Central and Outer Leeds

MAKING LEEDS THE CITY OF BELONGING

Integrated transport system

Promoting democracy

Right to food

Welcome to Central and Outer Leeds Green Party

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We are the Central and Outer Leeds Green Party known as “CANDO” for short, because we have a can-do attitude.
We cover the city centre, the northeast, and the inner east, the south and parts of the west of Leeds such as the Pudsey constituency.

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Making Leeds the City of Belonging

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We want our city of Leeds to mean something for its people, that’s why we're the first city in the world to envisage a ‘City of Belonging’, where everyone feels an intrinsic part, an important cog, and an appreciated citizen.

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We support co-ops, community campaigns and groups across Leeds.

If you are involved in a campaign and would like to discuss working together, please get in touch with us.

contact@leeds.greenparty.org.uk

Cllr Ed Carlisle

Ed Carlisle has extensive experience of community innovation and development, especially in disadvantaged areas.

He has been involved in a wide range of voluntary programmes across Leeds.

Cllr Ed Carlisle

Hunslet & Riverside Ward

Green Party

Civic Hall: 0113 378 8266

Mobile: 07738 921 277

Email: ed.carlisle@leeds.gov.uk

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Penny Stables - the wonder woman who broke Tory dominance in Wetherby after 41 years.

Let's get to know Penny who has become the first Green councillor in the Wetherby and Boston Spa ward.

Penny Stable Green Party Councillor in the Wetherby and Boston Spa ward.
Protest 28 October

Support the Ceasefire Motion: Urge Your MP to Stand with Caroline Lucas in Protecting Civilians in Gaza and Israel

Email your MP: Sign EDM 1685

Israel’s ongoing bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip has killed over 4700 Palestinians. Over a million people have been forcibly displaced, nearly half of Gaza’s entire population. Nowhere in Gaza is safe; residential buildings have been levelled, UNRWA schools sheltering the displaced have been hit.

International scholars and Palestinian human rights organisations are warning of the possibility of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Urgent action is needed to deter and prevent the crime of genocide and stop further catastrophic loss of life. As Palestinian civil society has outlined, inaction at the crime of genocide “will incur legal consequences and risks and undermine the integrity and credibility of international law.”

This couldn't be more pressing or urgent. Urge your MP to sign Early Day Motion 1685, calling on the government to press for an immediate ceasefire, and a complete end to total siege on the Gaza Strip, so sufficient humanitarian supplies are able to reach the population.

To use this template click here

take action for palestine

take action for palestine Sabeel-Kairos UK: A UK-Based Charity Advocating for a Just Peace in Israel/Palestine – A Contextual Overview of the Current Situation.

We are currently witnessing an escalation in violence in Palestine and Israel that has brought death, injury, destruction and havoc to the lives of thousands of innocent people living there.

We strongly condemn the use of violence and military force against civilians on all sides and mourn with those that have lost loved ones.

The atrocities committed by Hamas militants inside Israel – the killing, maiming, and kidnapping of civilians rightly invokes outrage and condemnation.

Israel’s military violence against civilians in Gaza, including the destruction of residential buildings that has wiped out whole families, and now the cutting off of water, food, electricity and fuel which constitutes collective punishment require equal condemnation.

Both parties have potentially committed war crimes/crimes against humanity and should be held to account for their actions.

Ultimately violence will only beget more violence and will not address the root cause of the problem or seek to find solutions and ways forward based on justice, equality, and peace.

The events of the last few days have not happened in silo.
For 75 years the Palestinian people have suffered oppression, domination, displacement, dispossession, and denial of their basic rights. 56 of those years have been endured under military occupation, with every aspect of their lives controlled by Israel.
In Gaza, the last 16 years have seen the imposition of a brutal blockade which has devastated the economy, caused unimaginable suffering for the people of Gaza, and wrought environmental destruction on the land.

In 2012 the United Nations warned the world that Gaza would be unliveable in 2020.
We are now 3 years past that, and there has been no meaningful international pressure on Israel to lift its inhumane blockade. 80% of the population rely on aid to survive, 50% are children, only 2% of the population are estimated to be affiliated with military groups. International law is clear – collective punishment of a population, held as responsible for the actions of Hamas, is illegal.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank, Israel continues to steal land, property, and natural resources from Palestinians, increasing the number of settlements and settler outposts, and the settlers that live in them.

