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Marion Baur Statements most recent: 24th November 2003
Marion Baur: Speeches and Statements
Time to shake up Stormont says Baur
Press Release 24.11.03
I want to be a MLA in order to give a voice to the voiceless, to stand up for the people left behind by the peace process.
It's been plain from the campaigns of the four main parties that issues of poverty, joblessness, facilities for the young and care for the elderly, etc., have largely been forgotten. I want to be in the Assembly to ensure that these issues are put back at the top of the agenda.
As far as I'm concerned, the real function of a MLA should be to use whatever platform or prestige comes with the job to mobilise opposition to privatisation, low pay, homelessness, poverty and the abuse of power by State and big business.
If it's only the major parties who still represent East L'derry after Wednesday, there will be no voice to speak up for the people who cannot afford to pay water charges. There will be nobody with an electoral mandate to oppose further privatisation, or unashamedly to take the side of the working class in any dispute which arises.
I am asking people to give us their number one, and then to use their vote to indicate their preferences between the other candidates and parties.
I have been hugely heartened by the reception at meetings, on the doorstep and in the streets. People do want something different said on their behalf, over and above the question of which Nationalist party or which Unionist party wins out over the other. Whether this feeling translates into number one preferences in sufficent numbers, nobody can say for certain until the count is complete.
But one thing is already certain. If there is a SEA seat in East L'derry after Wednesday, every major party, and not just in this constituency, will know that it's had a wake-up call. The way to shake them up, if that's what you want to do, is to vote number one for the SEA before continuing down the list.
- 24th November 2003
- 17th November 2003
- 13th November 2003
