My full speech at full council on the 21st July 2021, in the state of the Borough Debate in Tower Hamlets.
Before I speak, Mr Speaker, to add some colour to my speech, I will be speaking Bangla, rest assured translation will be provided.
What is the current state of the borough in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic?
Looking back at history, the last major London plague was chronicled by Daniel Defoe in his A Journal of the Plague Year. In it, he recorded the horror of the plague through the eyes of a saddler living in the East End. Three hundred years on, the social and economic inequalities recorded by Defoe have remained the same, those at the bottom of society: working families on low income; those in precarious employment; minority communities. It has brought into stark contrast the decade-long effects of austerity and the hostile environment towards migrants.
Then we have the immense social cleansing, our borough has witnessed. As a result of public policies, we have working-class and independent businesses being forced out. Something documented by the recent Runnymede Trust report.
“The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”. – the result is seen in the trenches dug in the local cemeteries to bury the dead.
As a grassroots campaigner first and councillor second, throughout the pandemic I have sought to maintain contact with residents, and have a finger on the pulse and ascertain the state of the borough.
A grassroots campaigning record that I sought to maintain as an elected official.
For example, with the campaign to keep the nurseries open, with the campaign to keep the community language service.
With the campaign to keep the 400-year-old Whitechapel Bell Foundry open, campaigners on all 3 occasions felt that certain assurances were given and then broken.
As in Bangla, Loi Loi Loi Chai, Laray kore baste chai
In English, to put it succinctly, the struggle is necessary, the struggle is permanent.
As a resident in Whitechapel, I saw residents at the height of the pandemic organised to stop the roll-out of Liveable Streets based on a flawed consultation. Later on, admitted by the council.
As a participant, I witnessed during the pandemic the growth and momentum of the #SAVEBRICKLANE campaign. Not a community campaign, but the community campaign. Reflecting and including all the demographics that reflect our vibrant East End. Now aiming to construct a new civic identity with values in the form of a proposed master plan.
Before I was elected, I gave residents my word, that will not play the game once elected and stand by their side.
So far it’s been a struggle, but I kept it.
For one thing, my father taught me, was that a human comes into this world naked and leaves the world without any possession, all they have is their word. Zaban.
In my three years as an elected official, I observed that residents of the East End have their own game, and they want change, they want a better life, and they will defend their communities.
And it goes like this,
বাইরে থেকে বর্গী আসে
নিয়ম করে প্রতি মাসে
আমিও আছি, তুমিও রবে
বন্ধু এবার খেলা হবে
From outside come marauding horsemen
Raiding regularly in a timely fashion
I will be here, you will be there to meet them
Friend, we will give them the game of their life.
The state of the borough is, Khela Hobe, Game On!
Notes:
Credit to cover photo to Salam Jones from the #SAVEBRICKLANE Rally
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