Saturday, May 15, 2004
I read the news today, oh boy
I was greatly cheered this morning by my trip to the newsagents for two reasons; they have my leaflet up in their window and I leave them more to give out to their customers. And the headline on my Financial Times says 'Support for Bush plummets'.
I really hope he loses the election in November because that will be such a great boost for the anti war movement and for the millions of Americans, now a majority, who also oppose the war.
We have a constant fight on our hands with the media and the government over the war. Look at the resignations: Gilligan, Dyke, Davies and now the Mirror's Piers Morgan. Yet Hoon, Straw and Blair and all their spineless allies are still there. Isn't there something wrong where the army and US shareholders can determine the editor of a publication but we can't get rid of a single warmonger from the cabinet even though their war has been a disaster.
Now of course you can't find anyone who supported the war. The columnists, the commentators, the politicians, are all running away but they still says they support the occupation.
respect gets huge support from people because it is the real thing, not the pale imitation. The LibDems support the occupation(and supported the war when it was on)and the Greens favour some kind of UN 'peacekeeping' force. But the Iraqis don't want western soldiers in blue helmets _ they want their country back.
Events in Karbala and Najaf show the troops are part of the problem not the solution. People are disgusted with the war and with Blair who must be the most hated man in Britain.
On Friday I did another round in South London. Started with Operation Black Vote launching their poster campaign. We have more black and Asian candidates than anyone else and several of them were there. The other parties pay lip service but do little on this and they really do look like middle class white men (and a few women) in suits. We look like London looks.
George and I met Southwark Unison shop stewards with Janet Noble and John Mulrennan, two of our south London candidates. George talks about 'a tale of two cities' and the poverty in Walworth _ no one disagrees because they are at the sharp end. One person asks if respect is going to be permanent and we reassure him.
Great meeting at a Peckham mosque where we are given a warm reception and they take our leaflets. On to Brixton for more walkabouts and a meeting at the college which is cancelled by the principal. How democratic. We hold the meeting outside anyway. It's about 80 percent women.
At the Palestine rally on Saturday George gets a great reception for his speech and lots of people ask me about my campaign and say they will vote for me. Several ask why we're transferring to Livingstone now he has gone back into Labour. I say it gives you a chance to register opposition to war and to New Labour but also stops the Tory getting in. I think that's principled but some people just won't vote Labour any more.
I really hope he loses the election in November because that will be such a great boost for the anti war movement and for the millions of Americans, now a majority, who also oppose the war.
We have a constant fight on our hands with the media and the government over the war. Look at the resignations: Gilligan, Dyke, Davies and now the Mirror's Piers Morgan. Yet Hoon, Straw and Blair and all their spineless allies are still there. Isn't there something wrong where the army and US shareholders can determine the editor of a publication but we can't get rid of a single warmonger from the cabinet even though their war has been a disaster.
Now of course you can't find anyone who supported the war. The columnists, the commentators, the politicians, are all running away but they still says they support the occupation.
respect gets huge support from people because it is the real thing, not the pale imitation. The LibDems support the occupation(and supported the war when it was on)and the Greens favour some kind of UN 'peacekeeping' force. But the Iraqis don't want western soldiers in blue helmets _ they want their country back.
Events in Karbala and Najaf show the troops are part of the problem not the solution. People are disgusted with the war and with Blair who must be the most hated man in Britain.
On Friday I did another round in South London. Started with Operation Black Vote launching their poster campaign. We have more black and Asian candidates than anyone else and several of them were there. The other parties pay lip service but do little on this and they really do look like middle class white men (and a few women) in suits. We look like London looks.
George and I met Southwark Unison shop stewards with Janet Noble and John Mulrennan, two of our south London candidates. George talks about 'a tale of two cities' and the poverty in Walworth _ no one disagrees because they are at the sharp end. One person asks if respect is going to be permanent and we reassure him.
