Practically since the day I started working on this blog I’ve been corresponding with the Maltese MEP Joseph Muscat (http://www.josephmuscat.com/). The European Parliament, an organisation which is geographically and psychologically remote to most people it seems, could greatly benefit from new forms of communication to make itself more relevant. Joseph himself is in fact in the process of setting up a virtual office allowing his constituents in Malta the opportunity to ‘visit’ him even while he’s away.
I asked him whether politicians ability to talk more directly to the public would improve our democracies. His views on the matter were that new technology is already making a difference. Most people do not have time to make an appointment or write a letter but ‘would take a couple of minutes (from) their schedule to send him/her an email.’
With particular reference to the European Parliament I asked him if he thought these new technologies will help the Parliament connect more with voters and make it more relevant to their daily lives. Tackling this problem it seems remains a difficult task. A plan by the European Parliament to launch an online TV station was mentioned. ‘I think it will help but only at the margins’, said Joseph perhaps reflecting earlier concerns raised by previous interviews that it’s no good using new technology when no one is interested in your content anyway.
How politicians will deal with the amount and variety of responses they could potentially receive could create a risk. As long as the politician concerned remains focussed on the two-way nature of communicating through new technology Joseph believes this risk can be averted. I think that in terms of constituency politics this may well be achievable but whether politicians holding executive office – and playing a significant role in setting a party’s agenda – can maintain this two-way conversation is another matter.
One other concern I raised is the issue of whether giving individuals the ability to talk directly to politicians will we be bringing people together more or driving them further apart and away from broad church politics in to single issue pressure groups. This is a theme that has come up quite a lot in the reading I’ve done and the conversations I’ve had. Thoughts about how things may develop have been difficult to obtain. This is no surprise for as Joseph said ‘I cannot find my crystal ball around’
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I am actually commenting on the current trends in political communication in Africa, especially as regards the use of blogs and other new media for communication. I believe the use of blogs and other new media to communicate with the public by politicians, political communicators and politically conscious individuals will go a long way to help in improving or instituting democracy in African countries. Through blogging, Africans in general and Cameroonians in particular have been able to challenge governments and politicians on issues such as corruption, human rights, economic policy and social justice in their respective countries (sometimes anonymously) in a way that could not have been possible in the past due to heavy censorship of the press and suppression of individuals. I see an Africa whereby the rise of new media will help to put an end to censorship of the press and televison and radio thereby changing the political world in Africa.
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