he said.
He believes the gulf between the spin version of New
Labour Britain and the reality of many people's lives
in modern Britain increases cynicism.
In a traditional Labour seat like South Shields, he
thinks people are right to feel their loyalty to that
party has been taken for granted and betrayed.
'If they are betraying loyal voters who supported them
during all those long years of opposition, then
something is rotten in the state of New Labour
Britain,' he said.
The sitting M.P. David Miliband is in Nader's view a
prime example of the dishonest trickery of New Labour
spin.
He sees Mr Miliband as a mediocre man dressed up by
image-makers into a 'bright spark' of modern politics
and a 'potential future prime minister'.
Nader says: 'If a limited man like Mr Miliband is
seriously touted as a future prime minister, then what
kind of limited future does this suggest for us all?'
*****
An Open Letter
From: Nader A-Naderi, Independent Candidate for South
Shields
To: The People of South Shields
First Issued: Saturday 9 April 2005
VOTE INDEPENDENT - END THE NEW LABOUR ONE-PARTY
STATE!
Dear Potential Independent Supporter
My name is Nader A-Naderi [rhymes with 'Douglas
Bader'!] and I am standing as Independent candidate
for South Shields in the General Election.
I am writing to you in the hope of appealing for
whatever support you can give to the 'Vote Nader'
election campaign team - privately or publicly.
The aim of our campaign is to empower people.
We want to deliver a shock to a complacent, stale and
increasingly deadly political system - with a view to
refreshing politics and making it more truly
democratic.
We do not seek power for the sake of power, or for our
own personal gain.
We believe We-the-People should have a greater control
over our own lives - through a true 'competition of
ideas', involving really open, fair and free debate.
This general aim of our campaign has particular
relevance in a town like South Shields, which has
become a virtual New Labour One-Party State.
New Labour has too much control over OUR TOWN -
including the council, many other areas of the public
and private life, and even the contents of the local
media.
Obviously, what is happening locally reflects what is
happening nationally, as well as in the wider world.
Our campaign has its origins in the Stop-the-War
movement that developed in opposition to the illegal
invasion of Iraq - particularly the disgraceful lies
over 'weapons of mass destruction', partly spread by
the present South Shields New Labour M.P. David
Miliband.
Our campaign is not, however, slavishly tied to any
particular grouping or party - indeed, a core aim of
the campaign is to widen the scope of political debate
generally.
Personally, I was previously a Liberal Democrat who
became disillusioned with that party's
narrow-mindedness and failure to seriously challenge
the New Labour strangle-hold over South Shields.
None of the other main parties seemed able to mount a
more serious challenge, so I chose to stand as an
Independent.
Our inclusive campaign team includes free-thinking
people from across a wide-spread of politics - from
One-Nation conservatives to Fresh-Thinking communists
- and includes people who are generally politically
disillusioned and not attached to any party or
grouping.
We hope to reach the parts of the electorate that
other parties and groupings no longer reach -
particularly the increasing numbers of people,
especially the young, who are almost completely
disillusioned by politics, and public life more
generally, and do not even bother to vote.
It is a campaign group with a built-in 'redundancy' in
the long-term, since when we have broken the New
Labour grip on power we are likely to break up
ourselves into more distinct political groupings.
We would like to see political structures in the town
that were truly accountable to We-the-People and which
truly reflected the wide spread of opinions and
beliefs that already exists.
The 'Vote Nader' campaign is acting locally, but
thinking globally - and what we do as individuals on
the small-scale can have important wider effects.
We have as an expansive idealistic aim the hope that
our campaign in South Shields might provide an example
that others could follow elsewhere.
With this in mind, our general aim is to reinvigorate
stagnant political systems, which seem bankrupt of
ideas and morality - and which threaten to bankrupt
the entire world.
Please feel free to contact the 'Vote Nader' team by
any method you consider appropriate.
All support, public or private, would be greatly
appreciated.
