YOUNG VOICES
Radical Future was featured in the Guardian's special report on young voters by Libby Brooks. Here is an excerpt.
"Scepticism about politicians' internet fetishism is also reflected in a new ebook, Radical Future, published by Soundings today. As the editor, Ben Little, observes: "Social networks are key for our generation, but they won't save us from disengagement. They can just as easily become a way of shutting people off from each other."
At the heart of Radical Future is a thesis likewise expounded by the Conservative frontbencher David Willetts in his book The Pinch: essentially, that the baby boomer generation has reaped all the benefits of postwar prosperity, leaving 18-30s with a ruptured economy, an alienated society and a dying planet.
Further, so Little characterises it, "young people are demographically cut off from a political sphere that focuses on the most electorally significant group: middle-aged, middle-class, middle England". Witness Alistair Darling's remarks about increasing university places during the budget "to reassure parents" rather than their children.
Young people's focus on single issues is often cited with mild derision, implying that they are political consumerists, tempted by the most self-serving or popular projects, and too busy happy-slapping and securing easy exam passes to get to grips with the intricacies of fiscal policy."
BUILDING A RADICAL FUTURE
The increasing awareness of just how bad a deal people under thirty in Britain are getting at the moment has been countered by a media and political establishment that seeks to demonise and marginalise young people even as it claims to be for them. Yesterday’s report on youth unemployment by the cross-party schools select committee recommending that 16-27 year olds should be in college or training to receive benefits reinforces the general trend in British politics that schemes purporting to be positive for young people can actually end up being exploitative.
As Compass Youth chair Noel Hatch argues in his chapter for the Radical Future the sort of training schemes argued for here often expect young people to be essentially in work while receiving less than poverty wages. Somehow young people should be glad of opportunities that fully-fledged “adults” would most likely consider insulting. Notice also the creeping expansion of the age bracket from 16-24 up to a new cut-off point of 27.
As I argue in the introduction to the book this attitude to the young is a direct result of an electoral system that entrenches the privileged location of middle-aged, middle-class Britain. Alistair Darling proved as much when he stated in his budget speech that the expansion of university places was to “reassure parents”.
The generations under thirty face a raft of long term issues that cannot simply be reduced to a politics contingent on the current rates of youth unemployment, first time buyers or educational achievement. We are being left a legacy of difficult societal and economic problems that are not of our making, but will fall to us to resolve and will define our adult lives.
Radical Future gathers the analysis and ideas of a range of young activists, journalists and academics from Left Foot Forward’s Joss Garman to Ejos Ubiribo – adviser to the Met Police’s Operation Trident. What is resoundingly clear from these contributions on a wide range of topics, from housing to mental health, from immigration to foreign policy, is that the current way of addressing problems that need a political response is insufficient. What emerges is a sense that the failure of politics is systemic and that its dominant philosophies are intellectually, morally and literally bankrupt.
It will be us, the under thirties, who must look for a way out of this mess, not over the course of the next economic or electoral cycle, but as a way of securing our futures for the long term. Yet the problem is that many of us are not just cut off from the political establishment, but from the very language of politics.
Having been brought up exclusively under neo-liberalism, traditional leftist concepts such as collective bargaining, solidarity or social democracy have little resonance with a cohort that has no experience of these ideas as a genuine political force. This needs an inter-generational debate that explores the possibilities for a new politics, one that works with, not against, the participatory, media savvy, network orientated sensibilities of the under thirties.
As technology shifts the way in which we relate to one another, a progressive outcome is not inevitable, instead it falls to those of us who work actively for a fairer, greener Britain to make our case as strongly as we can to our peers. We hope that Radical Future can stand as an early contribution to that debate.
Ben Little
This article was first published here.
As Compass Youth chair Noel Hatch argues in his chapter for the Radical Future the sort of training schemes argued for here often expect young people to be essentially in work while receiving less than poverty wages. Somehow young people should be glad of opportunities that fully-fledged “adults” would most likely consider insulting. Notice also the creeping expansion of the age bracket from 16-24 up to a new cut-off point of 27.
As I argue in the introduction to the book this attitude to the young is a direct result of an electoral system that entrenches the privileged location of middle-aged, middle-class Britain. Alistair Darling proved as much when he stated in his budget speech that the expansion of university places was to “reassure parents”.
The generations under thirty face a raft of long term issues that cannot simply be reduced to a politics contingent on the current rates of youth unemployment, first time buyers or educational achievement. We are being left a legacy of difficult societal and economic problems that are not of our making, but will fall to us to resolve and will define our adult lives.
Radical Future gathers the analysis and ideas of a range of young activists, journalists and academics from Left Foot Forward’s Joss Garman to Ejos Ubiribo – adviser to the Met Police’s Operation Trident. What is resoundingly clear from these contributions on a wide range of topics, from housing to mental health, from immigration to foreign policy, is that the current way of addressing problems that need a political response is insufficient. What emerges is a sense that the failure of politics is systemic and that its dominant philosophies are intellectually, morally and literally bankrupt.
It will be us, the under thirties, who must look for a way out of this mess, not over the course of the next economic or electoral cycle, but as a way of securing our futures for the long term. Yet the problem is that many of us are not just cut off from the political establishment, but from the very language of politics.
Having been brought up exclusively under neo-liberalism, traditional leftist concepts such as collective bargaining, solidarity or social democracy have little resonance with a cohort that has no experience of these ideas as a genuine political force. This needs an inter-generational debate that explores the possibilities for a new politics, one that works with, not against, the participatory, media savvy, network orientated sensibilities of the under thirties.
As technology shifts the way in which we relate to one another, a progressive outcome is not inevitable, instead it falls to those of us who work actively for a fairer, greener Britain to make our case as strongly as we can to our peers. We hope that Radical Future can stand as an early contribution to that debate.
Ben Little
This article was first published here.
ABOUT US
We have been dubbed the millennium generation, iPods, the lost generation, Thatcher’s children – and told we are feckless, materialist, disengaged and even dangerous. Yet in the not too distant future the under thirties will inherit responsibility for a world full of problems not of our making.
Many of our generation are detached from politics because politics has detached itself from us – we are disregarded in electoral calculations, disenfranchised by the main parties’ relentless focus on middle-aged Middle England.
Yet most of us are concerned about the future, and many are active in single-issue campaigns. This book represents an attempt by a group of activists, journalists and academics to come to terms with the issues faced by our generation, and the kinds of politics we want for our future.
We are a diverse group, but in our professional lives all of us work actively for a better society. We believe that this book should stand as a statement of intent, and as an offer to our elders to enter into the debate for our future
Download our book
Many of our generation are detached from politics because politics has detached itself from us – we are disregarded in electoral calculations, disenfranchised by the main parties’ relentless focus on middle-aged Middle England.
Yet most of us are concerned about the future, and many are active in single-issue campaigns. This book represents an attempt by a group of activists, journalists and academics to come to terms with the issues faced by our generation, and the kinds of politics we want for our future.
We are a diverse group, but in our professional lives all of us work actively for a better society. We believe that this book should stand as a statement of intent, and as an offer to our elders to enter into the debate for our future
Download our book
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