Palestine has galvanised the community – and a local candidate is trying to harness that energy and challenge Wes Streeting MPast weekend I attended Eid weekend in Ilford, east London, and the festivities were festooned with Palestine insignia. Some children had Palestine heart-shaped flags pinned to their finest Eid threads. The adults wore the. At one Eid festival at Goodmayes Park there was Palestine flag bunting everywhere, and a Palestine stall.
But feeling strongly about Palestine is one thing and getting people to act on it during an airless and uninspiring election campaign is another. The Muslim Vote had a truck just outside the park with a rolling digital-advertising banner urging passersby to channel their frustration and register to vote. The campaign’s challenge is to reconcile two impulses: high feeling about Gaza and low engagement with electoral politics.
That disconnect was clear among others in the community who are electrified by Gaza, left cold by Westminster, occupied with how to support themselves and each other. The Palestine solidarity signs outnumbered election banners for any candidate.told me that what I saw in Ilford wasn’t unique to the area. Across the country, many people just don’t feel that anything will change and so don’t see their vote making a difference, even though they are angry with Labour.
Here was something obscured in all the sound and fury about immigration, integration and protests about Gaza – the community that springs up around areas with large minorities, large families and a tradition of neighbourliness.