In the fifth of a series of interviews with Green Left supporting candidates at the General Election, Mike Shaughnessy talks to the Green Party's Lesley Grahame, candidate for the target constituency of Norwich South.
Tell me a
bit about your background and how you came to join the Green party?
I got
political when I learned about nuclear weapons as a teenager, went to Greenham
in my 20s, and have been campaigning on peace issues ever since. However peace
cannot be achieved or maintained without justice so a big picture approach is
vital. I joined the Green Party to be part of a
team that collectively works on all the issues that matter.
Why did you decide to join Green Left?
I would
describe myself as an ecosocialist - social and and environmental justice are
inseparable, one can’t wait until the other is achieved. Climate change won’t
wait until after the revolution / the downpayments on the national debt etc. However
climate change can be a powerful driver for an economy that serves the common
good and revitalises the economy in a way that recognises our interdependence.
Excessive wealth is no use on a planet that can’t sustain life. A beautiful
sustainable planet that only a few can enjoy is not one I want to work for.
The Green
Party rightly contains people with a spectrum of opinions, left to (relatively)
right, authoritarian/libertarian, emphasis on social/environmental or
local/global issues. I place myself to the left in terms of distribution of
wealth, being libertarian on rights, valuing
freedom from harm by others, along with freedom
to do as you wish, with the proviso of causing no harm. On most issues, I
promote integration, rather than separation of strands.
How is the Green surge playing out in Norwich?
Well, it’s
anything but dull. Our membership has risen from about 200 to 700 and our office
and action days are pulling in new activists each week.
We've put
motions on things like the bedroom tax, Ttip,
and fracking, and we've helped residents question council and various
committees. These actions have been supported by the
People's Assembly and other cuts activists, some of them have come our
way. Small left parties have stood in Norwich wards, but not in our target
seats.
The Labour candidate would like to be in a party that opposes TTIP, Trident and austerity. But he isn’t, he's in the Labour Party, as their 6th target candidate. Labour can reasonably expect considerable loyalty in return for the many kitchen sinks thrown at getting him elected. When Owen Jones came to speak at his invitation, Owen gave his vision for a better society. It could have come from our manifesto. I pointed this out, and asked what confidence he had in Labour implementing any of our polices. All the other quesions of that night were along the lines of ‘why aren’t you a Green then?'
How are the cuts to local authority budgets affecting Norwich and Norfolk?
Youth
Services have gone.
Everyone
working in public services is feeling the pinch, worrying about their jobs and
their clients.
Benefit sanctions are seeing people descend into chaos, trying to
hold their lives together on nowhere near enough money, sometimes no money.
The Labour
council is desperate to get any kind of growth at any cost to anyone. It's
fallen for government schemes like City Deal which
provided 20k for Christmas lights and
allowed the Lep to take community infrastructure levy (cil) money out of the
city to pay for 20 miles of unnecessary
development road.
What are the main issues that you will campaign on?
Reclaim the
NHS, renationalise rail, and invest in jobs that stop climate change.
Education
and local democracy are closely connected too.
Current
local campaigns include trying to stop the last local authority schools being
forced to become academy schools. We're
fighting over-development based on road building.
Labour
promotes cycling to look green, but wants growth based on aviation, road
building and GM. We want to build on the climate expertise at UEA to make
Norwich a centre of excellence in renewable energy, warm affordable housing and
sustainable transport.
Nationally I
want to reclaim public services supporting Caroline's NHS & Public Service
Users bills. My personal mission is to extend the Freedom of Information Act to
any company spending public money.
All the hard won gains for people and planet are threatened by Ttip. I don't believe investors deserve special privileges and I want it stopped. The Alternative Trade Mandate proposes a different framework that puts the common good first and shows that there is a better alternative.
Globally I want to work for a nuclear weapons convention.
Norwich South is one of the Green party’s top three target constituencies. How do you rate your chances – and the Green party more broadly in England ?
Fortunes go
down as well as up, so no guarantees, but our vote in Norwich has doubled at
every general election since 1997, before the green surge. We really don't know
how the surge will play out in votes, but we have every reason to be
hopeful.
There appears to be new Left emerging in Europe, as a reaction to governments’ austerity policies, Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain at the forefront. Can the Green party here in the UK be part of this trend?
I hope so.
More than a trend, perhaps a bloc that can offer solidarity, trade and
experience.
I know that you have been campaigning against EU/US trade deal TTIP, what are your fears about this treaty?
If you or I
asked for a special court to allow us to pursue our interests, based on rules
made by us, administered by lawyers appointed by us, and over-riding the laws of
the land- we'd rightly be laughed out of court. The fact that Ttip is taken at
all seriously shows that not only money, but also power is concentrating in ever fewer hands.
Think rights
at work, environmental protection - but also self-censorship by government. Senior CND people don't
know whether cancelling Trident could lead to Ttip litigation. Ttip is
incompatible with democracy, because it gives unequal rights to investors. It
mitigates against one planet living because it globalises trade that should be
local.
If elected to Parliament, would you vote for a Labour austerity budget?
Not for
love, power or money.
I do believe
that Labour would do marginally less harm than the Tories. The only scenario
that would rule out the 'Never' word is one where my vote against would lead to
another nightmare Tory government. I've seen councillors agonising over similar
rocks and hard places, and like them I'd take guidance from the residents and
party colleagues, to whom
I'm accountable.
Lesley Grahame
Parliamentary Candidate, Norwich South
Green Party Councillor, Thorpe Hamlet Ward
Norwich
Tel 01603 611909
Mob 07711 298214
Twitter @LesleyJGrahame
http://www.norwichgreenparty.org/
www.lesleygrahame.org.uk/
Good luck Lesley!
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