Bob's my Uncle.

I'll miss Bob Brown as Greens leader.  I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't.  But I miss Malcolm Turnbull as Libs leader, and Bob Hawke leading the Labs.  We always miss great leaders and the world is a poorer place when they retire.  But great leaders are never immortal.

Bob was one of those great statesmen, a phrase that's been bandied around all over the place.  He had class, charisma and spoke with a kind of clarity that's hard to come by in modern politics.  He was upfront and honest, but still retained that kind of quirky humanity, that underlying hippy Uncle who can tell you about the bad old days and how far we've come.  The Uncle who reminds you we've still got a hell of a long way to go, and maybe it's up to us to get there.

It was Bob's voice of reason that led me to vote for the Greens in 2010.  Amidst the scuffling and scurrying, the lies and frenzy of election campaigns I heard the calm tones of "this time I've voting Green in the Senate."  I don't vote for a leader, but Bob was speaking sense.  So I looked up the Greens policies and liked what I saw.

The Greens stand for what I think is right.

And when I go to vote again, I'll be voting for what I believe in, regardless of the leader.  Bob may be my uncle*, but the Greens are my political party.

*Bob is not my actual uncle, although I do have an actual uncle Bob, but that's a very different person.

viva la revolution - is democracy dead?

We've had a spectacular few years for uprising and revolution.  We've seen the "Arab Spring" lead to protesting on the streets, violence, civil  wars to overthrow dictatorships and widespread changes.  We've seen parts of Asia getting excited about the prospects of democratic elections.  We've seen London burning, Wall St "occupied" and Wikipedia come down.  Everywhere you look someone is fighting for a better life, a better vote, a better world.  E-petitions are signed for a thousand causes as Australians "fight" for change.

Then we go to the polling booth and vote like it's a pain in the arse.

Wake up, Australia.

It seems we're blinded by our "lucky country" status and can't see the democracy for the trees we're signing petitions to protect.  We already have such powerful systems in place to let our voices be heard and yet when we go to do so we're incoherent.
"Mumble.  I care about equal-marriage. Mumble.  I want action on climate change.  Mumble.  So I'm voting for ...mumble."  We cling to our secret ballot with some kind of troll-like satisfaction - "nobody knows who I've voted for. I'm smug and I'm clever and you'll never know what I said."  Congratulations.  The one time we can really petition for change and you've gone silent.

We need to look at the waves of revolution currently enjoying so much success for political inspiration.  The "Arab Spring" relied heavily on Twitter with users sharing statements of support and organising protests.  Occupy was only possible because people had intent and shared it, through Twitter, through Facebook, through whatever other medium they could.  Even the London riots required people to communicate their intent and targets out loud - one guy doing it in isolation is a burglary - not a riot.

If we want to organise our world for change, if we want to show the world what we care about, we should start by speaking out about our voting intentions.  Because whenever you vote, you are petitioning for the change you want to see in the world.  Make your voice heard before the ballot and lend it to a very tame form or revolution.

viva la vote! (for change.)