JM Weekly Update

Hello friends

Its that time again - the third Wednesday in the month, which can only mean that it's time to get together for another cafe session. This will be our final session in the Rough Guide to being an Ordinary Radical season (though not the last session of term, don't worry! More on that below.) As trailed last week, this week we have Ash Chafe coming to speak on his experience of life as an ordinary radical living on Strawberry Vale - be sure to come along and hear what he has to say! 

That's 7:30pm this Wednesday at Coffee Republic in North Finchley. Come early, grab a coffee and a pasty and meet someone new.

Don't forget that we gave you two challenges last month - to adopt a new ordinary radical habit and to invite someone along to this session. We look forward to seeing how you've done! In all seriousness, we are eager to see JM grow further - we want to fill Coffee Republic with members (and Raj's till with enough takings that we can further reduce our room hire costs), so please do get out and spread the word!

Speaking of getting out, some of us spent yesterday out of our comfort zones at Brent Cross. Read more about what we were doing and why in the post below.

I'd also like to flag up another opportunity to do something practical - we are partnering with The Bohemia to provide gifts and Christmas dinners to some of the older people of Finchley. The idea is simple: buy a gift for an older lady or gent, bring it along to our next pub session (5th December) and we'll spend the evening wrapping them up. There are more details below. This is an excellent opportunity to support a local business, invest in our community and raise our visibility, not to mention to bring festive cheer to some senior citizens. We'd love for all of you to get involved with this, so get thinking about what you might give...

That's all for now - have a great week, y'all!

Sam and Victoria, Elaine, Sara, Lizzie

Dressing up as a toilet at Brent Cross

Me and Victoria (sans toilet costume)

Yesterday, I did two things I've never done before. Ahead of World Toilet Day on the 19th November and encouraged by the Justice Matters spirit of getting involved, I went along to support Elaine and others raise awareness and funds for WaterAid.

I've never stood in a public place and collected for a good cause before (at least, not since my junior school days, when I once spent an afternoon helping to pack people's food shopping while dressed as a bear for Children in Need. There are no pictures, I'm afraid.) To push me further out of my comfort zone, I was dressed as a toilet. (Again, I'm sorry to say there are no photos of me thus attired).

Tina, Elaine (sporting the toilet costume)and Victoria

As we learned when WaterAid came to speak at JM last year, 2.5 billion people around the world live without access to clear water and sanitation. It's not exactly a glamorous subject, but imagine for a minute not having a toilet to use when you need it. This injustice results in the deaths of 2,000 children every day from water-borne diseases. In fact, more children in the developing world die from diarrhoea than measles, AIDS and malaria combined. It also causes health issues for women who hold on until after dark, so no one can see them go, only to face the threat of assault from being out alone at night.

I don't know how much we raised yet (I'll post an update when Elaine tells us), but I'm pleased to have had the opportunity to be involved in tackling the indignity suffered by too many of our neighbours. We will be finding more opportunities like this for members of Justice Matters to put their passion into action and live out  the lessons from our Rough Guide to being an Ordinary Radical. I hope that many more of you will join us next time we step out of our comfort zone to "seek justice [and] defend the oppressed".

Outside John Lewis - clearly popular with ethical shoppers!

Festive cheer

Justice Matters is excited to be partnering with Finchley's favourite new watering hole, The Bohemia, to provide gifts and a Christmas dinner for isolated older people in the Finchley area.

The idea is simple: buy a gift for an older lady or gent (recommended £10 max) and then bring it along to The Bohemia on the 5th December where we will gather from 8pm to wrap the gifts together. If you aren't able to buy a gift, you can pay for a meal ticket (£7 each). Simpls.

We are also waiting to hear back from Wandsworth Prison about the option of sending gifts to the children of prisoners through Prison Fellowship. We'll confirm this option and further details ASAP.

Rough Guide to being an Ordinary Radical (Part 3)

Why would someone leave comfortable suburbia to move onto a run-down local estate? Come along and hear Ash from Hope House explain why he moved into one of Barnet's most disadvantaged neighbourhoods and what happened next...

This is the last session in our Autumn series, so don't miss out!

Wrap Up London 2012 | HandsOn London

If you have an old winter coat taking up wardrobe space then this would be a good thing to do with it...

"Hands On London's second annual coat collection campaign will take place from Monday 5 - Friday 9 November. We have set our targets high, and building on last year's success are aiming to collect and distribute 10,000 coats to London’s most vulnerable to over 80 different shelters and charities."

http://handsonlondon.org.uk/en/wrap-up-london-2012

Shared from the Justice Matters Facebook Page

Pinch and a punch, first (Wednesday) in the month

Its the start of a new month and a new cycle of the Justice Matters community rhythm. This means that we will be at the Bohemia in North Finchley this Wednesday for a pub session. In the second part of our series Looking Up, Looking Out and Looking In, we will be chatting about how we Look Out to engage new members. Join us from 8pm.

