Visible BaME communities are not impressed, in fact they are turned off, by the ‘tit for tat’ inter-political squabbling, so I very much hope that our Party does not participate in such trivia against Jeremy Corbyn and his new team. They are if anything a new ally against Toryism.
The Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats (EMLD) is here to continue to assist the Liberal Democrat Party to positively reform and progress, and we are hopeful that under Tim Farron’s leadership our repeated offers of support will now be firmly grabbed with both hands.
Our Party I would suggest would benefit from starting to demonstrate its ‘BaME Consciousness” if we are to thwart,what I suspect may end up being a tidal wave of new support from visible BaME communities, who previously felt marginalised by Labour since the early days of Blairism.
We have the advantage, which is unfortunately shared with Labour, of the London Mayor and Assembly Elections in 2016, plus the Welsh and Scottish national elections, where we could lay down exactly what we intend to do for BaME communities to aspire and succeed if they so choose, whilst lifting all communities out of the clutches of austerity and deprivation.
Let us together move beyond the laudable rhetoric of liberal principles and explain how these principles can become meaningful actions that enhance peoples lives, for BaME communities are no different than others communities who respect actions over words, unfortunately though BaME communities have been fed far too many hollow promises for them to have total trust in the words of politicians alone.
Let EMLD assist the Party without the unfortunate, but sadly the usual suspicion that it faces, for it is only when BaME communities hear and see politicians and leaders whom they have a bond with (through words and deeds) that they will believe that our Party is ‘walking the talk’. Recovery is a long process, but confidence can be won back through genuinely positive deeds.
Together with EMLD, I look forward to assisting our Party to become the genuinely progressive social liberal alternative that this country so desperately needs. The alternative to change, is frankly too depressing to even discuss at this point.
* Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera is Chair of the Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats.
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We had a golden opportunity to start this change with the internal election for our London Mayoral candidate. We had 6 members wanting to stand, 4 of them BAME. The relevant commitee decided to cut down the 6 to a shortlist of 2, without consulting or even informing the London membership. One of the 2 had to drop out, temporarily, so we ended up getting ballots with one name – Liberal Democracy at its best ?
There nothing we can do about that now but we can try to learn lessons for the future.
Why on earth would BAME voters be enthused by Corbyn ?
Paul,
I share your concerns but I am more hopeful for Caroline Pigeon could introduce ‘BaME Conscious’ policies, with the assistance of Duwayne Brooks, Teena Lashmore, Marisha Ray and Brian Haley who I am sure would more than happy assist, plus we have eight BaME Assembly List candidates who have knowledge, understanding, skills and ability in this area as well. There are also BaME Constituency candidates as well.
If the London LibDem voters so choose, we could have a very ethnically diverse list of credible candidates representing our Party.
Remember EMLD is also here to assist all of the candidates for the London elections in 2016 to greater engage with appropriate policies that will capture the interest of BaME communities.
Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera is Chair of the Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats
Labour has just chosen to drive moderate voters towards the Conservatives. That doesn’t make it a particularly great anti-Tory ally.
Jeremy Corbyn will take the labour party in a direction which parts of the country will feel uncomfortable. There has been a denial in the left wing of the labour party about the psychological scars that the 1970’s left on this country. Which was followed by the psychological scars of the consrvatives. This gives the Liberals to entice those wishing to move. We must all accept that the days of people staying with one party are over. I myself went from Conservatives to Labour and finally to Liberal Denocrats.
Ruwan is correct.
The selection of Sadiq Khan as Labour Candidate for London Mayor has a significance which it is hard to over-estimate.
The defeat of Tessa Jowell was not anticipated by the media.
If the directly elected Mayor of London — who has a very high profile on the international stage — is the son of immigrants, who grew up on a council estate in South London, it will be a fantastic role model for young kids growing up in London.
How sweet it would be if he were to beat multi-millionaire, Old Etonian Zac Goldsmith, possibly the most privileged person of his generation in London politics.
