Time to stand up and call it out

I have not posted on my blog for over a year, political, work and home life too busy and maybe like many of you, a feeling that it is better spend more time in the 'real' world than what can become quite toxic - the 'on-line world'.

But the events of the last few days has made my decide to put my head above the parapet, not that I have been 'hiding' away, I have been campaigning every week for what I believe in, and on most occasions it has been Reform that have been the party that has posed the biggest threat to maintaining Ipswich as a decent place to live for everyone.

I am sure many of you could have easily missed the recent news about the protests at Dover and last night in Portsmouth, easy to dismiss as another EDL, 'Tommy Robinson' type protests, but these seemed more sinister, the way the police seemed to have little early warning, the way some Tory and Reform Politicians seemed to have quite easily found excuses for the intimidating behaviour of some of those who attended the two events.

The right to protest is part of British life, however when people seemed to come dressed in some sort of uniform which includes balaclavas then that is a point when we have to think are these people here for peaceful protest.

To me it has too many similarities to the way the Nazi Party behaved in Germany in the 1930, the way the Brown Shirts acted on the streets, in particular the events of 1938, Kristallnacht - 'The Night of Broken Glass' or closer to home and the 'Battle of Cable Street' in 1936, when Mosely led his own uniformed thugs through the East End of London.

This new group, with Danny Thomas as their leader have been gathering activists over the Summer, calling themselves the 'Patriot Platform' and they also seem to be declaring they are a Christian organisation, however they still seem to recruit similar people who follow Tommy Robinson, often they hold criminal records but can also include military veterans and those who work but feel they are being left behind, very similar to where Hitler recruited many of his own stormtroopers between both the World Wars.

I understand people are concerned about how many boats are arriving in the UK each week, there is legitimate concerns that some of our newer arrivals seem to find it difficult to accept British customs and our laws and rules. The facts are most of those arrive, want to settle here, accept our rules and work hard and pay taxes - a small minority may break the law but that should not tarnish all those who arrive, many escaping war and famine and currently a war started by one of our own allies. 

However it is now time to stand up and call out those who are obviously fascists. We should also call out those like the Tory Police and Crime Commissioner in Hampshire who seemed to want to blame others and even make excuses for those who attacked her own police last night in Portsmouth. Even Farage said protests from those wearing balaclavas is not acceptable, unfortunately many of his own party like some senior Tories are willing to make excuses for those who turned up in Dover and Portsmouth, who just seemed to want to intimidate rather than protest.

Even here in Ipswich, we have recently elected Reform councillors ask questions at Full Council on how many people seeking asylum are residing Ipswich, but once they were given an answer they then decided to ignore that and use Facebook to spread gossip and false facts', we saw just up the road from Ipswich in Thetford what happens when people start to listen to gossip and rumour.

What can we do? Get the real facts over, the number of boats arriving are going down, we are working better with the French and other European countries, educate people on the difference between refugees, asylum seekers and those here legally to work.

Then we have to ensure Reform do not take control of our local councils, they are already making a mess of Suffolk ( and Essex) we can't let all the positive work that is going on in Ipswich go to waste. 

So if you act like a fascist, talk like a fascist - I will call you a fascist - but I will also work as hard as I can in my own Rushmere ward to get a message of hope across, Ipswich has always been a welcoming place to those who had come here for a better like or those fleeing war, that should continue, there is no place in this town for people 'protesting' in black uniforms, wearing balaclavas..

It just needs the 'silent' majority also to speak up. We defeated fascism in 1945 now we have to do it again but closer to home.