Photo by Lucy Nichols
The last year has seen an upsurge in young people getting involved with political activism. Whether protesting, petitioning or seeking to improve their political consciousness, it is clear that the current generation of young people has become actively involved in struggles for equality, justice and liberation.
This wave of youth protests arguably began in the summer of 2020, after the murder of George Floyd in the US inspired global protests against racism, and millions of people around the UK took to the streets to take on the virulent racism of the British state. Many hundreds of thousands marched in London, despite the risk of the pandemic, to demand an end to the states’ institutionalised and systemic racism. It was largely young people who organised and joined these mass demonstrations, with people of all races and backgrounds coming together to take a stand for Black Lives Matter.
This phenomenon has continued throughout the pandemic, and we have seen students at a huge variety of British Universities take on their institutions: in January of 2021, over 50 universities across the country saw students go on rent strike to protest the poor living conditions they were faced with, and students at universities in Manchester and Leicester have taken the dramatic measure of passing votes of no confidence in their universities’ managements.
Most recently, it is the issue of Palestine that has ignited a wave of anger amongst young people. Palestinian liberation has for years been a deeply taboo subject. Under the IHRA definition of antisemitism (widely adopted by British institutions), criticising the state of Israel was antisemitic, and there were a variety of examples of Muslim students being reported to the Prevent strategy for airing support of Palestine. Now, things have changed and popular support for Palestine has led to a wave of massive protests against Britain’s continued support for the Israeli government. Once again, young people have been coming out in their thousands to oppose racism and injustice through calling for an end to the occupation of Palestine.
Like with anything, it is impossible to predict whether young people will stay angry, or if they will be able to continue to channel this anger into organised movements able to take on those in power. What remains clear is that this level of political consciousness amongst young people hasn’t been seen in Britain for a number of years, arguably since the protests against tuition fees in 2010. This must scare those in power, particularly the ruling Conservative Party, which remains deeply unpopular amongst young people, and which cannot possibly remain in power if young people continue to fight for all that it opposes; justice, equality and liberation.
Contributed by Lucy Nichols @lumnic
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