UK Elections 2015: This election needs a human face

Some background

In 1968, my father then training to be an accountant and working for the NHS went to a pub with some of his English colleagues whereupon he met with his local MP and an exchange ensued.

This MP was Enoch Powell and the encounter was soon after his Rivers of Blood speech, the content of which traded on the fears and insecurities of the electorate by demonising selected minorities for political advantage. Immigration!

Populist demonization

This was a populist and sometimes right-wing campaign strategy, it is not new, and today we see the same elements of demonising minorities all around the world for political capital.

Be it minors, womenfolk, the poor, the different by race, tribe, religion, custom, beliefs or sexuality, the disabled, the powerless or the voiceless, some opportunistic politician has found something to excite the basest of our instincts to garner votes.

In this general election season in the UK, the leader of the UK Independence Party in debates decided to aim the crosshairs at refugees with HIV he falsely claims costs the NHS £25,000 for treatment.

This is sensationalist bunkum, but it gave impetus to a malevolent listener to this reprehensible invective to take the picture of an innocent man and make him the face and person of Nigel Farage's rotten lies.

It’s about real people

Bisi Alimi, whose story we know as the first Nigerian to come out on national television, who suffered personal and institutional persecution then had to flee Nigeria narrowly escaping death was the target of the atrocious besmirching.

We granted refugee status to Bisi Alimi and he has been of the most exemplary conduct, contributed immensely to the cause of LGBTI minorities and many human rights issues all around the world. If he remained a refugee, he is one we want amongst us as an inspirational figure and more, but Bisi does have a British passport, he is not a refugee.

However, that is beside the point, this attack was aimed at those who have sought refuge in our country with the devilish intent of persuading us to put cost above our humanity. That has been the bottom-line of the UKIP agenda, making cost the issue at the expense of our greater humanity and tendency to compassion.

The heart of who we are

When people come to the UK seeking refuge on humanitarian grounds, we have had a tradition of welcoming them and helping them thrive in our communities and society. This has been the case for centuries and long may we continue to set the standard for compassionate relief and humanitarian consideration.

The personal attack on Bisi Alimi was not only contemptible but completely unrepresentative of who we are. Yet we must know that this campaign strategy is shocking and awful, one trading on our fears to put wedges of division and difference within our communities.

Nigel Farage is a canny politician and he knew what he was doing by sowing seeds of suspicion and anger in the hope that some amongst us might act unconscionably and irrationally, along with his intention of shoring up support for electioneering purposes. We must repudiate this kind of talk completely.

Taking the fight to Nigel

However, under the auspices of the Thanet Trade Union Action, the irrepressible Bisi Alimi is taking the fight to Nigel Farage in the constituency where he is contesting to be the local MP and you are invited to Meet Farage's Tourist.

My hope is by the time Bisi Alimi has finished speaking we would see Nigel Farage for who he is and give him and his kind of populist rhetoric the heave-ho.

Nigel Farage is not the face of our hearts and minds, I believe Bisi Alimi more represents who we are and the example we want to better be to the world - open, empathetic, considerate, helpful, fair, just and truly British.

Please attend if you can and share with your friends.

Meet Farage’s Tourist

Thursday 30 April at 19:00–21:00

Odd Fellows Hall,

142 High Street,
Ramsgate, Kent.
CT11 9TT

Thank you.

Verdonk: Her misplaced pride

A sailor on dry land

A few weeks ago, I was on the tram from my neighbourhood to the Central Station when I saw a big poster set up at the Amsterdam Passenger’s Terminal showing a lady dressed up as a clean looking tar with hands on ship wheel.

The text on the poster was Trots op Netherland, which means “Proud of the Netherlands”, the lady in the poster was Mrs. Rita Verdonk who until last year was the Minister of Immigration and Integration till her actions brought down the government.

Lady Oddjob’s pride

In my blogs about her, I referred to her as Lady Oddjob and this was derived from the time when she decided to throw her hat in the ring to contest the leadership of her party (VVD) then, she persona and firebrand populism drew impressions of the Oddjob character in a James Bond film decapitating people by throwing his hat like a Frisbee.

She did not win that leadership contest but at the general election she polled more votes than the party leader and tried to unseat the leadership by sleight.