Yours Sincerely
NADER A-NADERI
p.s. We are presently a 'shoe-string operation', with
limited funds - our campaign is funded primarily from
personal contributions, including coffee jars filled
with coppers. This puts us at a disadvantage in some
ways against the huge New Labour party machine [the
mass funding of which remains something of a
suspicious mystery!]. But our D.I.Y. 'shoe-string'
approach does have advantages: such as that it keeps
us in touch with the everyday lives of the many people
for whom every day brings fresh money struggles and
worries. Needless to say, however, all financial
contributions, large or small, anonymous or public,
are gratefully received by our campaign!
*****
Press Release
From: Nader A-Naderi, Independent Candidate for South
Shields
First issued: Tuesday 19 April 2005
Local Independent candidate for South Shields Nader
A-Naderi today challenged the sitting New Labour MP
David Miliband to explain to an open meeting of the
town's people why he misled them over 'weapons of mass
destruction'.
Today, the day that general election nominations
close, Nader said: 'On 15 March 2003, just before the
invasion of Iraq, Mr Miliband categorically stated in
the Shields Gazette that he had "overwhelming
evidence" that Iraq possessed W.M.D. That was simply
untrue. He has never come clean to the people of this
town as to why he told us that untruth - nor
apologized for misleading us.
'Now he has an opportunity to do so. He can come along
- as invited by the people of the ecumenical Churches
Together in South Tyneside group - and explain himself
to a free and open public meeting, which is being
chaired by the Bishop of Jarrow.'
The Churches Together in South Tyneside General
Election Public Meeting for the Jarrow and South
Shields Constituencies is being held at Westoe Road
Baptist Church Hall, beside the Town Hall, at 7.30pm,
on Sunday 24 April.
The Rt Rev John Pritchard, Bishop of Jarrow will chair
the event, which is open to everyone. Those attending
can submit questions in writing on entering
Further details are available from Churches Together
secretary Bernadette Askins.
Nader, 48, a new technology trader based in Laygate,
said he was 'delighted' to have been invited along to
the public hustings event by Ms Askins.
He said: 'Politics in this town has become stagnant,
with politicians talking to each other and not to the
people. Events like this can help to bring about the
rebirth of democracy in this town.
'It provides an opportunity for a real lively
interaction between candidates and voters - with real
issues discussed openly in a free and fair competition
of ideas.
'Revitalized democracy will also require more openness
and honesty from politicians - which is why, in
particular, I am challenging Mr Miliband to come clean
on why he misled the people of South Shields on W.M.D.
'If he cannot be trusted on such a serious life and
death matter, then how can the people of South Shields
trust what he says about other issues?'
Ms Askins told the Vote Nader campaign team that
Churches Together had invited all other main party
candidates contesting the South Shields and Jarrow
constituencies to the meeting on Sunday.
These include Mr Miliband, the sitting New Labour MP
for South Shields - who voted in favour of the
invasion of Iraq in the final House of Commons vote on
the war - and Stephen Hepburn, the sitting New Labour
MP for Jarrow - who voted against the war in that
vote.
+++++
Local Independent candidate for South Shields Nader
A-Naderi today gave his support to Military Families
campaigner Reg Keys, who is standing as an allied
Independent candidate against Prime Minister Tony
Blair in Sedgefield.
Nader, 48, of Lagate, said: 'Reg and I are fighting
similar shoe-string "David and Goliath" election
battles in different seats - he is up against the
Prime Minister in Sedgefield, while in South Shields I
am up against one of Mr Blair's closest allies David
Miliband.
'We are both doing our best, against the odds, to
fight a grass roots local Independent campaign against
large national political party machines.
'And we are both attempting to get a local New Labour
M.P. to come clean over why he lied to people over the
Iraq war - and failed to apologize afterwards.'