Great meeting at a Peckham mosque where we are given a warm reception and they take our leaflets. On to Brixton for more walkabouts and a meeting at the college which is cancelled by the principal. How democratic. We hold the meeting outside anyway. It's about 80 percent women.
At the Palestine rally on Saturday George gets a great reception for his speech and lots of people ask me about my campaign and say they will vote for me. Several ask why we're transferring to Livingstone now he has gone back into Labour. I say it gives you a chance to register opposition to war and to New Labour but also stops the Tory getting in. I think that's principled but some people just won't vote Labour any more.
Friday, May 14, 2004
It's the war stupid
So busy in the last 36 hours haven't had time to write. Spoke in the House of Commons at the meeting organised by Iraqi Democrats against the Occupation on behalf of Stop the War. The main speakers are three visiting Iraqis who oppose the occupation from different backgrounds: Islamic, nationalist and democratic socialist. Very interesting and I'm always struck by how polite and pleasant the iraqis are when explaining the terrible conditions in which our government has placed them.
Jeremy Corbyn MP and I sound much more angry and Jeremy jokes that he and I are thinking of changing our nationality because we're so ashamed of what is being done.
In Stop the War office at 8.30 on Thursday morning. I only left Ghada really late the previous night after a meal following the iraq meeting _ and here we are again. We have a very good and serious discussion about whether we should call an emergency demo about the torture and killing in Iraq.
We decide yes but it will have to be cup final day so we call it for early in the day and Chris and Ghada put in motion the now familiar routine of booking Trafalgar Square, getting leaflets, contacting the police and phoning round.
We get a very positive response and hope that a lot of people will turn out next week.
Rush to Bush House to record the radio broadcast with George Galloway. We chat about the campaign, the Indian election where the far right BJP have suffered a shock defeat and the Communists seem to have done well. I take ages to get my bit right but lots of it will get cut.
Then back up to Kings Cross to the pensioners' hustings where _victory _ I am now on the platform. Amazing - to hear the panel you wouldn't think there was a single party in Britain that had supported the war.
It ends in disarray when loads of pensioners protest that there is not enough time for their questions and that they're being patronised. That's what makes the local news and late on after two more meetings I see myself looking calm on the platform while all hell breaks loose beneath me!
Friday morning: as I write this I hear that US tanks are fighting with the resistance in Najaf cemetery following the war criminal Donald Rumsfeld's visit to Baghdad. So glad we called the demo.
Jeremy Corbyn MP and I sound much more angry and Jeremy jokes that he and I are thinking of changing our nationality because we're so ashamed of what is being done.
In Stop the War office at 8.30 on Thursday morning. I only left Ghada really late the previous night after a meal following the iraq meeting _ and here we are again. We have a very good and serious discussion about whether we should call an emergency demo about the torture and killing in Iraq.
We decide yes but it will have to be cup final day so we call it for early in the day and Chris and Ghada put in motion the now familiar routine of booking Trafalgar Square, getting leaflets, contacting the police and phoning round.
We get a very positive response and hope that a lot of people will turn out next week.
Rush to Bush House to record the radio broadcast with George Galloway. We chat about the campaign, the Indian election where the far right BJP have suffered a shock defeat and the Communists seem to have done well. I take ages to get my bit right but lots of it will get cut.
Then back up to Kings Cross to the pensioners' hustings where _victory _ I am now on the platform. Amazing - to hear the panel you wouldn't think there was a single party in Britain that had supported the war.
It ends in disarray when loads of pensioners protest that there is not enough time for their questions and that they're being patronised. That's what makes the local news and late on after two more meetings I see myself looking calm on the platform while all hell breaks loose beneath me!
Friday morning: as I write this I hear that US tanks are fighting with the resistance in Najaf cemetery following the war criminal Donald Rumsfeld's visit to Baghdad. So glad we called the demo.
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Is this what democracy looks like?
