User:2k415/Youth activism

Overview (Original):
Young people are often underrepresented in politics because adults dominate the discourse. However, many youth are concerned and informed citizens who can advocate for change within their communities. Youth is an elastic category, the age at which it begins and ends varies within cultural contexts, but it is often a very distinct stage in a person's life to which particular issues or policies are highly relevant. These may include politics, health, and social issues.

Sociopolitical development is a "psychological process that covers the range of cognitions, skills, attitudes, worldviews, and emotions that support social and political action" (Watts, Griffith, & Abdul-Adil, 1999). The process of SPD was further defined by Watts & Flannagan "to impact young people’s social analysis, worldview and sense of agency and to provide them opportunity structures and support towards their societal involvement behavior (2007)."

Social activism is the predominant form of youth activism today, as millions of young people around the world participate in social activism that is organized, informed, led, and assessed by adults. Many efforts, including education reform, children's rights, and government reform call on youth to participate this way, often called youth voice. Youth councils are an example of this.

Youth-driven activism requires young people to be the primary movers within an adult-led movement. Such is the case with the Sierra Club, where youth compel their peers to join and become active in the environmental movement. This is also true of many organizations that were founded by youth who became adults, such as SEAC and National Youth Rights Association.[citation needed]

Political activism by youth can go unnoticed because youth activism often occurs on school grounds and away from the adult society, but youth often face resistance when forming youth activist groups in schools. As the central beneficiaries of public schools, youth are also advocating for student-led school change and education reform through student activism and meaningful student involvement. There are structural inequalities that keep youth from engaging in political talk and action on school grounds or the public domain. School clubs require an adult adviser to make the club official, further adding to school hierarchies of adult power. While some youth participate in student government, others prefer student unions because they provide a real voice to the students and present it to the administration while student governments do not have the power to effect real change in a school system.

Global Youth Activism (Original):
Youth activism in the Global South increased in the first years of the 2010s. People under the age of 18 comprise 46% of the global population, and these youth played a crucial role around the world during the first two decades of the twenty-first century.

South Africa[ edit]
A classic example of youth engagement in political activism is the Soweto riots. When teachers started instructing in Afrikaans, the language of their oppressors, children took the streets for a peaceful demonstration. The police reaction was brutal and on June 16, 1976, at least 25 people were killed. The violence continued and spread all across the country. By the end of the year, 575 people had died and 2,389 had been wounded.

A contemporary challenge for South African youth is the AIDS pandemic. Around 60% of adults who contract HIV become infected before they turn 25, meaning youth are particularly endangered. To advocate and protest about HIV/AIDS, South African youth known as "urban warriors" have created social movements that use youth culture, media, and peer-to-peer campaigns to advocate about HIV/AIDS.

Asia[ edit]
In Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Federation of Students leads the social umbrella movement against the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) of 31 August.

India[ edit]
In India, youth born in the 1980s and 1990s comprise part of a middle class increasingly vocal against impunity for rapists and against government corruption.

The Assam Movement (or Assam Agitation) (1979-1985) was a popular movement against illegal immigrants in Assam. The movement, led by All Assam Students Union(AASU) and the 'All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad' (AAGSP), developed a program of protests and demonstration to compel the Indian government to identify and expel illegal, (mostly Bangladeshis), immigrants and protect and provide constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to the indigenous Assamese people.

On 16 January 2017 a large group of students (more than 20 lakhs) protested in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for the ban on Jallikattu. The ban was made by Supreme court of India in 2014 when PETA filed a petition against Jallikattu as a cruelty to animals.

Young India Foundation has been working on a campaign to decrease the age of candidacy in India of MPs/MLAs from 25 to better reflect the large young demographic of India called India's Age of Candidacy

Indonesia[ edit]
Youth activism in Indonesia takes many different forms and include a number of mass protests to overthrow governments and remove colonial powers in the past. Popular motivations of youth activism in Indonesia are indigenous rights and national unity, pro-communism, anticommunism, pro-democracy and militant Islam. A common form of activism is massa, a cavalcade of motorcycles, trucks, music, and many young people on foot. These cavalcades are mostly males and end with a rally to address a certain political issue. In general, youth have been looking for political change during the last four decades.

Malaysia[ edit]
Video blogging has become increasing popular in Malaysia. Youth activists upload their videos and independent films to the popular site EngageMedia. This is used by Malaysians to encourage young people to become citizen journalists. Youth view EngageMedia as a safe space for their video blogs, but there is still fear of retribution.

Nepal[ edit]
The 1979 student protests in Nepal were a series of protests amongst the student community in Nepal during the months of April and May 1979. The clashes that occurred had a significant historical impact, as they forced the monarchy to concede to holding a referendum on the possibility of a multiparty system in the country. Official figures stated that 11 persons were killed during the agitation, and 164 wounded.

Youth and Student organisations such as Nepal Student Union, ANNFSU and Nepal Tarun Dal are key forces behind protests and demonstration against authoritarian governments. Youths have been standing in the forefront in 1951, 1980, 1990 and 2005 democratic movements.

The Philippines[ edit]
Youth activism has had a long history in the Philippines. The original founding members of the Katipunan as well as the Propaganda Movement consisted of youths. The country's national hero, Jose Rizal was martyred at the ripe age of 35. In 1964, aiming to continue the revolutionary tradition of the Katipunan, the Kabataang Makabayan was formed against the Marcos regime. It became an underground organization in 1972 after the declaration of Martial Law but continues to organize in this manner. Other organizations campaigned against the Martial Law as well, such as LFS, NUSP and SCMP. The League of Filipino Students was formed in September 11, 1977 as an alliance against tuition fee increases. Eventually it became a mass organization of students campaigning against the fascist dictatorship. Around the 60s, the NUSP dominated the scene of student activism and aided in the various student council mobilizations across the country. In 1960, the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines was formed, rallying thousands of church youth against the Marcos regime. In 1997, leaders from these organizations would eventually form ANAKBAYAN, a comprehensive mass organization of the Filipino youth, turning to combine both organizing students and community youth.