Full text of Nader's Statement of Support to Reg Keys:
Statement of Support
From: Nader A-Nader, Independent Candidate for South
Shields
To: Reg Keys, Independent Candidate for Sedgefield
First issued: Tuesday 19 April 2005
Dear Reg
I fully support your courageous and dignified Military
Families Against the War campaign to ask the voters of
Sedgefield to call Tony Blair to account for the
dishonour he has brought on the office of British
Prime Minister.
It was disgraceful and immoral of Mr Blair and his
allies to ask the Service men and women of this
country to risk their lives in an illegal war brought
about by a pack of lies.
Tens of thousands of human lives - civilian and
military - have been lost or otherwise ruined in that
illegally-started conflict, among them your own
Military Policeman son, Tom - who died in mysterious
circumstances on 24 June 2003 along with five other
MPs, including Paul Long from a South Shields family.
As you have said, Reg, the brave British military
personnel caught up in the terrible realities of Iraq
over the past two years deserve better than Mr Blair
has given them.
They particularly deserve proper explanations from Mr
Blair and his allies over his own misconduct.
Just why did Mr Blair and his allies send British
forces into that war on false pretences? - such as the
disgraceful untruths about Iraq's possession of
'weapons of mass destruction'.
And just why did Mr Blair and his allies ask British
forces - who deserve honourable political leadership
when they risk their lives in the service of this
nation - to take part in a war that even the Secretary
General of the United Nation Kofi Annan has described
as illegal.
A real Labour Prime Minister would never have taken
liberties like that with the lives and integrity of
British service personnel.
Nor would a real Labour Prime Minister be supporting
the insanely aggressive 'war on terror' scheme of an
ultra-right-wing U.S. President like George Bush.
For all his faults, the previous longest-serving real
Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson kept Britain out
of the disastrous U.S.-led Vietnam War.
The present time-serving fake Labour Prime Minister
Tony Blair betrayed global civilized values - and also
betrayed British interests in the process - and is
letting Britain be led by George Bush to what looks
terribly like a road to ruin.
I wish you all the best in your election campaign Reg
...
Yours sincerely
Nader A-Naderi
Independent Candidate for South Shields
*****
Open Letter
To: David Miliband, New Labour Candidate for South
Shields
From: Nader A-Naderi, Independent Candidate for South
Shields
First issued: Tuesday 19 April 2005
The Vote Nader Campaign Team
To
Mr David Miliband
C/O South Shields New Labour Party
Westoe Road
South Shields
Dear Mr Miliband
I am writing to challenge you to explain to an open
meeting of the people of South Shields why you misled
us over 'weapons of mass destruction'.
On 15 March 2003, just before the start of the illegal
war in Iraq, you categorically stated in the Shields
Gazette that you had "overwhelming evidence" that Iraq
possessed weapons of mass destruction.
That claim was simply untrue - and was part of the
pack of lies told by you, your leader Tony Blair, and
other allies, over the past two years in relation to
the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.
You have never come clean to the people of this town
as to why you told us that untruth - nor apologized
for misleading us.
Now you have an opportunity to do so.
You can come along - like myself and all other
candidates invited by the people of the ecumenical
Churches Together in South Tyneside movement - and
explain yourself to a free and open public meeting,
which being chaired by the Bishop of Jarrow, the Rt
Rev John Pritchard.
As you will be aware, the joint Churches Together in
South Tyneside General Election Public Meeting for
both the Jarrow and the South Shields Constituencies
is being held at Westoe Road Baptist Church Hall,
beside the Town Hall, on Sunday 24 April, at 7.30pm.
I look forward to seeing and hearing from you
person-to-person there and then.
Yours sincerely,
Nader A-Naderi
*****
Further Independent Election Communication Tuesday 19
April 2005
South Shields local businessman Alan Brown has put
popular unity before personal ambitions and is
standing aside in the South Shields election race so
that a traders association can back fellow Independent
candidate Nader A-Naderi instead.
