01 May 2005
Exit stage right
Feeling a bit bruised this morning after falling off a stage while sitting in a chair. I pushed my chair back and there was nothing there so toppled over. Luckily it wasn't a high stage and I wasn't badly hurt.
I was waiting to adress a meeting of Muslim men who were watching a slide show on the massacres in Gujerat three years ago. The meeting was fascinating and I spoke about the war, Respect and how we can change things. I talked about how the East End was the cradle of the trade unions _with the strikes of the match girls, the dockers and the gasworkers in Beckton.
I said how many of the workers involved in the strikes were immigrants _mainly Irish or Jewish at the time _ and about how Keir Hardie was elected as MP for West Ham in 1894 and how that led to the founding of the Labour Party.
People like to hear this history, which they don't hear many other places, because they want to feel part of a wider community and because there is a remarkable similarity of interests between different ethnic minorities and the white population of Newham.
A lot of it comes down to how working class people are treated with houses, schools and hospitals. You can see that every day the different components of Respect are learning from each other and finding a unity of interests.
We are finding now that we are really on a roll. Canvassing in areas where we did less well last June, people come back and report a very good response. That is my feeling, especially with the white working class, where we are getting a good response to Respect.
Over 100 people out in Newham on Saturday, with stalls everywhere, loads of canvassing teams and speaker cars. Friday the mosques were very good and so were the primary schools.
Only 5 days to go now.
I was waiting to adress a meeting of Muslim men who were watching a slide show on the massacres in Gujerat three years ago. The meeting was fascinating and I spoke about the war, Respect and how we can change things. I talked about how the East End was the cradle of the trade unions _with the strikes of the match girls, the dockers and the gasworkers in Beckton.
I said how many of the workers involved in the strikes were immigrants _mainly Irish or Jewish at the time _ and about how Keir Hardie was elected as MP for West Ham in 1894 and how that led to the founding of the Labour Party.
People like to hear this history, which they don't hear many other places, because they want to feel part of a wider community and because there is a remarkable similarity of interests between different ethnic minorities and the white population of Newham.
A lot of it comes down to how working class people are treated with houses, schools and hospitals. You can see that every day the different components of Respect are learning from each other and finding a unity of interests.
We are finding now that we are really on a roll. Canvassing in areas where we did less well last June, people come back and report a very good response. That is my feeling, especially with the white working class, where we are getting a good response to Respect.
Over 100 people out in Newham on Saturday, with stalls everywhere, loads of canvassing teams and speaker cars. Friday the mosques were very good and so were the primary schools.
Only 5 days to go now.
