Thursday 25 June 2015
Tuesday 23 June 2015
Monday 22 June 2015
Tuesday 16 June 2015
some thoughts on problems within the Labour party
we need to somehow find a way to involve people with each other and present a new image of the Labour party. I have always been a Labour supporter but from a distance - it has never occurred to me to approach my local MP with problems i have had - it is Ed Miliband who inspired me more than any other politician ever has and i actually got involved with campaigning for my local MP and so met other members of the Labour party which was a great feeling but i still feel somewhat on the outskirts of it all - i have strongly connected with people on facebook and twitter and have done an immense amount of campaigning and activism through social media. I am a member of the Labour party and of Unite union - and when i heard about the march against austerity in london june 20th i had visions of members going by the coachload and enjoying that feeling of solidarity that i have experienced in the past on marches - to my disappointment i found only one person in the Labour party interested who asked me for any details of transport etc - and after a couple of phone calls to my local Unite i was told only one other person wanted to go - and when they checked the list that other person was actually me! - so it seems i am the only person from Hull who will be going - i missed the cheaper travel due to vague promises to take my number and contact me later - so i now have to do the long mega bus journey on my own and stay 2 nights with someone in London so i can attend - Hull is completely Labour now and yet there seems to be so much apathy and disinterest - in my workplace no one seemed to be voting at all or even aware there was an election going on - similarly in local shops etc when i mentioned it - so to say the Labour party is out of touch with voters is an understatement. I thought about my own personal impression of the Labour party and why i had not gotten involved before - as a younger person i saw it as a group of boring older people wandering around knocking on doors and talking about boring things that no one feels any connection with - as an adult i never saw any evidence of anything to do with a Labour party - it was just something on TV which got more interesting during elections - so if even i saw it that way - is it any wonder none voters etc are not interested? So there needs to be much more personal involvement in the community - the way Jeremy Corbyn conducts himself - Ed had a great response when he met and connected with the public - the Labour party needs to become much more visible and a place for people to turn when they have concerns - i even had great difficulty finding the way into our HQ office - difficulties finding the door and getting anyone to let me in etc etc - and didn't know where it was until the election. Why had i never thought of asking my local MP for help during my long years of struggling? i don't know - but i didn't feel much response even when i did get involved - it is as though convincing 'them' the Labour party is the party for them is just a PR exercise - i am one of 'them' who has worked 7 years in a zero hours low minimum wage miserable job - not been eligible for benefits - had high rent to pay - am now in so much debt i will have to go bankrupt of something like it - it has affected my health so i have stress and high blood pressure and other ailments - yet when i mentioned any of that whilst in the company of local MP's and party members i was more or less just looked at blankly and as though i'm a bit mad - something is wrong somewhere - this is not the response i need - i have found much more support and solidarity online - this distant response drives people away. People i have spoken to actually don't know what the Labour party is for - or what it stands for - or what it will do for them - i could tell them that Ed had promised to ban zero hours contracts and tackle inequality and landlords and bedroom tax etc - but now that has all gone - and we are left with candidates stabbing him in the back and distancing themselves from these very real problems and trying to make themselves appealing to Tories and rich businesses - and so called right/centre labour supporters who it seems would really be happier in the tory party if indeed the're not already - there is a theory that the clever tories are pretending to be labour online in order to fool labour into making wrong decisions....so this is part of my experience at the moment - i have worked really hard to do my part in getting Jeremy Corbyn the nominations he needed and completely identify with him and his community based ground level in touch with the people he represents style of politics - and like many others i would have struggled to stay in the party if some 'left' representation had not been accommodated.
Sunday 14 June 2015
comment on the Jeremy 4 Leader Support Group fb page about the fight to get Jeremy Corbyn nominated in the Labour Leadership contest
the wonderful Jeremy 4 Leader Support group page on Fb is almost like the birth of a new community - we have all experienced what it is like to really fight for what we want and not just accept what has been laid out before us - i began that fight before the election for Ed Miliband and I learned a lot from Abby and the Milifandom on twitter - the young really showed us a thing of two about how to use social media to make an impact - for me it is Ed who awoke and unleashed the buried and sleeping socialist soul of the Labour movement and they tried to destroy him for it - but like a pheonix it has risen again from the ashes stronger than ever in our hope Jeremy Corbyn - both Jeremy and Ed are true heroes who have shown us what it is to work together to fight Tory destruction in this constant struggle - a Tory divide and rule society has broken down strength of community - but through social media we have found and connected with each other again - we must build on that and join forces physically in marches and demos and local group meetings etc - unite what they have divided - many thanks to those who started the group
Saturday 6 June 2015
All That Is Solid ...: Saturday Interview: Sue Jones
All That Is Solid ...: Saturday Interview: Sue Jones: Sue Jones is a Labour Party member from Durham by way of Bolton, and has been regularly blogging since October 2012 under the (semi-) nom de...
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