Love your neighbour – unless they’re Fascists

"On 7 July 2005, four men carrying rucksacks full of explosives parted at London's King's Cross station and headed off in a different direction to wreak devastation on London's transport network. The result was 52 morning commuters dead and more than 700 injured, many seriously. In the five years since, there has been no public inquiry, nor inquest. Until now…"

For many people this week’s news headlines will have brought back myriad memories and mixed emotions. Like 9/11 in the USA, 7/7 will always strike in me a chord of sadness, anger, fear and love and hope.

“Er, what?” you say “Love and hope – where’d that come from?” Well my point is without love and hope, without working towards love and hope, we are left with bitterness and hatred and these are the foundation stones on which acts of atrocity like 7/7 and 9/11 are built.

On Monday a friend posted a link to the BBC news report into the 7/7 inquest. Within minutes one of his associates had posted a comment that began with the words “Bloody Islamic religious fanatic scum”. Do I understand why people respond with such venom? Yes. Do I condone it? No, and the reason why is the issue of fairness. It was not fair or just that hundreds and thousands of people died or were injured in 9/11 or 7/7 but nor is it fair that whole countries, communities or groups and individuals should be singled out and demonized because of the cowardly acts of a few.

I felt equally incensed when, in response to a posting about the tragic death of UK aid worker Linda Norgrove in Afghanistan, a comrade’s comment read she “may have been killed by her American 'rescuers'???!! Those f******* trigger-happy Yanks have struck again. How can a nation so dangerous - even to its 'friends' - be allowed to wield so much power?”. Such comments strike like a hammer on wedges of division and unfairly label all Americans as bad.

Am I innocent of such intolerance and prejudice? Honestly? No, of course I’m not. I will put my hands up to ranting “Bloody Tories” or “Damned Fib Dems” that in this context is just as bad. I could defend myself and say that, when I single out Conservatives or Liberals I’m actually attacking their ideology rather than individuals but, although there is some truth in that, it’s a bit of a weaselly way to try and wriggle out of my own behaviour. The fact is that from a psychological perspective our social structure and upbringing places us in “in-groups” with others with whom we identify and feel comfortable and from that cosy position we are inclined to view with distain those in other groups. For some, and I would argue a great many, it is easy for distain to spill over and become fear and loathing. But here’s the rub, recognizing this is step one towards doing something constructive about it. We are malleable human beings, particularly in our youth and you can teach old dogs new ways of behaviour too.

The Bible tells us to love our neighbours and also to love our enemies and without getting into a big theological debate, there’s something important that comes through to me in this – it’s more profitable in terms of soul enrichment to love than it is to hate. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, but who said life was easy?

As an internationalist I appreciate the diverse cultures in the world. One of the founding fathers of the USA, Thomas Paine said “My country is the world, all men are my brethren and my religion is to do good" and I would echo that. So are there any exceptions? Are there any people who live and breathe that I would not recognise as “my brethren”? Yes, they go by many names but whatever they call themselves they are Fascists. They believe in the total annihilation of whole communities, freedoms and democratic rights. They promote racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, homophobia and the vilification of refugees and asylum seekers. They aim to expel their neighbours on the basis of race or colour, to destroy trade unions, to promote violence and hatred and to eliminate basic democratic rights. I can strive to love my neighbour, I can even work to tolerate Tories despite my ideological differences, and on a social level aim to treat everybody with the respect and tolerance that a civil society depends upon, but I’m afraid that Fascism should be resisted wherever and whenever it raises its ugly head.

For that reason I’m joining with Union leaders, MPs and campaigners in supporting the national demonstration against racism, fascism and Islamophobia on Saturday 6 November in central London. You can too – visit http://uaf.org.uk/2010/09/add-your-support-for-6-nov-antiracist-demo/ Love and hope is a powerful weapon against hatred and fear.

Albert Einstein said “The world is a dangerous place to live in; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

Cruel Conservatism - the thin edge of the wedge

So the Conservative Conference is over and what have we seen? A foretaste of the vicious cuts that will be inflicted on the country later this month. They had nothing to celebrate – their Election victory was a hollow one and for the country it is already proving harmful.

So what did they do? They announced the beginning of the dismantling of the welfare state and universal benefits starting, naturally if you’re a Conservative, with the weakest and most vulnerable in society – our children.

Yvette Cooper MP, Labour's Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, summed things up nicely when she said: “Instead of boosting jobs and growth, the government is making families with children pay more.

“We support child benefit for all children and all families. Of course there are difficult choices to make and we need more welfare reform, but it's better to get the economy growing faster and raise more tax from the banks than to cut support for children in middle income families.

"Whatever people's income, it is families with children who are paying most -- through cuts in child tax credit, maternity allowance, child benefit and housing benefit. So much for David Cameron's promise of the most family friendly government ever: instead they are hitting hard at families who want to get on."

The deficit is huge and needs to be tackled, there’s no denying that but it needs to be put into context. The recklessness of the banks put us on the verge of a full blown depression and the responsible actions of the Labour Government prevented us tipping over into the abyss. That left the country with major debts but the alternative (unless you’re David Cameron) was unthinkable. It’s the biggest deficit since World War II and there in lies a tale. The deficit we built up by the end of World War II was finally paid off in 2006 – more than 50 years later. During that time we built a National Health Service which, until starved of cash by Thatcher, used to be the envy of the world; we built New Towns and communities; we put computers into schools and ok, maybe the trains didn’t always run on time (and sometimes they didn’t run at all!) but our world kept on turning. So, the Conservatives' rush to clear the deficit is ignorant of history and surely driven by ideology rather than necessity.

I have to be honest I think Labour’s plans to halve the deficit in 5 years are over ambitious with our economy so precarious. For me, short term investment for long term gain is the name of the game. Look at housing for example – in Harlow where I live there are over 6,000 people on the waiting list with about 380 properties let to new tenants a year. On that basis, if the list stayed static and no new homes were built it would take over 16 years to clear. So a programme of new house building would make economic and social sense, it’s worked before and it can again. I’m reluctant to see the green open spaces in and around my town diminish but if it’s a choice between that and my neighbours going homeless and hungry – well, what would you do?

In 3 years time my daughter will start school. If the ConDem coalition and its draconian approach lasts, what kind of schooling awaits her? These are real concerns that I know I am not alone in sharing. I fear that Child Benefit will be the thin edge of a very large wedge; “Building for Schools” has already been scrapped and Sure Start is under threat. During the election when Labour predicted such things the Tories said we were lying and scaremongering – we were not, we were desperately trying to remind people that Tory ideology prevents them from doing anything other than looking after themselves and the capitalist system on which they depend.

We are witnessing Cruel Conservatism at its worse but there is an alternative – join the Labour Party and fight for the future – visit www.labour.org.uk.

Thanks for reading.