This is my "I'm-angry-at-the-lack-of- respect-for-anti-Tory-protesters-but-I'm-going-to-try-to-remain-civil-to-those-that-may-disagree-rant". I can't see this possibly going wrong.
When you consider the word democracy, it actually comes from the Latin "demos" meaning people. People. People make a democracy. It is a living, breathing, organic manifestation that we call the centre of our society. It is not a thought experiment with variables and hypotheticals. We have it in place in order to create some sort of order, but in our non-representational democracy where 1 million votes can equal 1 MP, 1.5 million can equal 56 and 39% somehow equals a majority, there is bound to be dissent.
So, when it emerged that the Conservatives had won the General Election outright and I was in utter disbelief, of course I was very excited when I knew I was not the only one who felt so strongly opposed, clearly, given the protest. Up until then I felt I was going mad; like I and a few others had missed something. This feeling of solidarity quickly dissipated though when tweets AGAINST the protest kept popping up on my Twitter feed. I was so confused that rational people were trying to silence people's democratic right to protest. Until suddenly, all became clear:
Now I understood. The riots had a violent element to them and a WW2 war memorial had been defaced. Obviously this behaviour is unacceptable but we must remember that the majority of the protest was peaceful.
To those who read these tweets and condemn the riots, please, this is my olive branch to you. This is how we feel.
For months and months, those who read the constant doom and gloom of the newspapers (Bedroom tax, food banks, austerity literally killing the poor) have been thrilled at the idea of more liberal parties gaining power. Bored of the same boys club politics, constant promises from newspapers that a new dawn is coming, many of us truly believed it would be over. Of course, it never occurred to many of us that one would read all the horrors we hear of millions of children going to school under clothed and under fed and not want change. It truly was such a shock for many.
To then be told that the "majority" of people voted for this and there was not even a hung parliament despite speculation for months that there undoubtedly would be one, there would be change, there would be improvements, really was stunning.
With all of this in mind we need to understand the gravity of the election result. This will have serious, life changing effects for people. This goes beyond a fun little debate topic that you can drop after a week when you get bored. This election, this austerity will seriously change people's lives for the worse. £50 million pounds is being cut from mental health services for children alone. People who desperately need benefits, who are disabled, who are terminally ill are being deemed fit for work and die as a result.
Whilst I accept that a voter has the right to vote for a party whose policies may be detrimental to others, that voter must in turn accept that those negatively affected by the election result have the democratic right to protest.
Written by Ella
From the Ancient Greek δῆμος (dêmos, “[the common] people”).
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