There is General Election occurring in the UK next month and though the Conservative party is predicted to win, it is by no means a sure thing. For this reason I have been so surprised at how little the internet and grass roots activism has been utilized in the UK. This is made even stranger by the importance it played in the 2008 US election and now with the rise of the Tea Party movement. Why are these lessons not being transferred to UK elections?
Much of the internet infrastructure that allows for American internet activism is there but with some key differences. Important and well read political blogs like the Daily Kos seem to be few and far between in the UK. There are few possibilities to get a blogging community behind an issue or a candidate. Even less political online communities, like reddit, that can be utilized to get the attention of the public, and especially the untapped votes, are less common. And though facebook and other social networking sites are comparably popular in the UK, the political parties are not bothering to use them. I was far from surprised to read an article which articulated this point, and as a student in the US who is taking a course called Politics and the Internet it brought about strange feelings.
For the last month I have been trying to persuade one of my best friend, who is running as a Green Party candidate, to take advantage of the online activism techniques I had been learning about in my classes. As a candidate running for a minor party, expected not to receive many votes, but campaigning in a large student community, I believed this was the perfect time to show how American style online activism could work in the UK. To my dismay, as yet he has failed to listen to my advise.
I feel as though much of his reasoning behind this is his nostalgic belief in fairy-tale campaigning. He thinks that knocking on enough doors and canvassing as much as you can is the way politics works. And yes that technique can work, but only if you are a known politician running for a major party. To his advantage is the fact that everyone in the UK seems to have this same opinion, so if he does change his mind then he will have a huge advantage over his opponents. No one is taking advantage of the lessons learnt in the 2008 election and the importance of grassroots campaigning and online activism.
For me, a politics student who is focusing on political communication in the US, this is both frustrating and a blessing. I am here in American unable to use my new skills back home, but in full knowledge that when I return I may well have a skill unknown to the world of UK election campaigning.
For now all I can do for my friend is hope he realizes how i can help and tell anyone out there reading this, if you have a proxy vote for Nottingham South VOTE FOR THE GREEN PARTY AND VOTE MATTHEW BUTCHER! And check out his website http://www.matthewbutcher.org.uk/.