The Women’s Safety Charter, which aims to improve the safety practises of nightclubs, is the culmination of work led by local activists together with Movement for Change.

Together with local women, community groups, national organisations, local businesses and forums we have formed the Women’s Safety Charter and are ready to ask night-time establishments in Brixton to sign up.

Help us to make this change and take action on the 25th September!

To apply for a free ticket to this event please click here.

Streatham activists at the Labour Women's Safety Commission

Catriona Ogilvy describes the impact of testimony by young people from south London at the recent Labour Women’s Safety Commission hearing in Parliament.

Too frequently I am shocked to hear stories of violence against young women in our communities; an issue often misunderstood by policy makers and largely overlooked by the coalition government. Last Autumn Streatham Labour activists, together with training and support from Movement for Change, began a Community Safety Listening Campaign focusing on the experiences of young women. Speaking with young people across our borough it was striking how many had been affected personally or knew of someone affected by violence, harassment or sexual abuse. All had their own stories to tell and many knew what they wanted to see changed. The opportunity then to share these findings and bring examples of the realities faced by young women to the ‘Everywoman Safe Everywhere’ commission set up by Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper MP and Chaired by Vera Baird QC was not to be missed.

Giving evidence to the commission the stories of those we had spoken to struck a chord with many round the table. Our ‘real life’ examples illustrated the concerns of women and created a frame for discussion perhaps more powerful than hearing facts and figures alone. The most powerful evidence for me though was that given by young people who members of our group had worked with through building relationships with local youth groups. Listening to Imogen, aged 10, speak about her experiences of violence and aggression from boys in the playground and her hope for ‘young boys to be taught how be gentlemen’ was both moving and worrying; worrying that a young girl should experience this type of behaviour in the ‘safe’ setting of a school playground and worrying that Marcus, aged 18 years, told us how younger boys copy the behaviour of older boys and that to him it is no surprise to see aggression and violence occurring at an increasingly younger age.

Just like those we had spoken to in our listening campaign, Imogen and Marcus knew what changes they wanted to see and could voice solutions to the issues they faced on a daily basis. Imogen asked for a ‘safe zone’ in the playground and well lit streets so she doesn’t get scared walking home from school in the winter months. Marcus wanted to see empty shops in our communities opened up and used as safe spaces for young people to gather.

Listening to young people as they gave their evidence so eloquently and passionately, it was a humbling reminder of the importance to speak to people and to hear their stories. It was also a first-hand lesson that sometimes the best answers and solutions can be found in the most obvious of places; from people themselves. Sharing the experiences and ideas voiced by those in our community, it was positive for both us and them to see how it shaped discussion and debate by leaders who could take action and seek to make the changes women in our local area are calling for.

Over the coming months Streatham activists will use these examples and ideas and together with local groups form our own community safety campaign. Through our work, and with support from Movement for Change, we will continue to grow our group and forge new relationships within our community.

Catriona Ogilvy

Streatham Labour: Constituency Chair

Catriona Ogilvy, Chair of Streatham CLP, gives her view on the ‘bigger picture’ and what community organising is doing to help transform Streatham activists’ relationships with their community.

I have had the pleasure of working with Movement for Change as chair of my local constituency party since last summer; so when asked recently “What are they doing to win elections” I sighed a little and realised that there is still a lot of work to do!

As members looked to renew our Party last year, a recurring theme in Refounding Labour was to become an outward looking Party, returning to our roots and re-forging links with our communities once again. In Streatham we wrote our constituency development plan with the same view; making our Party more open, accessible and outward looking locally. It is easy to say one thing though and quite another to put things into motion. We often get into the ‘habit’ of doing things a certain way and are sceptical of new ways. However I hope through our actions and what we are achieving we will continue to build support for trying new ways in our Party local.

So, ‘What are they doing to win elections’? Firstly, I would never advocate leaving the tried and tested campaign format of voter ID for community organising alone – after all, we need to know where our voters are come polling day. But my answer would be to look at the closely fought seats we retained in 2010, to consider the impact their community campaigns had on the result and what it means to those communities to still have a Labour MP.

To me, asking what Movement for Change are doing to win elections is the wrong question at this time. Rather I would start by asking what are Movement for Change doing for our Party? Our experience in Streatham, where we are looking specifically around the topic of community safely, is a positive one. Members not previously active have become motivated and engaged in our campaign. Others, officers at EC or branch level are developing new skills and growing in confidence. Our community safety campaign, particularly looking at the experiences of women, is bringing in more women to our campaign and creating a greater gender balance in Party activities. These are just a few examples of the positive impact our work with Movement for Change has had on our Party locally.

Engaged and motivated members who feel our Party is giving something back, are perhaps more likely to go out on the doorstep come election time. And there is that age old question which we have all heard – “I only see you at election time, what are you doing for me?” As activists we know that our elected Labour representatives are busy, year in year out, responding to the needs of their constituents; but we as Party members can support this work. Building relationships with community groups and basing ourselves firmly within community campaigns, Labour will be present at the heart of our communities rather than viewed as individuals on the doorstep with clipboards. I believe together with traditional doorstep campaigning our community organising work will lead to winning or increasing the share of the vote for Labour at election time. For me though, (someone who was once a sceptic), it is more about the process and what we gain from it – being and being seen as the Party we and our members hope us to be.

Catriona Ogilvy
Chair – Streatham Constituency Labour Party