Let's talk politics

Well well well what a hard slog! But oh so worth it!

So umm what did I do?

My “action” was to expand my local area’s political education. I did this by way of speaking to my local parliamentary members and those contesting the 2006 Victorian election and getting them to submit articles to local papers in the area. I personally also wrote an accompanying letter outlining basic voting stuff and the importance of the vote. This included stuff about democracy, the different voting systems, the difference between the State and Federal Parliaments and also the necessity of the local members. These articles were submitted to local papers in an effort to get people to read them and get excited about politics.

So why would I care about educating the masses?

I do care. I think for far too long that people have been voting just the way their parents vote, or who has the most media, or who they think is the hottest Member of Parliament. And frankly I got annoyed! I remember talking to a friend of mine and she was talking about Howard in the next election… now this is a well educated individual but hey we were talking about state elections for one, and secondly, we are not in Howard’s electorate. So this got me really alarmed. I mean realistically if I hadn’t have done politics and legal studies at high school I wouldn’t know hardly anything, and that’s the thing… people didn’t do these things… so how will they know the ins and outs? So I thought it was about time I tried to shove it down their throat so to say to get them to stand up and take a bit of notice…hopefully it will work…

So how hard was it?

Frankly, bloody hard! It’s so difficult to get onto politicians! They’re busy people! So I spent a lot of time getting frustrated and using up my credit on ringing their offices. It was also difficult talking to the media. I mean I’ve run a couple of articles in my local paper, but I’ve never had to advocate for an article to be written… I had to chase them. That was difficult. I had to learn how to pitch my story to them and convince them to run this story. Similarly, talking to my friends and family about it, and even randoms in the street was hard. They thought I was crazy how often I’d bring and up and they just didn’t understand WHY I was so passionate about it. But I suppose that’s the thing…they started taking more notice of my endeavour cause I was relentless in its pursuit.

So what did I get out of it?

I don’t think I can REALLY say what I got out of it until I see some results, and I don’t think I can test my results. Cause I can’t tell what the articles would’ve done for the election, like I can’t tell if I hadn’t written the articles if there would’ve been a difference in the voting. So it’s hard to measure.

However, back to the question at hand… I personally got a hell of a lot of satisfaction out of it. I got to talk to some high profile individuals and learnt a heap of media skills. But also personally I think I felt empowered, I was supported fully through ACTNOW and also through the feedback I was getting from people, and the “thankyous” were absolutely fantastic. I felt like I was REALLY doing something, instead of just bitching about the political apathy in my area and the whole country, I actually tried to do something about it, and hopefully I have changed the mind of at least one individual to get them to start and understand politics cause it has such a bit impact on our lives, and we do have the power to change it.

So where to from here? I am still submitting some basic political education articles to my local paper before the election happens on the 25th of November 2006. I am still talking to people about it and getting their feedback on articles etc. In this endeavour I think it is ongoing, I mean next year we have the 2007 election and I think that I will do the same thing next year. I’m also getting excited about thinking of another action. I’ve realised that it doesn’t have to be massive to make a difference. Even putting your rubbish in the bin is still helping change your world…I also think I am going to start trying to get other people to actually start TAKING action or even just speaking about it… I get a lot out of it, it’s just a positive influence on me, and it’s awesome to meet some many passionate people… so pretty much I’m just going to continue along the road and see what comes along.