Yep, as the bedroom tax stuff was starting to happen a mate I went to college with got in touch with me to say his mum and his sister (who live on one of the poorest estates in the country) were both going to be hit by the bedroom tax. I knew about his sister because he'd told me he was worried that she was falling in with the far-right and asked me for advice on it - she'd been around the fringes of the EDL and then moved in with a bloke who seemed to be kind of the unofficial leader of the NWI in their town (not going to say where cos I don't want any of them to figure out who she is but those who know me will probably be able to guess - it's somewhere where the BNP were very strong pre-meltdown).
He asked me whether I agreed with it (bedroom tax) and I explained I thought it stank and was torn as to whether to offer to talk to them about setting up a campaign on their estate. But in the end I thought fuck it, he's a good mate and the stuff from his sister is more about wankers exploiting a fairly vulnerable woman.
So I went over and talked to them. Wasn't easy - the first thing I got was the line about Muslims being exempt cos they could say the spare room was a prayer room. I said I was sure that wasn't true (first time I'd heard it) but when she insisted it was I said ok then, I'll go away and find out and if it's true that's completely unfair and we'll make it part of the campaign (knowing it wouldn't be true). And it went on like that - she never said anything beyond the myths - if she'd said anything outright racist I would have had a go but she didn't. She'd just been fed a right wing line explaining the problems she faces.
Now, there hasn't been a Damascene conversion or anything, the myths still come out from time to time but we just deal with them sensibly - don't scream racist but just show the facts so there can be no doubt they are myths. Slowly but surely the rants are moving from being against immigrants being given preferential treatment to the rich/bankers/Tories and she voted Labour at the county council elections (would definitely have been BNP or UKIP a couple of months ago). I've not been involved in anything for a few weeks cos I've got some quite serious personal stuff going on at the moment so I haven't seen her for a bit but I was told the other day that she's joined Unite Community and she's playing a leading role in the bedroom tax campaign. And she's pulling in people who were not especially political but believed a lot of the myths and they're working with members of the SWP (who have, after it being explained to them the importance of being patient, though not needing to pander to outright racism, have been surprisingly sensible in their dealings with her), the SP, anarchists and immigrants who live on the estate. That would have been unthinkable a few months ago.
It's not about preaching Marxism to them or whatever, the people I'm talking about aren't interested in all that (though one day they might, who knows?) but challenging the myths while working with them on a common cause, and letting them come to their own conclusions, to define their own politics through a combination of experience of collective action and better information than they had before (ie cutting through the myths). And the campaigning does seem to be shifting the way they see the world, my mate's suster especially - she's started talking about class in a way she never would have before (would sometimes talk about the white w/c but now it's working class).
I was pleasantly surprised by just how well it is working to be honest - it's far from easy and it's not as much fun as a big demo but it strikes me that it's much more effective. At a counter-demo she'd be on the other side of a fence and there'd be no real chance of any kind of interaction, at least not one that isn't hostile anyway.
) was an 'unemployed father of two ' , where do you get the impression they're posh ? ( most seem young , agreed ) .
