Rochester and Strood by-election – 20th November, 2014
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ALB wrote:Look likes he might want to be photographed with you, Gnome:
Well he can kiss my ass!
A varied and eventful day in Rochester and Strood. Seven comrades gave out around 1200 leaflets. Several conversations were held with members of the public who, on the whole, were very sympathetic to our ideas. We met, on two separate occasions, one of the candidates standing in next Thursday's by-election. Nick Long, who is standing as the "People before Profit" candidate, was repeatedly told that capitalism can't work that way but all to no avail. People instead of profit should have been his clarion call. We also had a friendly exchange with Janice Atkinson, a local UKIP MEP.We had a stall but the intermittent rain showers made any literature sales exceedingly difficult. As if that wasn't enough we were told by police that a march by supporters of 'Britain First', who are also standing a candidate in the by-election, was imminent and advised us to pack up our stall as a precaution.News of that march and how it was thwarted by 'anti-fascists' can be seen here:http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/breaking-britain-first-stand-off-27043/To round off the afternoon some of us retired to the local Wetherspoons only to be asked to leave because an over zealous member of staff had spotted one of our comrades carrying (not distributing) some leaflets in the pub. We refused and invited the manager to call the police and have us removed. He declined our invitation. We left when we had finished our drinks and went elsewhere.
What was revealing was not so much the show of support for the UKIP candidate (by all accounts they are going to win) but the nature of the supporters. Reckless is what Class War would call a (ex) Tory toff. His election manifesto is like any Tory one:
Quote:Mark Reckless is 43 and married to Catriona. They have two children, Jamie and Toby, and they live in Rochester. Before he became MP for Rochester and Strood, Mark worked as an economist, as a lawyer and in business.Pictures of him, his wife and kids suggest he lives in a big house with a big garden.Most of those campaigning for him (and they'd come from all over the country) didn't look as if their wife was called Catriona or their children Jamie or Toby or that they lived in a big house with a garden. In fact they looked more like Labour supporters are supposed to look (though they had probably been working-class Tories). Older men (no skinheads)This is strange as UKIP's constitution declares it to be a "libertarian" party, "libertarian" in the US sense that is, i.e in favour of laissez-faire capitalism, and is financed by rich businessmen who see an economic interest in Britain not being in the UK. But, in a political democracy, capitalist parties have to seek and get working-class votes and to do so make wild promises to disguise what they really stand for.No doubt one of the appeals of UKIP to the campaigners we met is summed up in this from one of their leaflets entitled "It's time we swept away the failed political class" showing Farage sweeping away Miliband, Cameron and Clegg, and saying:
Quote:For 20 years, idemtikit governments have ridden roughod over the wishes and interests of the people of Britain. Many people have given up voting because all the choices appeared the same and no matter who they voted for, it made very little difference. (…)We're governed by a clueless class of professional politicians who are out of touch and out of ideas. It's time we swept them all OUT OF THERE.The tragedy is seeing everyday working people out campaigning for just one such professional politician.We also met the Monster Raving Loony Party candidate "Hairy Norm" who was also making a bid for the protest vote, but even he was saying "Don't let Europe Rule Britannia" and "keep imperial measures" and "keep the pound" (though, to his credit, he didn't say anything about immigrants). He's also the local "log merchant" and his election leaflet was "sponsored by Ashword Firewood Supplies". He probably wants to keep selling his logs by the hundredweight rather than the kilo or tonne as the changeover would be too complicated. But who else knows what a hundredweight is?
gnome wrote:A varied and eventful day in Rochester and Strood. Seven comrades gave out around 1200 leaflets. Several conversations were held with members of the public who, on the whole, were very sympathetic to our ideas. We met, on two separate occasions, one of the candidates standing in next Thursday's by-election. Nick Long, who is standing as the "People before Profit" candidate, was repeatedly told that capitalism can't work that way but all to no avail. People instead of profit should have been his clarion call. We also had a friendly exchange with Janice Atkinson, a local UKIP MEP.We had a stall but the intermittent rain showers made any literature sales exceedingly difficult. As if that wasn't enough we were told by police that a march by supporters of 'Britain First', who are also standing a candidate in the by-election, was imminent and advised us to pack up our stall as a precaution.News of that march and how it was thwarted by 'anti-fascists' can be seen here:http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/breaking-britain-first-stand-off-27043/To round off the afternoon some of us retired to the local Wetherspoons only to be asked to leave because an over zealous member of staff had spotted one of our comrades carrying (not distributing) some leaflets in the pub. We refused and invited the manager to call the police and have us removed. He declined our invitation. We left when we had finished our drinks and went elsewhere.Well done, comrades. Some good work
gnome wrote:Nick Long, who is standing as the "People before Profit" candidate, was repeatedly told that capitalism can't work that way but all to no avail. People instead of profit should have been his clarion call.But it hasn't been. Here's his election video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5gmG89D64kNo mention of getting rid of capitalism (which he presumably wants) or anything like that but just about restoring reforms that used to once exist under capitalism. Missed opportunity.Talking about missed opportunities, we could/should be doing amateur videos like this. Maybe we could get our candidates in the coming general election to do one each, tailored for the constituency where they are standing?
