The Dail has finished is current term and there's another election on Feb 8, which is an amazingly short campaign time.
Every street lamp is now covered in some ugly mug's face with a party logo, and a suggestion - prayer perhaps - of who to vote for your first and second choice in this admittedly wonderful system of Single Transferable Vote.
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| Technically this is from the council elections, but you get the idea |
Quick Interlude as to how STV works.
Unfortunately I cannot vote here for the Dáil Éireann (lower house, national parliament) elections, but Jared can, so we can't blithely ignore this strange festival of faces.
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| Also from council election, but much the same for general |
I am struggling to understand what I'm supposed to do with this assault on my eyes. These are people who mostly have a face made for radio, you know?
How is someone's smarmy smile supposed to tell me about their merits as a candidate or what their party stands for?
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| Props to Gillian O'Brien for reusing her posters from a few months back. |
Surely this approach encourages superficiality and tribalism? All the information I have is your face and your party. Does this not insult the intelligence of your average Irish person? Do they not want more from their leaders? Perhaps they are playing into all the research about people leaping to conclusions about personality, background, trustworthiness and more about others based on a photo?
NZ is my benchmark for most things and while it is practically perfect in every way - in my entirely unbiased opinion - I'd say the attempt to include policy positions in electoral advertisements gets closer to what people 'should' be voting on rather than a banal beauty contest.
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| His face is like big brother: everywhere. |
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| Some of Labour's posters from 2017 |
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| Aside from fan-girling about Jacinda, I would really like clean rivers, you know? |
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| John Key's face only takes up about 1/3 of this photo - he at least pretends he's got an agenda beyond himself |
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| RIP Metiria Turei's career - brilliant politician curtailed early :,( |
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| Auckland Mayoral candidates at least have a tag line of policy... be it a bit blurry here |
Back to Ireland, I mean Leo Varadkar is reasonably easy on the eyes. He comes from the right part of Dublin, even if his heritage and last name makes his Irishness questionable to some. As current country leader, he clearly won the prettiest face competition last time. Will this pretty boy of Fine Gael be able to pony up again?
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| This is the 'weird awkward school boy' photo of the current Taoiseach (tee-shock, prime minister) plastered all over Dublin |
The most offensive part about this is that they plaster their faces all over town, but the photos look like they've been taken by someone taking 100 photos an hour or an overly officious campaign manager before their morning coffee.
Not quite mug shots, but close.
If your campaign is based solely on photos, can we at least make an attempt to make them good ones?
I've lived here for a year and after all my not-insignificant participation in Irish political life, I still couldn't tell you the difference between Fina Fail and Fina Gael. I know there's roughly some historic divide along the lines of the Irish civil war as to who was willing to accept the compromise from the English and the clusterfuck that gave us Northern Ireland, and those who wanted to hold out for a full United Ireland Republic and nothing less. But current policy? No clue... generally, from what I can gather, they're both trying to implement policy inspired by long lost cousins in the other Republic across the pond aka Right Wing guff that furthers inequality.
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| Seriously... everywhere |
But I couldn't tell you which one is which and what they stand for now. (Recently enlightened a bit by David McWilliams) I can tell you that the Republic of Ireland has had one or the other of these parties at the helm since becoming a Republic in 1948.
[Someone's] (I don't know who's) policies have led to some amazing growth in the Irish economy during the Celtic Tiger in the 90s, and then a crippling bust in 2008, disproportionate to other economies, taking much longer to return to growth than other economies. Currently, Ireland's been riding the global boom since 2015ish, but with little to no economic safety net, who knows what the next bust will look like here.
I can also tell you that despite some people doing REALLY well out of this, there's a lot of people that haven't been, and there is very little in the way of a social safety net either. Social housing is scarce, benefits are inadequate and pensioners get sweet FA from age 66 - not 65 - on.
I can tell you that healthcare isn't subsidised here, nor are paid sick days legally required to be part of the employment equation, so getting sick is fucking expensive, involves loss of income and costly doctors' visits. I can also tell you it's cold and people drink all the time, and then get sick, and then go to work, so getting sick is common. There's basically a social tax on having a poor immune system and a social life.
