Mainstream politicians and pundits have long peddled the narrative that young people are politically disengaged, more interested in taking selfies than changing society. But the explosion of youth-led climate protests and Palestine activism indicates there is no shortage of political opinions among young people.
“Just because we’re young, it doesn’t mean we can’t have political opinions”, Ramona says. She’s a 14-year-old student at a Melbourne High School and one of the organisers of the school strike for Palestine on Thursday 23 November.
No sooner had the dust settled after that blast that killed hundreds of Palestinians at Gaza’s al-Ahli hospital on 17 October than the propaganda war began.
Conservatives and right-wingers rarely miss an opportunity to present themselves as victims of political persecution by the supposedly censorious, intolerant, if not downright totalitarian, left. Yet the latest war on Gaza is once again showing that those most vulnerable to “cancel culture” are pro-Palestine voices.
As survivors gathered in the southern Italian island of Lampedusa in October to commemorate the tenth anniversary of one of the most deadly drownings of refugees in the Mediterranean, European leaders met to discuss further plans to deport refugees and prevent asylum seekers gaining entry to Europe.
Chants of “Black, Indigenous, Arab, Asian and white—unite, unite, unite to fight the right!” echoed across the streets of Sunshine West on Saturday, when 500 anti-fascist activists and local community members gathered to protest against Legacy Boxing Gym.