For Liberal Democrats it may be a case of being cursed to live in interesting times.
But it would be VERY interesting. 🙂
The radical left is full of middle class white people. The Greens had a lower percentage of BaME candidates than UKIP and the Conservatives had more than any other party. Of course, the Conservatives still struggle with BaME voters.
Lib Dems were actually second:
http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/the-political-party-with-a-worse-record-on-ethnic-diversity-than-ukip–xJC6MzZRpg
“Remember EMLD is also here to assist all of the candidates for the London elections in 2016 to greater engage with appropriate policies that will capture the interest of BaME communities.”
Serious question here Ruwan. Why do you think that the right “policy offer” will be the key to winning interest and support in BaME communities. That idea – Get the right policy menu and poeple will support us is certainly open to criticism (see the Political Brain et al) and was almost tested to destruction by the Lib Dems 2015 manifesto “offer”
This is the most sensible and perceptive article I have seen on LDV for many weeks, and certainly chimes with many comments I have heard from BME voters of my acquaintance.
Eddie Sammon 12th Sep ’15 – 5:33pm
” The radical left is full of middle class white people. ”
Perhaps where you live Eddie but down here in London the only groups that are dominated by middle class white people are City Bankers, High Court Judges, Russian Plutocrats, Media Moguls and Golf Club members.
None of these groups are very well represented on the radical left. 🙂
This is a really important issue. Because we could fall behind the Greens and UKIP in the London Mayoral Election.
Simon, because he’s had 30 years of championing race equality, I’m guessing.
Actually John Tilley, I used to work in the City and the banking sector seems quite good on race diversity. Not many women though. I agree with some of the other sectors.
(desperately tries not to lecture anyone about race issues, mainly just pointing out the evidence on candidates).
Regards
Please can someone tell me what is meant by “the radical left”?? Who are the people in TRL?
And what is “the radical right”?
@Phyllis,
It’s a load of nonsense made up by the US media in the fifties to scare people about communism. The radical left/right are terms used in politics to describe any idea outside of your political comfort zone. So, even though re-nationalising the railways is a sound idea on paper/financially, has broad public support and would reduce the tax burden it’s too “radical left” to be considered by any “serious” politician.
The terms are constantly used to critique and marginalise ideas that are different. During the Labour leadership election the term “radical left” was used over and over again to castigate Corbyn, but this time that strategy failed, so there’s evidence that fear of the media constructed “radical” is on the wane. Similarly Farage was often branded as being radical right by foreign media, but in the UK radical right means neo-nazi (…national socialist!?), so it’s not quite as simple a term. The EDL is a radical right group, but not as radical or right as the National Front, which in turn can’t touch Combat 18 for radical rightness; all of which make Farage look pretty mainstream. I usually regard the use of the term “radical” in political discourse as a thinly veiled pejorative. 🙂
Hywel, apologies for not responding earlier, but to answer your question regarding our last manifesto, I can assure you that it was not an example of something possessing a ‘BaME Consciousness’.
The manifesto was devoid of matters that EMLD actually supported and promoted, and it even ignored the previously Race Equality Task Force Report on Education and Employment policy that was accepted at Conference, and was subsequently snaffled by Labour for their manifesto.
Thank you ChrisB.
I wholeheartedly agree with John Tilley’s comments regarding Sadiq Khan.
I find Sadiq Khan inspirational, but more to the point he is an inspiration to thousands of young people growing up on London council estates. An excellent choice.
My question wasn’t really referring to the last manifesto (except as an example of when a “popular policy list” approach didn’t really work. And I think we can agree that 2015 is a good example of what doesn’t work!
it actually went deeper than that. If you are saying “EMLD is also here to assist all of the candidates for the London elections in 2016 to greater engage with appropriate policies that will capture the interest of BaME communities.” then is that actually the approach that will win people over. There seems to be a sugegstion that there is a list of policies which, if adopted, would win the support of BaME communities. And I don’t think that this is something which works with the engagement point coming come from a “lower” (in a cognitive sense) and more emotional level. Now there may be reasons why that would be wrong but I think there is a degree of lack of understanding about what makes a strong political message/narrative underlying some of this.
