We have the technology
We need to understand and make full use of the tools at our disposal but see our own issues in a realistic perspective and punch way above our weight
Never in the history of political lobbying has a generation had so many tools at its disposal. Time was when only government surveillance agencies, the police, and James Bond had the kind of equipment that today is available to us all at a cost that lies within the budgets of the average income.
Government departments, MPs MEPs, European Commission members; all are accessible at the click of a mouse.
The activist list
MAG seeks to involve as many of its members as possible via a number of mechanisms, one of which is the activists list. The activist list is open to anyone. Via the list you will be emailed at intervals probably not more frequently than every couple of weeks, with news of political developments. We will normally only contact you if there is something we would like you to do, for example send an email to a politician or the press. In such cases our email to you will contain the pertinent points and provide advice. It is important to always remain polite in communications with anyone we ask you to contact. You won’t be coerced into supporting any particular issue, you can just pick and choose those issues that you wish to be involved with.
We will never ask you for more money.
If you’ve paid your
membership subs then that is all we ask. We don’t do what a lot of organisations do and keep on asking for additional donations.
50 The ROAD
To join the list go to the MAG website
l
www.mag-uk.org l click ‘campaigns’ l click ‘activists newsletter’ on the picture of the crowd
l click ‘MAG UK activists’
The UK is represented in the European Parliament by 73 MEPs. That is only about 10 per cent of the total number of MEPs in the EU Parliament so getting the UK on side is only part of the story.
It is MAG’s intention to ensure that all MEPs and all MPs in the UK have contact with MAG members in their constituencies. You can email your MP or your MEP from anywhere with a wifi connection. You can take a smart phone or tablet to your local MAG meeting and do it right there and then. Make it a feature of your group’s evening activity. Show your fellow members how easy it is to discover who represents you and send them emails right there and then. Remember though, MPs and MEPs are not duty bound to parrot the views of their constituents. They are still entitled to take their own opinions to whatever forums they enter and remember that they may be getting lobbied by a variety of their constituents with contrary viewpoints.
map shows the 12 UK European constituencies there are a number of MEPs to represent each constituency
You will be represented by more than one MEP and you can see them all on line. You can look at their profiles which will include their party affiliations, personal interests and areas of competence.
l You can’t call them faceless bureaucrats because you can see their faces on the website.
l You can’t say that they are
unaccountable because people like you vote them into office.
What is certain is that if you haven’t contacted them and they don’t represent your views in debate then you haven’t got much to complain about. When bar room bores tell you ‘politicians never listen’ ask them which politicians they spoke to, emailed, telephoned or went to visit, and watch their vacant expressions cloud over. “Yeah well they wouldn’t listen anyway,” they may say. These people do not deserve to live in a democracy. Of course as far as the EU front
is concerned, the European Parliament is not the whole story, it’s only part of it. There are committees that examine the detail of proposals and there is the European Commission and the Council of Ministers. Most MEPs on most issues simply vote the way their party advises. This
Image Credit: Davis Meltzer/National Geographic/Getty Images
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