Northern Slant GuestPatrick Brown is the Founder & Director of Politrip, a political travel company which organises short-term volunteer placements with international political campaigns. It offers the ultimate experience for political enthusiasts who want to work for candidates of their choice. Here, he explains how the global pandemic has forced the campaign experience to move online.
All eyes are currently focused on America. Even if you live thousands of miles away and aren’t a diehard political junkie, it’s impossible to escape the exciting uncertainty of its politics – particularly right now. From the Black Lives Matter movement through to President Trump’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the implications of the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the world is watching its every move.
The ramifications of US domestic and foreign policy are felt all across the global stage. And while this has been the case for years, the unpredictable nature of the Trump administration – and the fact that the United States is more divided than at any recent time – makes the future direction of the country of huge importance to the rest of the world. The president’s controversial approach to diplomacy, coupled with an unstable socioeconomic climate and a global pandemic has generated a surge in interest around the upcoming US elections at home and abroad.
That interest is further heightened for students in Northern Ireland due to the legacy connections between the two countries and the personalities of the two candidates. Many Irish-American voters supported President Trump at the last election and many members of his administration have Irish roots, while just the other night some of our “Politrippers” joined an online rally with Irish Americans for Biden, showcasing how intrinsically the two nations are interlinked.
The Politrip Story
My two passions are travel and politics, so four years ago when I heard from a friend of a friend about the opportunity to volunteer on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in Miami, I jumped at the chance to go. Despite it being a hugely prominent campaign with many overseas volunteers, I had to organise everything personally; from travel and accommodation to which campaigning teams I would be working with while I was out there. Thankfully, I had some prior political connections there through my role as a Councillor, otherwise the process would have been challenging and time-consuming.
The trip itself was a fantastic experience and showed me that there was a clear need to support international volunteers and activists who are passionate about enabling change outside of their own political jurisdictions. From this, Politrip was created as a way to offer accessibility to anyone who wanted to gain experience on an international campaign, travel and work in new places.
Our trips allow participants to get hands-on experience and help with a campaign they believe in. They offer activists a unique chance to learn about the US and its politics while gaining valuable transferable career enhancing skills. Crucially, it provides opportunities for those who might not be able to arrange it by themselves. As with many career fields, politics is often about who you know.
Politrip is a non-partisan organisation and we are happy to work with both parties. For the 2018 midterm elections we offered trips with Republican candidates, but demand for trips with Republicans has usually been low and we were not confident we could recruit in great enough numbers to make a trip with Republicans viable in 2020.
It should also be noted that whilst Federal Election Commission regulations are in place to prevent non-US citizens working on a political campaign, our Politrippers are volunteers, and no money or benefit in kind is contributed to any of the campaigns, just their time, which is permitted under FEC rules.
Campaigning post-Covid
Understandably, Covid-19 has impacted so many aspects of our daily lives, but among the hardest-hit has been international travel.
After founding Politrip in 2017, we spent the past few years taking volunteers from the UK to take part in the midterms and then the Democratic primary campaign. With the high-profile nature of this presidential election, we’d hoped to bring more than 300 young people out to America during 2020, allowing them to be on the ground and part of an exceptionally exciting election race. Sadly though, we’ve been forced to think differently about this year’s programme.
The pandemic has fundamentally changed how any campaign runs, but it has transformed the role of international volunteers so much more significantly. While we couldn’t send Politrippers out to the States (for their own safety and because of travel restrictions), there was still a great demand from people wanting to get involved. With this in mind, we wanted to ensure we were allowing as many people as possible to play a part in shaping history. This led to the creation of our Virtual Activists programme, using technology to build an online hub and training platform.
By doing so, we have managed to adapt Politrip so it runs parallel with teams out on the campaign trail in the US, while our volunteers remain safely in their own homes. Our Politrippers work closely with these campaign teams and, after receiving bespoke training from them, are supporting their efforts with phone calls, texts, virtual events and town halls. On top of this, there has been the opportunity for extensive online networking (even with prominent figures such as Chelsea Clinton and Dr Jill Biden), watch parties and virtual get-togethers; proving that although far apart, there is still a great sense of community amongst the team.
The Virtual Activists key aim is to encourage voter turnout in the vital last few weeks of the election. We allow participants to pick which campaigns they work for, depending on who most aligns with their views and values. This means they feel they are at the forefront of shaping political change and backing a candidate who is passionate about the same things they are. The work they do enables them to learn cutting edge digital organising skills and gain valuable experience for their CV despite so many opportunities being cancelled as a result of Covid-19 – something which a lot of students are keen to do as they enter an increasingly competitive job market.
Although the pandemic has altered all of our lives, we can’t let them stand still. The Virtual Activist programme has allowed people from across the globe to be a part of driving change and feel united in their goals, at a time when it is very easy to feel powerless, unheard and even alone.
Like the rest of the world, we’ll be watching closely what happens on the 3rd November and we’re excited to feel we can make a difference, no matter where we are.
There are still a few spots left on our 2-week Virtual Activist programme which runs from the 19th October – 3rd November and costs £195. If you are interested in signing up (closing date is 17th October 2020), please either email us at hello@politrip.org or visit https://politrip.org/campaigns/virtual_presidential_autumn_2020.
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See Also:
As Campaign Enters Final Days, Join Northern Slant For An Online Discussion
‘Celtic’ Biden’s Call to Irish-America