More concerningly, there's a homelessness problem that's rampant throughout Dublin, in particular. Most street corners will have someone begging on them. I walk past them knowing that there's little in the way of help I can give them other than maybe some temporary relief to a deeper systemic problem where minimum wage is €9.80 an hour, or €400 a week, and rent for a studio apartment is €1600 and upwards a month.... Your entire paycheck.
This leads to problems like overcrowding and having 4 people in bunk beds in one room, each paying upwards of €400 a month.
So this is what people are wanting politicians to solve - the housing crisis. The childcare crisis. The environmental crisis. There's a bit going on. But it's OK, because it'll be solved by politicians making promises.
The politicians solve this by creating manifestos of policies to combat these issues.
See manifestos here:
These manifestos are created each election cycle and there's a bunch of promises made and surprisingly many are actually fulfilled, according to studies of those that got elected, some even fulfilled from being in Opposition.
So we have shitloads of faces with political party logos, and relatively clear policy documents, but the two aren't overtly connected, and you have to go hunting for them. It's kind of like the new update for your phone, and the manifesto is the Ts&Cs - no one is actually going to read them.
That's OK because there's TV debates which shine the light on the differences in stances between the parties. More vids here. Who watches normal TV these days? And why can't I easily find and stream the whole debate on demand?
Either way, Ireland has a pretty decent democracy, ranking 6th equal with Canada in the world, but I feel like there's some ways to improve their election advertising. The current system appeals to name recognition, party politics, and all kinds of visual, racial and beauty biases.
The logistics of putting up these posters is quite daunting and usually involves ladders next to busy roads. One of the PBP volunteers suffered a serious head injury last year while putting posters up on a lamppost.
From an environmental perspective, the amount of plastic that each candidate uses is unbelievable, and none of it can be recycled, so it all ends up in landfills. We're speaking about over 600, 000 posters per election cycle.
It is not only me - this is such a problem there's a website willing to promote those willing to forego posters. One specific company has offered to recycle election campaign posters and some candidates and parties go out of their way to reuse posters rather than recycle them. Green News says a total rethink is needed.
There's not really an easy visual alternative that will withstand the Irish weather.
Do you make them with wood instead? How many trees would that use?
Could you use cardboard? Probably wouldn't survive the elements.
Do you glue on posters like concert posters?
Perhaps one could go the way of Northern Ireland and have murals on the end of each block of houses that get painted over each time there's an election?
All this is made trickier with laws such as posters can only be up for 30 days before and 7 days after an election - it can't be anything too permanent.
This leads to problems like overcrowding and having 4 people in bunk beds in one room, each paying upwards of €400 a month.
So this is what people are wanting politicians to solve - the housing crisis. The childcare crisis. The environmental crisis. There's a bit going on. But it's OK, because it'll be solved by politicians making promises.
The politicians solve this by creating manifestos of policies to combat these issues.
See manifestos here:
These manifestos are created each election cycle and there's a bunch of promises made and surprisingly many are actually fulfilled, according to studies of those that got elected, some even fulfilled from being in Opposition.
So we have shitloads of faces with political party logos, and relatively clear policy documents, but the two aren't overtly connected, and you have to go hunting for them. It's kind of like the new update for your phone, and the manifesto is the Ts&Cs - no one is actually going to read them.
That's OK because there's TV debates which shine the light on the differences in stances between the parties. More vids here. Who watches normal TV these days? And why can't I easily find and stream the whole debate on demand?
One quirk of Ireland is there seems to be a trend of legacy candidates, people get voted in because their father was a TD (Irish member of parliament), and his father before him... Are they any good? Maybe, maybe not - but they win on name recognition. Ireland being a small country, who you know and how you are known by others is a large part of any political contest.
Perhaps this is the part of Irish politics I've missed so far - maybe these faces strewn up everywhere speak more to those that have lived here for longer than one journey around the sun. Maybe everyone else does actually know these people already and what they're about? Maybe that's why they do not need to say anything further about their policies and what they stand for.
Perhaps this is the part of Irish politics I've missed so far - maybe these faces strewn up everywhere speak more to those that have lived here for longer than one journey around the sun. Maybe everyone else does actually know these people already and what they're about? Maybe that's why they do not need to say anything further about their policies and what they stand for.
Either way, Ireland has a pretty decent democracy, ranking 6th equal with Canada in the world, but I feel like there's some ways to improve their election advertising. The current system appeals to name recognition, party politics, and all kinds of visual, racial and beauty biases.
