It’s been hard to escape the by-election this last month. Canvassers for Labour and Greens were everywhere, each trying to convince the voters that they could beat a very English Racism in the form of Reform, and the other right wing parties that were standing.
And win the Greens did, in some style. It’s a win for community organising, in that the left wing and centrist parties knew that they needed to get out and speak to voters, not just rely on their friends in the main stream media to blast their messages into peoples homes. It’s a win for hope and truth and all those good things.
However we can’t get complacent – a quarter of the constituency still voted for Reform, and that matters. It matters because it means that people don’t know their neighbours well enough to vote with the community in mind, rather than being convinced by politicians at a distance, who aren’t local, and don’t know what needs changing, or how to go about changing it.
There’s a need for education, about how to read political propaganda and assess it rigorously. There’s a need for community organising on issues that matter, getting peoples voices gathered into one big shout. There’s a need to campaign for media reform, using those community organising tools, perhaps learning from Wales and the Papurau Bro that connect small communities in professional, cheap, monthly magazines, so that people know and celebrate the achievements of all in the community.
As a person of faith, I see God’s presence in all my neighbours, no matter where they come from or how they vote, and I want my neighbours to do likewise. I want to see genuine care for the vulnerable, not just dogwhistles when it suits someone trying to win votes. I hope that the impassioned community advocates who sprang up for this election will keep on springing up now that the time for voting is over and the hard work begins.