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My Advocation for Labour

Vote for policy, not for politicians. This isn’t a gameshow where we choose our favourite contestant. This is real life with very real consequences. This coming week our country is going to vote in one of the most important elections of our lifetime. This election will hugely impact us and the generation(s) to come and we should all go out and vote in order to make sure that the impact will be a positive one.

It’s time for change, and Labour will bring that change. These major reforms and policies will create a more just and fairer society for all of us. Think of the most vulnerable people in our society, and vote as if you are voting for them. Because it will be them who will be affected the most by a government led by the Tories.

The NHS staff are literally begging people not to vote Conservative because it will not be able to last much longer. Even life-long Tories are not voting for the Conservatives, and even advising others to not vote for the Conservatives. Think about that for a moment. Life-long greens are even voting for Labour, this is how serious it has become.

How can we talk about being united and caring for others in our society, when people are still homeless, child poverty still exists, our NHS is at its breaking point and hundreds of thousands of people have died due to austerity? Don’t fall for the lies and the false promises. The Conservative party promises more nurses, more police, more public services, things that are literally all re-packaged back to you because they were the ones who made the cuts in the first place. Much like the 19,000 ‘new nurses’ re-packaged back to you.

Climate change. With environmental issues having greater importance than ever before, we cannot vote for a party who doesn’t take climate change seriously. We can see this unconcerned attitude towards the climate crisis when the PM skipped the climate change debate in which David Attenborough himself called this snub “shameful”. Labour surpasses all the other political parties on climate change, scoring 33 points, the Greens at 31 and the Conservatives at a disappointing 5.5, by far the lowest. We should be voting for Labour, a party who is doing much more, not just for the U.K. but for our planet.

We cannot vote for a PM who consistently lies time and time again, attacking single mothers, women, the working class, the LGBQT+ community, those in poverty, Muslims and Africans. Boris is divisive and legitimizes racist rhetoric across the country. If you’re saying no to Corbyn because of racism/anti-Semitism yet still accept the islamophobia and racism coming directly out of Boris Johnson’s mouth, do you actually care about racism?

Still not convinced? Let’s dispel some untruths

“We won’t be able to afford all of this and will be put into huge debt” 163 academics and economists around the world have backed Labour’s spending plans. Furthermore, Corbyn has a full team of economists and analysts to produce a fully costed manifesto. It seems like we’re always complaining about things, like the ‘bloody train prices’, but when a manifesto actually wants to make things cheaper, everyone complains. Listen to the economists, the academics, the analysists. Furthermore, Labour will still be spending less on public services than Germany and France.

“I’ve earned my money, I don’t want to spend it all on taxes” What the top 5% of this country would spend on taxes is cheaper than a bottle of wine or your Spotify account. Can those who earn over £80k a year fork out an extra tenner/twenty quid so people literally don’t die. £80k is a huge sum of money, and £240 a year is nothing to contribute to society. A fair price for widespread investment in public services, funding for schools, social care, to have a functioning NHS and to reverse the impacts of austerity. This is our responsibility to society.

“I can’t vote for Labour because of Jeremy Corbyn” This is a ridiculous statement. So you aren’t going to vote for life-changing policies because you don’t like the frontman? And the very fact that you don’t like Corbyn shows how well propaganda and the right wing press has furthered their agenda in our society. This man has been awarded the Gandhi Peace Prize, the Sean MacBride Peace Prize. He also stood up and was arrested for protesting against the inhumane apartheid in South Africa which was backed by the British government. What a nasty man��

“Corbyn can’t make a decision on Brexit” First of all, the Tories talk about Brexit as if the referendum and leaving wasn’t their idea in the first place. Secondly, Johnson is taking us out of the EU with a trade deal, far worse for our economy than that of Theresa May. On the other side, Swinson wants to keep us in. The only logical choice is to go to the polls again. We absolutely should not settle. The amazing thing about democracy is that we’re allowed to change our minds. Every election we can change our minds, and we can vote in contrary to the way we did last time. We have had more general elections in these past few years than we are meant to have had. Is this anti-democracy? Obviously not. 3 years is a long time, and in a democracy, we should be able to look retrospectively with a clearer image of what Brexit will entail. We can now clearly see the false promises and lies that we were told back in 2016 and use that to better inform ourselves this time round. Let’s vote again, if you’re so confident that the U.K. wants Brexit, then there should be no problem in doing it again. That is, unless you think that opinions have changed… and therefore, want to force the U.K. to leave the E.U. against the will of the new majority. Now that would be anti-democratic… Bloody Remoaners.

“Jeremy Corbyn is anti-semitic” PLEASE find these quotes. It’s a nice thing to say that might sound like you’re on to something – but you’re really not. Why is islamophobia not treated with this same energy? There are literally quotes from Boris Johnson on Islam and Muslims, yet people want to subvert the conversation to manufactured rage (much like how people get themselves worked up over mythical immigrants stealing their jobs). There is also a difference between being anti-Jew and opposing Israeli policy against Palestinians. Why is Corbyn responsible for things he has never said whilst Boris is not held accountable for the actual horrific statements, he has made himself which are all evidenced and recorded. The hypocrisy.

“Labour voters are lazy and want free handouts” So, paying extortionate amounts for medicine is being pro-active? Some things should be a universal right. Healthcare and Education should be two of those things. That doesn’t make you lazy.