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| How many posters can you get in one shot? 16 and counting... |
The logistics of putting up these posters is quite daunting and usually involves ladders next to busy roads. One of the PBP volunteers suffered a serious head injury last year while putting posters up on a lamppost.
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| If you really want an Irish Republic, vote for Sinn Fein. I thought there already was an Irish Republic, but I think they're meaning a United Ireland |
From an environmental perspective, the amount of plastic that each candidate uses is unbelievable, and none of it can be recycled, so it all ends up in landfills. We're speaking about over 600, 000 posters per election cycle.
It is not only me - this is such a problem there's a website willing to promote those willing to forego posters. One specific company has offered to recycle election campaign posters and some candidates and parties go out of their way to reuse posters rather than recycle them. Green News says a total rethink is needed.
There's not really an easy visual alternative that will withstand the Irish weather.
Do you make them with wood instead? How many trees would that use?
Could you use cardboard? Probably wouldn't survive the elements.
Do you glue on posters like concert posters?
Perhaps one could go the way of Northern Ireland and have murals on the end of each block of houses that get painted over each time there's an election?
All this is made trickier with laws such as posters can only be up for 30 days before and 7 days after an election - it can't be anything too permanent.
In a digital age, I'd expect that online advertising would be forthcoming, but I've not seen any. Given the pandemonium of the British and US elections and the schtick Facebook has been getting, I can understand why people might steer clear of that.
I did get this gem on Facebook the other night though.
I do not even know which electorate he's running for, and still nothing on his policies.
Surely there must be a better way?!
There's the aesthetic argument as eloquently laid out by a Tidy Towns spokesperson here. They look terrible.
There's the environmental aspect - recycling should be the last option not the first, and 600 000 posters is not a small amount, not to mention the non-recyclable cable ties.
In researching this post, I stumbled upon a really great website called Poster Free who are advocating for environmental reasons that plastic posters should be banned as they're not in line with the EU's direction towards a circular economy by 2030.
The next day we received a flyer from someone who was campaigning on a no-poster platform. I think if I could vote, he'd be my guy at this stage.
This is what 'be the change you want to see' looks like. Snaps for you, good sir.
My favourite alternative so far is face masks! In May last year, a local council candidate in Portlaoise chose cardboard face masks instead of using Corriboard posters when he was canvassing.
I do not even know which electorate he's running for, and still nothing on his policies.
Surely there must be a better way?!
There's the aesthetic argument as eloquently laid out by a Tidy Towns spokesperson here. They look terrible.
There's the environmental aspect - recycling should be the last option not the first, and 600 000 posters is not a small amount, not to mention the non-recyclable cable ties.
In researching this post, I stumbled upon a really great website called Poster Free who are advocating for environmental reasons that plastic posters should be banned as they're not in line with the EU's direction towards a circular economy by 2030.
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| Pls also send gifts, money, yourself or treats to this address ;) |
This is what 'be the change you want to see' looks like. Snaps for you, good sir.
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| The Snap Cup! |
My favourite alternative so far is face masks! In May last year, a local council candidate in Portlaoise chose cardboard face masks instead of using Corriboard posters when he was canvassing.
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| So brilliant! His strategy seems to have worked as he's now on the Portlaoise City Council! |
Green News cites several candidates in Cork who ran without posters, and incumbents who were re-elected without using posters at all. Going around and actually talking to people won out in the end, helping Cork's Kieran McCarthy regain his council seat. This is great! Refuse is the first and most important 'R'
People Before Profit studiously go around and collect their posters for reuse and I've heard of several others doing this as well. This is a great example of reusing.
Panda has promised to recycle candidates posters for free and that's a nice PR stint for them, but recycling should be the last resort, not the first.
Aside from the posters, there's a proliferation of flyers as well, I believe we're up to 10 or so different candidates in our area - multiply that by the 2, 003, 645 dwellings in Ireland and that's over 20 million flyers that have been distributed for 1 election cycle! Paper is at least more sustainable than plastic, but it's still a significant footprint and I doubt any of them were made with recycled paper.
In sum, the use of election posters here gets a lot of names, faces and parties out in your face, but does little to disseminate useful information to the electorate, wastes precious resources, insults the public's intelligence, and creates a pissing contest over who can have - and who can afford - the most posters.