In a dramatic last minute decision, Mr Brown, born and
bred in South Shields 49 years ago, and a trader in
the town for more than 30, held back his almost
completed General Election nomination papers for a
Protest Vote campaign he had planned to lead on behalf
Frederick Street Traders Association, Laygate, which
he chairs.
He said: 'I am not a political man, but wanted to run
a campaign that would highlight the grievances of the
Frederick Street Traders. My concerns are mainly
local, and I recognize that Nader is more of full
General Election candidate, with more awareness
overall of international, national and local
concerns.'
Mr Brown, who runs his own photographic and other
optical equipment shop on Frederick Street for more
than quarter of a century, explained that the origins
of his plan to stand in the election were many years
of bitter experiences of being given the run-around by
politicians and officials over the promised
redevelopment of Frederick Street and the surrounding
area.
He said: 'They invite us on to steering groups, but
then do not listen to what we have to say. They make
promises of action to us, but nothing comes of them.
‘We have had at least three meetings with the present
M.P David Miliband on these matters but he did not
listen to us. He is not doing his job properly.’
One of Mr Brown's major concerns is wasted money and
he is particularly angry that hundreds of thousands of
pounds of Single Regeneration Budget [SRB5] Grant
funding, which could have been spent on real
regeneration in his area, has been used up on surveys,
architectural drawings, and consultants fees.
'Money from other sources is also being wasted on
things like the many speed humps on main roads around
the town that are unnecessary and causing too many
distractions for drivers and other road users,' he
added.
Mr Brown used to be a Labour voter, but said he did
not trust any of the main parties any more.
He said: 'Almost half of the electorate in South
Shields do not bother to vote, and the reason is that
people do not trust the main parties and find that
they do not listen. I am now putting my trust in Nader
to publicize the sort of concerns I had on behalf of
the Frederick Street Traders Association. I suggest
to other people: "If in doubt, don't do nowt. Please
use your vote".'
Nader said: 'When I heard about Alan Brown's plan to
stand, I was moved to see that ordinary citizens like
us, finding themselves with no voice and no
representation were attempting to turn the tide of
disappointment and disempowerment by engaging in the
electoral process. However I was concerned about a
confused Independent vote message. When we approached
Alan for talks, we found that we had much in common in
our mutual goals. If I had not been standing myself I
would have voted for him. He is an excellent local
representative and I will be happy to support him if
he stands for the local council.’
Picture Editors please note:
Alan Brown and other Frederick Street Traders'
Association members have said they are willing to be
photographed with Nader
+
Full Text of Nader's speech on Poverty and Regeneration delivered in his home area of Laygate Thursday, 28 April 2005:
'Broken Promises. Broken Trust. Broke Citizens.'
Regeneration Begins at Home.
Our town South Shields is not what it should be …
South Shields could become a great progressive example to the world of fair dealing and revitalized democracy - a new kind of THRIVING REGENERATED COSMOPOLITAN TOWN … home to a kindly inclusive, and responsible community, that can generate wealth, jobs, security, and improved quality of life for all those citizens who have invested their precious lives in our town ...
Or it could continue the way it is going under New Labour ... to become a SHABBY VIOLENT POVERTY FACTORY ...
There are in fact already many more people living on the edge of poverty in this town than is recognized in the virtual reality version of our town – as it is falsely conjured up by the smoke and mirrors tricks of New Labour spin-doctors.
Despite the fake promises of much of the New Deal and other job-creation schemes, there are still too many people without real jobs in this town.
And even when they have jobs, thousands of South Shields people of all ages are often still reliant on state hand-outs to top up their incomes - and also reliant on ever increasing personal debts to sustain their present lifestyles.
Too many people seem to have only lottery-win dreams of a better tomorrow to sustain hope in the future.
Too many false hopes have already been built up by past elections.
People naturally become disillusioned when they compare election promises to sad local realities of decay, degeneration, hopelessness, and marginalisation.
