I spent part of this afternoon talking to two hugely inspiring theatre directors – Ben Freedman and Mimi Poskitt. Their new play, Counted, is at the Debating Chamber in County Hall from 15 April.
I was sent some information about their play: it is a “verbatim play, edited together from interviews with people at all stages of Britain’s democracy.” The idea behind it is to show that democracy is more than just voting, and that having your voice heard is part of our process of democracy.
While there are also, I suspect, some depressing views expressed about politicians, and about politics in the UK, I am hugely impressed by what Ben and Mimi aim to do with this. They are not advocating any particular political viewpoint or party, but what they do argue is that people’s voices do count.
It’s easy to think that you – a normal voter – do not count. That no-one listens, or cares, or does anything about your opinion. Even mass-participation events like the Iraq war demos or the Countryside Alliance marches don’t seem to make any difference. The expenses scandal just confirmed people’s suspicions about politicians. Their thesis is that there’s a chronic lack of information about democracy, about the process of voting, about how to make political choices, about how people can effect change in their lives and, perhaps most significantly, that voters’ relationship with decision-makers is seriously broken.
But they told me a great story about Steve Kidd, who has spent ten years campaigning to change the traffic lights in Pontefract (at Town End junction) and had finally announced he was going to stand as an independent candidate against Yvette Cooper. However, his campaign has been successful and the lights have indeed been changed.
The thing is – it shouldn’t take ten years to change some traffic lights. And this is why it’s so important to understand how the Conservatives’ plans for the post-bureaucratic age will work. Recall ballots, real decision-making powers devolved as low as they can go, proper community-level budget-holding, local and national referendums, public readings for Bills, publishing government contracts online, opening up government-generated datasets… these are all good ways to start the process of involving those who currently feel shut out of our democratic processes.
Not getting involved is, in itself, a political act. Apathy, as Tony Blair is reputed to have said (though I confess I can’t find a source… it’s a great non-quote), is the greatest weapon a sitting government has. But it doesn’t have to be like that. People can and should feel that their politicians are listening and responding to them. Now that does not mean mob rule. But it does mean that both politicians and voters treat each other with respect. They listen to each other. And they remember that both sides are human beings, with all the fallibilities, failings, emotions, good ideas and bad ideas that that entails.
Related viewing: I highly recommend Tim Samuels’ excellent BBC2 programme, The People’s Politician. On iplayer for another 5 or 6 days…
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