Policies to tackle unequal racial outcomes are important. Without that there are no foundations to build popular support, just empty words and gestures.
Hywel, my brother Lester appears to have answered the question!
EMLD exists partly to aid in the development of such policies, and to make sure that they are embedded in the procedures and practices as well.
Fantastic debate. We’ve consistently had opportunities to change the public face of our party but for some reason we seem to ignore this in our voting. Labour will seem more attractive to some activist who are committed to engage BaME with politics – because Labour fill public leadership roles that better match the communities they aim to represent. As a smaller party our machinary should be transformational and dynamic so we move with the times. Let’s discuss and join together on that path of change!
Wot! No nice Chinese Liberal Democrat lady for London Mayor?
@ Manfarang,
Is that a joke?
I for one am sick of white, Anglo -Saxon liberal men spouting platitudes about their deep concern at the lack of diversity when it comes to wielding of power in this country.
It seems that there are plenty of people of all genders and backgrounds who can rise to the top in sport and entertainment, but when it comes to actual access to power, it is a different matter.
I don’t accept the excuses.
Seems to me on some issues Jeremy Corbyn is not on the radical left, which is occupied by many Liberal Democrats. He’s on the conservative left (statist, centralist, pro-USSR – oh, well, pro-Putin, same place) and so on.
“Radical” is a word with a long and honourable Liberal history and we should not let it be infected by American hysteria.
@manfarang such comments have no place in the Liberal Democrats
Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera | Sat 12th September 2015 – 3:23 pm Please encourage Ghurkas in Maidstone to register to vote.
Manfarang 14th Sep ’15 – 6:34am “Wot! No nice Chinese Liberal Democrat lady for London Mayor?” A Chinese lady was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for the anti-sectarian Alliance Party of Northern Ireland.
Ruwan , as a fairly knew Liberal Democrat and a lifetime Londoner I have to say I fnd your tone rather depressing. It sounds like a Ken Livingston press release from the start of this century. Outside of politics and the politically active are their any Londoners who actually use the phrase BAME, I would say not.
If we want to win this mayoral election and I believe it is winnable can we focus on what really matters. Housing , Jobs and Educatoin. We don’t have to play the media game of who has the best backstory. I don’t care where Sadiq Khan or Zac Goldsmith went to school, they didn’t choose their parents did. We are Liberals !
We need to focus on how we can recruit the resources of the City, specifically the pension funds looking for steady returns and harness them to build houses on a scale London hasn’t seen since the 1950s. In building these homes we need to ensure that apprenticeships are created to eradicate youth unemployment by creating the next generation of sustainable construction workers.
We should also be arguing fo London to have a parity of devolution with Scotland. These issues face all Londoners and that is how we win. I do not vote based on my parent being political refugees from West Africa or the fact that I got a scholarship to a boarding school. I am an economic and social Liberal so I vote Liberal Democrat.
Let’s show Londoners, Caroline has the policies to create jobs and reduce housing tension. That is how we win.
@John Armah – You’re half right and half wrong.
Right in that as a progressive party we of course need to develop meaningful Liberal policies across the spectrum of public services, from housing to transport, to the economy, environment, criminal justice, education and so on. That is our purpose, and we have a rich history in doing so.
Wrong in that relying entirely on mainstream policy development ignores completely the BAME deficit that every poll, every focus group and every election in recent years tells us. It tells us that technocratic policy-making in itself, based on the assumption that all policies will benefit all target groups, or society in general, equally is simply not the case in a range of areas, most particularly the protected characteristics (or equalities strands). And more than most, BAME citizens and families. Every academic study looking at ethnicity and outcomes over several decades also tells us that.
