Common Decency

Because decisions that get enacted in the political space will impact on your future in some way, shape or form, whether you like it or not. The next government will be here for at least five years and long after that we will still be dealing with the consequences of the decisions they have made, which is why it is better to get involved now than complain later.

George the Poet, a spoken word artist, whose real name is George Mpanga

Young people are turned off by politics, partly because they don’t understand its connection to their reality, and partly because they don’t feel they are being offered a realistic chance to change their lives. The language, the same sorts of faces, the largely old boys’ network within politics, are alienating to a lot of us. The social background that politicians tend to come from is not reflective of society at large. Most people I know would feel uncomfortable stepping into the Houses of Parliament and speaking in their natural dialect – that’s a genuine problem. It’s also very telling that we tend to associate privilege, whether academic or financial, with governance.

Not everyone can make the connection between politics and their actual lives. Part of the problem is to do with political literacy. Politics isn’t inbuilt into education, so it’s no surprise that it is lost on so many young people. If you don’t have access to a social context in which you can discuss politics, you are missing out on the conversation entirely.

Politics needs to be more inviting, but that’s not to completely berate politicians. It needs a multi-agency approach involving media, technology and entertainment – all the industries that engage young people – to encourage a greater political awareness. Having said that, young people are far more interested in politics than they are given credit for.

But when you are young it is hard to know just how much you can influence and change things. So even though you might be politically aware, you might not see how your vote can make a difference. Because you haven’t had enough time yet to see society as a bigger picture.

To get the attention of young people, politicians need to build genuine relationships with us. Don’t only come and talk to us when it’s election time. I’ve met a few politicians through my work. Recently I had a good conversation with a minister about the alienation of young people from politics. Discussions like that should be commonplace in the mainstream. It is a shame that we don’t have a youth minister. That would go a long way to transforming politics to permanently accommodate us. We need to start seeing young people as the future of everyone. Right now there is everyone – and then young people.
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But we have the chance to change this. Through voting we can get politicians to address the issues that concern us most, like education, employment and housing. I know that we are looking for academic rigour from our country, but we also need to be more mindful of those who need help already. It is these kind of things that set in place the social stratification. Class wars will only intensify over time if more isn’t done to ensure that we all share in the benefits of this country. Enterprise plays a big part in that. Britain is good at enterprise; it has been improving again lately. We need to ensure that, like the political arena, it doesn’t become a space for a privileged few.

If you aren’t planning on voting I would advise you to be aware of the consequences of your inactivity and refusal to participate in the system. Be informed about why you should vote and be mindful about what will happen if you don’t – not just on a personal level, but for those around you and for society as a whole.

We need to get past the idea of politics being a serious, off-putting thing. It affects everyone’s lives

Read the full Guardian article here