Alex Sergent
There is no single definitive answer as to why many young people are turned off politics, there are however many ways in which we help get them get switched back on.
I often here young people quoted as saying things like; ‘There’s no difference between the main political parties’ or ‘my vote won’t make any difference’ and ‘politicians don’t listen to young people’. All of these points are true to an extent, although if key players such as the mainstream media and politicians themselves started to reach out to young people more and approach politics with a stronger emphasis on single issues it would enhance the way that that they could relate to the subject.
There’s a huge amount of young people who are engaged in politics. This can most obviously be identified through environmental issues and the War on Iraq where thousands of young people have campaigned through bodies such as the Stop the War Coalition and Friends of the Earth. The
best recent example is through Facebook where people often sign up to groups campaigning for equal rights and social justice.
Catch21 is run by young people for young people and we aim to use sites like YouTube where we upload lots of our material. We believes that if young people are being seen to help create content that sees them in the driving seat by interviewing the politicians themselves and creating content that is produced on their terms, it will encourage others to participate and join in the debate.
Alex Sergent is project coordinator for Catch21, a political internet television channel run by young people.
These are Social Bookmarks: a way for Internet users to store, organize, share and search bookmarks of web pages
I completely agree with your point. For this reason I think it would help if the media started presenting politics more through single issues. This way smaller parties would have more of a chance of making themselves known. By making it clear where all the parties stand on issues like the environment or ID cards people would see that there are big differences between all the parties.
Thanks Alex. I have just had a look at your political internet TV channel and wish you good luck with it.
I was particularly impressed by the young people of Brighton Hove and Sussex Sixth Form College BHASVIC. They held a question and answer session with Julia Goldsworthy MP. It can be watched at http://tinyurl.com/34g2f9.
Her take on the “First Past The Post” voting system as a reason for disengagement is well worth a listen.
Agree with Paul Edwards on the voting for other parties such as the Green Party. Do young people know about this and should the Green Party look at their marketing, especially getting more media coverage of their purpose? Why does Paul think politics in the 50s was more sobering, is it nostalgia and simply more people voted because they questioned institutions less, whereas young people today are more prone to challenge institutional norm? Also is our definiton of democracy flawed? i.e. Have elections to choose a party, which then rules. I predict a revolution in the future, whether it happens in years or decades, reflecting dissonance. Just as there was with aristrocacy, such as the French Revolution and other countries had to adapt to avoid the same. If X Factor can get more votes than elections and Facebook more involvement from young people, alternatives will emerge over time. I aways say to young people that unless they vote the public resources will focus more on the elderly who vote rather than the young. Why can elderly millionaires (and I know at least seven) get free bus travel and not students who are in finanacial need? The recent report on the tax burdens on graduates expand on this same issue.
PS I am not young ( a millionaire who is nearly 50) I want more spent on the young and those not financially better of or empowered through skills, class or other ways) So not people like me. I am prepared to pay more tax to make this happen.
I agree with Manjeet also. Those who are more elderly have far more clout in the political system, especially when it comes to voting. It is the over 65s who vote the most and so in many ways young people bear the burden of having to deal with tuition fees and expensive mortgages and also have the joy of looking after the older generations whilst they are still young through paying high taxes – who will end up supporting the young people?!
Young people therefore need to be encouraged to vote and the more they do this the more the parties are likely to take an interest in them also.
Catch21 presents politics in a way that is easily understandable. Presenting events and interviews with MPs run by young people for young people. We are the only political internet tv channel based at Westminster and we believe that our approach through developing and producing information online (which is predominantly the way that young people now collect their news) is the best way to get them voting.
We just need the support.
A further problem is that, having been turned off by the mainstream parties, young people don’t then, give their votes to more socially and environmentally radical parties such as the Greens. They just stop voting. This means that there is little pressure on the main parties to ‘walk the walk’ rather than just ‘talk the talk’on social and environmental issues. It is sobering to think that politics in the 1950s was much more radical and vibrant than it is now.