OPINION | Political activists scrawl city streets to chalk up Labour victory

On a cold and windy rainy Birmingham night, I found myself alongside some of the grassroots campaigners, all of us hoping to see The Labour Party elected on the June 8th.

Armed with a box of pavement chalk, the group had taken to the streets of their constituency to spell out their message for a brighter future.

As well as conventional methods on campaigning, Olly and his group chose to write statistics and slogans across public areas such as footpaths, in an attempt to drum up more support for Jeremy Corbyn and The Labour Party.

“I wanted something to catch the eye, something different. We wanted it to be art as well as words” , Olly commented.

Completely non-permanent, the chalk will wash away as soon as it rains, meaning their messages are only there for a finite amount of time, with the hope that it is just enough time to convince a few more undecided voters.

“Chalk because it’s easy, quick, pretty and non permanent” added Olly.

They attracted the attention of the local police, who are interested in what’s going on, but after an explanation from the team, they swiftly move on without passing comment or judgement.

For me, this is the most wonderful thing that has came out of this election, a sense of hope, a sense of aspiration that anyone can come together and try to make a difference.

Instances of similiar campaigning have been popping up all over, including social media.

One other example on Twitter was #100reasons2vote by Amy Martin, which she used to give her reasons  as to why people should vote.

Whatever happens on June 8th, one thing is for sure, Jeremy Corbyn and his teams vision for a brighter future has captivated the hopes and dreams of people from all walks of life who feel that brighter world is out there, you just have to fight for it.

Paul Stringer