That's what I asked myself as I stood shivering from the cold and anticipation at 4 minutes to 6 on Preston Flag Market on the evening of the 8th of June. As I stared around me at the slowly gathering crowd of demonstrators, I began to think, "With so much hope in the world, do 2 MEP seats given to the BNP really deserve so much media frenzy?"
Curiously, I glanced around at the gathering groups of young adults, professionals, and parent and child combinations, who were smoking, chatting, waiting. What were they waiting for?
Realistically, even the most avid of protesters will admit that demonstrations rarely attract headlines in the media. Why were these people here then? Why did I feel like I belonged to this gathering crowd? And why, after the BNP had won That Seat in Lancashire the day before, did people feel that now was the time to speak up?
I spoke to a few of the protesters looking for answers. "It's about time I showed my distaste," one exotic looking female sat by the war monument replied, blowing a ring of smoke in the air nonchalantly. Right, I replied and shuffled away in search of a more elaborate answer.
I found a friendly bearded and suited chap next, wearing a bright yellow Lib Dem badge slowly taking a drag from his cigarette. "Throughout the campaign, [the BNP] have put themselves forward as the 'none-of-the-above' options. The problem is they are a party of hatred and prejudice, not progress. People in the North West aren't going to see any improvement in their lives [now the BNP have won a seat]. This election has been a step back for millions of people. That is what has brought out people today."
I learned a couple of things from this protest; the first being that if I ever wanted to blend in with liberals I needed to learn to chain-smoke and roll a fag with gusto. The second, was that protesters are, contrary to popular belief, interesting human beings. Anyone who firmly believes that justice and equality are attainable intrigues just for the fact that they have obviously had to research their beliefs as back-up for future arguments. Yes, people can protest against capitalism. Yes people can protest against far-right politics. They can protest against sweatshop labour. But deep inside, there is a tiny little voice that they manage to oppress telling them that protesting isn't really effective. But just being there amongst like-minded people gives them enough strength to faithfully stick to their guns.
Perhaps protesters don't really protest to make a point. They protest to come together. They protest to drag like-minded people out of the woodwork because over that tiny voice telling them that their bigger voice won't be heard is an overweening sense of pride and honour in what they clutch blindly for. Nowadays faith is enough to drive people to make a difference as it embeds itself into the fabric of politics.
To answer the title of this post then, 2 seats make a world of difference. Because while there are people out there who believe in making the world a worse place to live in for some, there are more people, many more, out there who believe they can make the world a better place to live in for everyone.
