(Post written June 26th 2015, post published July 7th 2015)
This post has been in my drafts for a long time.
This post has been in my drafts for approximately seven weeks.
It's often said that it is impolite to discuss either income or politics. I don't think so, I'm not shy about my political affiliations, I will quite happily declare my affinity to the Labour Party; I discuss politics online, I discuss politics in person, I discuss politics on paper. One of my worst habits is getting myself involved in online arguments with supporters of UKIP or Britain First, but then again, I just can't help myself; I am drawn to stupidity like a magnet and can't help but scream 'what the trumpet is wrong with you?'.
This was not published when it was first written, and has in fact been rewritten several times since: I started writing this post on May 8th, the day after the General Election.
I decided not to publish at the time because the days immediately following the election, both in reality and in cyber space, were tense.
From the moment the exit polls were announced, a game of socio-political tennis began in Britain; tweets, that turned into Facebook statuses, that turned into blog posts, that turned into news articles, from both sides of the political spectrum, as people began turning on their opponents, (How stupid does that sound? 'Opponents'. This is a democracy. However, the sad fact is that I cannot think of a more appropriate word at this point), both in Westminster seats, and on their sofas at home.
Right wingers were accused of a lack of compassion, as well as a lack of a mandate, with only 36% of the popular vote.
Whereas left wingers were accused of idealism and opposition to democracy.
Both of these are ultimately flawed arguments: The Tories did have a majority, they have just as much legitimacy as Blair did from '97 onwards, and, in some ways, more of a mandate than he did in his final years as PM, having beaten his 2005 winning percentage.
Equally, how can people that are arguing about mandates, people that have voted, be opposed to democracy? These people are democracy, they are political participation.
Supporters of the Left were accused of vandalism after releasing flares along Whitehall and eloquently tagging a national war memorial with 'F*ck Tory Scum', whereas several elected Members of the Right were accused of incompetence after several newly elected or re-elected politicians caused online confrontation with their constituents.
Some of the arguments that were floating around in the days following the election were frankly ridiculous, the whole thing was a mess.
In hindsight, I'm not sure what's worse: a sore loser, or a bad winner.
I didn't really want my opinion on this to be lost in the eruption of online voices at the time, a response to such event would have been based purely on emotion, badly thought through and inevitably my grammar would have suffered.
Anybody who knows me, can in no way doubt my political affiliations: I am a socialist, and I'm a gobby one at that. I was, however, unwilling to make myself look an idiot thanks to a badly written piece, or leave myself open to being made to look like an idiot by somebody with a differing political viewpoint.
Hence, this post remained unshared, gathering cobwebs in the horribly organised Blogger 'Drafts' section.
Last weekend's #EndAusterityNow protests, however, led me to reconsider this dormant collection of words.
I'm not stupid, I know what the recession was, I know what the recession still is, I accept the fact that cuts had to be made somewhere; their extent and relative effectiveness, however, is a whole other matter, one to be discussed later on.
The important thing that I took from last week's protests were the fact that they were peaceful, fairly reported and represented by news agencies, and supported by fairly positive social media reaction: suddenly, it was okay to wield one's political voice again.
This is an opportunity that I am taking.
I believe that I can summarise my political feelings in the following sentence: I do not hate the economy, I do not hate democracy; I hate the fact that your future is decided depending on whether or not you sit in your high chair being fed caviar with a silver spoon, or ALDI baked beans with a broken plastic fork.
Quite simply, the elitism within this, and the previous, Conservative government is undeniable, and, I believe, has been allowed to thrive under the veil of austerity. Unless you are a white male, over 40 years old, living heterosexually in a nuclear family unit and earning more than £35,000 a year, then there is simply no care for you.
You are unimportant.
You are thrown to the gutter.
Not only is there the obvious favouring of a certain demographic, but the media and educational infrastructures have been warped in such a way as to encourage us to denounce, scorn and spit upon any individual that does not fit that 'mould'.
It is not the fault of the government that you cannot get a GP appointment for your elderly mother, or that you cannot get your toddler into your local primary school because of a lack of staff and spaces and funds across the British public sector, but instead it is the fault of the teachers, the doctors and the nurses.
If they spent less time on strike and more time sat down in their offices and desk chairs as they should be then your children would be sat in school and your mother would be in her hospital bed.
It is not the fault of the government that poverty is at an all time high and that food bank usage is at unprecedented levels. If those people worked hard enough then they would be more than capable of funding their own livelihoods.
Disabilities do not prevent a person from working. Parenthood does not prevent a person from working. Family commitments do not prevent a person from working. Mental health does not prevent a person from working.
Anybody that is not working is lazy and therefore undeserving of assistance or attention.
Why should the government provide assistance to the lazy and undeserving. Doing such a thing would only encourage laziness.
It is not the fault of the government that education is becoming a reserve of the rich and the famous.
£9000 is no amount of money for anybody that has worked hard enough and got themselves into a well paying job. If you cannot afford an eduction then your parents should realise that they should have worked harder. They have failed their children through their own laziness.
Meanwhile, Tory donors, big bankers, bigger businesses and personal friends and relations of those in ministerial seats have been allowed to avoid billions of pounds of taxes, have begun to profit from our public services and are publicly laughing in the faces of those less fortunate.
Hatred is spreading like wildfire across the UK, fuelled by greed and ignorance, as the right wing press stand with the smouldering match between their thumb and forefinger.
This is not me pleading poverty, I am fully aware of my privileged position: The only child of two teachers, I attended one of the best state schools in the country and am now enrolled at a UK Top Fifteen University, enjoying the opportunities and privileges that have been afforded to me by living in the correct postcode. I will always be able to afford my education, I will always still be able to afford my rent, and I will always be able to fill my fridge with food.
However, that does not mean that I am blind to the rest of the world
I cannot sit back and watch this any longer, this voice may mean nothing, but equally, this voice may mean something.
I encourage any and every single person reading this to do something, anything, to help.
Give a few cans to your local food bank, offer to babysit the children of the neighbour who can't find the time to go to that job interview, offer some words of support to those who are feeling quashed by government underfunding.
This voice may mean nothing, but equally, this voice may mean something. This is my voice, and it is saying 'no' to any more hatred. I will not fall for your tricks. I will not believe the press, I will not victimise the poor, I trust and adore my public services, and I will do everything in my power to defy the blatant criminality of those in Britain's elite.
I am fed up of complacency.
Yours Sincerely,
Caitlin Doherty, aged 19.
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