Rebecca Johnson is today' s featured candidate on the Green Party national website LINK
I reproduce the post here:
In
the run up to the General Election we will be giving you the opportunity to get
to know some of our candidates. Our key candidates and spokespeople can be
found here.
This
year we will be standing in over 90% of seats in England and Wales.
Our
featured candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn: Rebecca Johnson
 |
| Rebecca Johnson at Saturday's Save NHS Petition presentation |
Why
are you standing as a candidate?
I'm
a feminist peace activist committed to participatory democracy. After joining
the Greens I supported getting Caroline Lucas into Westminster and canvassed on
behalf of other smart, committed Greens standing for local councils and the European
Parliament. So when I was asked to put my name forward this time, how could I
say no?
What
are your top 3 priorities if elected?
1)
Transforming British democracy. It makes me so sad to hear voters in Hampstead
and Kilburn say after a hustings that they think I'd make the best MP, they
love how I argue for the Green Party's joined-up policies across all issues,
but they feel they have to vote for another candidate as it's a marginal seat
and they don't want a Tory MP. British politics alienates more people than it
engages, especially young people, because under the stale 'first-past-the-post'
system, most of us feel that our votes don't count. So we need genuine
proportional representation – constituency-based single transferable votes for
the House of Commons. We should lower the voting age to 16, and of course
replace the unelected House of Lords with a proportionally-elected and much
more effective Second Chamber.
2)
Tackling homelessness and poverty here, notably in parts of Kilburn. That means
ending the scandal of empty houses, reforming Council tax banding and investing
in genuinely affordable social housing, and bringing in legislation so that the
private rental sector is better controlled to provide fair rents, better
accommodation and more secure tenancies.
3)
Scrapping Trident and putting the billions we would save into our real security
needs, such as a truly world class NHS, lifelong education opportunities, and
protecting our planet from the biggest security threat of all, humanity's pollution
and climate change.
What
made you want to get into politics?
I've
been engaged in British and UN politics as a feminist peace activist for many
years, promoting equality, social justice, disarmament and environmental
responsibility. I lived for five years at the Greenham Common Women's Peace
Camp to get rid of one generation of nuclear weapons, and then for Greenpeace
to ban nuclear testing. Successful in both, but we still have to scrap Trident
and build security without nuclear weapons. I decided to join the Green Party
in 2009, when I could no longer fool myself that Labour would transform itself
into an effective socialist party with the courage to tackle climate change,
nuclear disarmament, poverty and homelessness.
What
are your favourite things about the constituency?
I
love the community spirit here, from parishioners in South Kilburn and Queens
Park determined to stop HS2 from destroying their homes and schools, to Belsize
Park residents and shopkeepers campaigning to defend their local jobs and shops
against Tesco and its identikit, low-pay, profit-first model. And I love
cycling to Hampstead Heath and swimming in the women's pond... an oasis of
bliss while busy london fades into the background!
Who
is your political hero?
Sylvia
Pankhurst – the socialist suffragette committed to practical activism on behalf
of London's poor, especially hardworking women from British and immigrant
communities in the East End. She was feminist, courageous in her commitment to
peace, and worked closely with Keir Hardie, Labour's first MP, in breaking the
Tory-Liberal two-party stranglehold. From Greenham onwards, I've worn the
green, purple and white ribbons of the suffragettes. We must honour their
struggle for the vote by refusing to throw our precious democracy away in
"tactical" voting for the "least worst" of today's
inadequate TweedleCon and TweedleLab parties and their short term political
machines. Our votes can bring in the transformational policies this country and
our planet need.
