Indrani Sigamany for Summertown

Biography

I moved to Oxford two decades ago with my job working for an international NGO. My children grew up in Oxford and it's now very much our family hometown.

I am a social scientist, trained in social justice. My professional background includes working in international development, poverty alleviation, community development, human rights law, and gender women and development.
I do free lance academic research on Indigenous land rights and Indigenous conservation. I am also a capacity building consultant for civil society strengthening.

The Green Party values align with my professional values, and with my personal commitment to the community. Because of this, I have been a long time supporter of the Green Party.

Why I want to stand

I want to stand for election for the Green Party because it is the only party whose values and ideology I support, and I want to take a more active role:

1. The bigger picture: The UK needs a new direction. I think we are facing a severe failure of governance. The covid response was badly bungled leaving us with one of the highest rates of infections and mortality in the world, the country is facing food shortages, fuel shortages, a shortage of labour in agriculture, health care, education; the fishing industry is struggling, many car manufacturers have folded, EU citizens are being overtly discriminated against by the government, asylum seekers are facing cruelty... again by the government..in violation of international treaty agreements; the human rights legal norms are being threatened by the government; the NHS, one of the most strongest and most sane welfare mechanisms in the whole world is being consistently dismantled by the current government; the UK is one of the biggest money laundering tax havens and corruption at the highest levels remains unaccountable. It is like a country at war with shortages and high food prices and falling pound sterling. It's frightening that this economic political chaos is self imposed by the government's commitment to destructive policies such as Brexit and reinforcing inequality.
   
   Though the UK government has committed to the international green agenda, in actuality it falls far behind its promises. This is very concerning. The earth is heating up relentlessly. We can't sit around and watch the flooding, and fires, and glacial melts.
   
   
2. Oxford: The nation wide inequalities are mirrored in Oxford, which is a relatively wealthy city but has the second highest rate of rough sleeper deaths in England, and is the second most unaffordable city in the UK. The council is building housing on the green belt, and we have a water shortage looming. The council is failing to take concrete action on climate change, though it talks about it. We need a more equal, fairer, and greener Oxford.
   
   Local government can be a momentous force for good when used in the right way. I think the Greens have the right policies, ideas, and vision, with which the local councils can transform people's lives.
   
   
3. Alternative Green vision: The Green Party can change this direction if we build a consensus with other parties and a broad-based intersecting movement that sets out a progressive vision for holistic change. I feel the Green Party is the only one which is responding to these urgent needs. The youth are turning to the Green Party. The youth are concerned with ecological health and safety because they are inheriting the mess earlier generations created. They are also committed to peace and economic unity of the sort the EU offers.

I think the Green Party offers us all this hope that we can create the much needed change. And I would like to play my part and contribute actively to the Green party vision for an alternative which would turn the current political tide in the UK.