Democracy in Action?

A few weeks back, Canadian activist and blogger Justin Podur suggested a "people's referendum" on the occupation of Iraq in which people would be asked if they believed that troops should leave. As a model he pointed to a referendum on the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) in Brazil, organised by the Landless Peasant’s Movement (MST). Apparently 10 million people voted in this, with 98% expressing opposition the FTAA. Podur concedes that there is nothing comparable to MST in the west and that the idea has potential pitfalls, but argues that it is a potentially powerful campaigning tool. I refer to this now, not just because it is an interesting idea which merits greater comment than it seems to have received, but because I took part in something along these lines over the weekend.

Nottingham Stop the War Coalition organised a "ballot" on the withdrawal of the troops which they held in Marker Square. The exercise involved in encouraging people to express their support, opposition, or lack of opinion on the question of whether the occupying forces should be withdrawn from Iraq by marking a box next to their preference on a ballot paper. These ballots were then collected in a "ballot box" (in fact a cardboard box wrapped in black bags with a hole in the top). When counted afterwards, there were something like 230 votes in total (I forget the exact number) of which 90% were in support of withdrawal. The general consensus among those running the stall was that the event would be continued for at least a further week (if only to try and recover the cost of printing).

The idea seemed to interest people and considerable support for withdrawal was expressed, much of it apparently fuelled by anger over the redeployment of the "Black Watch". There were issues with people who oppose withdrawal refusing to participate, apparently because they misunderstood the idea, perhaps not unreasonably as it was obviously a "Stop the War" stall, the large banner behind us leaving nobody in doubt on that point. This will inevitably have skewed the results, but the 10% who didn't vote for withdrawal suggests that not all supporters of the war were put off and giving the whole exercise a degree of legitimacy. That said, there were questions about whether people were reading the questions and some people may have ticked the "No" box, thinking they were expressing their opposition to the occupation, when in fact they were supporting its continuation. The question could hardly be described as complicated and the only way I can see of surmounting this problem is improved communication between those manning the stall and those voting.

The real test of the whole exercise as a tactic will be what we are able to do with it to raise awareness. South Nottingham Labour MP and committed anti-war activist Alan Simpson (one of very few politicians I have any respect for) was supposed to make an appearance at the stall, but failed to do so. The media who had been contacted, were similarly absent. Nonetheless, there is talk of trying to make the final count into an event and using that to attract media interest. Even if we are successful in that regard, it still leaves the question of how we use the results we get at the end. Clearly, problems remain, but I thought Podur's idea had real potential when I first encountered it. I'm now more sure of that then ever.