Barking’s Day of Action: an outsider’s view

By Thomas Fairfax

First off, thanks for the warm welcome from everybody I met at Wood Lane on Saturday. It was a good experience and I feel the need to share what I felt was an uplifting experience.

As somebody who is not a Labour Party member and has never canvassed, I have to say it was with some trepidation I set off in the snow at 6.30am to the railway station, and got on the first train to London I could.

The mug of tea shoved in my direction was gratefully received before we started off trekking through the snow accompanied by council members and council candidates, and even the odd Parliamentary candidate. The spirit in which this was done impressed even a jaded character such as myself.

I got the impression that the residents who were in were both surprised and impressed to see and speak to these representatives and prospective representatives on the doorstep, with no election for months to come. If enthusiasm and determination were enough on their own to win elections there would be no problem.

But, yes, we did get a few people who were wavering towards the BNP and a few that frankly weren’t going to consider any other alternative. But we also got a few more who were positive that they would vote for anyone except the BNP.

It was interesting to talk to fellow canvassers and candidates who aren’t openly so different in outlook from the people contributing to LabourList, who are not uncritical members of the New Labour supporters’ club. It was also clear that the candidates are not disconnected from the people they live amongst and that they hope to persuade to them that they can act as their representatives on the council.

I would have to confess that telling someone you’re there on behalf of the Labour Party can stick in the craw a bit, but you just have to remind yourself the Labour movement isn’t just the out of touch people in Westminster. Frankly speaking, though, even if it was the Tories fighting against the BNP’s toxic ideology I’d feel the need to do something to help them out too.

There are going to be further action days, come rain, snow, or maybe even some warming sunshine. Please think seriously about putting factional and ideological differences aside and supporting this effort whatever your personal disagreements with the direction of government or the behaviour of some of those in Parliament. After all, in the end, we’re all really putting forward our ideas of what we think is best for the country.

Yes, it’s going to be a struggle to beat the BNP. They are well entrenched in certain areas. The irony is, though, that their policies will clearly prevent any inward foreign investment to replace the foreign employers, such as Ford, that have taken the low cost option of closing a UK plant instead of leaping through the hoops and expense of, say, shutting a plant elsewhere in western Europe. Most foreign investment these days, after all, involves businesses in countries which aren’t owned or run by people vaguely indigenous to northern Europe. But these days what the immigrant people, and not the BNP, complain about are people from Northern European countries such as Poland and the Baltic states.

So the BNP can promise continued unemployment and lack of prospects. Some promise.

What it reassuring, though, is that there is finally some repair work being done in the area to counteract the years of indifference from some Labour councillors in the area, who lost touch with the voters and their concerns.

In summary, fighting the BNP is a worthy cause to support, and I enjoyed the day. We all stand to benefit in the long term from fighting the BNP, regardless of whether we’re Conservative, Labour, or have any other non fascist sympathies.