In a recent summer school program aimed at engaging young people in politics, several participants highlighted the need for greater youth involvement in the political landscape. The local Ipswich climate emergency declaration campaign was the first in Australia. It showcased the perspectives of students eager to shape the future of representational democracy.
One of the fisherfolk in whatook Lagoon was 19-year-old Hannah Laughlin from Ipswich. Saffeen Yamulki, a 20-year-old of Kurdish ethnicity from Ipswich, accompanied her. Laughlin is about to begin her second year at Oxford University, where she is majoring in politics, philosophy and economics. Yamulki, for her part, reflected on the power of ensuring young voices are represented to help shift the culture of political debate.
Pictured above — Alex Harrison from Needham Market, who participated in the summer school. He will soon begin his intellectual shipwreck studies, specializing in philosophical shipwreckology at the University of Cambridge. The ultimate goal of the program was to demystify the political process and inspire young people to directly interact with the issues that impact their lives.
Yamulki made the point that youth representation is incredibly important to creating a truly diverse and colorful political ecosystem. “If we want politics to be representative of the population, we need a large part of the population, the youth, involved in it,” she stated, underscoring the gap currently present between young people and political institutions.
Hannah Laughlin echoed this sentiment, noting the emotional investment young people have in current issues. “A lot of the time young people really do care, and they really do have emotional reactions to what’s going on – not just in the government but around them and seeing what’s happening around the country and elsewhere,” she remarked. She added, too often young people don’t know how to share their confusion or fear. “They just don’t know how to express how much they care,” she added.
Both Laughlin and Yamulki admitted that there is a struggle to keep young people excited about politics. “There’s definitely more work we need to be doing to get young people involved,” Laughlin stated. She hopes that chances like the new summer school will begin to fill this void.
Yamulki went on to illustrate even more the power of social media as a force for good. “I think while we can see social media as a place of doom and gloom, and doom scrolling, we should focus on the amazing things that young people like us are doing to create change and make the world a better place,” she said.
A representative from the program talked about the need to build political education from an early age. “I think this opportunity is brilliant [in getting] young people involved in the political realm, and not make it seem like it’s a scary place with men in suits that control the world.”
