Thought Piece | How Do We Begin To Change Our Relationship With Politics (And Politicians?)

Chiara Rosselli, Executive Director, APROPOS Group

Two hours ago I was in a call with a colleague.

We were throwing around ideas on how we imagine our perception of politicians needs to change if we aspire to live in healthier societies. We’re hoping to write a longer piece together on the subject. Surely it isn’t a simple topic.

What I can say from my own experience though, is that over the past 10 years I’ve been subjected to quite a few situations that denote just how sour our relationship to the world of politics has gotten:

• I’ve been lectured and belittled on first dates and from friends of friends about how vehemently they disagree with my career choice because I am somehow involved in the political arena (this has happened more times than I can count);

• I have been expected to have ready made solutions to immense and unsolvable political problems over dinner tables;

• I’ve been questioned an incredible amount of times what hidden interests are lurking behind my work;

• I’ve been told unequivocally that what I do wouldn’t make any difference whatsoever.

It left me wondering, how do we even begin to change our relationship to politics?

Here are 4 questions that stuck with me from my conversation earlier today.

HOW CAN WE CHANGE POLITICS WITHOUT CHANGING ITS STRUCTURES? Can we ever have a healthier more empathetic political arena without changing the infrastructures and processes that determine not only how politics is operated but also how it is perceived and understood?

WHAT IS THE REAL REASON WHY WE ARE SO EASILY OFFENDED BY POLITICS? Is there a good reason why we are unable to cherish and seek out progress while accepting the imperfections and fallibilities of the political system? And what happened that made us so categorically uncompromising when it comes to evaluating the contribution that politicians make to our societies?

CAN WE CARE FOR THE POWERFUL? How do we reconcile our adversity towards showing kindness and forgiveness towards people in positions of power and the struggles of a political class that feels increasingly powerless? Can there ever be empathy for the powerful?

WHO & WHAT IS A POLITICIAN? Is there a need to reframe what politics is? Is there a need to reimagine, or rehumanise, the role of politicians? To what degree are people themselves co-responsible to reinvent what being political means nowadays?