Hi Gnome, it's always good to read about Kent & Sussex group activities, may you go from strength to strength. The attitude of the Wetherspoon's manager intrigued me. Did he give a reason why he requested you to leave? ( I am assuming that justobserving someone carrying leaflets is no valid reason. The anti-discrimination laws were replaced by the Equality Act in 2010. One of the reasons it was set up, was to help busness understand their obligations, as providers of goods, services and facilities. [ quote] " People who access your goods, facilities or services are protected from direct discrimination on the basis of a "protected charactoristic." The relovent charactoristics are; * disability (defination changed) * gender reassignation ( defination changed)* pregnancy and maternity* race – this includes ethnic or national origins, colour and nationality* religion or belief* sex, and* sexual orientation
Error
I think the manager was overwhelmed by the situation. Not far from the pub there was the confrontation going on between the Britain First fascists and those who wanted to stop them marching down the high street (past the Little Dorrit tea rooms, Pip sweetshops and Two Cities cafes). I don't suppose Rochester had seen anything like it before and the manager was afraid that if he let in anyone political fighting would break out in his pub. An over-reaction. We were just the innocent victims, even though his behaviour to us was overbearing.
Hi Alb, thanks for the reply. Fear and intimidation was something I never considered, but I see now how that is one possibility.I simply assumed, because one of their staff had seen some posters, they knew who we were and did not find Socialism to their liking,therefore the wording of his request might be useful to other party members, who find themselves in similar circumstances.
No it wasn't anything to do with the fact that we were socialists (or that the owner of Wetherspoons is a supporter of the UK getting out of the EU). It was a blanket ban on anybody with leaflets or placards or rosettes or badges. Later, after we had left for another pub, they did admit people even with placards. Either they had overcome their panic or the prospect of making more sales had made them change their mind. Incidentally, the other pub also asked some people (with Green Party placards, as it happened) to leave them outside. We kept our leaflets in our pockets but the "People Before Profit" candidate was also there, so we did have a political discussion there on whether this was possible under capitalism (we said "no", he said nothing). Not that it was likely to develop into a pub brawl. We also talked to another customer who said she had already voted by post for the Greens.I think the publicans of Rochester are more used to tourists than politicos.
Here's the result:
Quote:Mark Reckless (UKIP) 16,867 (42.10%)Kelly Tolhurst (Conservative) 13,947 (34.81%)Naushabah Khan (Labour) 6,713 (16.76%)Clive Gregory (Green) 1,692 (4.22%)Geoff Juby (Lib Dem) 349 (0.87%)Hairy Knorm Davidson (Official Monster Raving Loony Party) 151 (0.38%)Stephen Goldsbrough (Ind) 69 (0.17%)Nick Long (People Before Profit) 69 (0.17%)Jayda Fransen (Britain First) 56 (0.14%)Mike Barker (Ind) 54 (0.13%)Charlotte Rose (Ind) 43 (0.11%)Dave Osborn (Patriotic Socialist Party) 33 (0.08%)Christopher Challis (Ind) 22 (0.05%)Confirmation as to why we no longer contest by-elections – the risk of being discredited by being beaten by such as the Monster Raving Loony Party. A warning too, maybe, of contesting general election seats where we've nobody on the ground.Interesting the way the Labour Party is entering the anti-immigrant stakes. After Gordon Brown was criticised during the last general election for calling a bigot a bigot, now one of their frontbench spokespersons is forced to resign for mocking the flag of St George.
A Reckless blast from Dennis Skinner as latest UKIP MP gets sworn in:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30141159
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