ALV groenlinks utrecht

The dusk is getting along, we are fully in the twilight, and an ALV starts. That is the assembly of our local party to decide relevant issues. It is sort of interesting that the time that we groenlinksers choose for our meetings is -at least in the summer- the time that most of the Nordic literature identifies with the opening of the doors. The doors to the other world. In any case, Loki disguised and among us or not, we discuss politics at the twilight. And now and then, we perceive the clashes of different worlds.

The last ALV had as a central topic the coming local elections, in about a year from now. The current city councilors of our party were “interviewed” and gave us their pleasures, their satisfactions and their challenges in the city council. And, as in any other meeting that I have seen, when similar topics have been aired… we have a view from the city councilors and another view from the active members of the party. In this case, the discussion did spin around our roots. Are we well recognized and present in our city? Most of our local leaders think so. And most of our active members do not.

This difference of opinion is extremely interesting. To say it from the start, I am convinced that our city councilors invest a relevant amount of their time in the street. Organizing or participating in a full array of events, they are “out there”. The problem is that they are there, without the rest of the party.

Luckily enough the Netherlands politicians, or at least the Groenlinks politicians, are extremely aware that they are not accountable to the party. They are accountable to the ones that elected them, and those are the people, not the party members. Luckily because there is little chance for the elected politician to end up as a party puppet. But not all is good luck. The bad side is the dislocation in between elected politician, whom are natural leaders or the party, and the party herself. Many of our elected politicians simply do not have time to invest in the organization of the party. And there we go into a vicious circle, since active members begins to distrust the elected people, and the elected people go further and further away from the party members. And we end up in an ALV irritating the other.

Is this cleavage to be solved? Luckily yes. In the debate, the two city councilors that repeatedly acknowledge the presence problem that our party has, are also the two councilors that invest most of their time involving the party in the city council. And of course, at working together even the most different worlds intersperse each other. Members of the party that work with these councilors are also the ones with a positive opinion of the role of our party in the street.

One could certainly ask if interacting people are confounding each other, believing that our party is doing better when actually is doing worse. But that is beside the point. Because what really matters is to have a collective of people that wants to work together. Not necessarily because we agree, but surely because we respect our own roles.

So the twilight has become night and we drink the last beer and smoke the last cigarette thinking that the clash of the worlds produced new doors. That was a twilight not gone in vain. Now we just have to walk through.