“Why does this keep happening?”
In the wake of another cowardly and violent terror attack in my beloved London, I’ve been reading first hand accounts of friends who had been at the scene and thinking of the victims, like the girl who - like a rabbit in headlights - stood and stared at the knifemen, only to be knifed down seconds later as the three descended on her.
My thoughts quickly turned to politics.
We see the election looming near and I have never felt so strongly about the need to make a change; how important our choices are in this time.
Fear is rooting so many people to the spot, like the tragedy of the yet to be named girl.
Fear is an incredibly dangerous thing. It can make us make bad, knee jerk choices or even none at all.
This forthcoming election means we need to make considered choices and not give in to fear.
I see fear every day. People are afraid to travel; afraid of people with different coloured skin; afraid of people wearing a hijab. In my day to day life I have personally witnessed this distrust and fear.
To quote Yoda because at this point I’m looking for something deeper… “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”
Fear can be useful and can keep us safe. It helped our ancestors survive. But a fear born from ignorance or one unchecked can lead to dangerous reactions. This reactive fear is something that is breeding, multiplying in our society,
We no longer have the depth of community that we once had in Britain. Many people attribute this to the number of immigrants in the country, but the same finger could be better pointed to many other reasons. Perhaps the cost of living; people having to move away from where they grew up because they can no longer afford to live there.
No longer knowing their neighbours, living anonymous lives in places that they do not have the roots of community.
In a time of extremism, it is easier to point a finger than look inward. I find myself looking at a culture baying for more blood, for hard-nosed answers to difficult questions.
“Throw more money into nuclear weapons.”
“Sell arms to help our economy so we can protect ourselves.”
“Bring in more surveillance”.
“Throw people in jail and lock away the key”.
“Hang them.”
“Bomb them”.
“Deport them.”
“Don’t let them in.”
We need to look at the reality here and not give in to fear, not alienate those who are “different”.
Because, logically none of these things have been working. After the recent attacks in England and across the world I often hear “Why do these things keep happening?” and “How can we go on like this?” from the same mouths baying for blood.
The reality is. We need a change and we need to not continue down this bloody path. That is how we stop these things happening.
We need to fight hate with love.
We need to be continue to be an open society
We need to get to know our neighbours, we need to continue to reach out olive branches, not shut out people not become more and more closed.
The Muslim community in Manchester alerted authorities to suspected Manchester Bomber Salman Abedi on a number of occasions. These warnings were overlooked. His own community and family members warned of his radicalisation and yet authorities did not take action. This is not the fault of the community who now face violence and more segregation because of their religion. This points to a wider problem.
We need to learn to separate these issues and innocent people.
In the ever rise of racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia, those who find themselves slipping into this must open their eyes and hearts.
Like Will.I.am sang, “If you only have love for your own race, then you only leave space to discriminate.”
Being a Muslim does not mean being a terrorist.
Being a terrorist does not mean being a muslim, or asian for that matter.
But alienating cultures within “our” own culture will further serve to play into the hands of those trying to spread the fear.
All the cultures that make up Britain are ours, we are them and they are us.
Living on this tiny, mixing pot island, a British Community, full of beautiful differences and cultures unified by being a part of the human race.
We must remember that hate breeds hate; we must not sink to that.
Rather than consistently looking at the effect of issues like the recent attacks in England we need to look further into cause.
Why have ISIS formed? Who is funding them and why has the home office admitted that an investigation into the foreign funding of extremist Islamist groups may never be published due to “sensitive information.”
Is our good friend Saudi Arabia (a morally bankrupt and human rights depleted country,) who the British recently sold £3.5bn of arms to funding ISIS?
Ask yourself does selling arms to countries on the human rights list serve Britain?
Does the bombing of countries which creates displaced people serve Britain?
Does privatising our biggest and best life saving Asset - the NHS- potentially leading to being charged for treatment, best serve Britain?
Does putting £4.8 billion into replacing four Trident nuclear submarines best serve Britain?
Because let’s be clear, pushing the button on these is first an illegal move defined in 1998 by the Rome Statute, which set up the international criminal court, as “a systematic attack directed against a civilian population, resulting in extermination or torture, or an inhumane act intentionally causing great suffering”.
10 times more powerful than Hiroshima, and indiscriminate of whether it hits civilian sites, like schools and hospitals it would wipe out millions of lives and leave a lasting legacy of trauma, cancer and deformities for years to come.
By the way, this would almost certainly lead to a definite return attack and leave us much the same.
Are we ok with killing?
Are we ok with creating more refugees?
More anger?
More resentment?
My thoughts on politics stretched further, as they are prone to do when so many issues are inextricably linked.
Our NHS is facing the biggest challenge in it’s history, where nurses and doctors are overstretched and costs are rising; nurses cannot afford to finish their qualifications meaning being understaffed in the future as well as now; healthcare is facing privatisation with high costs for treatment.
