‘Thanks’ says Karen as polls close
Posted by suemcpherson99 on May 6, 2010
9.30pm at the campaign ‘picket caravan’ on Heald Place in Rusholme
Karen Reissmann spoke to activists as the polls closed in Manchester.
I must admit I have enjoyed the campaign, its been great! Meeting so many people, all those who have been out helping with the campaign. A big thank you to everyone!
Fighting in elections is part of fighting back. You can be sat at home miserable and frustrated in front of the TV, or be out taking the arguments about fighting back to people on the door steps. That is what is so enjoyable. Whatever the result, our campaign has already been successful. It has brought so many people together. We have met dozens of new people who want to get involved, who want to be part of resisting.
The new government, whoever they are, will bring in cuts that even we will be shocked by. We have seen what the fightback against cuts looks like in Greece. When the cuts come people will remember that one of us knocked on their door and talked about resisting. That is what our campaign was about.
We have not got a national profile like the other parties. This seat has moved from ‘safe’ Labour to a ‘marginal’ and two new arguments have now come up. People say that they agree with what we say about fighting the cuts, but if we get the Lib Dems then they will do a deal with the Tories – and so I am voting Labour to keep the Tories out. The other is that by voting Lib Dem we will get a hung parliament and then proportional representation will help people like us. There are more people who agree with us than will vote for us. People are thanking us for standing.
There is one more thing. Immigration has come up on the door step. We have taken the anti racist arguments head on. You have to put down a marker. It was not good enough for Gordon Brown to shout ‘biggot’. What about the fight for jobs and housing, for that we need to be united.
