Politics in depth

The Oxford dictionary definition of politics is “the activities of the government, members of law-making organisations, will people who tried to influence away a country is governed” (1)

When talking to Andrew about politics and came to my acknowledgement that politics is way more than just voting for whoever you want in your country or your local town and how that council/government operates the place of your town/country. Politics can also focus on the different types of social issues, and activism that's the person supports or is against, which could create change to not only the person’s life but everyone around them.

Especially in the 50s, while there was a rise in different immigrants coming from the Commonwealth, politics became a key factor in Bristol, if not the whole of the UK. As growing situations of racism and poverty began to arise. Bristol is first known as a successful port city, many immigrants from the Caribbean’s and India came to the city, to work. Even with a lot of work coming from the immigrants from the Windrush generation, St. Paul exists, which was known to be classed as a poverty-stricken place in Bristol, which also had a high population of Afro Caribbean and Indian/Pakistani immigrants.

From the mixture of poverty and racism a lot of situations, such as the Saint Paul riot, which was believed to be a cause of racial tension and poor housing. But this is not the only time Bristol had protested something they do not believe is right regarding social issues. in the 1960s, the was racial segregation of employing people of colour as bus drivers. Roy Hackett, one of the activists during the boycott mention that “labourers from the colonies and former colonies were allowed to “wash the buses at night” but barred from the better-paid work on the bus crews. This segregation was not only upheld by the bus company” (2), due to the frequent racism along with the struggles of getting a good-paying job simply because they are from African/Asian descent the Bristol Bus Boycott was enacted.

(The picture above is a plaque of the 1963 bus boycott, place in the Bristol Bus station)

Even nowadays even though the forms of issues no different compared to the 60s to 80s people in Bristol still voice out their opinions through protests and demonstrations. however, compared to the past this is also more on a national stance such as the Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, and the kill the bill protest in 2021, which also happened in 1994.

From the interviews and research is that Bristol is one of many outspoken cities in the UK, though a small city the action of the people living in the city is big enough to catch the attention of people around the world. Even in one of the interviews with Matt, it was jokingly agreed that Bristol is a rebel child, especially when voicing out political issues that they do not agree with.

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Reference list:

(1) Cambridge Dictionary (2021). culture. [online] @CambridgeWords. Available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/culture [Accessed 25 May 2021].

(2) Kehinde Andrews (2020). Roy Hackett: the civil rights hero who stood in front of a bus – and changed Britain for ever. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/aug/06/roy-hackett-the-civil-rights-hero-who-stood-in-front-of-a-bus-and-changed-britain-for-ever [Accessed 11 May. 2021].