Hmmmmm……..

The EU elections were held last week – this is where citizens of EU countries come together and vote for their MEP (Member of European Parliament). These MEP then gets to attend European Parliament discussions in Brussels so they can pass mostly silly regulations, i.e. bananas cannot curve above a certain degree. As a citizen of a commonwealth country, I have been on the electrol roll for some time now – I feel strongly that all citizens should vote, legislation permitting. I always ensure that I cast my vote, irregardless of whether I actually know the candidates.

So it is with trepidation that this morning I woke up to the news that the BNP has won one seat out of Yorkshire’s 6; not because more people voted for them, but due to the proportionate voting practise. What this means that even though the people who voted for them are actually LESS compared to previously, they are getting seats due to the fragmanted voting stemming from Labour’s absolute failure in keeping it together.

What will this now mean to me?

The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right white nationalism political party. According to its constitution, the BNP is “committed to stemming and reversing the tide of non-white immigration and to restoring, by legal changes, negotiation and consent the overwhelmingly white makeup of the British population that existed in Britain prior to 1948 (there was a large influx of Jamaican & Indian immigrants post-1948) .” The BNP also proposes “firm but voluntary incentives for immigrants and their descendants to return home.”

Get the drift?

What was even scarier was in the last elections, the BNP came within FIVE votes of winning the local councillor seat of where I am. And the BNP is actually in power in Morley, where we lived when I first moved to the UK. I am now questioning my voting practices – should I vote for the party that I believe in, or should I just vote for the party that is most likely to win, as long as it keeps those racist out of the main seat? Is it due to me (and others with my mindset) that the BNP are now being sent to the European Parliament to represent the UK? Should I even vote for a party that I do not agree with, just so another party that I dislike even more is prevented from representing the people?

I think it’s now come to a point where I wonder why I even vote, as every step I take seems to be pushing the country closer to being run by a triumphant band of facists. Should I just not bother, that way it wouldn’t be my fault when the racists comes into power? Are we doomed anyway, irregardless of who we vote?

And bacon wonders why I want to move. Why I will never feel 100% comfortable in the area that we live in. I have managed to bury my slight distaste for the people of where I live with overwhelming enthusiasm on discovering new things…but for how long more? Bacon denies that we are living in one of the most racist area in the whole county – but that is probably out of love for the place that he grew up in rather than with his eyes wide open. He always says its ok, ‘they mean no harm’ . No it’s not funny, and it’s really not ok. It is easy to ignore things when you look like a poster boy for the aryans.

I honestly don’t know how long more can I continue to ignore the blatantly sneering racist politics of where I live.

Disclaimer: I must add that I do not experience racism on a daily basis (i.e. not being served in shops ect) and people that I work with and communicate with on a daily basis are not racist as far as I’m aware. Most of the people in Leeds are very nice actually, if sometimes slightly grumpy .

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