The final battle

Today, me, Liza and Gurpreet did battle over the phones for the last time at the Manchester David Miliband phonebank. This has been a great journey for me where I have learned a lot about campaigning and as such, I feel the Leadership campaign has been great, despite the negative headlines as it has enthused a great number of people new to the party like myself and initiated us into what campaigning is like.

I’d like to thank foremost David himself, you have united so many people, such as my new friends, in common purpose and for that I am truly grateful. I’d also like to thank the other candidates on the behalf of my fellow tweeps as you have also allowed an outlet for people to get involved in your campiagns. In a weeks time, in Manchester, a new leader will be announced. Whoever it may be, I hope that you keep this outreach agenda in force and reach out to the millions of people who WANT to get involved in campiagning, who WANT to make a difference.

I conclude with a poem dedicated to my Mcr Phonebank brethren, Liza Harding and Gurpreet Atwal and all the other phonebank brethren across the country, regardless of who you phonebank for. PHONEBANKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!! 

The Final battle

The final battle,

The guns fall silent now,

Gone is the sound of the heavy bombardment,

Relentless, deafening, on-going.

 

We fought well,

Leading the charge,

Deploying words in the ear,

The charm offensive, fought hard,

Now ceases into silence.

 

The battlefield empty,

We await a new dawn breaking through the mist.

Anticipation grips us,

We did all in our power,

In Elohim’s lap the verdict is,

Cometh the man, cometh the hour!

 

"His phone army" - Me and the rest of the Manchester phonebank with David

“Hi its David here…” David calls in!

This blogpost may seem a little late but as I always say, better late than never! The other night David phoned into the Manchester phonebank. Whilst we were gathered around the phone with the loud speaker on,  he congratulated us on our efforts and on our hard work. He also congratulated us on what we achived, emphasisng how important the personal touch is in terms of reaching out to people.

To me, even though it was a brief phonecall, it meant a lot. It showed that David was genuinely grateful for what we were doing and that despite our small numbers, he acknowledged the efforts we were doing despite this. At the event in Manchester, he also came up to us to thank us in person for what we were doing. This is another reason I support David, his ability to reach out to ordinary people like us and still appear humble, and his emphasis on mutual respect. Thank you very much David, but i was negligent in my phonebanking duty. I forgot to ask “Who were you thinking of giving your 1st preference to?“

"His phone army" - Me and the rest of the Manchester phonebank with David

Battlefield

We’re happy to fight for you,

Every call a battlefield,

We charge, our words the artillery,

We charge for what we believe without fear.

We fly the flag in a distant outpost,

Far away from the bright lights, a distant mirage,

But your voice on the speaker galvanises,

Shows us you care, shows us we are many brigades in one army!

True devotion here!

As a regular member of the David Miliband phonebank here in Manchester, I was angered to learn that some have questioned our commitment to the cause. As well as that, it seems there is not much communication coming from David even though TWICE he promised to ring in! I will set the record straight, RIGHT HERE and RIGHT NOW!! We are a small group, however we are very much dedicated and we do what we can! We are not as resourced as the London phonebank and again we can only do our best! If it wasnt for the insistance of Gurpreet Atwal and Vicky Heywood, there wouldnt have been a phonebank even in Manchester!

A word of caution to David and his campaign, we are doing the best with the limited people we have and the limited resources we have! What we lack in manpower, we make up for with our sheer determination. It seems that Labour havent learned the lesson of being too London-centric and thus, by seeming this way, you are giving fule to Andy Burnham’s fire calling for the party to be less London Centric. For once, just once, please appreciate the effort we are making up here in Manchester! Do keep your promise just once and ring in when you PROMISE too! We are few, but with our determination, we fight for you!

We happy few!

Why does thou forsake us,

We seem far from the action,

But in our remoteness, we fly the flag,

We fight your corner in our homeland!

 

We may be small, but our passion is collosal,

A flame burning in the distant north,

A solitary red rose in the grass.

Don’t forsake this flower in the field,

We stalwart soldiers, we happy few!

The DM phone army ready for battle!

The phone warriors- the poem!

(Dedicated to the Manchester phone bank team, in particular our illustrious commanders , Gurpreet Atwal and Vicky Heywood!)

Last night, I did a blog post extolling the virtues of the phone bank in Manchester- http://anthillel.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/phonebanking-for-dm/ .  Today, I came up with a poem to also help to inspire you to take part- enjoy!

The phone warriors

We go to war,

A war to restore justice in these unjust times,

Words will be our weapons, the phone our troop carrier,

No aggressive offensive, no lightning war,

Persuasion is the key,

The arrow to penetrate their defences,

Our passion will win their hearts and minds.

We march to war, not for glory but for fairness,

We march for the one we believe capable to restore this right,

The one capable of leading us to ultimate victory!

 

Phonebanking for DM!

The DM phone army ready for battle!

For last 2 weeks, I’ve undertaken phonebanking for the David Miliband campaign in merry old Manchester. I can honestly say it has been one of the best experiences I have ever undertaken. From it, I have met a group of really good friends but most of all, I feel involved with the campaign and I feel I’m making a difference.

One of the most interesting calls I made was when I converted a woman to David after 10 mins conversation. In it,  she asked about how he would solve the deficit and I stated that after WW2, we had a large debt yet we managed to create NHS. She also asked about education and I mentioned that private schools shouldnt recieve government funding as the fees should cover it and more money should go to state schools so that there should be equal opportunities for all. She also asked how David would appeal to communtities and I mentioned how the community organiser training under Movement for Change is getting young people involved in politics like never before. She ended the call by saying that David had her vote and how impressed she was by my argument. Mission accomplished! 

My friend Liza harding said of the phonebanking “it works, and the fact that we are volunteers really helps because there are still people out there who still aren’t sure who to go for, and if we explain what attracts us to him, it really helps towards their decision!”

To all those who are involved in a campaign, I really do recommend phonebanking as you have a laugh meeting people as dedicated as you and most of all, you feel really involved in the campaign!

Liza being inspired by an image of her idol!