Maxine Bowler is in the running to become Sheffield’s Socialist MP

2024 general election

The campaign plans weekly meetings and mass canvassing

At Maxine’s launch party last Friday (Image: Phil Turner)

“You deserve better” was the message Socialist candidate Maxine Bowler delivered at the launch of her electric campaign last Friday. Maxine told the 70 residents and campaigners that she was running against Labor MP Gill Furniss because she wanted them to have a voice.

Community activist Abdul Shaif promised: “We will make sure Maxine’s campaign has a big impact in the area.” Maxine is a member of the Socialist Workers Party and the issue of Palestine is central to her campaign in Brightside and Hillsborough, Sheffield.

“I cannot sit and watch the bombing, the killing, the starvation of men, women and children,” she said. Maxine also stands on a platform that promises to take on the Tory reign of austerity, racism and followership.

“The real problem is those with power – they take care of their own. “The Tories have given a lot of lucrative contracts to their colleagues. You deserve better – someone who will put his life and soul into the area.” Dima Alshami echoed the call for a fresh voice.

She said: “It’s time to elect politicians who will represent us and our interests.” “Maxine is one of the strongest people I know – she’s an advocate for workers’ rights, she’s an advocate for Palestine. “She’s at every protest every week, being the loudest voice for Palestine.”

Residents at the launch criticized the “appalling” voting record of Furniss, who voted against the ceasefire and did not vote against the suspension of the arms trade. A sense of anger about how Furniss had ignored the mass movement for Palestine infused the meeting. “Who the hell votes against a ceasefire to stop an ongoing genocide?

Let’s get her out,” said Dima. Musheir El-Farra of the Sheffield Palestine Solidarity Campaign told Socialist Worker that he supports Maxine because she has “always fought on the right side of history”. “There was a dis(1)integration of services. It’s time to vote for politicians who will fight for change.”

The hypocrisy that there is no money for services but money for war is a key part of Maxine’s manifesto. “There’s always a lot of money in mass destruction,” she said. “But we need more resources to give our young people a chance. “We have substandard housing and black mold is common.”

Maxine’s campaign plans weekly meetings and mass canvassing until voters go to the polls. Socialists, trade unionists and campaigners in South Yorkshire should get involved in delivering her message of change and hope.

Here’s who to vote for

Socialist Worker supports candidates who campaign for the Palestinians, against racism and austerity and for the rights of the oppressed. Our list includes:

• Aftab Nawaz, Walsall and Bloxwich
• Andrew Feinstein, Holborn and St Pancras
• Claudia Webbe, Leicester East
• Emma Dent Coad, Kensington and Bayswater
• Faiza Shaheen, Chingford and Woodford Green
• Jabu Nala-Hartley, Oxford East
• Jeremy Corbyn, Islington North
• Kamel Hawwash, Birmingham Selly Oak
• Leanne Mohamad, Ilford North
• Maxine Bowler, Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough
• Michael Lavalette, Preston
• Muhammed Ali Islam, Bradford West
• Nandita Lal, Tottenham
• Sam Gorst, Liverpool Garston
• Tanushka Marah, Hove and Portslade