Here is my closing speech held at CHOW on Wednesday. All candidates for Deputy in St Helier
District No1 and No2 were asked to explain why a group of Christians should
vote for them, assuming they were voters so entitled.
I am a regular attendee at Church House on Wednesday where bread is broken
and food eaten in a spirit of friendship. I am not a Christian, but as I
explain there is a clear link between my own beliefs in social justice and the
challenge Christians face if they are to give their faith meaning in contemporary
society. In other words I would say back to them, to be a Christian is to
engage in making a better society and that may mean sacrifice and uncomfortable
interaction with authority. Our paths lead in the same direction.
This Wednesday lunchtime a meeting was held in Church House by the
Christian group Business Connect for all the candidates standing for Deputy in
District No1 and No2. Before them were a
number of topical issues with a moral dimension. The hope from the point of
view of the organisers of CHOW (Church House on Wednesday) was to pose a
Christian challenge to contemporary politics.
The topics for debate were injustice in Jersey; Gay
marriage; the position of the Dean in the States Assembly; Sunday trading; gender
discrimination and Church subsidy through the Parish rates system.
We all had
to indicate which questions we wanted to discuss and our host Paul Milbank
ensured everyone got to answer an equal number of questions and speak for two minutes.
CHOW
I noticed that the Establishment candidate
here in No1 District, Gordon Forrest, displayed alacrity only to answer the
question on Sunday trading. Being a modern Tory, with an employer and business
background, this was not surprising. However, debates in the States Assembly
invariably have a moral aspect and call for a fine tuned sensitivity to public
sentiment. The world is not all technocratic black letter law and finance.
Matters of gender, sexual orientation and constitutional law frequently arise
and it was correct that CHOW posed them to candidates.
Naturally Reform
Jersey candidates Sam Mezec and I were hands up first to talk on justice
and inequality.
Below are Gordon Forrest (District No.1, Establishment) and Sam Mezec (District No.2, Reform Jersey) speaking at CHOW on the issue of Sunday Trading:
District No.2 Hustings
On Wednesday evening District No2 held its Husting
in the Town Hall Assembly room. I attended, and my assessment was confirmed by
conversations afterwards; there was only one candidate of calibre speaking and
that was Sam Mezec. His speech carefully crafted his evident youth, 23, to his
advantage, emphasising vigor and agility over a number of sedate elderly
gentlemen with conventional ideas and solutions. Some candidates shot
themselves in the foot, in a classic manner, by deferring in their speeches to
Sam, leaving no doubt in the audience's mind who had the upper hand.
Whereas other candidates answered questions
with a stream of consciousness, Sam displayed a rounded analysis of often
complex issues. He did more than say he “would look into it”, the classic get
out clause for candidates covering up their ignorance and provided a clear
position on every issue.
Injustice
My contribution at CHOW was on injustice which turned into a speech on
inequality and again on gender inequality, which boiled down to the issue of
women. I gave the latter a socialist twists by moving beyond “Trickle down
Feminism” and its obsession with the “Glass Ceiling” that prevents upper middle
class women entering Parliament and the Boardroom, to consider where was the “floor”
for working class women bearing the responsibility of child care, the family
and work.
Cringeworthy
When the only woman running for election in District No.1 spoke on women and rejected any form of positive discrimination, I
had to cringe. Her speech then veered off on a semi racist tack, made all the worse
because it was genuine and heartfelt. Sitting at the back of the room were three people of colour, a man and two women, one a Real Feminist. I was embarrassed on their behalf when Maureen
Morgan mentioned “black one armed lesbians”, the fantasy bête noir of all Daily
Mail readers. At least she realised she had over-stepped the mark and sort of apologised.
Judge for yourself if Ms Morgan will be invited to give the key note speech at the next Jersey conference on “Advancing Women in Politics and Public Life”?
THE ELECTION FOR DEPUTY IN DISTRICT NO.1 ST HELIER WILL BE HELD ON WEDNESDAY 5TH MARCH 2014 AT THE TOWN HALL, 8AM TO 8PM. VOTERS MAY PRE-POLL (VOTE EARLY) BY ATTENDING AT ST PAUL'S CENTRE, DUMARESQ STREET, FROM 9AM TO 5PM FROM MONDAY 24TH FEBRUARY TO SATURDAY 1ST MARCH AND AGAIN ON MONDAY 3RD MARCH 9AM TO 2PM.
