The Political is Getting PersonalVal Woodward14th April 2013

Edinburgh 1984

• Exec, housing, benefits, planning, transport

• Women’s Committee• Toilets• Miner’s Strike• Cervical cancer

screening• Public meetings incl

workers at EDC

Politics is boring

• We weren’t expecting the trip to be fun, but it really was and I got so involved in everything that was going on

Shabana Mahmood

• We visited the MP for Ladywood, who is a shadow minister and we talked about her life and theirs.

Politics

• Noisy and incoherent

• Impossible demands

• Impractical plans

• Opportunism• Unmerited fame

Bring politics to life•Complex, not simple•But part of power inequalities is making it seem inaccessible

Making politics accessibleMusic and the artsThe music really set the atmosphere Us singing was very powerful

Need sun, water, soil etc for a tree to grow with fruit to pick.

Food (especially cake) is very important

Hidden History in Handsworth

• Class• Wealth• Race• Gender• Space, place

and community

• Fun collective action

Critical Reflection

•A healthy democracy depends on people thinking and acting•Dialogue•Everyday lives

•Not a religion•Life and character•Muddled and contradictory

Women in Sparkbrook claim they find politics interesting and the local councillor learns a lot

• Agency versus being looked after• Paternalistic?• Doing things with, not for, people