Sure, numbers are down amongst young Australians when it comes to both voting and registration with political parties. But does this really mean young people are becoming less political? Is rocking up to a polling booth once every few years to make a selection from the huge array of balding white dudes really a good measure of engagement? Maybe it’s actually our stale definition of ‘political engagement’ that really needs a refresh.
It’s not all bad though, there are lots of people who think there’s a different side to the story.
“Young people are in the generation with the most damaged environment and economy, most of us will never have long steady jobs or own property, yet we are also in the generation with the most rights and the ever increasing socio-political awareness. All youth are inherently political, we need it [politics] to survive.”
That was from a 17 year old woman I know, named Soaliha.
So who do we believe?!?
I recently attended a youth conference with a group of young people. At one point during the conference a panel discussion was held with representatives from local, State and Federal government. One of them wore board shorts to show how “hip” “cool” and “down” he was. (A statement that might have held some gravitas had he not desperately pointed out that, yes, he was in fact wearing board shorts.)
One of the members of the youth council I was involved with was invited to ask her question first. She asked the reps, “What are the barriers to young people’s voices being actually heard by people in positions of power?”
The cynical part of me expected the usual buzzword-ery and lip-service to things like ‘youth engagement’, ‘participation’ and perhaps, at best, some reference to how representatives need to be more active in getting out in the community and listen to their younger constituents. It turns out I was mistaken – I wasn’t being cynical enough. The local member responded with some drivel about how “the biggest barriers to young people’s voices being heard are young people themselves”.
Apparently, if young people just get off their bums and get involved in the political process the board shorts guys would be more likely to listen.
He did not say this with any obvious malice or derision. In fact, his tone was warmly encouraging. Apparently he was unaware of the irony of his response in a room full of young people who had dedicated three days (some travelling up to 10 hours) to attend a youth council conference. And perhaps this provides more insight into how out of touch he is than the actual answer itself.
Make no mistake, these young people are awesome. But what about those other crucial, often undervalued, forms of political participation we see so often from young people: resistance, civil disobedience and conflict?
Young people are unparalleled in their ability to rile; to rabble-rouse; to poke fun at power; to call out injustice; to shake things up. And perhaps best of all, they are often unaware that they are even doing it. Harness that level of wit, rage and innate sense of justice and I reckon you’d have socio-cultural products that would leave some of the current stuff people are doing, for dead.
Back to the conference.
The 200 or so young people in the room quickly realised that this was all a farce. The pollies had been given the questions in advance – their answers were pre-prepared. As the mood in the room grew increasingly weary, one young person figured out how to play the game. When his name was called, the microphone brought to him and the question displayed up on screen before he had even asked it, he altered the question. The polly hesitated, cleared his throat and tried to think of how best to deal with this disruption to the natural order. Eventually he responded: “Well, that wasn’t the original question, so I’ll address the one that was given to me.”
Perhaps he could have taken a lesson in thinking on his feet from the young questioner.
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