You are not alone
If you believe the hype, students and young people are lazy, apathetic and cynical. Spending the best years of their lives on a diet of beer, Big Brother and pot noodles. The hype, fortunately, isn’t true.
Pressureworks knows that our readers include some of the best young campaigners out there.
Case in point? Well, the events leading up to Gleneagles G8 summit in 2005 are hard to beat – thousands upon thousands of young people bought white bands and took part in the G8 rally.
Through sheer force of numbers, very hard work and unflagging enthusiasm, we won significant concessions on international development from the most powerful people on the planet. It’s true that they’ve since been disappointing in living up to their promises. But what matters is we made them promise. And that means we can now hold them to account. Campaigning works.
Case in point? Well, the events leading up to Gleneagles G8 summit in 2005 are hard to beat – thousands upon thousands of young people bought white bands and took part in the G8 rally.
Through sheer force of numbers, very hard work and unflagging enthusiasm, we won significant concessions on international development from the most powerful people on the planet. It’s true that they’ve since been disappointing in living up to their promises. But what matters is we made them promise. And that means we can now hold them to account. Campaigning works.
We’ve got the promise – what next?
A promise is only a first step – campaigners now face the task of making sure the big cheeses deliver on last year’s fine words. They’re slippery customers, and they never make it easy. Sometimes, after one too many all-too-predictable disappointments, we’ve all wondered: what’s the point?
A delicious sense of people power
Well, you’re not campaigning alone. There are thousands upon thousands of people round the world doing the same thing, from those whose day-to-day lives quite literally depend on it, to those in more comfortable circumstances moved simply by the belief that everyone deserves to live in a just, fair, less nasty world.
On the shoulders of giants
If you doubt its effectiveness, just have a look at the world. It was through campaigning in the 1960s that helped African Americans overturn decades of legal oppression. It was campaigning by the Suffragettes for that won the vote for women in Britain and the US. And it was campaigning by millions that brought London round to the idea of independence for India. And time after time, it's shown that this stuff works.
The French are doing it
More recently we saw perhaps the most dramatic, high-profile example of young people campaigning in Europe for a long time. In April 2006, hundreds of thousands of people – mostly students – took to the streets in France to protest against controversial new employment laws. A BBC correspondent declared ‘a delicious sense of people power gripped the French.’
In eight weeks of protest, French students and workers caused a complete government turnaround, embarrassing the president and the prime minister in the process.
The government tried to institute a law that would give employers more power and flexibility in sacking their staff, who are very well protected – once they have jobs – under French law. They thought this would kick-start the economy – currently not doing so well – and help young people get their first jobs.
Although many people thought (and still think) that the new laws were needed to help the struggling French economy, many of the protestors argued back that they were fighting for their basic rights - full employment, pensions, and jobs.
There are strong arguments on both sides, but in this instance, what really matters is this: they campaigned, and they won. The new laws were withdrawn. And it just goes to show; when we try, we can do it. We can win. Even against governments.
In eight weeks of protest, French students and workers caused a complete government turnaround, embarrassing the president and the prime minister in the process.
The government tried to institute a law that would give employers more power and flexibility in sacking their staff, who are very well protected – once they have jobs – under French law. They thought this would kick-start the economy – currently not doing so well – and help young people get their first jobs.
Although many people thought (and still think) that the new laws were needed to help the struggling French economy, many of the protestors argued back that they were fighting for their basic rights - full employment, pensions, and jobs.
There are strong arguments on both sides, but in this instance, what really matters is this: they campaigned, and they won. The new laws were withdrawn. And it just goes to show; when we try, we can do it. We can win. Even against governments.
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