The reality of life in our town for too many people is too many redundant talents, awaiting a change of fortune on a spin of the lottery balls or the turn of a card trick.
And what is New Labour now seriously suggesting as a solution to the economic development problems of coastal former heavy industry towns like South Shields?
Casinos! And further freeing up of the gambling laws!
There is no security to be found in a gambled future - you win today ... you lose tomorrow ...
What this town really needs is for us to help ourselves to build an improved South Shields with the help of all the people of the town.
We must act now: independently and purposefully.
We cannot wait for politicians to deliver on promises of regeneration - which are false promises anyway.
We must improve Our Town South Shields Our Selves.
Given the opportunity, our under-recognized, our under-used and our under-valued COMMON WISDOM can find solutions to the problems that we face.
No London-based distant automaton politician - like the sitting New Labour M.P. David Miliband - can begin to understand our problems in this town, let alone find solutions.
With broken promises and false impressions, Mr Miliband and his New Labour cronnies have betrayed the trust this town gave them at the last election.
Yes, as they say, things were worse under the Tories.
Yes, as they say, industries were closed down and people were made redundant in their tens of thousands during the Tory years.
But people who spent those Tory years waiting hopefully for better Labour years to come have been betrayed by their phoney 'champions' in the New Labour Party.
New Labour took our loyalty for granted, and has spent the last eight years extending the period of redundancy in South Shields.
Under New Labour the Thatcherite 'trickle down' economic doctrine has continued ... to seep downwards ... and to become ...
* mis-trust
* ineptitude
* mis-placed priorities
* down-right idiotic decision-making and implementations …
A study published just this week by Sheffield University's Management School shows how bad things really are in North-East towns like South Shields - which is supposed to be one of New Labour's 'heart-land' areas.
In 1997, when New Labour took over from the Tories, the North East was 12th out of 12 regions - that is BOTTOM PLACE - in the league table of Industrial Competitiveness.
And where are we now in 2005, after 8 years of New Labour mis-management? YES! STILL IN BOTTOM PLACE IN THAT INDUSTRY NATIONAL LEAGUE TABLE!
New Labour claims to have invested a lot of money in public services during those eight years. And they have spent more than the Tories did in some areas. But they have wasted a lot of money too.
Most disgracefully, during the past two years, New Labour has wasted more than five thousand million [= five billion] pounds in Iraq and elsewhere killing and injuring thousands of fellow human beings in the name of fighting a 'war on terror'.
That is five thousand million pounds that could have been spent here in Britain, including in our town of South Shields.
That money could have been used to stop the loss of real jobs.
That money could have been used to stop independent small businesses from being crushed by unfair pressures from large corporations.
That money could have been used to stop the hardships that too many of our senior citizens still live with on a daily basis.
That money could have been used to stop even the more well off pensioners from facing ever increasing council tax charges.
But that money, which could have been spent creatively, was wasted on destruction - killing people and killing hope, instead of improving people's lives and building a better world for all.
It is increasingly evident that unless we are prepared to help ourselves, there is no one else to help us.
We should help ourselves to a long-overdue boost.
We should help ourselves by using our real voting power.
We should Vote Independent for South Shields on 5 May 2005.
+
South Tyneside Candidates’ Public Meeting
More than 50 people attended a lively General Election public debate at the weekend [Sunday 24 April 2005] to which all parliamentary in candidates for the two seats in South Tyneside were invited.
The Sunday evening hustings event at Westoe Road Baptist Church Hall, South Shields, was sponsored by the ecumenical group Churches Together in South Tyneside, and attended by people of varied religious and political faiths.
It was chaired by the Anglican Bishop of Jarrow the Right Rev. John Pritchard, who said the meeting was organized because one of the main worldly goals of Christian belief was to foster 'flourishing communities'.
The Bishop said it was worrying to churches generally that 'political isengagement' in Britain had reached such a low point that the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds [RSPB] now had more members than all the main political parties put together.
