Cllr Peter Brayshaw

I was saddened to hear yesterday of the sudden death of Camden Councillor, Peter Brayshaw. Peter was Chair of Camden Pension Fund and a keen member of the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF). I had spoken to him only a few  weeks ago at this years LAPFF Conference.

Peter was softly spoken, polite, intelligent, principled with great political values. 

The picture is from last year's LAPFF conference when Peter made a marvelous tribute regarding the life and times of Nelson Mandela and the role that UK Councils had played in bringing about the end of Apartheid. Peter had been a lifelong supporter of the liberation of Southern Africa and was currently vice chair of ACTSA.

In fact as a young student he spent 3 weeks in Brixton prison on remand for protesting against the white supremacist government in Rhodesia.

Check out tributes in local newspaper, Anti Apartheid and ACTSA.

#Uint11 Action for Southern Africa ( ACTSA). Update Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Malawi

The seminar continued on Sunday morning with a presentation by Mairan Power (UNISON International officer) and Mark Beacon (ACTSA) on Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Malawi.  It is pretty awful and depressing what is going on in all these countries. They all experience to different degrees violent oppression by corrupt dictators whose lavish lifestyles is at odds with the immense suffering of their people. 

Why on earth should the President of Malawi decide to spend £8 million on a Presidential Jet plane when that money would pay for 8,000 nurses?  Why does he then decide he needs to build a brand new massive airport as a home for his toy?

The trade unions in these countries are also under attack but they are potentially part of the solution.  It is vital that in Britain we continue to support them in their struggle.

I think that also we should remember our own history not that long ago, when we were in similar stages of economic and political development.  There was comparable corruption, extreme poverty and the bloody suppression of democracy.