The election of far-right members to the Israeli Knesset earlier this year has emboldened those settlers to the point that violence and attacks on Palestinians, their property, and their lands has increased three-fold.

Before this latest escalation over 200 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank this year so far – the deadliest year on record since 2005.

The occupation is illegal, both in its unprecedented length and permanency, and in how it is imposed.

But recent analysis by leading human rights organisations has moved us beyond occupation to the conclusion that Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid against

Palestinians both inside the Palestinian territories, and even within their own state.

Considering the above, where is the international community in all of this?

There has been deafening silence and complicity in allowing this to carry on for 75 years.

The UK Government has been hiding behind the sham of supporting a two-state solution, long acknowledged by many in Palestine and Israel as dead in the water.

They have allowed impunity to continue for decades, failing to support international mechanisms of accountability. In the last few days, they have expressed unwavering support for Israel, offering diplomatic, intelligence and security support.

They have failed to publicly apply any pressure on Israel to comply with international humanitarian law and protect civilians in Gaza.

 

Cease Fire Now

The Palestine Situation: the view from Central and Outer Green Party

We are extremely concerned at the rise in violence in and around Gaza. We remind the world that this conflict didn’t start on October 7th 2023, Gaza has been under a military blockade for the last 17 years and for an area which is only 150 square miles, is described as an open air prison. Ordinary people have been subjected to military occupation for decades under a system of apartheid.
The killing of civilians is an abhorrent act and there can be no justification for it, regardless if it’s a child with blond hair and blue eyes or an elderly woman with brown skin and black hair and regardless if it’s carried out by armed soldiers with guns, carried out by drone strikes, warplanes, or Apache helicopters.
All people have a right to self-determination and to live in freedom from military occupation, which is right that has been denied to the Palestinians for over 75 years. Throughout history we have witnessed the failures of colonial regimes who rely on oppression, subjugation, and murder in order to maintain a grip over the colonised people. The situation in Israel and Palestine is no different.
Worldwide support for Israel particularly by the US and the UK has shielded Israel from accountability and allowed the continued crime of apartheid and the system of ethnic cleansing. Palestinian land has been cleared to make way for Israeli settlements, deemed illegal under international law.
We call for an immediate end to violence, lifting of the siege of Gaza and a withdrawal of all military forces and a return to the 1967 borders agreed under international law. No country can continue to break the rule of law with impunity.
The British home secretary Suella Braveman has urged the British police to clamp down on support for Hamas. The vast majority of those that call for the rights of Palestinians to be recognised are not supporters of Hamas but the supporters of human rights. Any conflation of the two is just as heinous as the conflation of anti-Zionism and anti-semitism. With a general election looming and the prospect of the Tories being all but wiped out, this political grandstanding is designed to shore up support from right wing extremists in Britain. We need to protect the freedom of speech and freedom of protest without the fear of persecution.

Isreal-Gaza October 2023
Gaza 13 Octo 2023
The only way to ensure an end to violence and a lasting peace is through the respect and adherence of international law.

Understanding the Present: An Overview by Jewish Voice for Peace

Jewish Voice for Peace also produced this short video 10 years ago to explain the root of the Israel/Palestine situation. Its content is still relevant today

Watch the video

David Oluwale

David Oluwale was a British citizen born in Lagos, Nigeria. He moved to the UK in 1949 to make a new life, but his experience here in Leeds was tragic.  He suffered mental ill health, went in and out of a psychiatric hospital and prison, and from 1961 he was effectively homeless. Two Leeds police officers hounded him to his death in the River Aire in the centre of Leeds in 1969. Both policemen were eventually charged and sentenced for manslaughter.

We were delighted when the world-famous artist, who is Nigerian British, Yinka Shonibare CBE, RA heard David’s story and said he would help. He is making a beautiful, joyful, 10meter high work of art he calls Hibiscus Rising. In response to David’s tragedy.

Inspired by the Remember Oluwale charity(DOMA), Leeds has come together to grieve for David Oluwale and to campaign on the issues that affected him.

The challenges that David faced still blight the lives of too many people today, so, backed by Leeds City Council and LEEDS 2023 Festival of Culture, Hibiscus Rising will symbolise our commitment to make Leeds a city of welcome, hospitality and inclusion.

This sculpture will be a phoenix rising from the ashes. It is art rising up for social justice. It needs a very special place to flourish, where people can meet their friends, learn about David and his challenges, and join with others in transforming the city and celebrating the blossoming diversity of our city and equality.

 

fundraising