Friday, May 21, 2004
London's burning
Had a great day yesterday. We had our Europe launch in the splendid surroundings of the Foreign Press Association building in Carlton Gardens. Anyone who tells you London is overcrowded and that we can't let any more people in should be brought to this area for their education.
The streets are wide and leafy, and it is incredibly quiet and peaceful. You could fit loads of families into these spacious great buildings which now house diplomatic premises, government offices and gentlemen's clubs.
George Galloway introduces the press conference very well and deals with the questions. Some of our candidates are down from other parts of the country _ I meet some for the first time but some are old friends now because of Stop the War _ Anas Al Tikriti from Yorkshire, Salma Yaqoob from the West Midlands and Yvonne Ridley from the North East.
It is great to get together for half an hour and swap stories before we rush off back on the campaign trail. Yvonne seems to be getting huge meetings and great publicity in the North East.
People are fed up that the Today programme simply trivialised our campaign. It doesn't surprise me at all _ these are the same people who refused to have us on their programme the day of our 2 million demo last year.
I'm listening to it now as I write and it is one boring feature after another, interviewing a series of establishment figures. They go on about apathy and people being bored with politics but then the only people they talk to are the politicians who have turned people off politics.
No wonder their listening figures are falling. These people live in a bubble, as George Galloway says.
Outside the bubble, real politics goes on. I attend a wonderful union meeting at an east London fire station. I have been invited to talk about Respect and we do that for quite a while, then they go back to talking about their dispute. It is such an education to hear their discussion and their determination to win what is due to them.
A lot of fire fighters will vote for us _ we have several candidates including Linda Smith in London and they are fed up with Labour behaving like the Tories.
The ones going off shift invite us to the pub and we carry on talking politics. They take Respect leaflets for another meeting.
Late on John phones me about a great meeting in Darlington. Two women we met in Sedgefield campaigning against George Bush are working for Respect. With them and Yvonne I think the opposition should be very frightened.
The streets are wide and leafy, and it is incredibly quiet and peaceful. You could fit loads of families into these spacious great buildings which now house diplomatic premises, government offices and gentlemen's clubs.
George Galloway introduces the press conference very well and deals with the questions. Some of our candidates are down from other parts of the country _ I meet some for the first time but some are old friends now because of Stop the War _ Anas Al Tikriti from Yorkshire, Salma Yaqoob from the West Midlands and Yvonne Ridley from the North East.
It is great to get together for half an hour and swap stories before we rush off back on the campaign trail. Yvonne seems to be getting huge meetings and great publicity in the North East.
People are fed up that the Today programme simply trivialised our campaign. It doesn't surprise me at all _ these are the same people who refused to have us on their programme the day of our 2 million demo last year.
I'm listening to it now as I write and it is one boring feature after another, interviewing a series of establishment figures. They go on about apathy and people being bored with politics but then the only people they talk to are the politicians who have turned people off politics.
No wonder their listening figures are falling. These people live in a bubble, as George Galloway says.
Outside the bubble, real politics goes on. I attend a wonderful union meeting at an east London fire station. I have been invited to talk about Respect and we do that for quite a while, then they go back to talking about their dispute. It is such an education to hear their discussion and their determination to win what is due to them.
A lot of fire fighters will vote for us _ we have several candidates including Linda Smith in London and they are fed up with Labour behaving like the Tories.
The ones going off shift invite us to the pub and we carry on talking politics. They take Respect leaflets for another meeting.
Late on John phones me about a great meeting in Darlington. Two women we met in Sedgefield campaigning against George Bush are working for Respect. With them and Yvonne I think the opposition should be very frightened.
Thursday, May 20, 2004
All this and recipes too
I pick up The Independent this morning and see a picture of a Palestinian carrying a wounded boy hit by an Israeli missile in Rafah yesterday. To me it immediately echoed another _world famous _ picture from the South African township of Soweto, when black school children were mown down by the apartheid regime.
Those racist police would have loved the array of weaponry available to the Israeli army, courtesy of 'peace and freedom loving' US aid. Tank shells and helicopter missiles against unarmed children.
I'm glad we have made Palestine a part of our programme.
