*this is a guest post written by my husband Andreas Björklund*
At 7am the polling stations open for the most important election of our generation. There is really only two choices. EITHER you vote for more of the same disastrous politics that will increase inequality, then blame minorities, foreigners, and the poor for all the problems, and ultimately destroy our planet and kill our children’s future. OR, you can vote for Labour, a party representing the many and not the few, and which brings a new politics based on equality, justice, and hope for the survival of our children.
Some of you may think that Labour is not perfect, or may be suspicious of its leader, Jeremy Corbyn. I urge you to watch what journalist Michael Segalov said on his Twitter account. Like him, my wife and I do not recognise the ignorance of a few party members to represent the party at all, or what it stands for. In contrast, consider the outright racism and antisemitism that goes on undisturbed in the Conservative party. And consider the way a few self-proclaimed and conservative “representatives” of Jews in Britain speak on our behalf, telling us to be afraid, endangering us by bringing us closer to the likes of Johnson and Trump, and trying to drag us away from allies who, despite their individual flaws, have anti-racism as a core belief. I would ask you to consider if the a few instances of ignorance and bigotry in Labour in any way compares to the systematic use of racism, antisemitism, and intolerance by current leaders and officials in right wing politics?
This election can also seem to mostly be about Brexit. This is a great shame. Brexit, while an important issue, is still only a minor problem in comparison to the literal destruction of life on the planet. Only Labour and the Green Party take this threat seriously, asking how we can adapt our system of economics and life so that not just the richest few on the planet might survive the future (the Green Party in unfortunately too small at the moment and under the UK’s electoral system to have a chance to rule ). Whether you believe Britain should leave or remain in the EU – and there are good arguments on both sides – this should not blind us as we speed toward an irreversible climate crisis. Why is this existential crisis not the major topic of conversation by now?? Who cares about Britain’s constitutional arrangements when nobody can live in the country (let alone the planet) anymore, drowning, suffocating from toxic smog, or dying from famine.
This picture is grim, but there is still hope if we choose a politics that believes that things HAVE to change. Labour’s politics that believes in people, equality, and justice. My wife and I are not British, and we cannot therefore vote. But Britain has been our home for the best part of 10 years, and it is where our son was born. For his sake, and for all the children of his generation and the next, go out and vote for Labour. It is the only party that can seriously offer us and our children a future worth living.
*Image taken from Unsplash
Literally Nataly 