As I left the Civic Centre in the early hours this morning, sickened by the thought of five years of Tory government that will dismember the welfare state, continue the ideological war on the poor, disabled and migrant, and overcome by the sheer ugliness of the Tory's vision for the country, I was arrested by the pure beauty of the song of a blackbird as it opened the dawn chorus in the shadow of Wembley Stadium.
Yes, life goes on and so must the struggle.
There is a beauty in struggle, solidarity and resistance that can send the heart soaring just as much as that blackbird's song. I felt it when demonstrating with residents from the West Hendon estate, when we prevented fascist groups from marching in Cricklewood, when working with others to try and save the Stonebridge Adventure Playground and at national level when working with Green Party colleagues on a different vision for education.
Faced with the Conservative threat we must find new ways of working together across party lines and involving those who, as evidenced from many of the spoilt ballot papers I saw last night, reject all political parties as 'only in it for themselves'.
We have to show that we are 'in it for each other' and that means putting the movement before party.
The task for the anti-austerity movement is to to develop an alternative model of society and economy that will capture people's imagination and free their passion and creativity to build a different sort of society.
Life goes on. and so does the struggle.
Yes, life goes on and so must the struggle.
There is a beauty in struggle, solidarity and resistance that can send the heart soaring just as much as that blackbird's song. I felt it when demonstrating with residents from the West Hendon estate, when we prevented fascist groups from marching in Cricklewood, when working with others to try and save the Stonebridge Adventure Playground and at national level when working with Green Party colleagues on a different vision for education.
Faced with the Conservative threat we must find new ways of working together across party lines and involving those who, as evidenced from many of the spoilt ballot papers I saw last night, reject all political parties as 'only in it for themselves'.
We have to show that we are 'in it for each other' and that means putting the movement before party.
The task for the anti-austerity movement is to to develop an alternative model of society and economy that will capture people's imagination and free their passion and creativity to build a different sort of society.
Life goes on. and so does the struggle.
5 comments:
Well said, Martin!
Forward Ever ..
Peace & Unity v Greed and Austerity!
Martin
There is hope.
An academic paper I have recently submitted calling on the teaching of heterodox economics in contrast to current focus on NeoClassical has been accepted to present at both UK Economic Conference, but more importantly at Australian Economic Conference in July.
The teaching of different economic schools of thought will eventually deliver a different political outcome. It will take time, but I am hopeful from an academic point of view new ideas on how an economy should be structured to work for the 99% rather than 1 % will eventually emerge.
I will post a link to my paper once it is published on the conference website.
I am proud to have voted Green
I admire your philosophical reactions but I find myself reflecting more on the fact that the election was decided as usual by the relatively small numbers of ‘floating voters’, the ‘undecided’, the people who don’t really seem to have a strong view either way about the dismantling of the health service, the privatisation of education or the officially-sanctioned cruelty to the vulnerable, and who are so dull-witted, gullible and suggestible that you only need to repeat ‘chaos’, ‘SNP holding to ransom’ and ‘ finish the job’ a few times and they’ll skip off merrily to the polling station to vote Tory even though they're too embarrassed to declare their stupidity to the pollsters.
Then add the fact of 80% Tory press ownership setting the agenda for all broadcast media. By lunchtime yesterday the media were screaming ‘share prices crash’ and ‘pound tumbles’ even though they were supposed to be observing election day neutrality. That must have been worth a few hundred thousands of votes to Cameron too.
Sometimes despair is the appropriate response.
Mike Hine
as another ornithophile, who was also dismayed by the result (except in brighton pavillion), i was cheered up a little by seeing martens and hearing swifts scream, these migrants are welcomed by me, partly because the swifts can do the screaming for me, and fly beautifully, i wish i could
Tories vision... not to mention fracking, climate change, academisation of schools, more savage cuts to local authorities' budgets, further inequalitities, more food banks & worse health outcomes for the poorest (which will ultimately bankrupt the NHS), TTIP, a disinfranchised and disillusioned electorate and the sick smugness of the 1% who've got away with it (by demonising Miliband and the SNP) to sneak in a 'majority'.
But hey, let's look on the bright side - when things get really bad it gives us more incentive to join together and stand up to them. We must not let them drive us down or apart. Let's keep up the good fight. Solidarity to you Martin.
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