Yesterday I visited a mosque in Edmonton and spoke to an impromptu meeting after prayers. There are so many mosques in London _ some of them very big but also lots of smaller ones. It is amazing that _ probably like most non Muslims in Britain _ I had visited more mosques abroad than in this country before I started campaigning in Stop the War.
The Imam and other people connected to the mosque are very friendly as always and George Galloway has very high standing among them. One of them is a RMT member at Arnos Grove tube so we talk about that as well.
On to a hustings in a local secondary school where 30 teachers and other staff turn up. Labour doesn't even bother to send a candidate. What an insult in a Labour area. They're frightened of debate _ that's why their Labour leaflet only says stop the BNP. They can't say anything about Labour policy.
Home relatively early at just after 9. Cook a meal out of the ingredients to hand - potatoes, anchovies, garlic and cheese and some salad. Believe me, it's delicious.
Those racist police would have loved the array of weaponry available to the Israeli army, courtesy of 'peace and freedom loving' US aid. Tank shells and helicopter missiles against unarmed children.
I'm glad we have made Palestine a part of our programme.
Yesterday I visited a mosque in Edmonton and spoke to an impromptu meeting after prayers. There are so many mosques in London _ some of them very big but also lots of smaller ones. It is amazing that _ probably like most non Muslims in Britain _ I had visited more mosques abroad than in this country before I started campaigning in Stop the War.
The Imam and other people connected to the mosque are very friendly as always and George Galloway has very high standing among them. One of them is a RMT member at Arnos Grove tube so we talk about that as well.
On to a hustings in a local secondary school where 30 teachers and other staff turn up. Labour doesn't even bother to send a candidate. What an insult in a Labour area. They're frightened of debate _ that's why their Labour leaflet only says stop the BNP. They can't say anything about Labour policy.
Home relatively early at just after 9. Cook a meal out of the ingredients to hand - potatoes, anchovies, garlic and cheese and some salad. Believe me, it's delicious.
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
You're UNbelievable
Up at 6.30, stuffed a load of washing in the machine - although still left a bigger pile behind in the basket - and wondered bleary eyed what I was going to wear.
I now understand why most election campaigns take place in spring and summer because these hours would be unbearable in the dark and cold. But today is a lovely spring day and the square looks at its most beautiful.
Last night I spoke at a meeting in Newham which had the most tremendous atmosphere - people of all races and colours, young and old, a sense of unity and that we can win.
Two young women from a drama college in Loughton (actually over the Essex border) want to organise a meeting there. They are worried about the BNP which they say does a lot of leafletting out their way.
These places are very important to organise. Respect has to spread outwards to provide an alternative that isn't about racism and injustice.
Earlier yesterday went to a small union hustings for London Fire Brigade staff. Only us and the Greens turned up. The Greens are claiming they are the only anti war party. Please! And they still favour some sort of UN occupation.
Why should the Iraqis of all people - who suffered war and sanctions under the UN banner - want the UN back? Well they don't.
In between meetings headed to the swanky Landmark hotel in Marylebone where George Bush senior is addressing a fundraising dinner. There are more police than for a football match. How much has it cost us to protect warmonger 1 as well as warmonger 2?
I now understand why most election campaigns take place in spring and summer because these hours would be unbearable in the dark and cold. But today is a lovely spring day and the square looks at its most beautiful.
Last night I spoke at a meeting in Newham which had the most tremendous atmosphere - people of all races and colours, young and old, a sense of unity and that we can win.
Two young women from a drama college in Loughton (actually over the Essex border) want to organise a meeting there. They are worried about the BNP which they say does a lot of leafletting out their way.
These places are very important to organise. Respect has to spread outwards to provide an alternative that isn't about racism and injustice.
Earlier yesterday went to a small union hustings for London Fire Brigade staff. Only us and the Greens turned up. The Greens are claiming they are the only anti war party. Please! And they still favour some sort of UN occupation.
Why should the Iraqis of all people - who suffered war and sanctions under the UN banner - want the UN back? Well they don't.
In between meetings headed to the swanky Landmark hotel in Marylebone where George Bush senior is addressing a fundraising dinner. There are more police than for a football match. How much has it cost us to protect warmonger 1 as well as warmonger 2?
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Those were the days
Now the days are getting longer and so are my hours. Monday morning I met people from Sudan, Somalia and the Ivory Coast to discuss getting their communities involved in the election campaign.
