I was just trying to say that politicans do think that they can appeal to a community by picking up on issues that they feel members of that community are more likely to relate too.

I agree with Rumbold though, that I vote as an individual as do most people. Nobody vores along the bloc theories. There is no such thing as a black, muslim, indian, or jewish vote. However i do think that politicans feel that can associaet themselves with points that individual community groups are more likely to associate in essence adding another string to their bow hoping to sway my opinion and get my vote.

BananaBrain, If I misunderstood the point you were trying to make, i apologise. But it seems to me you just want to take a dig at every post i make where the word jew is mentioned. Your very whiny. I mean the last post i made i mentioned a hadful of communities as an example to my point yet you appear to get offended by my mention of the jewish community.

you should grow up.

I have no doubt that people’s identities might affect they way they vote. I just don’t like to see people being talked about as though they are only one thing (i.e.’wooing the Muslim vote’). My identities feed into my politics, but I would never like the idea of politicians chasing the white vote, or the male vote, or the hetrosexual vote. Make your arguments to me as an individual. Show me why I should vote for you.

Sikh campaigners threaten legal fight over 2011 census
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8535141.stm

Yet the moment we start talking about things like the ‘Muslim vote’, we are putting people into a box and expecting them to behave in a certain way because of their label.

You should read Microtrends, it’s not always putting people in a box it’s sometimes giving a political narrative based on what people already relate to.

I regularly use the term ‘black vote’ it doesn’t mean every single black person thinks and votes the same but there are overlaps in interest, there is a relationship to racial/cultural/ethnic identity which can play out politically.

When you focus so purely on individualism it can lead to an ideological reductionism that doesn’t appreciate the often collective experiences of peoples lives…

contrary to your typically lazy assumption, research in the jewish community (which i will try and find) has shown that we do not vote as a bloc. we are split down traditional party lines – generally, the more traditionally religious you are, the more likely you are to vote tory and the more assimilated, the more likely you are to vote labour or lib dem, but this is also affected by whether you are hawkish or dovish on israel and whether you have a large family or not (the ultra-orthodox tend to vote labour for this reason). there are only a few constituencies (e.g. hendon, finchley & golders green, north manchester) where the jewish community significantly affects the vote and, as you will probably see, these have switched hands a lot of times. we simply don’t vote solely according to our religious identity – and this is a good thing.

b’shalom

bananabrain

Certain ethnic/racial/religious groups have concerns/interests that the vast majority of the electorate may not share.

As a Muslim I want a government which won’t be looking to impose Niqab bans, I also want the same as a liberal, funny thing is, nobody I know wears one. I just want to preserve the right of those who do.

I feel a conservative government, would buckle under right wing pressure and growing Islamaphobia from Europe and legitimise the debate against the right of Muslim women to dress as they choose. I don’t see the government forcing you not to wear something any less offensive than an over-bearing husband forcing you to wear something.

On the other hand, I want to know what peoples economic policies are, what they will do.to tackle housing shortages etc. I don’t really see a difference between Labour and the conservatives today, apart from when push comes to shove, one will show it’s dirty right wing side and one is a socialist. They are both very central parties. I see Labour as the lesser as two evils.

I personally am thinking of voting for the Lib Dem’s but am put of by he shambolic manner in which they’ve run my local Council.

Similarly if Tories chase for example the Sikh vote in Southall or the Hindu vote in Harrow, Muslims in London would appreciate the same.

While in the ideal world a Muslim/Hindu/Jewish vote would not be an issue to appear to selectively ignore or dismiss one particular faith vote over others appears to imply something more calculated. Moreover to deny a faith vote exists seems naive.

I would guess that the Muslim on the Clapham omnibus is more than capable of making an informed decision on what direction the country should take based on the issues that affect everyone else.

Boyo – ‘multiculturalism has encouraged people to think of themselves according to their ethnic/ religious identity.’ So? There is no exclusivity between multiculturalism and integration.

You could tell me (reasonably) that some Muslims have become ghettoised, though whether that is something new or something that has attracted more media coverage is another question.

However I would hazard a guess that the people in those ghettos do not sit around reading up on the latest developments in the government’s multiculturalism and equality policy. It may be the case that these people are jerks, but what these people are doing is the diametric opposite of multiculturalism. M/C has had zero effect on the mindset of the people you talk about.

Muslim (above) talks about wars in Iraq and Afghanistan being unpopular amongst the Muslim community – that doesn’t sound massively different to how it is seen by other communities to me!

As Rumbold correctly says, people can make their mind up on the issues – it is their own mind.

For example, Tim Montgomerie – editor of ConHome – constantly talks about the need for the Tories to reach out to the ‘Christian vote’ or for them to absord more of the ‘gay vote’.

Inayat, though has been in the game for a while, is only following that lead.

The Tory approach is of course completely hypocritical. They hate identity politics only when it emphasises the other – not their own constituencies.

http://www.pickledpolitics.com/archives/6112

Warsi is all the Muslim they need!

Though he is wheeled out far more often than the actual secs-general who tend to put feet in mouth a little too often with such gems as homosexuality spreads disease (Sacranie – subsequently knighted) or “Is stoning ever justified? It depends what sort of stoning.”(Bari).