On Saturday night innocent people were rushed to the Accident and Emergency departments. Doctors and Nurses worked through the night to save lives. We need the NHS, of this there is no doubt.
The people who went in for care will not face bills that they can not pay in the morning.
Families of those who died will not face the phenomenal costs of air ambulances that were called out to try to rescue their loved one.
People from other countries were rushed to the hospital too. They will not be faced with these charges either, because they are here adding to our economy and on our soil and worthy of having their lived saved without checking if they can pay.
Our policeforce is stretched beyond reasonably limits, further cuts directly threaten our safety. In community policing and national security.
People are pushing to be able to survey Britian more, channelling people’s anger and confusion by rationalising we need to be watched more.
Let us remember that both two of the most rescent terrorists were known to police. Let us not confuse a direct problem with resourced with one of lack of power.
Terrorism and Extremism and the radicalisation of often angry young men and women poses so many more questions too about our wider economy.
On prisons:
Does paying £64000 a year for a person in prison serve Britain rather than working on reform programmes to teach convicts life skills and getting them into housing instead of back on the streets and potentially reoffended serve Britain?
Does hard punishment instead of reform serve us or does it serve our blood baying?
We must face that reform is the key to prevention and in the wider picture reform we must.
Not only must we reform those in prison but we must reform ourselves and the way we think, we must not self serve and worry about our tax cuts more than our safety. Reform is key to a safer society.
Look to the closing of prisons in Sweden and the Netherlands due to lack of prisoners; In the Netherlands crime rate has declined an average of 0.9% yearly. The punishment is taking away of liberty and the aim is to get people into better shape to re-enter society.
With re-offending rates at less than half of those in the UK it clearly works.
When we talk about the poor economy do we look fully at the zero hour contracts that do not guarantee a certain hours of work?
Do we look at work being illegally outsourced to prisons, taking jobs from those that need them because Prisoners are much cheaper. That legally is termed slave labour.
Prisons, where the radicalising of angry young men has been known to happen, are underfunded and being squeezed, there are not enough officers to keep inmates safe and are in danger themselves.
A breeding ground for radicalisation and being made to work as many hours as needed, punitively with no hourly wage, with no levels of real reform or ways to change their paths out of prison to me seems a dangerous combination.
Having a home and a job affect offending and reoffending. There is a causal link between education and crime. In layman terms, being homeless and not having a job makes you more likely to commit crime making society less safe.
Only a third of prisoners reported being in paid employment in the four weeks before custody. 13% reported never having had a job.
When we talk about a poor economy, we are not just discussing how many people have a home or can’t afford a meal out we are genuinely discussing life and death.
People are struggling to survive, visiting food banks and living hand to mouth.
We haven’t even touched here on mental health of the homeless and those incarcerated or the cuts to mental health benefits or disability allowances. Cut to our public services, healthcare, police.
The lists go on and on. But I have in some way tried to point to some of the reasons why these things can keep happening and how a healthy economy can work towards combatting issues such as terrorism.
Of course, we do not need to point out that bombing countries and creating refugees, then not giving them refuge can hardly help.
I don’t believe there is a “magic money tree” as Conservatives keep pointing out. Perhaps the only thing I agree with them on.
I believe there is a fully costed manifesto scrapping our death weapons and adding taxes to the highest earners that will ensure more police on the streets, more help for the poorest in our society, more nurses in our hospitals, more education, more trust within our society.
I don’t believe it’s perfect but I believe it is better than current circumstances, which only threaten to get worse.
The Conservatives have also been the biggest borrowers absolutely and on average over the past 70 years. Austerity is proven to not work, to tread further on the downtrodden.
I aspire to work hard, to get a great job with a nice house, I’d love to earn a lot of money, honestly don’t get me wrong. I do not feel that I am deterred by the taxations of businesses and the highest earners.
I think it is a responsibility to contribute to the society that has grown you. If get there I know my position will be privileged and I know I will be ok with paying more tax.
I always try to bear in mind that studies show you need £49000 a year to be happy. That’s £31000 less than the amount you have to earn to be in the 5% that will see higher tax rises.
As a floating voter I have been convinced by Jerermy Corbyn.
I don't care if he looks out of place in the suits; that he doesn’t play to the crowds or know how to court the country.
I care that he is there, fighting for the British people and not his rich establishment friends.
Consistently voting on the right side of Britain for over 20 years, fighting for our human rights, peace and actual stability - not u-turning and only offering soundbites but looking for meaningful solutions.
For the first time I feel strangely hopeful when listening to his arguments.
We need reform and we need to care for the most vulnerable in society.
We need to grow in love and look outward.
We need to give people the opportunity to grow and guide them through education.
People need homes and security.
I don’t think there is a fail safe answer to any of the questions we face but I think there is a better one than cuts, than poverty and than looking out for ourselves.
I believe when we start looking at these problems, it will have a wonderful effect on these scary wider problems. We are all better and stronger together.
That is why I will be voting to remove Conservatives from their reign of power on June 8th.