A New Hope For The UK
I've been in the UK for over eight years, and this year was the first one I could vote here. As a newly minted British citizen, I've voted for Labour in both local and general elections. And after many years of voting in Turkey and not being able to change anything, it was quite a shock for me when Labour won.
The politics around the world is becoming a lot like football. People take sides and act like hooligans without even thinking about what they support first. In football, people set buses on fire when their team loses the league, causing massive damage to innocent businesses and people around them. They don't think, and they don't care. Same as when they vote.
People take sides in politics in a very hooliganistic way. They don't want to hear the arguments of the other side. All that matters is what they believe and how they want things to be. It doesn't matter if the other side has a point or even agrees on specific points.
Sometimes, people can't even disagree with the people on their side. They are accused of being "one of them" or "not one of us". They threaten to shun you, wanting you to fall in line with them. You can't say, "Hey, maybe we're wrong here" at all. "Is this your loyalty to your party?" they would say.
What the fuck loyalty has to do with it?
In Turkish politics, you must choose a side and hold onto it as your life depends on it. Because mostly it does. If you're not a government supporter, you may not find work at all. If you're not "one of them", you're not "working with them". You would think the opposition would be beyond these notions, but believe me, they are not.
I was afraid the UK was on track to become another Turkey with the state of affairs with the Tories. Corrupt Boris and his gang, later inherited by the Out-of-Touch Rishi and his sycophants, emphasised "us vs. them" politics. The party of the UK's biggest Xenophobe, Nigel Farage, having 14.3% of the vote, feels too much like another Turkish election for me.
But now, with Labour, I have hope. Even the cabinet assignments are giving me hope. The first order of business, being scrapping the Rwanda arrangement, gives me hope.
The biggest reason for my hope is to see a population changing their minds and voting for a better future, even if it's giving power to the other side.