Speaking straight to the electorate

This month, the Green Party launched a new youtube service, broadcasting our message to whoever wants to find it.

Now, people have been able to find us on the net, and bypass the over-crowded and selective conventional media for many years. But by and large they haven’t be able to hear our voices and see our faces. In short, they haven’t been able to form a relationship with our key figures. Notwithstanding arguments about titles, everyone in the Green Party I am sure knows and understands that how we are perceived depends on voters recognising and trusting the people who speak on behalf of the party.

Most communication between people is not about words. It’s about eye contact, how you sound and how you look. The ideas that are said need to be the right ones, expressed in the right way, but being an honest and clear communicator is what will persuade people that you believe what you say and that you can convey your ideas to other people too. After all, what they want us to do, hopefully, is to argue in councils and parliament and convince people to act on and vote for our very powerful ideas.

Online video lets us speak directly, without any filtering, and our party includes some of the most inspiring speakers on the political circuit today. From Caroline Lucas and Siân Berry to Peter Tatchell and David Taylor; and back in Wales, Rhodri Griffiths, we have the people to make a distinct impression. Sites like Youtube are of course a perfect place for people to say what they think. So if our speakers don’t communicate, we’ll know very quickly!

A number of local parties have started to use online video. Most impressive among these is Liverpool Green Party, whose site is a startling example of direct democratic communication from Cllr John Coyne and his supporters to that city.

Given the way that people find their niche on the internet, and simply talk to people like themselves, there is a danger at national level that we will just find a lot of people who already agree with us, without reaching beyond our natural support base. Initially, there is a lot of value in this, though, to bring new people into the party as members or activists. The Census Alert campaign is a good example of how video can aid a campaign and bring people into a Green Party initiative.

What has really caught people’s imagination on Youtube is our legendary broadcast from the 1999 European Election, however. It’s been viewed over 8,000 times in eleven months. This four minute film is still a great articulation of Green values and people’s genuine aspirations. Not every broadcast can be expensively produced, or reach beyond the daily political thrust. But it’s worth remembering that it is our role, as the innovative, original and principled force in politics to give voice to the deeper values that motivate people to create a better world.