The candidates attending the event were: the South Shields candidates Nader A-Naderi (Independent), David Miliband (New Labour) and Stephen Psallidas (Liberal Democrat); and the Jarrow candidates Alan Badger (UK Independence Party [UKIP]), Stephen Hepburn (Labour) and Bill Schardt (Liberal Democrat).
The two Conservative candidates for the seats - Richard Lewis (South Shields) and Linkson Jack (Jarrow) - did not attend. Also missing was Roger Nettleship (Safeguard the National Health Service, Jarrow) who sent apologies because he was attending a national conference of the public service union Unison.
Debate between the candidates at the meeting - prompted by challenging questions from members of the public - was politely controversial and wide-ranging.
Issues discussed included: 'local council housing'; 'asylum seekers'; 'Make Poverty History'; 'Britain's relations with Europe, the USA and the wider world'; 'visions of education for the future'.
On the issue of 'immigration'/'asylum seekers', it was pointed out that the candidates for South Shields present at the meeting - Mr Psallidas, Mr Miliband, and Mr A-Naderi - represented between them a good cross-section of the generations of immigrants to Britain who continue to enrich its national life.
The most controversial topic of the evening was the war in Iraq, following on from reports in that day's Sunday papers that the New Labour government had covered up official legal advice that the original U.S.-U.K war-plan might be illegal. [e.g. Mail on Sunday, Observer, 24.04.2005]
The Bishop of Jarrow remained a fairly impartial chair of the South Tyneside meeting, despite having himself been quoted in the Mail on Sunday that day [24.04.2005, page 5] as saying: 'I want to re-state my objection to the war as ill-conceived - there were no weapons of mass destruction, no United Nations backing and it was probably illegal. Tony Blair made a mistake. We all make mistakes - but some people's mistakes matter more than others.'
Mr Miliband said 'you should not believe everything you read in the newspapers' and denounced the Mail on Sunday report on the questionable legality of the war as 'untrue'.
But Mr Miliband was challenged himself by the anti-war Independent candidate Mr A-Naderi over claims Mr Miliband personally made to the local Shields Gazette before the war that he had 'overwhelming evidence' that Iraq possessed 'weapons of mass destruction' [Shields Gazette 15.03.2003].
Mr A-Naderi said it was now an established fact that there were no WMD, and suggested Mr Miliband should now take an opportunity to own up in public to his 'mistakes' on that matter - otherwise why should anyone trust his words on other matters?
Mr Miliband declined to respond to that challange directly and instead continued to maintain: 'I think that at all stages it is vital for governments to act in accordance with international law.'
Asked by the Rev Caroline Dick, of Churches Together, what should now happen in Iraq? and how long British troops should remain there? the candidates - whether pro-war or anti-war - all voiced general respect for British service personnel obeying government orders, and gave the following personal answers:
Mr A-Naderi (Independent, South Shields) said it was a false assumption that there would be mayhem in Iraq if occupying troops withdraw soon. He said the American and British led occupation could be ended almost immediately, if a properly functioning United Nations organization was created to act as neutral 'facilitators' in a truly independent Iraq.
Mr Miliband (New Labour, South Shields) said voting in favour of the war had been 'the most difficult decision I have had to make in my political career'. He claimed the recent elections in occupied Iraq had started a 'long walk to freedom' there, but declined to set a date for the withdrawal of British forces, suggesting they might have to stay in Iraq for an indefinite period.
Mr Psallidas (Liberal Democrat, South Shields) said he opposed the war and that Britain should be working within the United Nations to ensure a complete withdrawal of its forces from Iraq by the end of this year.
Mr Schardt (Liberal Democrat, Jarrow) echoed this Liberal Democrat party view, and added a personal opinion that democracy could not be imposed anywhere by military force.
