Haringey Solidarity Group or HSG is a collective of

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

activists Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

based in the Borough of Haringey,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Aims

HSG is active in a wide range of campaigns and struggles for social justice, workers' control, public services, civil liberties and a sustainable environment. It also aims to help to build stronger local communities. HSG supports workers' disputes (e.g. postal workers, tubeworkers, Visteon workers, council bin workers) and campaigns against council cuts, health cuts, the loss of local community facilities (e.g. a local park, a community pub), and on disability, environmental, housing and claimants' issues. HSG aims to resist state control by campaigning against ID cards, against racism, oppressive policing and deaths in police custody, and in support of asylum seekers and refugees. The group holds regular open meetings and discussion evenings, and produces leaflets, posters and booklets. HSG helps to set up and support similar groups in other London boroughs, under the name "Radical London", and wants to see ultimately a national network of such groups. The group aims to support local community struggles and hopes that other community groups will support them, this is the source of the word

solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...

within their name. The group aims to practise, encourage and support self-organised struggles by ordinary people within Haringey, against bosses, local councils, or multi-national corporations.

History

HSG was formed out of the remains of the Haringey Anti Poll Tax Union, after the

poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...

was defeated. "Originally set up to fight the poll tax, they decided to carry on after the tax was defeated." Initial hopes for several groups across the Borough proved to be unsustainable and after three years the groups were combined into one group. "In April 1991 it held its first meeting as Haringey Solidarity Group and by January 1992 it had formed three separate groups around the borough in Tottenham, Green Lanes, and Wood Green. Not being able to sustain three separate groups it came back together as HSG in September 1994. " In 2006 HSG set up the popular Haringey Independent Cinema (www.haringey.org.uk/hic). HSG has also put on events to bring other groups and the community together, such as Haringey Independence Day (www.haringey.org.uk/hid).

Activities

Members of HSG are active in their residents associations,

anti-fascism Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

, an
Haringey Against ID
anti

billboards A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

, anti

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...

campaigns, and various other antis. HSG continues to encourage

tenants A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a l ...

and

workers The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic regio ...

self organisation Self-organization, also called spontaneous order in the social sciences, is a process where some form of overall order and disorder, order arises from local interactions between parts of an initially disordered system. The process can be spon ...

throughout the borough, and have supported various workers struggles in the Borough of Haringey and beyond, including the 1995 JJ Foods Strike.{{Cite web, url=http://libcom.org/library/1995-the-jj-foods-strike, title = 1995: The JJ Foods Strike HSG members are also involved in organising free community festivals, the monthl
Haringey Independent Cinema
and many other social events. Many of the people in HSG are involved with local resident, community and other campaigning groups around the borough. HSG regularly distributes thousands of copies of its free newsletter ''Totally Indypendent''. The group is non-hierarchical. All major decisions are made at monthly general meetings which are open to anyone. Subgroups are formed for specific tasks (e.g. a newsletter) or to campaign on a specific issue, and these too are open to new people.

References

External links

HSG Website

Haringey Against ID Cards website

Haringey Independent Cinema website

HSG listing in Radical London: website of local anarchist and libertarian community groups
Anarchist organisations in the United Kingdom Politics of the United Kingdom Socialism 1991 establishments in England