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Is it worth voting?
Yesterday, my Mother and I went along to a
meeting of candidates for the upcoming state election.
The good news was that the hall was packed with over 100 locals - though mostly over the age of 50.
The bad news is - as time goes on I find myself more and more cynical about politics - a quaint little game to fool people into believing they really have some democratic rights - with the major parties policies and actions dictated by corporate interests.
I did believe in political action - ran as a candidate for the Greens political party 7 times - in some of the most successful campaigns ever seen in this area, full of enthusiasm and creativity and passion. Through this experience, I learnt that the election was not about the best candidate, or the best policies - but about who had the most money to pay for advertising. It didn't matter where that money came from - as long as you had it. We did the best we could with no budget - creative marketing to try to get media coverage and grassroots campaigning from door to door to attempt to communicate a message – but it was hard to see a real result.
Watching and listening to this panel of 6 candidates, I felt almost physically repulsed. It was the same talk about 'growth' and 'development', 'free trade' and 'technological solutions', it was talk about polarising local issues - stopping mosqes and 'protecting persecuted Christians'.
I longed to hear a vision of a better world, I yearned to hear someone, anyone - present a positive vision of a sustainable future instead of stopping 'this' or 'them' or 'that'.
But worst of all was my own feeling of defeat and despair - why can't I articulate clearly and succinctly what I know in my heart - the words seem naive and no longer even able to be heard in the current atmosphere. My perception of the world has been dismantled from the conditioning of conventional schooling and the pressure of ‘fitting in’ to what I now know is the engine room of consumersim for a capitalist, heartless society.
The good news was that the hall was packed with over 100 locals - though mostly over the age of 50.
The bad news is - as time goes on I find myself more and more cynical about politics - a quaint little game to fool people into believing they really have some democratic rights - with the major parties policies and actions dictated by corporate interests.
I did believe in political action - ran as a candidate for the Greens political party 7 times - in some of the most successful campaigns ever seen in this area, full of enthusiasm and creativity and passion. Through this experience, I learnt that the election was not about the best candidate, or the best policies - but about who had the most money to pay for advertising. It didn't matter where that money came from - as long as you had it. We did the best we could with no budget - creative marketing to try to get media coverage and grassroots campaigning from door to door to attempt to communicate a message – but it was hard to see a real result.
Watching and listening to this panel of 6 candidates, I felt almost physically repulsed. It was the same talk about 'growth' and 'development', 'free trade' and 'technological solutions', it was talk about polarising local issues - stopping mosqes and 'protecting persecuted Christians'.
I longed to hear a vision of a better world, I yearned to hear someone, anyone - present a positive vision of a sustainable future instead of stopping 'this' or 'them' or 'that'.
But worst of all was my own feeling of defeat and despair - why can't I articulate clearly and succinctly what I know in my heart - the words seem naive and no longer even able to be heard in the current atmosphere. My perception of the world has been dismantled from the conditioning of conventional schooling and the pressure of ‘fitting in’ to what I now know is the engine room of consumersim for a capitalist, heartless society.
Of course I will go along to vote this
weekend. And of course I will vote for the Greens (despite feeling that they
sometimes try too hard to speak the language of conventional politics) – but I
long for something more. Something deeper and more meaningful…hopefully it will
come…
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| Making the most of the present - following Pacha around on her surfing adventures! |
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