Mr Hepburn (Labour, Jarrow) said he opposed the war and had voted against it in Parliament, but now,'as a practical politician', accepted the government line that the troops might have to stay in Iraq for an indefinite period.
Mr Badger (UKIP, Jarrow) said he too had opposed the war from the start, but did not now believe a rapid withdrawal was possible.
Representatives of parties not standing in the South Tyneside seats, including the Green Party and Respect, also voiced anti-war opinions.
Members of the public not attached to any party or church group also made telling contributions to the meeting on this subject and others.
The meeting ended with thanks from the Bishop to all who had turned up - and a warm round of applause to the Churches Together for organising the event, which was joined in by most present on the night.
* After the 90-minute meeting, Mr A-Naderi's electoral agent [and 'spin-doctor'!] Philip Talbot said the Independent candidate had more than held his own against the main party challengers for the South Shields seat.
He said: 'Nader is not a professional politician, but gave an excellent account of himself and showed how ordinary independent-minded people can more than hold their own alongside party politicians.
'Meanwhile, no impartial observer - nor even his own New Labour supporters - could honestly maintain that the sitting M.P. Mr Miliband and government minister - who is sometimes touted as a future prime minister - excelled himself at this meeting.
'A reasonable judgement of the overall performances of the specifically South Shields candidates on the night is that Nader was the most impressive candidate, followed by Mr Psallidas, with Mr Miliband in third place - and with the Tory candidate Mr Lewis fourth because he did not even bother to turn up.
'I would add that an impartial observer would perhaps be justified in maintaining that, overall, Stephen Hepburn, the Labour candidate for the Jarrow seat, probably gave the best political hustings performance of all candidates for the two seats present on the night.'
Mr Talbot thanked the Churches Together movement on behalf of Mr A-Naderi for putting together the one joint public meeting being held in South Tyneside during the General Election and echoed the Bishop of Jarrow's worries about general public political 'disengagement'.
He also wondered, in passing, why the main South Tyneside local newspaper the Shields Gazette had apparently decided not to fully report to this well-intended, well-attended and well-informed public event.
(That was the parish magazine report of the meeting - following was the 'tabloid')
Nader Shakes New Labour!
Shaken New Labour stooges are rushing around SOUTH SHIELDS trying to prop up their election vote after the fake local M.P David Miliband got beaten in open debate by the real Independent candidate for OUR TOWN Nader A-Naderi.
In the main public meeting of the local campaign, Nader, 48, of Laygate, the only real LOCAL candidate in the SOUTH SHIELDS election, challenged the London-based fake M.P. for the town Mr Miliband to come clean on how he and his party had misled the people of OUR TOWN.
Mr Miliband's responses at the church-sponsored event were arrogant and evasive - and he became increasingly agitated as the meeting went on. At the end, he and his small band of supporters slipped away in a shaken state.
Nader, who is standing in the interests of the ordinary voters of OUR TOWN, said: 'Mr Miliband is New Labour in person in SOUTH SHIELDS. He broke the bond of trust with the people of OUR TOWN when he told us untruths about WMD. He also told us untruths about the legal advice on the Iraq war and about other matters closer to home. Why should we believe a word he says about anything? Why should people who have been so badly misled by Mr Miliband and New Labour put a cross beside his name and that party on the ballot paper?'
Stephen Psallidas, of Newcastle, another candidate contesting the SOUTH SHIELDS seat, gave a typically tepid Liberal Democrat performance at the public debate. Tory candidate Richard Lewis, of London, did not even bother to turn up.
The open meeting was chaired by the Anglican Bishop of Jarrow, the Right Rev John Pritchard, who was quoted by national newspapers on the day of the debate as saying he thought New Labour support for George Bush's Iraq war-plan was 'ill-conceived'. The Bishop said: 'There were no weapons of mass destruction, no United Nations backing and it was probably illegal. We all make mistakes - but some people's mistakes matter more than others.' [Mail on Sunday 24.04.2005]
|