Aside from the need to develop policies with a specific focus on tackling unequal outcomes is the equally important area of ‘connection’ between political parties and the public. Voters need to not just see policies they like (and how many really study manifestos) but feel that those parties and their leaders understand them, recognise their struggles, and have their concerns engraved in their hearts. On this the LibDems come up short again. Our ever-entrenching reputation as a party largely unrepresentative of modern multicultural Britain continues to do us as much damage as lack of policies to address these issues, although both factors are intertwined.
In London, the most multicultural of multicultural cities, these factors are particularly important. The single mayoral candidate has neither anything on her website to address policies towards BAME communities specifically nor many photos of her standing next to people of colour (and her photo gallery is very extensive). I know that EMLD are desperately trying to change the London campaign at the last minute. I live in hope that we will see a campaign more reflective of London as it is, but these should not be eleventh hour efforts but rather embedded in our DNA.
“The single mayoral candidate has neither anything on her website to address policies towards BAME communities specifically nor many photos of her standing next to people of colour (and her photo gallery is very extensive). ”
Should voters not be allowed to see this person as they really are? Why should you advise this candidate to “doctor” their photo gallery and falsely add in token BAME people (actors I presume?). Isn’t that just deceiving the voters into thinking the candidate thinks about BAME issues when they don’t. Does such a person deserve to be elected as Mayor, especially if they have only been voted in manipulating campaign literature into giving a false impression?
@Lester Holloway one of my issues about the mayoral campaign is that to a greater extent we really should present it as a technocratic battle.
Technocrat should not be a dirty word when referring to running one of the world’s greatest cities. Frankly I haven’t a clue when you talk about equality strands. As Liberals we really should be focusing on people as people
We know that research and insight shows investment in early years education ultimately benefits the poorest in society. We know crime and especially street crime affects the poor to a greater extent than other groups . We know that the poor overwhelmingly lack access to the networks that lead to the best jobs. These can be ameliorated by a plugged in London -wide careers service. We know poor air quality affects the poor more than any other group. We know housing inequality is a clear and persent danger both to our people and economy
We should not shy away from technocratic solutions , we need to be able to convert them into compelling messages that can be simply sold and drive up electoral registration in under-represented groups.
The Liberal Democrat Mayor should have the best answers sold via the most efficient use of digital and social networks directly to the people. London is ripe for a truly 21st Century election. If we use the same old tired Westminster models we will lose and deserve to.
As a Liberal Democratic Party we can and should do things differently. An aggressive, focused campaign targeting these key issues really will help all communities and as Liberals that should be our aim.
@JohnArmah, if we as a party continue to ignore the condition of BAME communities we can’t be surprised if they overlook us. The long grassroots struggle for racial equality always had a strand of academia but was in the main a passionate demand for rights and justice. Technocratic policy making that failed to address those demands was useless for their purposes, especially if they weren’t part of that process. Unless and until we can speak with (not to) black communities, collaborate on policy, have them as political representatives at every level, and measure our policies against the demands and against studies on unequal outcomes, unless we have the will and a plan, we might as well write off the BAME vote now
@LesterHolloway , I think you misunderstand me as I’m not arguing from an academic standpoint.
I absolutely agree we need representatives that look like London and speak to the needs of the community. My point is that technocrat as a word has been misused. What i mean is evidence based policy that can be applied. If rights and justice is the language needed to sell this message then so be it.
I suppose i object to the notion of BAME vote. As Liberals we must understand the historic struggles of different communities but propose solutions that work across communities. We should be the last people placing people in silos and saying Vote for us because you are black or Muslim or Sikh , that is the Ken Livingstone approach
As Liberals our appeal should be firmly grounded in voting for us because we will make your communities more secure, improve educatinal outcome and build a society that offers opportunities regardless of sex, race or religion. I believe that is a 21st century approach.