Up at 7 for the launch of our London campaign. London Tonight phone me at 8.30 and I get a car down to do an interview before the press conference. They ask me about the Olympic bid, do I want to be mayor and my attitude to Ken Livingstone. The office is buzzing afterwards with lots of people all very busy.
There is a problem with the hustings: we are being excluded from many of them without any good justification. The pensioners, LSE civic society, Stonewall, Amnesty international, are all claiming they cannot fit us onto their platforms _ and this is despite complaints from their members.
These are all organisations committed on paper to democracy which are denying their members the right to hear Respect candidates. They claim they decided months ago, or that there are too many candidates, and that they will not reconsider.
This is so undemocratic. I am the only woman candidate in the mayoral contest, and by definition we couldn't have been considered months ago because we're a new organisation. On these grounds Ken Livingstone wouldn't have been allowed on platforms when he stood last time as an independent.
One woman phoned me this week outraged at the pensioners' decision so I'm turning up there tomorrow. Are they frightened of our arguments? We'll see.
Off to speak at meeting in parliament with three visiting Iraqis then I have to write my script for the radio broadcast which we're doing tomorrow. An 18 hour day again.
There is a problem with the hustings: we are being excluded from many of them without any good justification. The pensioners, LSE civic society, Stonewall, Amnesty international, are all claiming they cannot fit us onto their platforms _ and this is despite complaints from their members.
These are all organisations committed on paper to democracy which are denying their members the right to hear Respect candidates. They claim they decided months ago, or that there are too many candidates, and that they will not reconsider.
This is so undemocratic. I am the only woman candidate in the mayoral contest, and by definition we couldn't have been considered months ago because we're a new organisation. On these grounds Ken Livingstone wouldn't have been allowed on platforms when he stood last time as an independent.
One woman phoned me this week outraged at the pensioners' decision so I'm turning up there tomorrow. Are they frightened of our arguments? We'll see.
Off to speak at meeting in parliament with three visiting Iraqis then I have to write my script for the radio broadcast which we're doing tomorrow. An 18 hour day again.
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
The Navigator
Filmed our election broadcast with Ken Loach, who is one of our candidates as well as being one of the best known film directors in Britain.
His crew found a brilliant place to film, which has a view right across from the Dome to the London Eye. I always have mundane thoughts on these occasions (like 'how do they clean the windows?').
Filming takes longer than I - and perhaps they - expected. Ken is great at encouraging rather than criticising, though we're running late and have to make two broadcasts by Friday.
This morning my newsagents tell me 'we saw your picture'. I explain that I'm standing for Mayor and they ask if there's anything they can do to help.
When I go down the street I understand the source of my new-found fame. I see pictures of me and George Galloway in some of the Turkish food shops, in kebab shops, mini-cab firms and even an estate agent's.
Much talk in the papers about what the government knew about the torture in Iraq. The gung-ho, pro-war columnists are all looking sick and sheepish. Tony Parsons has admitted that us 'peaceniks' were right. Even David Aaronovitch now has doubts - though not about the occupation. Why doesn't that surprise me?
His crew found a brilliant place to film, which has a view right across from the Dome to the London Eye. I always have mundane thoughts on these occasions (like 'how do they clean the windows?').
Filming takes longer than I - and perhaps they - expected. Ken is great at encouraging rather than criticising, though we're running late and have to make two broadcasts by Friday.
This morning my newsagents tell me 'we saw your picture'. I explain that I'm standing for Mayor and they ask if there's anything they can do to help.
When I go down the street I understand the source of my new-found fame. I see pictures of me and George Galloway in some of the Turkish food shops, in kebab shops, mini-cab firms and even an estate agent's.
Much talk in the papers about what the government knew about the torture in Iraq. The gung-ho, pro-war columnists are all looking sick and sheepish. Tony Parsons has admitted that us 'peaceniks' were right. Even David Aaronovitch now has doubts - though not about the occupation. Why doesn't that surprise me?