By the time I got to Pimlico tube I'd been up four hours and had another meeting. As I crossed St George's Square it brought back memories of my family.
My aunt and uncle lived in the square in the early years of the Second World War and my mother stayed with them every weekend during the Blitz. The reason for this rather strange decision was that she was 16 years old and an orphan who lived in lodgings in Southall and she wanted to be with her favourite older sister.
She used to tell stories of air raids, the man who was killed when he opened the door after a bomb dropped and was hit by the blast, the paper mill in Battersea which had a direct hit and all the next day charred paper 'snowed' from the skies.
My aunt was a midwife at the Lying In Hospital in Soho Square until she herself had a baby. My uncle, a former merchant seaman, was in the river police at Wapping.
Both of them were typical of the people in London who did essential and often dangerous jobs without thinking of rewards.
In 1945 that generation expected something better following the war, especially good cheap housing in inner london. Pimlico today still has some of the best positioned council housing, some of it overlooking the Thames.
The people I meet are typical of the present generation who do useful jobs for the community again with little reward.
Later I talk to students _ a new generation who are amazed to find that when I was a student we got all our tube fares to college paid. Those were the days!
By the time I got to Pimlico tube I'd been up four hours and had another meeting. As I crossed St George's Square it brought back memories of my family.
My aunt and uncle lived in the square in the early years of the Second World War and my mother stayed with them every weekend during the Blitz. The reason for this rather strange decision was that she was 16 years old and an orphan who lived in lodgings in Southall and she wanted to be with her favourite older sister.
She used to tell stories of air raids, the man who was killed when he opened the door after a bomb dropped and was hit by the blast, the paper mill in Battersea which had a direct hit and all the next day charred paper 'snowed' from the skies.
My aunt was a midwife at the Lying In Hospital in Soho Square until she herself had a baby. My uncle, a former merchant seaman, was in the river police at Wapping.
Both of them were typical of the people in London who did essential and often dangerous jobs without thinking of rewards.
In 1945 that generation expected something better following the war, especially good cheap housing in inner london. Pimlico today still has some of the best positioned council housing, some of it overlooking the Thames.
The people I meet are typical of the present generation who do useful jobs for the community again with little reward.
Later I talk to students _ a new generation who are amazed to find that when I was a student we got all our tube fares to college paid. Those were the days!
Monday, May 17, 2004
Eastern promise
Sunday a very good day. We started late morning in Brick Lane at a press breakfast when George announced a legal challenge against Tony Blair as a war criminal. Then we went walkabout in the area. I think our supporters there are really making a breakthrough. People know about us, they agree with what we say, and they detest new Labour. Several former Labour councillors in Tower Hamlets have publicly called for a vote for Respect.
Our meeting at the Brady centre is full on a lovely sunny afternoon with lots of Bengalis there. There is great enthusiasm for Respect and we raise an incredible nearly 400 just from the collection, with pledges of more.
Most people in the room are probably not well off and money is always a sign of commitment. We also get boxes of sweets from one of the shopkeepers in Brick Lane.
Perhaps most importantly, I meet two fantastic women who want to organise meetings for me among women in the community. Lutfa begum speaks to the meeting and although I can't understand what she is saying she gets a tremendous response _ it turns out she is urging that the women get more involved in politics.
Six o'clock go for meal in my favourite Vietnamese restaurant. It is beautiful by the french windows in the evening sunshine. But it makes me feel very tired so I'm in bed early. When John and his mum get back from Birmingham I'm fast asleep.
Our meeting at the Brady centre is full on a lovely sunny afternoon with lots of Bengalis there. There is great enthusiasm for Respect and we raise an incredible nearly 400 just from the collection, with pledges of more.
Most people in the room are probably not well off and money is always a sign of commitment. We also get boxes of sweets from one of the shopkeepers in Brick Lane.
Perhaps most importantly, I meet two fantastic women who want to organise meetings for me among women in the community. Lutfa begum speaks to the meeting and although I can't understand what she is saying she gets a tremendous response _ it turns out she is urging that the women get more involved in politics.
Six o'clock go for meal in my favourite Vietnamese restaurant. It is beautiful by the french windows in the evening sunshine. But it makes me feel very tired so I'm in bed early. When John and his mum get back from Birmingham I'm fast asleep.
