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BALLOT BOX: It won’t be getting the Howe vote

ELECTIONS ARE due shortly, perhaps in a few weeks or so, and Operation Black Vote stirs again assisted by the veteran Rev Jesse Jackson, who promises to ride Labour’s battle bus all the way from the USA.

Again, those of us who won’t vote are pestered, harangued and harassed. We are increasing in numbers and much more determined in our decision not to participate in these elections. And non-voters are not only black and Asian.

More than half of our population between ages of 18 to 25 years are currently not on the electoral roll, and regarding this a young white journalist declared in a headline in the Evening Standard: “We young voters aren’t apathetic – we are angry.”

The statistics increase in relation to young black people. Only a couple of weekends ago the Howe tribe gathered at my home to celebrate my 66th birthday.

There was some babble about elections on the TV.

I asked of the throng to indicate whether they will be voting in the forthcoming election and for whom. They all said ‘no’. Not with any venom or hostility, but conclusively and effortlessly.

It was not always thus. I arrived here from the Caribbean nearly 50 years ago. I registered and voted at once for the Labour candidate, for a couple of reasons.

A Conservative candidate in a Midlands constituency raised the electioneering slogan: ‘If you want a n**ger for a neighbour, vote Labour!’ And yours truly was very keen to have as many as possible for my neighbours.

Now I continue to register only because I keep my vote as a weapon to be used in particular circumstances and for particular individuals.

For instance, the last time I voted was for Ken Livingstone in the mayoral race, and the time before too. There are perhaps only two others I will vote for were they to land in my constituency: Diane Abbott and Keith Vaz.

Currently, I do not know the name of my constituency, some part of Croydon or Streatham, I expect. I know not the name of my MP, or whether they are male or female. I do not for a nanosecond accept that I am lacking in political consciousness. Quite the opposite, as readers of my column know.

We, the electorate, have degenerated to a stage where David Cameron and Gordon Brown may parachute a hound dog into any constituency, and once the dog barks the party line he/she is headed for Westminster.

Dogs, fraudsters, tax avoidance hustlers, the lot – all are welcome. They storm the electoral barriers wreathed in huge smiles.

Once the decision not to vote is taken, qualified by rare circumstances, you are on the road to doing something else. And it is an arduous journey filled with risk and possible imprisonment, as many protesters have experienced recently. Branding those who do not vote as apathetic, says the young journalist, is a ‘crass generalisation’.

I predict that this election will record the lowest turnout in the last 50 years. The storm clouds are gathering as many of us prepare ourselves for the deluge of social conflict tinged with heavy deposits of class and ethnicity.

Strikes have been threatened and protesting workers are slowly emerging. Loss of jobs, cuts in wages, the tightening of the noose around our necks at places of work and in the communities are the order of the day, whether Labour, Conservative or Liberal.

My 66th birthday celebration was attended by my 10-day-old granddaughter. She seemed relaxed and comfortable in my arms until I whispered in her ear: “Caroline Howe who are you voting for?” She let fly a huge yelp, followed by screams. I kissed her softly, cradling her warmly and she was silent once more.

If babes in arms react in this way when asked if they are voting in the next election then there is little hope left for Operation Black Vote.

Published: 15 March 2010
Issue: 1414

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