Friends launch ‘media hustings’ campaign

28 Oct 2009 | by

Cambridge Quakers explore ways to engage with politicians in the run-up to an election

The ‘Stand Up’ activities reported in the Friend last week were by no means the beginning and end of Quakers’ attempts to push climate change onto individual candidates’ agendas in the run up to the general election. Inspired by climate change workshops at Yearly Meeting, Friends in Cambridge are now instigating a ‘media hustings’ campaign to push candidates to declare their positions on environmental matters as publicly as possible.

Jesus Lane Local Meeting has now instigated a detailed set of step-by-step plans for joining forces with other Meetings and like-minded organisations in order to formulate essential questions to ask local candidates, and then for making sure that the responses to those questions are publicised in the local media in the weeks immediately preceding the election.

Lenore Abraham of Jesus Lane media hustings committee invites other Meetings to follow their example and says the proposal has three key advantages:

  1. ‘It ensures candidates pay maximum attention to issues and spending choices favoured by Friends.
  2. It brings Friends, their concerns and their values to the widest possible audience.
  3. It addresses the widely felt need for greater public influence on public affairs.’

Preparing for National Elections: Community ‘Media Hustings’
Climate change workshops at Yearly Meeting, as Gerald Conyngham reported in the Friend of 28 August 2009, advised that Quakers “could lobby MPs in the run up to the next general election by asking questions at hustings-type events” on climate change. Since heavy recessionary debt will put extreme pressure on national choices for revenue and spending, such citizen lobbying on all issues of Friends’ concern is particularly important in the next election. At the same time few citizens will take the time from busy schedules to attend the usual candidate husting. Accordingly Jesus Lane Local Meeting in Cambridge has formed a committee to sponsor a “husting by local media” - newspapers and/or radio. We plan to:

  1. assemble a list of questions on policy in matters of concern to Friends, to elicit the views of political candidates of all rival parties on issues important to us.
  2. Arrange to publish questions and candidates’ responses in local and regional media, c. 2 weeks before the election (and possibly to follow up with a ‘face-to-face’ husting).
  3. Contact as many independent like-minded organizations as possible—those concerned with social and economic justice: health care, unemployment, homelessness, help for the aged, refugees, children in need; with the environment and our carbon footprint; and with peace—to invite them to come up with their own list of essential questions to political candidates, and to forward them to us to help to ensure that our ‘media husting’ will cover the issues essential to them as to us.
  4. Adopt the following schedule:
  • November: (a) Contact other Local and Area Meetings, to encourage them to form their own core committee (MHC) to spread the involvement of other social and citizen groups in their communities. (b) Contact community groups to invite their participation.
  • By end of January: participating community groups meet, choose and forward questions to Local Meeting MHCs in their areas. At the same time groups will consider organising a face-to-face husting with candidates during the election period.
  • By end of February: Local Meeting MHCs assemble questions, choose the 6 or 7 most widely representative of community interests and concerns (checking final choices with the community groups consulted), contact local media in their area to arrange publication, arrange advance publicity and agree on format.
  • By six weeks before the General Election each Local MHC – or perhaps its Area Meeting – contact relevant political candidates and get their responses.
  • By two weeks before the General Election publicise candidates’ responses in local media.

Friends in other Area and Local Meetings – we invite you to follow our example! You can contact us either by e-mail to mhc@jesus-lane.cambridge-quakers.org.uk.
Lenore Abraham, for the Jesus Lane Media Hustings Committee

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