This is a personal view of what’s currently happening in my town. Please note – it’s my opinion – I am all too well aware that there are currently people who seem to remember things panning out quite differently and I have no intention of ‘doing a whatsapp’ and setting my version against theirs. Reality exists, let’s try and find it.

At the last council elections, I backed the Green candidate in our ward. I do not support the Green Party. I have particular concerns about our local Green Party but, our election system being what it is, the Green candidate was the best option for our ward, and there were other candidates I seriously did not want as my local councillors.

Our election system does that to us a lot. At the last general election, most people were in despair, or had simply disregarded politics as hopeless, and most of those who did vote seemed to be saying ‘we don’t like Starmer’s Labour but we’ve got to get the Tories out.’ Labour seem quite happy with that situation, and are now actively presenting as ‘we’re the only way to keep Reform out.’

That’s just not good enough. Party politics, with first-past-the-post elections is, for better or for worse, what we have in this country, and that’s why I think a new party is essential, one that will focus on what people want and need when their party is in government, not just in election campaign speeches and media interviews. I don’t believe the Green Party has enough ‘new’ about it, nor enough concern for real people, so we have to give the entity currently known as Your Party a chance BUT BEFORE ALL THAT…

Hastings politics

I think what has been going on in Hastings is typical of what’s happening in many towns. A bunch of us, many of whom described themselves as ‘politically homeless’, got together after that council election I describe above. We felt several wards had had no truly popular options to vote for, and so we needed to set up something absolutely focused on Hastings, and on the things Hastings people are saying they want and need. We thought up a range of strategies to develop our knowledge of what those things were – assemblies, surveys, ‘speaker’s corner’ events, and (a local invention, I believe) a ‘protestival’, where local campaign groups were invited to a summer-fete sort of event, to set out their stalls, meet each other, compare notes and where relevant, cross-fertilise their activities and memberships.

I thought it was going quite well, but as soon as we’d got into our stride, Your Party declared itself. We had said that, come the time, we’d merge with a new Corbyn-led party but so far, we haven’t done that – mainly because it’s hard to see how to merge with a plethora of warring whatsapp groups. We did, though, halt our process to become a registered party ourselves so, to those people in the Whatapp groups who’re angsting over whether Hastings People’s Party’s going to field candidates against Your Party – you know, rather than getting in a state, you could come along to a meeting and say you don’t want that – I think pretty much everyone would agree with you.

The whatsapp problem

But I don’t think they’ll come. I think I’m developing the same feeling about Your Party meetings that they have about our meetings. Like most Hastings People’s Party folks, I am a member of Your Party. I went to the first Your Party meeting in Hastings. I haven’t been to any since though, mainly because there’s enough going on in HPP and the local Palestine campaign. There are only so many hours in a week, and I’d rather give time to groups that are doing things (political education, film nights, street-stalls, policy debates…) than to those that seem to consist entirely of wranglers’ meetings, zooms and whatapp spats. And we see those whatsapp spats! HPP members see all those paranoid statements about what YP think HPP are thinking, and so it’s hard now to imagine a happy meeting of the two.

So I did what I always do when politics gets snarly. Gardening. (Unless it’s raining, in which case housework) and trying to remember. What were the first signs I saw of the troubles Your Party has fallen into? Wasn’t it a row in a team-Corbyn whatsapp group about the how, when and why of the mooted new party? Didn’t some very well-known people get kicked out of said whatsapp group, and didn’t one of their allies then start a social media storm that led to a pile on against two of ‘our’ MPs, who promptly left Your Party?

I think what we need to do now is read this article, published in the Morning Star back in November, in response to the two factions emerging…

… and then we need to go over to You Tube, and watch some of those exposés that demonstrate the facts of life about social media. In short, these platforms aren’t designed to help us organise. They’re designed to keep people busy on social media – and the easiest way to do that is to get them all competing, and arguing about stuff.

Here’s a good one to start with…

… oh, and if you’re thinking (as I keep thinking) that the world’s left Facebook (Meta) behind now, so it doesn’t matter, let’s keep reminding ourselves that Whatsapp is the latest invention of the Facebook people.

As far as I know, ‘Your Party’ is the first attempt to start a new, mass party that has taken place since the general assumption that organising is something you do on Whatsapp. I have a feeling that’s at least a part of our problem.

I’m going to go and do some housework now (it’s raining) and remind myself how I think democracy’s supposed to work – see you next blog!

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