Gaza fuels election anger against Labour and Tories
Britain’s tightly controlled political system is facing new challenges from independent candidates, especially in light of the country’s ongoing support for the genocide in Gaza.
With Britain's Conservative Party facing a historic defeat after 14 years in power, many pollsters are predicting a landslide victory for the Labour Party.
But that is the result of an anti-conservative sentiment in the UK rather than a pro-Labour one.
In the Midlands region of the United Kingdom, there are many independent candidates who are running against those from the more established parties, and to them, and thousands of voters, the question of the United Kingdom's support for the genocide in Gaza is central to the decision they'll be making as to who they're voting for on July the fourth.
And the disdain that many people feel is targeted at both of the main parties.
In Darby South former Labour MP Chris Williamson is running to enter the House of Commons once more, this time as a candidate for the Workers Party of Britain.
Because people in Darby South are really sick to death of the two parties, who have badly let them down, and I'm absolutely horrified by the genocide that's taking place in Gaza, and as a consequence of that, I've agreed to put my name forward and I've been really been heartened actually by the level of support that we've come across.
And ... that revulsion at what's happening in Gaza right now isn't confined to simply the Muslim community.
We're finding that horror about that, and Britain's complicity in it, is actually very, very widespread across the constituency.
Chris Williamson, Workers Party of Britain
Around 40 miles away in the city of Birmingham, which has a 29.9% Muslim population, a number of independent candidates are running with the endorsement of the Muslim Vote campaign, a movement dedicated to helping Muslims better understand their voting options in their local area.
The time is now to show these political elites that we will not remain silent. We will not just say yes to everything that you say.
Shakeel Afsar, Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley
One of those candidates is Shakeel Afsar, a local businessman and longtime campaigner for the liberation of the Palestinian people. For Shakeel, the genocide in Gaza is having a direct impact on the ground in Birmingham, too.
There are many issues that are affected locally due to our foreign policy, and we do need to work on those, but there are many issues within the grounds here.
The highest recorded religious hate crimes for the last three years have been against Muslims. Yet there's no robust campaign to challenge that or tackle that.
We've got the deprivation and the food banks; yesterday I was helping at a food bank and I was astonished (by) how many of our community have to use the food bank even whilst being working-class people.
Shakeel Afsar, Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley
The way the political system is set up in the UK is geared to favor the big two parties but should just a few of the hundreds of insurgent candidates, like Shakeel and Chris, win their battle, It will undoubtedly send shockwaves through the halls of power in Westminster.
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