Eventually, she became unmanageable within the party hierarchy and she got kicked out of the party, hence this new incarnation of Lady Oddjob as leader of Trots op Netherland.

No leader at all

I have always been of the view that Mrs. Verdonk might be a good minister but she has no leadership or even decent team-working abilities in politics, she held everyone to ransom and in the process destroyed her party’s ability to continue in coalition after the elections because they lost seats.

Trots op Netherland is no new dimension in Dutch politics, it has nothing to do with being proud of the Netherlands, and rather, it would serve as a refuge for nostalgic, bitter, disgruntled and ignorant Dutch citizens who have been left behind by the changing times.

It would be the gathering place for the populist use of flawed statistics, poorly reasoned logic about problems with the Netherlands and a catchment for those who inadvertently seek greater instability for the country they want to be more prosperous.

We have seen the rise and fall of the Lijst Pim Fortuyn and the advent of Geert Wilder’s band of patriots called the Party for Freedom.

Bitter people

It needs the articulate verbiage of Senator Obama to give voice the real issue here which as the truth is best not spoken, he might have been expressing a frustration in not being able to break into the working class communities around America when he said, “You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them, and it's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations”.

Whether it was politically astute for Senator Obama to say that, say it in that way or try to rephrase it in some more digestible language, time will tell, but the is the truth as glaring as you will get it about populist parties and their causes.

The congregation of bitter people who cling to nostalgia, religion, guns, antipathy, anti-immigrant sentiment or some other so-called patriotic or nationalist cause in the name of taking back their country, which in fact, is taking their country back to the Dark Ages of economic stagnation, insularity and protectionism all of which would never yield good dividend in this global village we now inhabit.

Now, we live in a free country with the freedom to assemble for any cause we might be persuaded of, if the “bitter” people need a sort of representation in our political system, they are welcome to proselytise and they would find sympathisers, people who would lurk in the shadows providing substantial but clandestine support – democratic subversion, you might call it.

The proud are represented

I would contend that those who are really proud of the Netherlands have already spoken, they voted for the parties now in power who for all their foibles have more broad-based ideas for taking the Netherlands forward than saying anything that would panic people into running into the last refuge of the scoundrel – blind Patriotism. (Paraphrased from Samuel Johnson)

Lady Oddjob is now at odds

Populist but dangerously at odds

They finally had the bottle to do it and rightly so. Lady Oddjob has had her hat thrown at her and she has been decapitated – well not literally.

Readers of my blog would think I have had it in for Mrs. Verdonk for all her populist policies on integration and immigration, which display an overarching toughness but belie a seething illiberal xenophobia that is gaining acceptance amongst the Dutch.

She has on 5 occasions been called to the Dutch Parliament to explain her actions but there was always a détente, a hesitation, and an almost there that there were never enough votes to sanction her.

But Mrs. Verdonk has been no end of trouble for her party and the cabinet in which her party help a minor coalition participation, part of which lead to the fall of the cabinet in the middle of the year.

Popular but unliked

Whilst she did garner more votes than her party leader, in general, she was not aligned to the Dutch way of doing things in government, the parliament now stung or refreshed by the elections of November 22 have now successfully passed a motion of no confidence on her.

The kind of brinkmanship where the Prime Minister just detached himself from responding to the displeasure of parliament had reached a point where there were just enough votes this time to get it over and done with.

She obviously has been unable to take the hint that she is the issue and even if she is not, other people in office with any iota of integrity and self-respect would have stepped-down.

Not Mrs. Verdonk, she would tough it out, like she has always done, till it becomes untenable for the team in which she is a junior member to maintain any credibility. She is a blind Samson who is ready to bring down the temple on herself but taking all the worshippers down too in her suicide mission.

The cabinet which is for now in caretaker mode should now just sacrifice the lady for the stability of governance rather than chuck it all in as they are wont to do in general.

Popular party of one?

Mrs. Verdonk is a junior minister, the indictment is against her intransigence and obstinate demeanour that gets its lifeblood from the Zombie-ist – Rules are the rules – mantra.

We might finally get a minister that would handle the portfolio of Integration and Immigration with a humane perspective because for all her strengths, she worked to disintegrate and make others emigrate.

