My latest newspaper column (for the Ham & High) is about the Olympics and China’s behaviour:

I can’t help but observe the contrast between how Britain and China deals with protestors. In Britain – the police’s response to protests during the passage of the Olympic Torch through London was to pop the torch on a bus for a bit. How very English! And then in China we have the dark side of the contrast – the violence, gunshots and even deaths that are the frequent response to protests.

Standing in Bloomsbury Square last Sunday chanting ‘China Out’ in reply to a young Tibetan shouting out through a megaphone ‘Free Tibet’ reminded me not only of the issue in question but also of the feeling you get when you go out onto the streets to claim your democratic right to peaceful protest. It is active. And it makes you feel that you are not taking it lying down; not abjectly rolling over, tut-tutting at the pictures on the news whilst saying there is nothing I can do.

Indeed, in a world of global, near-instant media, protests in one part of the world can garner coverage all over the globe – including, directly or indirectly, in China itself. (I know how well the internet reaches all sorts in China from when I was on the London Assembly – and got a three page marriage proposal from a fisherman in a remote part of China!)

As you may have guessed – I don’t buy the argument that Olympics = sports = you mustn’t say anything about anything other than sport. The Chinese Government has been repeatedly and politicising the Olympics for its own ends – so simply mouthing that formula means conceding it is ok to politicise the Olympics to promote thuggish authoritarianism but not ok to speak out against such behaviour. Where is the morality in that approach of self-censorship and unnecessary deference?

Read the rest of the piece here.

Photo credit: Flickr user http2007

I visited Amir Laksari today to find out more about the Sparrows. Mr Laksari came over from Iran as a political refugee in 1986 and soon after he joined a wheelchair basketball team, becoming very heavily involved.

Traditionally the Sparrows Wheelchair Basketball Club has been mainly a refugees / ethnic minorities team. Something like 30% of the people in the team and half the people on the Management Committee are from Haringey – albeit Haringey wouldn’t negotiate a reasonable price for them to use Tottenham Leisure Centre to practise and play so instead they had to go to Hackney.

The club is extremely successful and has won tournaments in a host of different countries. In a particularly memorable example Mr. Laksari described when they only had enough money to send five members of their team, but won games against other teams who had the full quota of 12 players! The famous Ade Adepitan used to play for their club.

They used to play in Haringey but are currently in Hackney. Mr. Laksari wishes that Haringey Council would be more supportive, both in terms of championing the achievements of the team and also possibly providing some financial support.

Competitive wheelchairs for basketball can cost £2,500. The organisation was given £8,000 lottery funding – but that is not enough for them to repair or provide the special wheelchairs -nor pay for practise facilities – nor help with their expenses in competing abroad.

We say we want integration and participation for those with disabilities – but we don’t seem to do that much to help.

I am writing to the Leader of Haringey Council to seek support for the team and to try and link up the schools and the Sparrows so that there is a pathway into the team from our local schools. I will also write to the Olympic Committee for the Paralympics to see if they can try to make sure the Sparrows Club benefits from the investment for the London Paralympics. Surely any such team that is inspiring and achieving ought to reap some benefits from the zillions it is costing London to host the event.