As I've mentioned a fair few times on this blog in recent weeks, my partner Owen is standing for Parliament, as an independent candidate for the constituency of Monmouthshire. I encouraged him to do this because of his extremely popular disability rights campaigns in the area, and to support the ongoing campaign to stand left-wing independent candidates more generally (since my last blog, I've learned of a few more who are doing this in Wales).
I'm really enjoying this campaign - I've never done anything like this before and I have no idea of Owen's chances of winning, but I am meeting a lot of people on doorsteps who say he's a breath of fresh air when compared to the establishment politicians. We're going out canvassing pretty much every day, interacting and swapping ideas with various other independent candidates who are standing around the UK and there's a really enjoyable vibe of just doing something and trying to get something achieved. But it's also forced me to confront something else, something I've been aware of for a little while - the idea of being 'political' is quite often avoided in polite society.
'Don't talk religion or politics' is something you're told whenever you're in polite company. When I was at University, if I was ever invited out with someone, it would often be followed with, 'But please will you not spend all evening going on about politics?' Talking in too much detail about politics is, for some reason, considered to be quite rude. Social media has thankfully broken down that boundary a little, and made it more possible to leave comments on things. I think this is partly because online it's easier to back your statements up with facts - if you feel you don't know in much detail what you're talking about, it's possible to do a quick Google search and check before returning to the conversation, in a way that in person you just can't do. I know that I personally feel a lot more informed about the world as a result of my social media activity, and I know a lot of other people do too. I also think that this is a big part of the reason people feel uncomfortable talking politics in the first place - that they're worried about looking stupid in front of someone they perceive as knowing more than them.
But it's more than that. Campaign groups that very specifically exist to create some kind of societal change take pride in advertising themselves as 'apolitical'. The chef Jamie Oliver described himself as not being political in campaigning for children to get better-quality food in state schools. The film Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story features a scene in which conservative activist Mary Whitehouse (played by Julie Walters) insists that her Clean Up TV campaign at the BBC is 'not political (I have no idea if the real Whitehouse ever said this, but even if she didn't the scene is still indicative of what people understand 'political' to mean). And as the partner of someone standing for Parliament, I've found that people I work on campaign groups with are slightly hesitant to talk about this. For example, I'm quite heavily involved in anti-war, pro-Palestine activism, and although many of my fellow members have been excited and supportive of Owen's Parliamentary campaign, it's been suggested that it's probably not a good idea to talk about it officially through the group, even though Owen is one of the very small number of candidates who is unequivocally calling for the state of Palestine to be recognised by the UK. This is again, in the interests of not wanting to be 'political'.
I should make clear that I don't say this to criticise anyone who tries to avoid looking too political. If they believe that their campaign is better-served by not giving any politicians any kind of support, I respect that decision. However, I think it does raise the question of why that is? I believe that any action that tries to change anything is, by its very nature, political. I would say that every single example I've given is of people who were trying to change the political status quo, something I regularly try to do myself. I think if you're doing something political, I don't see why it's a dirty thing to be upfront about that.
We talk about politics as if what happens in Westminster, in Holyrood, in Brussels or in the White House is completely separated from our own day-to-day lives. But in reality, they're completely inextricable. We get to exercise a vote every few years that in reality means almost nothing in the grand scheme of things, and then the politicians take it upon themselves to act in whatever way they see fit, irrespective of what general people actually want. The only way to make any kind of impact on that is to behave in ways that are unashamedly, uncompromisingly political - if people don't act in political ways, politicians with great power will never take action that people want or need.
Just on a personal level, I view nearly every conversation I have as being somewhat political. This is why I struggle if I'm ever asked not to talk politics, because the way I live my life every day is a reflection of my views on the world. A conversation about the weather becomes a conversation about the climate, which becomes what we're doing to our planet and the ecological emergency. A conversation about what I had for breakfast becomes a conversation about my diet, which is built around the views I hold regarding food production. This is why I tend to say, 'If you don't want me to talk politics, it's probably better if I don't come at all', because this is the person I am and I don't feel I can make that commitment, or that anyone would be better off if I did.
Particularly when canvassing, the nature of who people are planning to vote for inevitably comes up. I don't probe if someone doesn't want to talk about it, but I find it fascinating the number of people who invariably consider their voting choice to be as confidential as their bank PIN. I would understand this if we were living in a police state where you could be harassed or arrested for voting in the wrong way - but we are not. I actually believe that were we able to have more of a conversation about who we're all going to vote for, we'd be able to discuss these matters more openly, come to understand what people feel and and why. I think that very few people, even if I fundamentally disagree with their opinions, have views that I actually would not understand. If we could share that with each other, I believe we'd be a more politically healthy society, and that this would be a good thing.
There's another thing that makes people disapprove of constant political discussion, and that is that people find it boring. My question to that is: why? Why does a discussion about the way we live and function bore you? The answer is quite simple: because it's been made boring. Everything about the way politics is conducted in the UK is designed to be really dull. When we watch politics on the television, we see boring men in boring suits, sitting in boring rooms and using boring words that a lay person might not understand, and more often than not they're contravening people's human rights. There are some states where the force of the military keeps people from engaging in politics. In the UK, they don't bother to do that, because the subject is made to sound so dull that not enough people try to engage in it in the first place. Although, I do think this is changing. The tightening of laws regarding protests, the introduction of photo ID at polling stations and various other things, are all designed to suppress political engagement, and the reason it's being done right now is that people's living standards have got too low. Simply making it boring doesn't work so well as it used to, because people are actually looking to have these conversations.
I'm very torn as to whether to be optimistic or pessimistic at these developments. There's valid reasons to be both, but I am on the whole an optimist, and although I disagree with the suppression of political action, I think it's a good thing that people's increasing willingness to engage is frightening the establishment powers enough that they're taking these measures in the first place. I really hope that by the time they start suppressing people, the genie is already far enough out of the bottle that it will stay out, and people will continually want to engage. It's just a real shame that it takes things getting so much worse in the world for that to happen.
At hustings, Owen typically attends wearing a jumper and his signature hand-knitted beanie hat. He stands out amongst the establishment politicians he sits next to - but I've heard a lot of people talking about how refreshing it is that one of the candidates actually looks and acts like a human being. Let's see how it goes.
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