She might just end up starting her own party, though it is unlikely that she would do anymore harm to the government that what has been done to this comatose cabinet in life-support.

I am beginning to have faith in the Dutch Parliament and it is high time.

References

The Lady Oddjob Blog Trail

The Verdonk Blog Trail

Making an ass of the law

The law of the ass

Not long ago, I had the temerity to take opposing view with a “soon” to be Doctor of Laws on the topic – the law is an ass.

In fact, I presented a number of perspectives that kept me convinced of that view that despite the brilliance of the counter argument, I would not have been entirely convinced as a member of a jury.

That is however beside the point; my concern is when this question exercises much in the delivery of fairness and justice some people go out of their way to make an ass of the law.

Nowhere is this so agitated than when some see some political, populist or stupid advantage to be gained from promulgating laws that leave judges in a quandary.

The ass in the eyes

The political if not populist can be seen in the way George Bush has been advocating the constitutional banning of gay marriage – it would be interesting to see if a penalty would ensue if Americans do decide to have a same-sex marriage and demand certain rights of partnership.

Besides, for those who have legally tied the knot, it would be a travesty to backdate or annul a union that once really had a legal basis.

Some judge would have to sit in hearing arguments of points of law that examine the intricacies of partners and more unspeakable talk unworthy of polite conversation as opposing ends interpret a statute of expediency create to galvanise a political base.

The ass in the mouth

The populist brings us back home in the Netherlands where the cabinet has finally caved in to the proposal which requires all naturalised Dutch citizens to prove their understanding of the norms and values of the Dutch through formal examination.

This is really a poor and sad time to elect to be Dutch for whatever reasons, the events of the past few months and the actions of the populist right-wing Minister of Integration and Immigration provide ample proof of this unfortunate development.

Somehow, some judge would have to sit in hearing cases where a long term naturalised Dutch citizen challenges the effrontery of subjecting their loyalties to such unnecessary and demeaning scrutiny.

A naturalised citizen should not have to go through this humiliation to want to be Dutch, fine in the application process but not after it has been granted – the implication being the natural born Dutch are more aware of these norms and values. Well …

The ass of an ass

In the UK, the tabloids have hijacked the voice of reason for the purpose of having the names and addresses of released paedophiles published for parental awareness. Now in a society where reason, law and order prevail, this should not be a problem.

However, not 5 years ago, the tabloids published names and addresses when lead to vigilante attacks on innocent persons whose names were confused with others.

The UK is just not mature enough for the revelation of such information; what is required is a comprehensive monitoring and tagging process and well and probationary and community support to ensure that convicted paedophiles are properly monitored and children are safe from predators.

Sarah’s Law which is to clone a similar existing US law called Megan’s Law is being pushed for consideration and the tabloids would probably get this done.

The ass with no legs

It appears everywhere you find a US Embassy or Consulate, it is surrounded by an Iron Curtain that restrains people from approaching, exercises a cordon of inconvenience as demands are made for perimeter security. Rather the separator of the freedom to demonstrate from the symbol of freedom – new definition of Iron Curtain – be it physical, legal or extra-judicial.

Now, a legal position is about to be contested as the prosecution service in the Netherlands wants the US Embassy to be protected from protesters who could be asked for their identity cards when in fact there is no just cause. [1]

Asking for the identification cards of demonstrators in front of an embassy in a free and democratic country is really tantamount to stifling free speech and freedom of association.

Rather than the prosecution service seeking a blanket remit concerning the all consulates, they are seeking a special dispensation for the US Embassy.

The dog of an ass

In this day and age, it might be a reasonable request, but it is also an exceptional request that makes one wonder why the embassy of the leader of the free world has become one that needs more protection than those of Bantustans or some other country.

The reasonableness of this is lost in the “me too” mentality that governs the sometime little nation psyche that consumes the self-assuredness of this government such that their participation in events of global significance looks like making up the numbers rather playing our part.

A real ass of the law

There might be benefits in being a friend of the playground bully, but eventually, when the bully is away, whose friend would you be?

So, in appealing a decision that maintained the freedom of speech and association on the premise of the US Embassy being an exception, as ass is being made of the law. Alas!