We protest!

New ways young people are engaging politically.

 

Young people are undermined and are constantly told they don’t know enough to have a voice in politics. This has meant that young people have become increasingly uninterested in traditional politics. So, they have had to find new ways to politically engage. Young people have been increasingly more interested in political protests in the UK. Protesting is a great way for us to feel like our voices are being heard. Protests involve solidarity; chants; noise; disruption; no wonder young people in the UK are using this form of activism, it’s fun! The climate strike in 2019 and the 2010 student protests are two key examples of the importance of protesting for young people.

Young people (15-24 year olds) are increasingly disinterested with traditional politics (Sloam, 2007). In the 2019 general election in Britain only 47% of 18-24 year olds voted (Ipos MORI. 2020). Why would young people vote if they don’t feel that subjects close to their hearts, housing costs, univeristy fees, are being taken seriously? (Keating and Melis 2017)

Figure one: estimated voting turnout for 2019 general election in the UK (Ipos MORI, 2019)

 

Young people are also rejecting other traditional forms of political engagement such as joining trade unions and joining political parties meaning that politicians are typically, old, middle/upper class males (Vromen et al. 2014). But apparently young people have a voice in traditional politics? We don’t. This switch off from traditional politics has led to the incorrect view that young people don’t care about politics.

Lots of young people are told they don’t know anything about politics, and that they are naïve (Loader et al, 2016). This then will obviously lead to a disconnect from traditional politics because they feel as though their voices are not being heard. So, to make their voices heard, they protest, yell, chant, and come together to prove they deserve a say in their future.

SURPRISE! We have figured it out, we need to make big noise to be heard.

In recent years many young people in the UK have been taking part in political protests. Climate change, leaving the EU, rising house prices, university fees: all subjects close to young people’s hearts.

In 2019, 10,000 (yes, 10,000!), young people took part in a weeklong climate strike (Tucker, 2019). This shows that young people are passionate about change! Young people are often told that they know nothing about politics but if they don’t know anything about politics, why are so many young people using protests to share their voices and opinions. The UK Student Climate Network wrote that students want to ‘create a strong movement and send a message that we are tired of being ignored’ (2020).

Figure 2: Students around the world go on climate strike. (Guardian News, 2019)

 

Greta Thunberg (if you haven’t heard of her you have been living under a rock) has been leading young people to a climate revolution (Tucker, 2019). She is a key role model and example of young people around the globe protesting to save their future (Caffrey, 2020). During the Climate protests many students participated in a school strike (Tucker, 2019). A youth activist said “I believe there’s no point of us getting an education and planning for the future if there is going to be no future” (BBC News, 2019). Many people argued that the motivation behind this walk out was about missing days from school rather than social change (Tucker, 2019). Seems like an awful lot of work for Greta Thunberg to just get a few days off school, would’ve been easier to fake a cold. This continued ignorance will continue to put younger people off politics and political engagement.

You can join the next climate strike HERE

Students are often told they lack knowledge and power when it comes to political engagement. Anyone who has been on a university campus will understand that many students hold political opinions. And one subject close to their hearts, fees. In 2010 50,000 students protested the rise of tuition fees in the street of London (Rheingans and Hollands, 2012). Students care about their future, and about their debt and they deserve the same opportunities as those who had cheaper or no university fees. This protest was defined as a movement against ‘old’ politics, who were trying to raise the price of university (the bad guys) (Rheingans and Hollands, 2012).

Young people protest because they are fed up of traditional politics. This generational view that youth have it easier now is pure bullshit. A great sociologist (Gidden’s) once said that actually this new form of political engagement comes from how rubbish modern life is (Rheingans and Hollands, 2012), conventional politics has continued to raise house prices, increase unemployment and pollute our world (Green, 2017). For the youth, no significate change has or will be made unless they protest. We don’t care about a ballot; we care about actual change.

The climate strike 2019 and the student protest 2010 prove that young people have not become disinterested in politics. They have changed the narrative of action. Young people are trying to have their voices heard by literally yelling. Political engagement does not mean voting, it means passion and activism.

 

Bibliography

BBC News. (2019) Schools’ Climate Strike: Young People Protest Across England. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-47584093 (Accessed: 09 March 2020)

Guardian News (2019) Students around the world go on climate strike. [YouTube]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ_QkjieLmw (Accessed: 10 March 2020)

Green A. (2017) The Crisis for Young People. London. Palgrave Macmillan.

Ipos MORI (2019). How Britain voted in the 2019 election. Available at: https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/how-britain-voted-2019-election. Accessed: 27 February 2020

Keating, A and Melis, G (2017). Social media and youth political engagement: Preaching to the converted or providing a new voice for youth? The British Journal of Politics and International Relations. 19 (4) pp. 877-894

Loader, B.D., Vromen, A. and Xenos, M.A., 2016. Performing for the young networked citizen? Celebrity politics, social networking and the political engagement of young people, Media, culture & society, 38(3), pp.400-419.

Rheingans, R and Hollands R (2012) ‘There is no alternative?’: challenging dominant understandings of youth politics in late modernity through a case study of the 2010 UK student occupation movement. Journal or Youth Studies. 16(4)

Sloam, J (2007) Rebooting Democracy: Youth Participation in Politics in the UK. Parliamentary affairs. 60 (4)

Tucker, S (2019) Editorial: political awareness or a day off school? Climate protest and young people, Pastoral Care in Education, 37(2), pp. 91-93

UK Student Climate Network. 2020. Join the Climate Strike On Fri 13 March. Available at: <https://ukscn.org/> (Accessed: 09 March 2020).

Vromen, A., Loader, B. and Xenos, M. (2014) The networked young citizen: social media, political participation and civic engagement. Information, Communication and Society. 17 (2). Pp. 143-150