The past week has been an emotional roller coaster for me. I woke up early Saturday, and felt like a small child on Christmas morning. Walking out of the voting centre I had a spring in my step and a smile on my face – I was sure that in 12 hours a new era would begin. As the results started coming in, my optimism wavered and I felt quite numb.
What followed included feelings of anger, resentment, disbelief, confusion and at times, disgust. I’ve seen many like-minded persons sharing similar emotions. In processing these feelings over the past week, I have concluded that much of these emotions have been misdirected. I have witnessed countless arguments on social media and in real life, where left leaning persons insult, belittle and criticise both groups and individuals who voted for right wing parties. Whilst each conversation featured diverse topics – the outcome was always the same: the right-leaning person did not change their mind.
This week, I have realised that it is not my responsibility, nor any other left-leaning voter’s, to convince others how to vote. It is not my place to attack and vilify those who voted for a right-wing party. My anger and disappointment does not lie with the constituents. It lies with the Labor Party, the Greens and more broadly, left wing parties the world over. It is these parties that have failed, not the people.
The success of the right is not unique to Australia. In recent years we’ve seen it in the United States with Trump and in the UK with Brexit. Clearly, the Left is doing something so very wrong. Partially, this could be contributed to the fact that the Left is largely catering to a small proportion of left-leaning persons. For instance, whilst the environment and climate change are monumental issues, this does not appeal low-income earners who are struggling to make ends meet. Perhaps these are the votes that were lost.
Over the next few years, the Left needs to regroup and rebrand itself. It cannot go on the way it is and expect the next election to go any differently. The Labor Party and the Greens must learn from their mistakes, and from the mistakes made from those around the globe, and come back stronger and more inclusive at the next election.