Democracy - Too important to be left to others!

You cant help but be impressed by the way that people in Iran are apparently sticking up for their democratic rights. I don’t mean anything like the Westminster bubble type democracy that we have here, centred on who did what to who and when, and how much did they get for it, but real democracy.
I say apparently sticking up for their rights because you can never be very sure what shadowy forces might be operating in the background. However, the fact that people are taking to the streets to protest what they see as a stolen election should never be ignored. Remember, this did not really happen to any sort of similar extent when there was a suggestion that George Bush had stolen the 2000 US presidential elections from Al Gore.
As a campaigner against the thankfully now gone South African apartheid regime I remember the feeling in my belly seeing millions of people being prepared to queue for hours on end in the blistering sunshine to cast their vote in the first free and democratic elections. It was a feeling that was matched for me in November last year watching the same sort of phenomenon unfold as the people of the US turned out in record numbers to elect Barack Obama to the presidency. For me, the only thing that comes close in the UK was the election of the first Blair Labour Government on Mayday 1997.
I think that democracy is a very precious thing. It has been fought for and won for us by ordinary people who decided that decisions that affected their lives were too important to be left to the few. Our right to vote for our own representatives was won in the face of often hostile opposition from people who considered themselves better than us mere plebs. So I am very disappointed when so many people choose, as they did recently, not to go to the polls.
Democracy is too precious to be left to others to do for or too us. Lets vote whenever we get the chance and reclaim our democracy.
(This article first appeared in the Birmingham Mail on 24 June 2009)

Faith Restored

What was turning out to be an already difficult weekend took a turn for the worse during Saturday evening when I managed to lose my wallet. The wallet contained a small amount of cash and some credit cards, both of which can be replaced. More importantly for me were a couple of photographs of my daughter. One was a picture of her only a few hours after her birth which is completely irreplaceable.
In my panicked state I worked out that I had probably dropped the wallet on a train between Birmingham and Walsall. It was a Saturday night and I did not hold out much hope of seeing the wallet or any of its contents again. A quick trip down to the railway station did not give any comfort. I also did not know any of the crucial bank or credit card account details or telephone numbers to call. As I was away from home I had to make a frantic call back to base to get the relevant details so that I could put a stop on the cards.
After obtaining the relevant details and making the necessary calls to cancel the cards and, hopefully, get new ones issued in good order, I decided that my last hope was a visit to Birmingham New Street lost property the following morning. However, I was sure that the wallet was gone.
When I reached the lost property office at the station and announced my predicament to the very friendly staff it was as if they were expecting me. My wallet had indeed been handed in with all contents completely intact.
Retrieving my wallet in this way actually reminded me of why I am a trade unionist and socialist. It is because I have a basic faith in people. It was a faith that I had forgotten in the midst of the trauma of losing my wallet. My assumption was not that it would be handed in but that I would lose everything. Thanks to whoever handed in my wallet – you have restored my faith.
(This article first appeared in the Birmingham Mail on 10 June 2009)

Building Alliances for Social Change

I have been reflecting on the historic victory by Barack Obama last year to become president of the United States of America. There is rightly a hope that his victory could help to heal the tremendous racial divide that still exists in the USA. The fact is that no single electoral victory, no matter how groundbreaking, will bridge the historical divide that has, in many ways defined that country.
It is no less important to find ways to bridge the racial divide that exists in this country. To think that there is no racial divide in the UK is to live in a dream world. Even though everyone is suffering in these hard economic times black workers are still far more likely to be unemployed than white workers. For people of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin, for example, they are around 4 times as likely to be without a job than their white counterparts.
One of the main successes of the Obama campaign was that it united people from a very diverse range of backgrounds. The outcome has been the creation of a social movement that will continue to put pressure on the Obama administration as well as all other politicians. It has fundamentally shifted power away from the powerful lobby groups in favour of the grassroots.
The same grassroots alliances for social justice are needed in this country. The trade union movement has already played a leading role in trying to develop these alliances. Most latterly unions were at the heart of the recent G20 demonstration in London with my own union UNISON having easily the largest presence.
Alliances of this kind have other important uses. They can help to fill the political vacuum that far right organisations, bent on sowing divisions in our society and scapegoating the black community for all the regions ills, have tried to occupy. Powerful alliances for social justice such as this will also help to hold politicians to account for their actions and, indeed, inactions. Use your vote wisely on June 4th but afterwards commit to making your voice heard for progressive change.
(This article first appeared in the Birmingham Mail on 27 May 2009)