I've lived in London most of my adult life. From where I live in Tower Hamlets, I see the extremes of wealth and poverty and the mainstream parties' failure to act in the interests of ordinary people.
I became politically active after seeing the privatisation of the tube, attacks on workers in the fire service and other industries, and the drive to war against Iraq - all things that served the interests of those in power but not the interests of working class people.
I'm a safety rep on the tube for the RMT, where I've fought hard to protect passengers and staff against attacks on safety driven by cost-cutting and profiteering.
I was at the forefront of defending tube workers and passengers after the July 7 bombings, when management tore up safety rules just to get good media coverage. But I've also fought hard against the racism and Islamophobia that Brown's government stirred up after those bombings to justify attacks on the most oppressed parts of our society.
As a gay man, I'm proud to belong to a party that fights so publically for the rights of minorities under attack, and that works so hard to draw working class people of all colours and religions together to fight for our interests: Defending public services, fighting for decent housing, defending victims of racism, fighting for the rights of workers and building a society where need is put before greed.
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