Now that the shock has subsided and the reality of five more years of Tory misrule has come into focus it is time to think about how to best respond. I have no memory of ever sobbing in despair after a general election result before this one.
In 1992 I was despondent and disappointed but that election was not held in the broader context of all out War on the Poor as this has been. There was no UKIP threat in 1992 and certainly the national and European stages were not set so precariously as they are today.
My sobbing was not for me. I am not rich or poor. I am lucky in many ways. I don’t need the welfare state in order to buy food. I have enough work that I enjoy to make life pleasant most of the time. I do need the NHS and if there was a personal element to the tears then I do have undeniable fear about what an asset -stripped, privatised ruined health service might mean for me personally.
But most of my sobbing was for others. I sobbed for the disabled. I sobbed for the unemployed and those on subsistence wages in zero hours contracts. I sobbed for those queuing at the food banks. I sobbed for the elderly needing care.
I sobbed for the kids about to be subjected to even more deathly testing and their poor teachers. I sobbed for the fearful benefits’ claimants terrified of sanctions. I sobbed for asylum seekers and immigrants. I also sobbed at the callous, selfish, narrow-minded little-Englander mentalities that brought Cameron and his toff-heavy team back to power.
I’m done with crying now. Despair has turned to rage and rage will be transformed in to action; which brings me back to how best to respond. My mum rang to console me and to kindly tell me there’s nothing I can do to change things and that I should take care of myself and get on with own life. She meant very well. She knows I won’t do this. I can’t. I can’t sit still and watch and do nothing while the country is stripped bare and all its assets handed over to Posh Boy’s friends.
I can’t sit still and watch IDS preside without conscience over the premature deaths of the most vulnerable while having the temerity to claim to be a Christian. I can’t watch Theresa May trample the Human Rights Act into the ground and set up a Big Brother style surveillance system on every citizen. I could go on.
There are many fronts to fight on. I will have to pick my battles to avoid exhaustion but I will fight and I will not be quiet and I will not stand back and watch. At the same time I will support where I can via the food bank and through fundraising and charitable action. But not too much of that. I don’t want this vile government to be let off the hook by relying on the citizens with a conscience to do its job for it.
Every day I plan to perform at least one action of resistance whether by signing a petition, adding my voice to a lobby group, writing an angry polemic or when necessary taking to the streets. In all my actions of body, speech and mind I will resist this government and every wretched, damned thing it stands for and I hope before long the people of England will wake up and realise just exactly what they have done. They will then have five long years to rue the day.
@merlinskeepmuse
Image: mirror.co.uk
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