A consequence of a 5x increase in members for local parties is that no longer does everyone in the Green party know everyone else in the Green Party. New members don’t have local tacit knowledge.
The local campaign launch I attended, was billed as “meet the candidates.” There was a lot of excitement. I understand that a small number of good people have been campaigning for many years together. Bless you. Names were read out. Each one got a whoop and a holler. But, the next name was drowned out. Everyone said they had never seen so many people at a campaign launch. I had thought each candidate would maybe have three minutes to say, “Hi! I’m xxxx, standing in yyy ward, and my focus will be on [favourite local issue]… or something. We got a 3 min repeat Zack’s message from the local leader, an enthusiastic invitation to a group photo and then … Pick up your leaflets and get campaigning!
What? What are we campaigning for. Yes, for Good, Justice and Social Harmony, of course, but what does this actually look like to people new to active Green politics? On the local web site there were many campaign days listed. I signed up for two in areas where I feel local. This was listed as Campaign Launch: Meet the candidates. I was hoping (expecting) something about what the key local issues are for the party to help me campaign. Flags? Bins? Climate? Roads? Housing? Tacitly I think I might know what Green Policies are, but how are we making it real locally? It has, in the past, been everyone do everything, DIY politics. But now it is different.
rWorld2 