European election

[Pol]

Ok voting for the European Parliament take's place on 22nd May ( yawn yawn i might hear some of you say) Still i believe that it's very important to vote with the European Parliament having more and more control.
  I would like to other peoples opinions on this subject, you don't need to say what party your voting for or if you are. I'm seriously considering voting for the Scottish Green party as there manifesto best reflects my opinions, I take it the Green parties have very similar policy's

Thanks for reading
 Pol

[Rusco]

Well, it seems that the EU election is considered more like a serious election this time. Some of the reasons for it are quite obvious due to the recent political issues: Ukraine - Russia thing, dependence of gas production in east and on the other hand: a lack of its production inside EU, and populist extreme right groups getting to power.

I don't know why but it seems here that for some reason the one's you should vote for do probably conceal their political sides more than it was before? Maybe the issues they are talking about are either

a) more down-to-earth and/or mundane in it contents to ordinary people and candidates are worried about the topics, or
b) they are all populists.

[Shush]

Rusco, I would say here also the EU elections are being taken more seriously, in the past famously bad turn out for people voting.

As Pol picks up on, vote for the party whose manifesto best reflects your own opinions.

[Bunny]

Its a sad state of affairs that all elections seem to be afflicted by a general malaise and lack of interest. I only ever vote in general elections tbh and its usually most important when the country needs a change. Labour had their time unfortunately and the country knew it. Its only ever gonna be one of two parties.
Europe is probably more important to vote in as their is at stake, but I just cant get excited about it.

[Master Ray]

So many people I know are gonna go for the UKIP option, thanks to so much scaremongering in the newspapers... 

Whilst I do understand why they might fall for that bullshit, they should look into the other policies that UKIP would like to bring in... scary stuff.

The only good side that I might see from this is if the major political parties see a massive swing away from their usual bollocks... I highly doubt that UKIP will gain a major foothold in UK politics, but I suspect that a lot of votes will be sucked their way and it might just make the Conservative / Labour stronghold understand that it isn't just a two-way race anymore and other parties might be snapping at their heels...

 

[stompy13]

I've noticed this surge of support for UKIP on various punk forums which seems rather worrying to me. I don't know what bullshit has been spouted in Britain as I've lived abroad for many years now, but I can't get my head around punks turning into raving nationalists.

Here in Spain I only have the right to vote in local and European elections. The government is more than happy to take my tax money, but doesn't want to hear my voice! Anyway, I'll be voting for PACMA, an animal rights party based in Catalunya as the supposedly left-wing parties are mixed up with the whole nationalistic thing that is happening here. National Socialists rings a horrible bell to me or I am over reacting?

[Rusco]

[...] Anyway, I'll be voting for PACMA, an animal rights party based in Catalunya as the supposedly left-wing parties are mixed up with the whole nationalistic thing that is happening here. National Socialists rings a horrible bell to me or I am over reacting?

I don't think you would be over reacting there. There's a LOT of dodgy propaganda hidden inside the new present day topics too.

Depending on Catalunya, is the mighty C.N.T still 'alive & kickin' there?

[Bunny]

I've noticed this surge of support for UKIP on various punk forums which seems rather worrying to me. I don't know what bullshit has been spouted in Britain as I've lived abroad for many years now, but I can't get my head around punks turning into raving nationalists.

Here in Spain I only have the right to vote in local and European elections. The government is more than happy to take my tax money, but doesn't want to hear my voice! Anyway, I'll be voting for PACMA, an animal rights party based in Catalunya as the supposedly left-wing parties are mixed up with the whole nationalistic thing that is happening here. National Socialists rings a horrible bell to me or I am over reacting?

I guess theres always a risk that working class or in fact any citizens that are having money cut and wages dropped have been alienated by their own Government, which is by a large what the Tory Blue has always been good for. Hence you get resentment that immigrants are entitled to the same benefits etc etc. Then the urban myths start which fuels the fire. Europe is a two way door. However no-one has yet canvassed me for a better life abroad and I wouldnt know where to start. I cant blame anyone that migrates in the hope of a better life and good on those that do. I do however despise a system that gives money with no incentive to get out of the system or offer jobs that pay less than in the system can offer. It was set up to help those in need, til they got on their feet. And that includes plenty of our own. However equally the system at the top is corrupt including various Parliaments that continue the head in the trough status quo.
As Billy Connolly once said "Dont vote. It just encourages them"

[Anna Woman von NRW]

Probably no great surprise here but I doubt I will vote (See waffle on another thread). But of all the elections this is the one I'm most likely to vote in. I kinda' like the idea of  the massive scale of the vote and how many people get to take part. It's also probably the most "fair" of the systems I could vote under. If I do the it would only be if there was a Green Party candidate - not that I necessarily support them but they are the at least looking for a way to something different.

I think the whole seemingly continent wide rise in the number of nationalist parties is worrying but it stems from people feeling threatened, under attack, powerless and ignored. Maybe it feels to you like things aren't good and they are getting worse. When people feel like that they will retreat to safe boundaries and dig in. It's hard to love your neighbour if you think they might take your job, eat your dog, blow you up or whatever fear you are tripping on today. I dunno' I'm not defending that mindset I'm trying to understand where it comes from.

 

[Bunny]

I think it comes from "safety among our own". People naturally flock to people they have common ground with. Hence certain areas are deemed black, white, asian etc etc. Human nature I suppose.

[Rusco]

The description of populism about politician promoting views and stances that the people would like the most to hear and support, fits quite well to most of politicians.

The ingredients of poison.

[Master Ray]

Couple of interesting articles in the papers today about how immigration from the likes of Romania and Bulgaria is actually DOWN since the start of the year, when they were officially allowed in...

Funny, that one didn't make the Daily Mail... 

[Pol]

When i first made this post i knew things were looking bad but holly Fck i never excepted things to work out this badly.
The frightening rise of the right ukip actually won in Britain and the National front made massive gains in France.
Was this just a protest against unemployment the bankers etc etc.
Am even ashamed to say ukip won a seat in Scotland
PS Nigel there is only 1 army that counts !

[Master Ray]

I'm not surprised one bit.  This is what happens when the major UK political parties ignore the will of their people and just throw out words like 'racist' to put down the likes of UKIP...

Newsflash.  The UKIP voters aren't (mostly) racists, they're just normal people who are scared about the way things are going and let that same fear get the better of them.  They aren't interested in the true story of what UKIP are trying to do, they just fall for the stories presented to them on a daily basis.

For the record, I don't believe in the EU.  Never have, never will.  It was a shitty idea from the start.  All these wonderful, diverse countries have spent the last hundreds of years going to war with each other.  Yes, the likes of NMA fans (who, I would suggest, are a bit more open minded than the general populace) are OK with folks all being thrown together into one big melting pot, but the general public won't go for it. Especially when so much money (isn't it £55 million per day?) is getting thrown at countries with bad credit ratings and refuse to do anything about it?

This is what happens when politicians force people into a situation that, deep down, they know won't work, but they're too busy feathering their nest for a forthcoming and lucrative career in, ahem, a united Europe.   :-[As most politicians are going nowadays...

The rise of the Far Right, all across Europe, is now inevitable, thanks to these self-serving fuckwits.  IMO, anyway... please feel free to correct any political ignorance I might just have posted, I don't claim to be some genius social commentator...

 

[Rusco]

The swarming of total nutheads to the EU is annoying. What anything other than this would be an alarm that should be noticed somehow. EUropean Farce, I'd say.