Ireland, you need to have a long hard look at yourself and think about the kind of democracy you want for yourselves.
I think for a nation so obsessed with green, there must be a greener way elections can be done.
Places like Belgium, France and from memory, the Wellington City Council have a brochure that has standardised information for all the candidates for each constituency where they provide all the relevant information and you can make an informed decision based on information and policy with all of the facts in front of you. It gets mailed out with your voting papers. I would suggest this would be a model to strive towards, or perhaps an online version to have even less of an environmental footprint.
After a week of researching and reading about this topic I have *just* found a website called 'whichcandidate.ie', which basically does exactly that.
The conversation is happening and public opinion is opposed to plastic posters. Here's hoping more people will learn about this useful online tool, it becomes more user friendly, and the chaotic cluster of questionable countenances kindly curtails.
Follow up reading: https://greennews.ie/election-poster-reuse-or-rethink/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_the_Republic_of_Ireland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Republic_of_Ireland
People Before Profit studiously go around and collect their posters for reuse and I've heard of several others doing this as well. This is a great example of reusing.
Panda has promised to recycle candidates posters for free and that's a nice PR stint for them, but recycling should be the last resort, not the first.
Aside from the posters, there's a proliferation of flyers as well, I believe we're up to 10 or so different candidates in our area - multiply that by the 2, 003, 645 dwellings in Ireland and that's over 20 million flyers that have been distributed for 1 election cycle! Paper is at least more sustainable than plastic, but it's still a significant footprint and I doubt any of them were made with recycled paper.
In sum, the use of election posters here gets a lot of names, faces and parties out in your face, but does little to disseminate useful information to the electorate, wastes precious resources, insults the public's intelligence, and creates a pissing contest over who can have - and who can afford - the most posters.
Ireland, you need to have a long hard look at yourself and think about the kind of democracy you want for yourselves.
I think for a nation so obsessed with green, there must be a greener way elections can be done.
Places like Belgium, France and from memory, the Wellington City Council have a brochure that has standardised information for all the candidates for each constituency where they provide all the relevant information and you can make an informed decision based on information and policy with all of the facts in front of you. It gets mailed out with your voting papers. I would suggest this would be a model to strive towards, or perhaps an online version to have even less of an environmental footprint.
After a week of researching and reading about this topic I have *just* found a website called 'whichcandidate.ie', which basically does exactly that.
The conversation is happening and public opinion is opposed to plastic posters. Here's hoping more people will learn about this useful online tool, it becomes more user friendly, and the chaotic cluster of questionable countenances kindly curtails.
Follow up reading: https://greennews.ie/election-poster-reuse-or-rethink/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_the_Republic_of_Ireland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Republic_of_Ireland
Such an interesting post Lauren. And it's got me wondering more about our elections here in NZ. I wonder, for example, what places Norway, Iceland and Sweden in a higher rank than us for 'best democracy'...am pleased/proud to see us rank 4th though. I think we do a lot well. I'm also very curious to know how eco-friendly our parties (especially the Greens) campaigns will be. I would expect them to print on recycled paper at the very least. Did you see a date's been set for our election this year? September 19th aka Suffrage Day. (Or, less relevantly, International Talk Like A Pirate Day.) So glad you and Jared will be able to vote in that. And love what Jacinda said about it - "I've always believed that announcing election dates early is fair. It improves the opportunities for New Zealanders to take part in the democratic process and gives a greater degree of certainty to the political landscape". https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/118983011/jacinda-ardern-announces-2020-election-will-be-held-on-september-19?cid=app-iPhone&fbclid=IwAR3zoQj51_ATJNfECEDqOVwsc91ZPwLbJAS2lyN5FfcG-OIDSGF67WOXPHU
ReplyDeleteI really hope she is part of the next government, I think she is a brilliant leader then politician, which we've not had for a while. Plenty of politicians-then-leaders.
DeleteFYI: Iceland's parliament has a Pirate Party! I love it! Also an election turn out rate of 81.4%
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Iceland
Norway's constitution prevents snap elections and they have rural overrepresentation on purpose to stop a urban bias
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Norway
Sweden uses blocs of voting to create cartels or alliances, so you don't have greens and labour for example fighting over one seat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Sweden