Pankurst and King: divided by continent; united in vision

This week saw two important dates celebrated across the world. First, there was the celebration of Dr King’s historic civil rights march in Selma Alabama, and then our annual celebration of International Women’s Day.

Both are hugely significant in demonstrating the changing nature of our democracies, improving representation and forcing the Governments of the day, to yield to the massive public demands for equality and justice.

We have come a long way over the last 100 years, some would say and yet as we are reminded on almost a daily basis, we still have a hell of a long road ahead to achieve the dream of real equality for both black people and women in Britain.

Currently just over one in five Members of Parliament are women, compared with just over one half of the adult population. The 2010 General Election returned a higher number and proportion of female MPs than any previous general election. Prior to 1987 women had never made up more than 5% of MPs.

The first MP from an ethnic minority background was elected in 1892 and then we were forced to wait 95 years.  It was not until 1987 until we saw another black person elected. We now have 27 BME MP’s.

We will see what happens once all the parties have selected all their candidates in terms of progress made but the raw reality is British democracy is in bad shape. In the last election only 61% of the electorate voted and since 2008 public confidence has dropped as a direct result of a series of damaging Westminster scandals.

Neither Dr King nor Emily Pankhurst were satisfied with securing the vote, they wanted large scale democratic and legal reforms to secure equality for all.

This is why OBV has launched our ‘Reclaiming Democracy’ tour. Of course we want people to vote, but simply adding people to the electoral register alone cannot hope to succeed without a clear agenda of democratic reform.

We are touring the country signing people up to vote and urging them to back a programme of radical democratic reform.  It’s time to rebalance the power from the Westminster elite back into the hand of the everyday citizens.

This dangerous democratic deficit is leading to growing levels of alienation. If Britain, is to live up to its reputation as the ‘mother of all democracies’ , then our appalling record of democratic engagement will need to be addressed.  

You can find out more about the OBV tour here. Come along and help us make history.

OBV Staff writer

Wednesday 11 March - Liverpool (Outside John Lewis, Liverpool One Shopping Centre, 70 Paradise Street, Liverpool L1 3EU)

Thursday 12 March - Wolverhampton - (QS1, Queen Square, Wolverhampton WV1 1TH)

Friday 13 March - Fuse ODG Concert (Tooting & Mitcham Football Club, The Hub, Imperial Fields, Bishopsford Road, SM4 6BF)

Saturday 14 March - National Church Leaders Forum (Transformation House, 58 St John's Hill,Clapham, London SW11 2AA)

Tuesday 17 March - Manchester (Outside University Place on Oxford Road, Manchgester ME13 9PL)

Wednesday 1 April - Hammersmith and Fulham (Hammersmith Academy, 25 Cathnor Road, London W12 9JD)

Tuesday 7 April - (Old Market Square, 2 Beast Market Hill, Nottingham NG1 6FB)

Wednesday 8 April - Nottingham (Location TBC)