Victoria Labour Council: skewing democracy?
While America voted for a president whose motto, “Yes, we can,” indicates how willing he and his team are to embrace change, it looks like the city I live in — Victoria, BC — is about to slide into another stultifying episode of Status Quo Stagnation.
Check out Vibrant Victoria‘s blog post, VLC and CUPE Local 410 criticized over candidate endorsements, to track the conversation around the scandal of a local union’s endorsement of some old-time status quo candidates who are set to benefit from the absence of change and forward thinking in this city. Learn how they set things up to exclude new talent, and how the union leadership continues to treat its members like sheep who must be herded to the “right” outcome.
Wow. How contrary is that to everything we know about new social media and organization? About how users (including voters/ citizens) must be treated as free agents, and with respect?
Anyone who wants this city to prosper should think twice about voting for any candidate endorsed by CUPE Local 410/ the Victoria Labour Council (VLC). In particular, people should think very very hard about voting for incumbents endorsed by VLC. Why? Those folks represent old ways of thinking, they’re not innovative, they believe in “broadcast” vs bottom-up media / dissemination, and they’re not willing to engage in real conversations with constituents/ voters. A couple of them have a nominal web presence, but some are so remote from the voters, it makes me think we’re voting to re-elect the queen. Speaking at public meetings, some of them mouth the most unimaginative boilerplate statements and cliches.
Enough already. Is that really what’s supposed to crank our chains? Can’t we do better than that? I used to think, “yes, we can,” but in the wake of these latest municipal election shenanigans, I wonder…
It is sad that the labour movement has become so conservative (the true conservative party!), when it waa actually responsible for so much progress in the last century. It’s the same here in Oz – one of the problems is that there just isn’t any more a real movement, just a bunch of politicians trying to preserve their territory. Somehow I think the class war is over and the workers lost. We have to find new ways forward now if we want these new ideas to work for everyone.
Comment by melanie — November 13, 2008 #
As a lifetime NDP voter (and union card holder) my first reaction was surprise and disappointment.
Comment by Robert Randall — November 15, 2008 #
[…] And yet there were a couple of outstanding young campaigners in Victoria’s election (who didn’t get that many votes, though). What’s going on? By a wide margin, the incumbents got back in, and the newbies that were elected are the folks endorsed by the (in my opinion pro-status quo) labour union (long story on that, see my entry from Nov.11). […]
Pingback by » Low voter turnout Yule Heibel’s Post Studio © 2003-2008 — November 18, 2008 #