In which they do not like being represented by fascists

If this blog was about politics we could rant on for hours but it isn’t. It is about Manchester.
However, two days ago, in our town hall, Nick Griffin of the BNP was elected to represent us at the European Parliament. The Manchester Zedders would just like to make it clear. Nick Griffin does not speak for us.

This lunchtime we stopped a woman with a Guardian under her arm who was happy to take this photo for us outside the aforementioned town hall.

This blog is about Manchester, and celebrating and exploring Manchester in all its beauty and diversity. On our travels, some the things we have loved about the city are Jewish toddlers walking on walls, Rastas on bicycles, the avuncular man in Hunters curry house, chats with taxi drivers who speak three languages, shops selling Lithuanian beer. We like that our friend John from Bangladesh became a UK citizen this year and we would like his beautiful children to grow up in a city that celebrates the rich patchwork culture of its people.

Our journeys into Manchester’s history show it to be a city whose canalways have been dug by Irish workmen, a city which welcomed Jews fleeing Pogroms, a city whose statue of Abraham Lincoln ‘commemorates the support that the working people of Manchester gave in the fight for the abolition of slavery during the American Civil War. By supporting the Union under President Lincoln at a time when there was an economic blockade of the southern states the Lancashire cotton workers were denied access to raw cotton which caused considerable unemployment throughout the cotton industry…’ A city with a thriving gay community.

It is because we feel Britain is enriched by the diversity of this city, and cities like it, that we are signing the Hope not Hate petition. If you want to send a message that the BNP does not speak for you, please join us in signing the petition.

Billy Bragg quoted Joe Hill at his Hope not Hate gig saying, “Don’t mourn, organise”. I say “Mourn all you need to. Then organise” Make your voice heard and then do something which makes your city, this society, better. Understand someone more, volunteer, speak to your neighbours and don’t let these fascists win the debate about what being British is all about.

HOPE not hate
Celebrating modern Britain
This was not a party political broadcast. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.