Throughout this month, The Wireless has been talking about influence, and we’ve been talking about voting, and whether or not it is important. It’s an election year, which means there is a lot of people trying to influence you one way or another.
When Russell Brand told the BBC he has never voted and never will, he spoke of a disaffected, disillusioned underclass”. “It is not that I am not voting out of apathy,” he told Jeremy Paxman. “I am not voting out of absolute indifference and weariness and exhaustion from the lies, treachery and deceit of the political class that has been going on for generations.”
People have clamoured to disagree. “Should the government ignore your job? Your education? Your family? If you don’t vote, that’s exactly what they will do. If you examine voter turnout, what you see is white, older males dominating the process and government polices reflect this,” writes Toni Pearce in the New Statesman. Even Buzzfeed is in on it.
One of the themes of the Electoral Commission’s Valuing our Vote conference was that bad politicians are elected by good people not voting. The University of Dublin’s Professor David Farrell, pointed to the rise of far-right and anti-Europe political parties gaining ground in the European Parliament elections, where turnout was low.
So is Russell Brand right? Is not voting a valid choice, and are there other ways people can exercise their democratic rights and responsibilities? Or is not voting buying into the stereotype of the lazy, disaffected millennial? And if you don’t vote, do you have any right to complain about what politicians do?
The Wireless will be holding a panel discussion in Auckland on Monday, June 30 to discuss these, and other issues.
On the panel will be ...
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Laura O'Connell-Rapira is a party planner, creative campaigner & crowdsourcing enthusiast. She is the Campaign Director for RockEnrol and ActionStation. Laura believes that nothing important should ever be boring, and that politics, while important, is currently pretty boring.
Photo: Unknown
Richard Bartlett is an engineer building tools for self-organising communities. He is motivated by the threat of civilisation collapse and the promise of socialist utopia.
Photo: Unknown
Joe Nunweek is the co-editor of the Pantograph Punch, an Auckland-based arts and culture website. He practises law by day and freelance produces at Radio New Zealand (where he just needs more practice overall). He did time in a parliamentary office when he was still figuring things out. He still votes.
What: Why vote? panel discussion.
When: Doors open at 6pm. Discussion starts 6.30pm sharp.
Where: Q Theatre, 305 Queen St, Auckland.
Register here to attend. It's free: