Tenant and Homeowners Networking Conference

Look at that level of intrigue and political conspiracy (building the mass movement) there are going to be arseholes. Whether it's Clerkin, Baldassara, the CPB from Govan Community Council/Greater Govan Tenants Assoc - whoever and whatever. If we're to have any hope of seizing the political agenda and presenting a forward looking vision and programme for a world without Clerkins (or indeed some of the really powerful arseholes) and see it adopted by a mass movement then we have to be able to outmanoevre these people.

It's not like as if Baldassara or McAllister or Deans had organised a conference, or had all three organised a conference together (or indeed if the George's X Chalkboard and WestGAP had gotten it together), Clerkin wouldn't show up to it and be just as much of a problem really. And it's not like as if these people won't be there if Clerkin does have a hand in organising it.

Clerkin is not the conference. His personality and his plotting are just organisational difficulties to making the conference a success, and his meglomania something to be effectively circumscribed as much as the threat of GHA sending spoilers along is.

I don't really think it's on to just boycott a huge swathe of tenants and residents groups and so on coz Clerkin wants to speak at all their meetings. A lot of the people involved are increasingly pissed off with him anyway.

For other folk's information what we're talking about is:-

http://www.saveourhomes.blogspot.com/

This will be a conference attended by the following speakers:

John Carrochar

(chair of the Scottish Tenants Organisation -The National Tenants Body for Scotland)

Jenni Marrow

(Also from the STO, but also from Edinburgh Against Stock Transfer, who were recently successful in knocking back the proposed stock transfer of Edinburgh's Council Housing)

WestGAP

(a collective who operate an advice and anti-poverty centre in Partick and who are active in a number of campaigns)

Dave Morris

(Secretary of the highly successful Haringey Federation of Residents Associations, who is involved with Haringey Solidarity Group)

There will also be the following workshops:-

Homelessness

Whose community?/What is community

Home Owners + Tenants

The future of 'social' housing

Ideas for organising independently of your landlord

Improving Our Neighbourhoods (Which the George's X Chalkboard will have a hand in, along with Dave Morris).

All of Glasgow's RTOs have been invited and we are (as we speak) about to distribute all the contact details from all known residents and tenants groups to each other prior to the conference.

There will be a creche, there will be catering, and there will ample breaks with time for people to network.

Clerkin aside the event will be a very positive one. Indeed it gives a chance to focus minds on how to deal with the problems that man has been causing across the city, because it's something that needs doing anyway and the past few years have seen it fail to be addressed and have allowed him to scupper some of the otherwise broadly good work that the Save Our Homes Campaign, as well as other residents groups, have been doing.