I’ve spent the day at Labour Party Congress, with a bunch of other candidates, organisers and activists. We’ve listened to speeches, learned tips, shared ideas. What an inspiring bunch of people these are.
People who don’t belong to a political party often have no idea of the amount of voluntary effort it takes to keep a party going and to run a campaign. I’ve seen the personal sacrifices of many lovely people who I now think of as friends, who give generously and without complaint, and very often with little or no reward. Without the efforts of all of these people, our political system, our democracy, just wouldn’t function.
There are the candidates who put themselves up for selection in a competitive process that, at least in the Labour Party, can be gruelling. Mostly because the competition is tough, and there have been a group of deserving people to choose from for each selection. These people put themselves up, knowing their failings will be scrutinised, their strengths will be judged against others and sometimes found wanting, and failure to get selected is a public one that takes a certain amount of resilience to bear. It takes many, many hours of work for a long period of time.
Our candidates not only willingly put in the hours but they often are making personal sacrifices. Some will have to take significant periods of leave, particularly if they are public servants or in other sensitive jobs, which means a cut in income. Families are put under pressure because the candidate is so busy, especially during the campaign period, that they aren’t able to put time towards normal family routines.
And some people do this, knowing that they are not going to succeed but doing it because they know the country needs a decent opposition, and an alternative government. I’ve talked to people who have stood several times in unwinnable seats in difficult electorates (some of the rural electorates can be quite large to travel around), and have done it as a public service. They’re not lauded as heroes but I think they should be.
Then there are the organisers and activists, who will often put in just as much time as the candidate but without the public profile or rewards, nor the chance of being in public office. They do it without pay, simply because they believe in a cause and because they know that the only way to provide positive change for many people is through political organisation. In non-campaign years, these same people will spend their time writing remits, pushing for policy change, raising awareness on important issues and lobbying hard where they can.
Knowing the work these people put in, seeing their willingness to make some significant sacrifices, I find it sad that we don’t give them (at the very least) the recognition they deserve. Politics is seen as an ugly business, and no doubt it often is. I won’t minimise the fact that there are also people fuelled by personal ambition, there is lots of game-playing, back-stabbing and less than exemplary behaviour. That kind of stuff is very often plays out in the public arena, and tends to be very visible. Hence the fact that politicians are held in little regard.
But the good stuff, that doesn’t tend to make the front pages. I think too many people remain ignorant of it. So I want to take the time today to thank the people who have put themselves forward, not just from my own party, as candidates. And I want to thank the people who make sure the system works, whether by organising fundraisers, delivering pamphlets, donating money or expertise skills, phone canvassing or the many other myriad tasks that are required to run a campaign and a political party. You’re awesome and our country would be a much worse place without you.
Anjum Rahman. – I fit into a lot of boxes – I’m an ethnic minority (born in india), a religious minority (muslim), and a woman. I’m a mother, an accountant, a political activist and a feminist. All of these form part of my identity to a greater or lesser degree. most of all though, I’m a rebel who refuses to fit neatly into boxes or to conform to the patterns that people expect of me.
I really enjoyed reading that, Anjum.You are quite right – there are so many people behind the scenes putting in a huge amount of time and effort, and most of it goes unrecognised and without our thanks.
I sense a much more cohesive, unified and determined battle from the left at this election compared to the last one. It’s certainly not a perfect marriage within and between the opposition parties, but I think that all parties are getting, and starting to take onboard, a strong message from supporters, which is to put any differences aside, work better together and beat National -that we will not tolerate a third term of Tory destruction.
Those people who go mainly unseen, whom you have pointed out above, certainly deserve our recognition and gratitude.
I’d like to shake hands with, and embrace as many of those people as possible; I’m just trying to work out what’s the best way for me to get to the Labour, Greens and IMP celebration parties on S20, and into the early hours of S21 !
A very encouraging, inspiring and revealing read .
My late father, who put over 20 years, amounting to thousands of hours of voluntary work into the Labour Party, would be very pleased I’m sure, at the way things are starting to track for Labour since David Cunliffe took the helm.
I imagine come Labours’ victory on September 20, he will have a rye smile on his face somewhere and be thinking; ‘At last. Job done .Now the real work can begin’.
Comments are closed.