Meanwhile, don't forget Victoria's challenge to embrace a positive new habit ahead of our next cafe session and Elaine's invitation to join her in raising awareness and money for those without access to clean water and sanitation. JM is not only about learning to do right, but also actively seeking justice and defending the oppressed, so do take up these opportunities to get involved in making a practical difference!

Other things that might be of interest to you on the Justice Matters website this week include:

• How an American Paralympian met right-wing prejudice with grace: Well played, sir. Well played.
• A critique of the latest Bond movie's (brilliant) and its attitude to women (not so great): Bond, villain?
• A reflection on climate change in the wake of hurricane Sandy: The wrath of Sandy

If you see an article you think others would be interested to read, a blog post you want to share or an event you'd like to promote, do let me know. We are keen to curate content from across the community, not just the things that I think look interesting!

Enjoy the start of your week and we look forward to seeing lots of you at the pub on Wednesday.

The wrath of Sandy

Like many people, I was struck this week by the images of hurricane Sandy tearing through America's East Coast. There was a grim fascination to the sight of such iconic and familiar locations battered by winds and flood. Of course, we've seen several of them face destruction before on the big screen, not least in films like The Day After Tomorrow, but to see such disaster strike in real life was shocking.

Of course, its not just Hollywood blockbusters that have threatened New York with destruction by flooding. Al Gore's seminal documentary An Inconvenient Truth also highlighted the Big Apple's vulnerability to extreme weather. Indeed, one of the iconic images of Gore's presentation - the flooding of Ground Zero - came to pass thanks to hurricane Sandy.

Of course, Gore's point was to shock Americans into taking climate change seriously, to make the perils of climate change tangible to US consumers. Many will be hoping that after this tragic storm, more will take the threat seriously and change their behaviours accordingly. I certainly do.

Well played, sir. Well played.

In the final weeks of presidential elections, words often get heated. This week, a right-wing American pundit referred to President Obama as a retard. The use of such a word by a prominent individual is fairly shocking, but all the more surprising is this brilliant, grace-filled response that the pundit received from American Paralympian, John Franklin Stephens:

"I’m a 30 year old man with Down syndrome who has struggled with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability means that I am dumb and shallow. I am not either of those things, but I do process information more slowly than the rest of you. In fact it has taken me all day to figure out how to respond to your use of the R-word last night. 

I thought first of asking whether you meant to describe the President as someone who was bullied as a child by people like you, but rose above it to find a way to succeed in life as many of my fellow Special Olympians have. 

Then I wondered if you meant to describe him as someone who has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says, as everyone else races from one snarkey sound bite to the next. 

Finally, I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care, live in low grade housing with very little income and still manages to see life as a wonderful gift. 

Because, Ms. Coulter, that is who we are – and much, much more.

After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me.  You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV.
I have to wonder if you considered other hateful words but recoiled from the backlash.

Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor.

No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much. 

Come join us someday at Special Olympics.  See if you can walk away with your heart unchanged. 

A friend you haven’t made yet, 

John Franklin Stephens
Global Messenger
Special Olympics Virginia"

What better way to confront hate and prejudice than with this? Were that we all be known for speaking with such grace and truth in the face of injustice.

Shared from the Justice Matters Facebook Page

Bond, villain?

WARNING: PLOT SPOILERS

Last week a number of us went to see the new Bond movie. I have to say, I thought it was brilliant - great casting, exciting set pieces, pathos, thrills and just the right touch of nostalgia. That said, there was one scene that jarred with me: the moment when Bond casually walks in on Severine's shower essentially unbidden and, you know, does his thing.

It seems it I was not alone in finding this moment awkward - the excellent Giles Coren has written a searing article slamming this and other persistently chauvinist themes in the latest Bond outing. Too controversial for his paymasters at The Times (who have recently acquired the rights to the Bond canon and launched a new Sky Bond channel), Coren posted his critique on his wife's cooking blog.

"I am ashamed, as a man, that women are still compelled in the 21st century to watch movies in which the three female outcomes are:

1) Judi Dench’s ‘M’ dies, and is replaced by a man;
2) The young abuse victim is shagged by Bond and then killed for a joke; and
3) The pretty girl who manages to remain chaste despite Bond’s ‘charms’ is rewarded at the end with a job as his secretary."

Bond is indelibly linked with Britain (for what other franchise would the Queen jump out of a helicopter?!), but is it right that our country should be so proudly associated with such a character?

What do you think? Did Bond's behaviour impede your enjoyment of the movie?

If it didn't should it have?