Forum Topic

The Tories, Equality Pledge and Apartheid

The refusal by the Tories to sign the Equality Pledge is not surprising.  They had supported the diabolical Apartheid regime in South Africa, called Nelson Mandela a terrorist and wanted him to die in Robben Island.

Sam Akaki ● 5997d4 Comments

Also remember we had slavery, women did not have the vote, many other barbaric practises in this country. The tories of that day are no longer the one's leading the party. The world and britain have moved on somewhat. How equal is the equality pledge. Read Animal Farm and you will see that equality can be an interesting concept. The tories will harp on about equality of opportunity, others may want total equality as in communism. but remember labout took us into a war in iraq that no one wanted. politics in this election may be a case of hobson's choice. whilst i will vote labour locally, i am still unsure of my general election vote.

Peter Chadburn ● 5997d

Mr ChadburnI agree with everything you have said.  It was for those same reasons that I resigned my job as a Parliamentary Officer in February 2010, a post that I had held for ten years, to contest this election as an independent candidate.  My campaign slogan is - "all the main parties are the same, the difference is in the degree of spin".For example, Labour, the Conservatives and the Libdems are promising “deep”, “painful” and “savage” spending cuts and improving public services at the same time!Mr David Freud, the author of Labour’s controversial welfare policy defected to the Tories last year, taking his files with him.  No wonder the welfare policies if the two parties are basically the same.Lord Stern who used to advise the Treasury on Climate change has also defected to the Tories.  Again, the climate policies of the two parties are the sameOn asylum and immigration, Labour, the Conservatives and Libdems are promising “point-based system”, “capping” and giving “amnesty” to illegal asylum seekers.  None of these will address the problem in the long term.I am the only candidate who is campaigning to tackle asylum and immigration from source as a long term strategy.  In other words, we have to deal with the root causes of asylum such the arms trade, civil wars, human rights abuses, extreme poverty and population explosion in African and other developing countries.Please, consider voting for me.  Unlike the party candidates, who will speak and vote to please their party Whips and funders, I will speak and vote the way you want.

Sam Akaki ● 5997d

Good luck sam, but apartheid was a cruel regime. i remember starting a school alongside a south african boy back in 1964 who had been kicked out of southy africa for their political involvement. as an 8 year old it was clear to me that this most talented family i met in all my formative years was britains gain and south africas loss. but as a leading black doctor who had worked with dr barnard on tissue research he was always the second/thrid class citizen at home. all the racial propoganda for me just never added up. But to compare cameron and co with that era is frankly unfair. yes there will always be some older tories who talk of bongo land, but they are of no consequence now. however the main parties passion for the middle classes has left a gap which the bnp is exploiting. for me the easy access by corporations and big business to cheap labour from abroad has meant that many young british both black and white can not get the jobs they should be going for. building work and other trades have no real training. kids are not getting the opportunities and we are not investiging in the british young of all backgrounds. as a country we are so short sighted.

Peter Chadburn ● 5997d

Peter, I hope I did not come across as a “bigoted” man like Mrs Duffy, regarding my memory of the Tories support for Apartheid.  Apartheid is dead. Long live Apartheid. Apartheid might have gone 16 years ago, but its political, social and economic impacts will affect its victims and their grandchildren for decades to come.  Today’s dehumanising poverty and violence among black South Africans are but two examples.  I saw all these through the eyes of my Six Form son, Isaac, who spent last summer on work experience at Natalspruit hospital, Johannesburg, as part of his application to a medical school this summer. The traumatising experiences turned my boy into a mature man in eight weeks!However, despite our apparent difference on the Tories and Apartheid, you and I seem to have quite a lot in common, especially on your point that “the main parties passion for the middle classes has left a gap which the bnp is exploiting.”I, a black man and a supposed BNP’s victim, repeatedly called on the main parties and the compliant press to listen to, but not demonise the BNP.  Sadly, they decided to attack the BNP, physically and verbally; thus becoming their most successful recruiting agents! Thanks to their efforts, and Mr Brown’s extraordinary comment about Mrs Duffy yesterday, the BNP could win their first parliamentary seat in Dagenham, God forbids.The good news from my point of view is that, thanks to my constructive policies on immigration, my email and telephone are inundated with messages of support by Labour supporters who had previously said I was a spoiler that would allow the Tories to win the election, by default.  They are now saying that they are deeply ashamed to be associated with a party led by a man who calls them “bigots” for asking legitimate questions about immigration.As I said in my communication last night, imposing a “point-based” system, “capping” the number of immigrants, or giving “amnesty” to all illegal immigrants as Labour, Tories and the Libdems are advocating will do nothing to stop immigrants from getting in, by any means. You should have listened to the BBC's World Service documentary, ‘Desperate Dreams' aired in January 2008. A brave reporter followed thousands of African men, women and children as they trekked across the Sahara desert on a journey of desperate dreams to reach Europe.  Then as now, many are dying in the desert or drowning in the Mediterranean Sea!The only way to reduce asylum is my - tackling the causes that make it impossible for millions of people to stay in their own countries. No candidate in Ealing & Acton knows those issues better than I do.  I have lived them!  What is more, unlike, my party opponents, I have the freedom to air them without being called a “bigot” by any party leader or anyone else.

Sam Akaki ● 5996d