“If they come to ethnically cleanse me,
Will you speak out?
Will you defend me?
Freedom of expression doesn’t make it alright .
Trampled underfoot by the rise of the right”
From “Ich Bin Ein Auslander” by Pop Will Eat Itself.
Maybe I’m becoming middle aged and middle classed, but I was genuinely shocked when the flyer photographed above was lying in our porch when I came home tonight.
The European elections are on the 4th of June. Surely there should be no room for fascist propaganda such as this. I’m alarmed that someone has taken the time to shove such nonsense through our letterboxes and I want to rid our postcode and politics of such twisted logic.
I never really thought of our area of town as particularly diverse racially. Yet any city is cosmopolitan by nature as people are attracted to fill the labour market.
Can I imagine my neighbourhood without the spread of cultures it has? I enjoy the banter I have with my neighbours in the Indian takeaway. I always chat to the guy who runs our newsagent. The girls who work in the coffee shops are often foreign and there is something nice about their accents. The vacant church opposite us is about to become a Mosque.
I might not share the same belief systems as many of my neighbours, but I would stand up for them rather than see the venom of racism infest the place I and so many others call home.
I completely agree with you….but I can tell you it would have been your postie that put it through your door, and he/she unfortunately wouldn’t have had a choice in the matter.
The price of living in a country of free speech? I’m honestly not sure…
That’s interesting…I was wondering what sort of conversation I would have had if a representative of the BNP had rung the door bell?
How could I engage and demonstrate love when we would come from such polar opposite view points?
I’m good at musing about such things and rubbish at actually having meaningful debates or articulating how I feel at times as I have this notion that the other person has greater insight than me half the time…
“I’m good at musing about such things and rubbish at actually having meaningful debates or articulating how I feel at times as I have this notion that the other person has greater insight than me half the time…”
You just summed me up completely! Glad I’m not the only one….
I’m with you. But then you realise how politically incorrect a lot of our beliefs are now?
And you know what is even worse, is I remember something not too dissimilar coming through my door and being on TV in the lead up to the last European Elections called ‘Operation Christian Vote’ which said things like voting for this Christian party would be the only way for Jesus to return… ugh!
I love the cultural mix in this city.
It’s funny isn’t it – religion and politics are taboo topics, yet, surely our belief system or faith should permeate our political leanings.
If I ever see some “Christian” party on a polling card, I automatically dismiss them as “dodgy” – therein lies the prejudice within me. I guess I’m naturally skeptical of a lot of “Christian” movements and I don’t know that that is necessarily a good thing. I guess there is so much that I would distance myself from and say “not in my name” to. There is also a lot I would say “not in His name” to aswell.
I think the way the flyer says its the new ‘Battle of Britain’ would be a good starter for a conversation and why do they feel that strongly? Showing love to them sometimes might mean tough love and explaining how they are excluding and/or miscasting others?
You’re right – the vocabulary is pretty telling…