Monday, May 10, 2004
History on your shoulder
I've managed to watch the preview tapes of Peter Ackroyd's series on London _the first one was broadcast on Friday night and is I think the least satisfactory.
The second one on the crowd in London _sometimes called the mob_ is much better and so is the third. Ackroyd says that history is always on your shoulder in London. He showed the destruction of the hated Newgate prison _ the Old Bailey now stands on its site _ in 1780 as part of the Gordon riots.
These were anti Catholic riots (the Catholics were regarded by much of the London poor as counter revolutionary and in favour of the aristocracy)which lasted for six days until put down by the authorities with several hundred dead.
Newgate was notorious and some of its inhabitants like the highwayman Jack Shepherd were local heroes. Such was the memory of this terrible prison that its name was passed in notoriety through the generations.
When we came in dirty after playing, my mother would say that our hands or faces were 'as black as Newgate's knocker'.
We can only wonder how many generations of Iraqi mothers will be cursing the Abu Ghraib prison and the terrible torture going on there and in other Iraqi prisons.
I was reminded of history again on Sunday when I went to the Mela in Brick Lane, the Bengali area just in the shadow of the huge City developments like the Lloyds building and the Gherkin.
There are layers of London here, from the beautiful Hawksmoor church in Spitalfields, to the street names like Fournier Street which betray the previous large population of French Huguenot silk weavers.
Brick Lane was once the home of a large Jewish population and there are still remnants of it. It was the home of socialists, anarchists and communists, many refugees from eastern Europe and Russia.
The streets yesterday were filled with stalls and people enjoying themselves. To judge from the response we got Brick Lane remains radical. Respect gave out thousands of broadsheets about our campaign and we got lots of support.
In the evening to Willesden for more history. Just round the corner from the Grunwick's factory _ the scene of some of the biggest pickets in London in the 1970s _ was the Brent and Harrow fundraising meal. A pomegranate juice and a quick speech then back home.
Up at six today for a planning meeting. Today we're filming the London broadcast which goes out next Monday. Another long day.
The second one on the crowd in London _sometimes called the mob_ is much better and so is the third. Ackroyd says that history is always on your shoulder in London. He showed the destruction of the hated Newgate prison _ the Old Bailey now stands on its site _ in 1780 as part of the Gordon riots.
These were anti Catholic riots (the Catholics were regarded by much of the London poor as counter revolutionary and in favour of the aristocracy)which lasted for six days until put down by the authorities with several hundred dead.
Newgate was notorious and some of its inhabitants like the highwayman Jack Shepherd were local heroes. Such was the memory of this terrible prison that its name was passed in notoriety through the generations.
When we came in dirty after playing, my mother would say that our hands or faces were 'as black as Newgate's knocker'.
We can only wonder how many generations of Iraqi mothers will be cursing the Abu Ghraib prison and the terrible torture going on there and in other Iraqi prisons.
I was reminded of history again on Sunday when I went to the Mela in Brick Lane, the Bengali area just in the shadow of the huge City developments like the Lloyds building and the Gherkin.
There are layers of London here, from the beautiful Hawksmoor church in Spitalfields, to the street names like Fournier Street which betray the previous large population of French Huguenot silk weavers.
Brick Lane was once the home of a large Jewish population and there are still remnants of it. It was the home of socialists, anarchists and communists, many refugees from eastern Europe and Russia.
The streets yesterday were filled with stalls and people enjoying themselves. To judge from the response we got Brick Lane remains radical. Respect gave out thousands of broadsheets about our campaign and we got lots of support.
In the evening to Willesden for more history. Just round the corner from the Grunwick's factory _ the scene of some of the biggest pickets in London in the 1970s _ was the Brent and Harrow fundraising meal. A pomegranate juice and a quick speech then back home.
Up at six today for a planning meeting. Today we're filming the London broadcast which goes out next Monday. Another long day.
