I sent my vote in last week. I don’t know if it will get there in time. I don’t know if it will make a blind bit of difference in a constituency where my MP has been the same person for the last 20 years but it was important to check the ballot box, stick my stamp on the envelope and post it anyway.
Fewer than 100 years ago I wouldn’t have been able to do that. As a woman, I would not have had the right. I would have had to have put up with whomever the (white) men of my country chose for me, and I could have been fairly certain they wouldn’t have taken any of my needs or rights into account.
At just nineteen years old, my own father was thrown into prison under the 90 day detention act in apartheid South Africa. For those of you unfamiliar with that clever little ruse, it enabled the secret police to arrest and detain anyone they suspected of being involved in ‘acts against the state’ – for instance demanding that any citizen regardless of colour or creed be allowed a vote – and hold them in solitary confinement for three months. Then they could release them and in theory ( often, too, in practice) arrest them immediately and repeat the process ad infinitum. My mother would have been arrested too but she was at home with terrible menstrual cramps rather than at the ANC meeting. Probably the only time in her life she’s been grateful for a bad period. After he got out they fled to London and were not allowed to return to their home country for over twenty five years.
Pretty rough, eh?
Harder than a stroll down to the voting booth and marking a box with an X.
I think the British voting system is a bit crap, really. I really wish that I could vote separately for my local borough and for my national candidate, that we had proportional representation, that the stupid House of Lords was dissolved (what relevance do they have anyway?). I wish there was more transparency and accountability and that in some way young people could be more energised and interested in what goes on at Westminster.
Perhaps if there is a hung parliament there really will be some kind of change? I don’t know. It’s a bit difficult to tell.
But there most definitely will not be change if people do not force it. If they sit on their arses moaning and not using the power they do have.
That power is your ballot paper so get out and use it.
No excuses.
Vote.
{ 10 comments }
E brava! And being a Pakistani, may I reiterate your message- I come from a country where political dynasty is the code word- how I wish I could actually cast a *real* vote! Brilliant message- vote ladies- vote! Xxx shayma
Am with you on this one – all too easy to take things for granted and ‘not bother’ for whatever reason. It is those who take this stance and then have the affront to moan about the state of matters that really get up my nose.
Put up or shut up, but don’t throw away a right that others have often fought for you to have.
Will now get off my soapbox.
LCM x
.-= London City Mum´s last blog ..Time to cut to the chase and get down to the hard slog =-.
A hung parliament would be a wonderful kick up the backside to all of the main parties. But I find it hard to feel any enthusiasm about a voting system that gives us a choice between two depressingly similar parties.
I want to see politicians discussing the issues that really count. The economy’s important, but I want to know why British children are (according to the United Nations) some of the unhappiest in the world. If I was a politician, that would be at the top of my agenda.
.-= Steerforth´s last blog ..Yesterday =-.
Too right.
.-= Penny Dreadful´s last blog ..Vintage photographs: Philippe Halsman’s Jumpology =-.
I am only allowed to vote locally, but I will do so, most certainly!
.-= Metropolitan Mum´s last blog ..99 red balloons, girlfriends and feeling at home in a garage =-.
But what do you do when you really can’t decide who to vote for?
.-= Expat Mum´s last blog ..Missing – One Mo-jo =-.
Shayma, we are on the same page. From a global perspective it seems almost a crime not to use one’s vote in the UK (or the USA). I like the Australian system where one is obliged to cast a vote, even if it’s to say one is abstaining. One is legally obliged to turn up at the polling booth as a citizen of the country.
LCM. You are welcome to the SoapBox. Gives me a nice little rest..
Steerforth. I am hoping a hung parliament will bring about some change and that the LibDems actually ask some of those questions you quite rightly ask. Why are the children so unhappy? How are we failing them? And what has changed the most since our own childhoods that we can redress (or were we that unhappy, too?)
Met Mum. How come you are only allowed to vote locally? Isn’t everyone, in a way? We vote for our local candidate and they, by proxy, vote for the main candidate? Please explain..
Expat Mum. I was on the fence, you know. But in the end I bit the bullet and just put an x in the box of the candidate I disliked the least locally. That was my strategy. In my case I don’t think it will make any difference as it’s a safe seat, but I think it’s important to make some kind of choice. Obviously I don’t know your politics, but if you couldn’t decide between, for instance, Labour and LibDem, I would choose whomever was most likely to topple the Tories in your constituency. Or vice versa. And if it wasn’t going to make a blind bit of difference because it was a safe seat then pick the Green party because they will never win but they are trying very hard to save the planet.
A brilliant post! My hubby’s never voted whereas I’m adamant about using my little voice, so he’s coming with me tomorrow.
We do need a fundamental change in our voting system, and perhaps the French system of criminalising those who don’ t utilise their vote will put the wind up voter apathy.
.-= Dreamer´s last blog ..A mountain top =-.
Brilliant post, mothership, couldn’t agree more. My vote won’t make a jot of difference as we are in a dyed in the wool Tory stronghold down here but will be doing it anyway – is disgraceful when women don’t bother. Fx
OK you’ve got me on a major guilt trip now for not having voted. It’s the first time I haven’t done it, and I was using living abroad as an excuse, although it’s not one at all. But the real reason is that I used to be a passionate New Labour supporter, but this time around I feel lost and uninspired, and thought that seeing as I wasn’t in the country anyway, I could wait until the next one. (Frankly I’d rather vote in American elections at the moment- I definitely know who to vote for there). But you’re right, we shouldn’t waste our votes. I’ll go and hide in a hole now.
.-= nappyvalleygirl´s last blog ..The Gallery: The lesser known Long Island =-.
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