I'd put an anti-Tory slogan in the window, sure. I was still bitter about Miliband's Labour supporting austerity. I was angry they supported the Workfare bill.
But the manifesto, spearheaded by then-leader Jeremy Corbyn was a manifesto that I could get behind.
So I did some door-knocking.
Then in 2019, when Johnson called for the 4th General Election of the year, it was all-hands-on-deck.
Because this Labour manifesto would pull the UK out of cruel austerity measures and steer the UK towards a Green New Deal. So I went door-knocking again.
We all know how it ended, and you probably don't need another voice in the storm saying What Went Wrong.
But during the campaign, I put on a gig with Grace Petrie and we raised over £900 for York Outer Labour Party. I could never have seen myself doing this in 2015.
We wanted to fight against the 630th worst MP, Julian Sturdy. We lost, of course, and Sturdy is free to continue barely being around his constituency. It was a fight worth fighting.
I wanted to write a quick blog about the arts in these circumstances. Because it's always been hard for me to in my colours to a specific mast. For every fistful of policies I agree with, there will be another fistful of issues. I guess politics is sometimes about compromise.
There are some organisations I would never do a gig for, some obvious ones (If, in the unlikley event York Tories asked me to come and do a gig, it would be a resounding No). Others more complex, e.g. anything affiliation with the SWP.
I noticed after the EU Referendum in 2016, a few Arts organisations publicly bemoaning the result, especially as they receive funding from EU sources. But there was no mention of the pros of EU membership on their website or social media until the votes had been counted.
It's always hard, because art is meant to have a broad appeal. If you just perform to people within your circle, you're just back-patting in an echo chamber.
I find this fine if you need to energize and impassion, but what we've clearly seen this last election is that we can put thousands of boots on the ground and canvas, flyer, door-knock and it doesn't matter in the face of wave-after-wave of billionaire-backed lies.
I saw a status by a poet saying their next collection would be called 'I Hate Tories'.
Well, as much as I hate Tories (and would never kiss one), I think the art we make has to entice and education. I hate the Tory Party, but there's a block of their voters that have committed to installing a pro-poverty Party. And it scares me how we switch them away from this toxicity. I guess as I get older, I'll try and make a distinction between a dyed-in-the-wool Tory who cheers for power, privilege, austerity, poverty, war and greed. A Tory who advocates for the deaths of the disabled, the deportations of ethnic minorities and cares not-a-jot for the future of the planet. This is not the same as a Tory-voter who feels their views float towards that spectrum of narrow British politics. Still won't kiss ya, though.
So I'm going to try and rethink and reimagine the art I make, the theatre and poetry I write. In the early 2010s I wrote a lot of protest poetry. Reflecting demos and rallies. They do the job, but it's a specific job. I've tried to write more playfully politically since, and my last few key poems have been about people, history and places.
So how can we continue to energeize and impassion, but also keep changing the narrative. And indeed, how do we find those audiences beyond our safe left/liberal bubbles in arts spaces and gigs?
It's time to feel what we need to feel. Reflect, analyse, cry and re-group.
Love, rage & solidarity always x
