Anxious, tense, and perhaps even scared – those were the feelings many of us felt to discover that Bedford was on a circulated list of target locations for far-right riots. One of our local communities was being threatened by thugs with the intention of spreading division, fear and anger.
But that didn’t happen. Instead, in true Bedfordian fashion, we did just the opposite.
We came together as one community with neighbours looking after neighbours, Bedfordshire Police communicating with local residents, and elected representatives and residents standing together as one to say firmly that an attack on one of us in Bedford is an attack on all of us and we will not stand for it.
It was heart-warming to have received so many calls to my office, not from constituents who were scared (though of course there were some calls asking for advice), but from people outside of Queen’s Park wanting to know how they could best help or if they could be useful in any way.
It would have been so easy for residents on the other side of Bedford or in Kempston to ignore what was happening, but they made a different choice.
It was my experience that people truly wanted to be helpful in the actions they took. So, when the Police said a counter-protest would only escalate the risk, the vast majority of residents listened and stayed at home, helping the Police to keep us safe.
I am relieved that no far-right rioters came to Bedford.
And because of how we responded, the headlines from the events here and across the country did not reveal a town or a country cowed by fear, rather they highlighted the underlying hope within our society and unity against hate.
Opinion: We are Bedford and we won’t be intimidated but there’s still work to be done
That’s what lasted; our hope and our love for our communities will always beat hate. When we stand together no one can divide us.
Every time we are challenged, we come together and I believe there is a lesson here. This is what we can achieve when we work together in unity, and taking this approach is what is required to bring about the positive changes we want to see to Bedford and Kempston.
Whether it’s securing Universal Studios, supporting businesses in our towns, suburbs and villages, or securing improvements for local health services, many issues and opportunities inevitably lie ahead.
In each of these cases, it would be easy for us to become divided, to blame others for delays or problems along the way, or to simply oppose something for the sake of taking a different view to someone else
But I believe we need to take the harder choice, that of taking responsibility and actively working together to achieve the best results for our towns and to work through any differences through compromise.
Let’s continue to show our community spirit and stand up for Bedford and Kempston.
This is a monthly guest column provided by
Mohammad Yasin, Labour MP for Bedford & Kempston.
It is published unedited and does not
reflect the views of the Bedford Independent.