“Socialism doesn’t work, and hasn’t worked anywhere in the world” Apart from in postwar Britain when it turned a 250% deficit into a surplus. This led to the creation of the NHS, welfare states and the building of council houses. Other countries attempts have been met with foreign interventions and interference with the main goal of crushing it – so yeah it probably didn’t work because they weren’t given the opportunity to fully realize themselves.

During the run up to the deadline for the registration to vote, Johnson never encouraged the public to register to vote, because traditionally when the masses go to the polls, the Conservatives don’t do so well. It’s time for change.

VOTE LABOUR!

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"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots." - Marcus Garvey

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In the Wake of BLACK HISTORY MONTH

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The Roots of Our Tree

I don’t want my daughter to forget the way that we walk, With her feet bare in the streets, through forests and fields, To remember that she’s East on a compass that only points west, And that she is made up of earth, and dust, and star dust, With a hint of lemon-grass, embedded deep in her skin,

My son can’t forget that we guard the moon at night, We bask in her glow at the heart of autumn, And that when we fall seven times, we must rise an eighth, Please don’t forget that your tongue can twist and roll, Forming unusual tones and curious sounds,

Always remember the struggles of your grandmother, and her mother before, And know that like dragons, our line is strong and bold, That we have crossed rivers and seas, mountains and jungles, And that we’ve seen stars and thunder, met the rain and the Gods, Each time life forces you to sigh, do not let faith be gone,

We are here now, but that’s not where we’ve always been, And even ‘here’ is not where we can call home, One star or five, you can light them all, you can wear them all, Beware that the land of the free might keep you in cages, And know that for you and your friends, life can be tougher,

A beautiful burden because the sun can’t help kissing your skin more, Yellow and golden, you are the sun, my son, Because your eyes blossom in the shape of the lotus petal, Adversity they’ve seen, but resilient they grow, The deepest black that covers your head, soft as silk, sharp like needles,

Our kind love, free things; So don’t forget to be kind, Because not only is it free; It will also free you, Remember that every spring, you get another chance to begin again, A time when beasts transform, yearly and consistently, Don’t forget your origins in the fat man, or the nun who taught you everything,

Don’t forget your roots, your tangled, complexed and beautiful roots.

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T.R.O.O.T

Before I post my first poem to the public, I just had a few things to say.

With my first piece of work, I feel protective and defensive. It’s as if it were my own child. I want to explain to you: the subtle nuance’s that make this poem: clever, the puns and the play on words, which makes this piece: artistic. Instead, you might think of it, as a jumbled mess. At the same time, I aspire to reach the level of confidence where I am able to post what I want and not worry about the judgement of other people. How nice it would be to let my work speak for itself. To allow people to develop their own interpretations.

“Will they understand?”. “Is this too niche?”.

These are the questions that are whizzing around my head. This poem was written with my dear Ah-Ma in mind, before she elevated into another frequency. I actually wrote it last Autumn, whilst I was in La Réunion. It’s took an entire year of revising, re-thinking and neglecting; Until I’ve finally come to accept it for what it is. It was hard, but I’ve decided to do what all great artists do: allow the public to come to their own conclusions about my work without me explaining each and every word and why I chose them.

This poem came at a time when I was learning more about the Chinese diaspora. It was strange to see people who looked like me on this tiny rock in the Indian Ocean, yet they couldn’t communicate with me in the language of our ancestors. It was around the Mid-Autumn Festival, and I went to buy some moon cakes to share with my friends, and all the Asian stores that I went to were filled with Chinese people, but French flowed from their mouths instead. It was strange, but it also made sense. I was inspired to write this, in honour of us. I also remember a spoken word poem that a dear friend sent me several years ago; the poet’s name was Sarah Kay. She too, played a role in my inspiration to write this piece, as she wrote about the way that she would like to raise her daughter in today’s society.

Finally, please read my work with no expectations. I’m not meant to be good. I don’t know much about your sonnets, your limericks or your rhyming couplets. Here is my first. My unexperienced and imperfect work.

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Ou mank a moin 974

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Welcome to My Mind

“Your life is already artful - waiting, just waiting for you to make it art” - Toni Morrison

"We don't just sit and hope that things will work out; we have a role to play to make that come about. That seems to me to be the reason for the existence of the writer" - Chinua Achebe

I’ve always loved to write. I’ve never been the best at expressing my thoughts vocally, so writing allows me to meditate on my words before I release them into the world. My thoughts can be incoherent and my sentences, disjointed. Ask my friends who know that when I tell one story, it will often diverge into four. The point is, I love writing and I want to write more. I’ve always been embarrassed to display the creations of my mind on a public level, and I hate the idea of people knowing how I’m feeling or seeing my more vulnerable side (which writing often tends to expose). I want to channel all my thoughts and creativity into writing, even if I do not end up writing anything of interest or importance. And I am also happy that I am taking steps towards my goals, even though I would have liked to start earlier. Oh well. Everything in it’s timing.

I have claimed this space as my own, to write whatever I want; my feelings on a political subject, a piece of creative writing, the places I’ve been to know, my own experiences etc. My hope for this page is that after I press ‘post’ on the bottom right of my screen, the flood gates will open, and I will be inspired to write constantly. I also hope that somebody, somewhere, will resonate with what I have to say, as I focus on the message that I want to share with the world...

Thank you for reading. Welcome to My Mind.

Sam

“I write from real life. I am an unrepentant eavesdropper and a collector of stories. I record bits of overheard dialogue” - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams” - Gabriel García Márquez

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Lisbon, Portugal

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South Side Chicago

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New Orleans