Co-editors: Seán Mac Mathúna • John Heathcote
Consulting editor: Themistocles Hoetis
Field Correspondent: Allen Hougland
Although the media are hailing
up another Labour Party landslide in Britain today, we would
remind our readers that we have been here before. In both the 1992 election in
Britain, and the 1970 election which brought in the
disastrous Heath Government, the British electorate had been
led to believe that the election was in Labour's
grasp. Many Flame readers will say,
quite rightly that voting means little, if nothing; and that
Western Democracy is a fix between two parties representing
the same, largely invisible power structure. That even by
voting, you give politicians the right to use it as a
mandate for anything they wish to impose. Indeed, we at Flame would agree
without hesitation that neither of the main parties touch
even tangentially on some of our most important concerns
about our society and the future of the planet. Neither of them have the
courage to approach reform of the constitution; which would
involve a real discussion on the role of the monarchy in a
third millenium nation of multi-cultural, pluralistic and
largely educated citizenry. Nor, for instance, has there
been any serious discussion of a complete overhaul of the
Misuse of Drugs Act, an American-inspired Prohibition, which
since its introduction in the 60's , has resulted in the
impoverishment and death of countless poor or vulnerable
people, the enrichment of gangsters, and corruption of the
legal system. Nor has either of the main
parties really approached the problems affecting the
environment; from energy production to food
production. The public transport system in
Britain remains a shambles, although with the imminent
bankruptcy of the privatised rail corporation, it is just
possible that the Government will be forced to step in and
effectively bring Railtrack under democratically accountable
control again. All of these issues are central
to the common wealth of the people of these islands, yet we
effectively have no way to change them through the ballot
box. However, there are good reasons
for casting one's vote. Anyone who thinks that this is,
or should be the limit of their power in a so-called
democratic country, is politically naïve. All the popular vote does is
give the Establishment a mandate for what they can get away
with over the next four or five years. If people do not give the
Labour Party a mandate to govern in this country, by casting
enough votes for them on Thursday 8th June , then the
Conservative Party will re-emerge from the shadows and
become the Government by default. As we have seen from the USA,
Bush was desperate to maintain the image of a democratically
elected politician despite the fact that he stole the
election, as numerous studies now reveal. He then used this as a
'mandate' to impose the most right-wing agenda in American
history &endash; which thankfully seems to have been
de-railed by one conscious Senator from the liberal wing (if
you can call it that) of the Republican Party. Have no doubt that if the
Conservatives did win in Britain, their arrogance would know
no bounds. They have appealed to a narrow xenophobic Little
England mentality, that is unhealthy even as a cynical ploy
to win votes. For this reason, as well as
their unhealthy trust of the USA over Europe, and their
adoption since the days of Thatcher of the worst aspects of
American capitalism, they deserve to be destroyed at the
polls and effectively reduced to an English National
Party. They have no representation at
Westminster for Wales or Scotland, and the Liberal Democrats
would provide a more effective opposition to the Labour
Party. Despite the Labour Party's
appalling record in office on Civil Liberties legislation;
on the ever growing divide between rich and poor; and their
adherence to a generally social democrat &endash;corporate
agenda; they remain the choice out of the two parties if you
are not rich enough to benefit from the Welfare State being
completely sold off in the next ten years. It has to be said
that the reasons for voting Labour are still the
same. To make sure that the boot on
your neck is just a little lighter. To ensure the remaining
pittance of your old mum's pension doesn't get siphoned off
into an offshore fund (probably in Belize). To pursue the aim that so many
of us dreamt about through the twilight hell of the 80's,
Thatcher's Britain; of finishing off once and for all the
Conservative Party as one that could ever inflict the social
division and deprivation that we saw then. But, after saying this, we
should remember that putting your cross on the ballot every
few years is only that. Liberty is a tree tended with
eternal vigilance, as the poet once said. Day one of a new Government is
the day that we start to put the pressure on again, to make
sure that four years later we still have a few more rights
than just the right to vote.