By Maureen Wade, Sutton Coldfield CLP
I have been taken by the look of panic in the eyes of Tory Ministers, whenever they appear at their daily press conference. It is not just that they fear for their careers (or lives!) – they realise they have opened a Pandora’s Box. They may have won a comfortable majority only a few months ago, but it is clear that post-COVID-19, the world is going to be a very different place.
The ‘class-lines’ are appearing all over the place, albeit often virtually. At the outset, our street was invited to join a What’s App group – it soon became clear that this was the domain of the fierce local Neighbourhood Watch group.
In true ‘Put that light out!’ manner, they begun to tell off people who put anything amusing on the site, saying there was no room for frivolity, while complaining about bonfires, etc. So half the street, who do have a sense of humour and think its good to keep up morale, formed their own What’s App group. Our street is now divided into ‘North and South Korea’ as someone put it.
Great applause for NHS workers
There has been a great turnout every Thursday night, with cheers and applause, even fireworks, for the NHS workers – people realise that it is upon the lowest paid that their lives depend, not the rich and fabulously wealthy. However, when the Prime Minister was taken ill, someone put around we should ‘Clap for Boris’ on the Tuesday night. They were met by a deafening silence. A couple of people did venture out, but were too embarrassed to clap to the empty street.
The local Labour Party What’s App however, has been a battlefield, in the run up to the Labour leadership result. Sutton Coldfield is a solid Tory area, the seat of Andrew Mitchell, and before him Norman Fowler. But the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn was an inspiration – from a small, somewhat moribund Labour Party, membership shot up to over 800 and our all-member meetings now attract nearly 100 members for lively debates. There was great activism too in the last election and one positive to come out of it was that Labour is now clearly the second party in the constituency, gaining over 12,000 votes, twice as many as the Liberal Democrats – an important victory as the siren voice of the Lib-Dems often proclaims they are the only choice for the anti-Tory vote.
Younger members dismayed
There has been much dismay amongst the new, younger members, however, over the victory of Keir Starmer. Those of us long in the tooth in the Labour Party have been calling on them to stay in the party, explaining that the fight for socialist policies is a marathon, not a quick sprint.
The irony has been the crowing by supporters of Keir Starmer, saying it is the end of Corbynism in the Labour Party – just as the Financial Times announced the death of neo-liberalism! The Tories understand what the FT is saying: they know the youth in particular are not going to be the same again.
There was an interesting incident at the beginning of the current crisis, while the Tories were still dithering about what to do. There were news reports that a school in Redditch had shut – the headmistress appeared on TV saying it was a precaution after a party of their students had returned from Italy. It seemed strange, as the local authorities were saying schools would remain open for the present.
Headmistress left with an empty school
What actually happened was this: like many school children across the country, the school had a good record of the students walking out in the climate change protests. The world’s awareness about the COVID-19 outbreak was beginning, and the students learnt of their colleagues returning from a school trip to Italy. They all walked out, followed by some teachers too. The headmistress was left with an empty school, so had little choice but to pretend it was ‘her’ decision to close.
The point is, the previous climate change protests were with a nod and wink from their peers, whether parents or teachers. This was independent action – they used the strike tool they had learnt to now take a collective decision to defend themselves.
The current crisis will radicalise young people – yes, they have already shown a willingness to protest against climate change, but while they could see the raging fires in Australia and the increase of floods around the world, it was still somewhere far, far away. COVID-19 has changed all that – now they are fighting something immediate and which threatens them directly. They will not be the same again.
April 9, 2020