Singapore[ edit]
Singapore is one of the most developed information and communication technology (ICT) countries in the world. In 2010 the computer ownership rate was 84 percent, with internet access at 78 percent. In 2009, mobile phone penetration reached 137 percent, meaning many people of Singapore have access to more than one phone.

Youth use ICT for social and political purposes. In the 2011 general election, people between the ages of 21 and 34 were more active in online politics. Youth who wrote about elections on blogs, Facebook or Twitter were at 28 percent, while the general public were only 10 percent.

Egypt[ edit]
Youth proved to be central to the Egyptian Revolution and the April 6 Movement.

Iran[ edit]
Young adults in Iran defy the official regime's cultural and political policies through engaging in prohibited activities in places like taxi rides, coffee shops, and basements. Such actions re-imagine Iranian reality in ways that contest regime policies.

Saudi Arabia[ edit]
Youth citizens of Saudi Arabia seek quiet forms of resistance because outright activism is prohibited. Students blog to share viewpoints and feelings despite potential personal risk.

Serbia[ edit]
Throughout the 1900s, youth took to the streets to protest against Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević. Youth activists were credited with contributing to his resignation. During the years of protests youth faced unemployment, a failing education system, and economic instability. They created the Exit music festival, which lasted one hundred days and led up to the September 2000 elections. The first year this festival was called EXIT 00 and has been defined as "creative" and "politically savvy" activism. The festival contained a civic education component and continues today.

Youth Activism Timeline:
Keeping some parts of the timeline, but also adding changes and additions.

Lead Section
Youth activism is the participation in community organizing for social change by persons between the ages of 15-24. Youth activism has led to a shift in political participation and activism. A notable shift within youth activism is the rise of “Alter-Activism” resulting in an emphasis on lived experiences and connectivity amongst young activists. The young activists have taken lead roles in public protest and advocacy around many issues like climate change, abortion rights and gun violence. Different from past protest or advocacy, technology has become the backbone to many of these modern youth movements. It has been shown in multiple studies that internet use along with seeking information online is shown to have positive impacts on political engagement. Popular applications like Twitter, Instagram and Youtube have become the newest tools for young activist in the 21st century.

Technology
Social Media has become the vehicle for young activists to spread their dissent across their country and even globally. Applications like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and even Snapchat create the large web of social networking that has allowed the youth around the world to create a new era of activism.

Twitter
Twitter has become one of the most important tools to engage with and mobilize around issues of social justice and civil rights. Twitter has many different features on the application that have been used by young activists to spread their dissent. Like many other apps, Twitter has a live-streaming feature that was particularly important in movements like the Arab Spring or the Occupy movement. Live-streaming was not the only powerful tool on Twitter—hashtags have changed the landscape of online youth activism. For many modern movements it was the hashtag that catapulted many groups into the mainstream media. For example in the span of 5 years, the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter has been shared over 30 million times just on Twitter. By capitalizing on the power and popularity of a hashtag, these young activists have been able to have an even larger conversation about police brutality and inherent racism in American systems. #BlackLivesMatter was not the only major movement to take Twitter by storm in recent years. In October 2017, the #Metoo movement took Twitter by storm and in just the first week it is estimated that these personal stories reach 6 to 37 million Twitter users. The anonymity of Twitter allowed women to share their personal stories of abuse with less fear and these personal stories helped amplify the movement.

While Twitter has provided a platform for hashtag movements to take place, applications like Facebook and Twitter have been criticized for only instilling weak ties between activists creating a lack of offline activism. The result of these weak ties has been the formation of slacktivism—a new ineffective form of activism. A popular example of slacktivism is the social media campaign Kony 2012. While this campaign did gain strong social media traction with millions of views on their video, they failed to gain the same offline traction. A year later when they released Kony 2013, they did get the same traction. This is just one example of the slacktivism that can result from these applications.

Instagram
Video blogging has become an essential part of how people communicate online especially on applications like Instagram, Youtube, Snapchat and even TikTok. This power of sharing videos and images can specifically be seen on Instagram. Instagram has allowed activists to do things like stream their protest live to viewers across the world. Live streaming is not the only powerful part of Instagram. Instagram has become an application for participants to gain social capital and even make a living off of their online activity. This creation of the “influencer” has allowed a rise in representation of minority communities as well as created an online community for them. The concept of the "influencer" is not the only way Instagram has shaped the political sphere. Instagram has also given a platform to share visuals that have allowed people to form their "political selves" through this application. This ability to share political visual was most important in the the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, and the 2015 UK general election. Overall, like many other applications, Instagram has provided large worldwide views  that could lead to large-scale activism.

Youtube
Twitter provides a platform for fast communication, Instagram provides a platform for influencers and striking imagery and finally Youtube provides a platform for video documentation. The importance of Youtube is it has allowed activists to exit the dangerous echo chamber that can be created online. By breaking free from this echo chamber, young Youtube activist and organization have been able to have a larger conversation about their issues. Youtube has given a platform for “vloggers” to not only document their life, but also have personal (and political) conversations with a large audience all from home. Vlogging has become very popular in youth activism including the Arab Spring. In the start of the Arab Spring, Asmaa Mahfouz from Egypt posted a vlog that eventually spread across Youtube. Many believe that this vlog was one factor that helped spark the revolution that took place in Egypt in 2011. Like the Arab Spring, videos (in particular Youtube) played a very important role in the Occupy Movement as well in 2011. Having Youtube allowed protestors to share videos of police abuse, but also share things like music videos to provide solidarity and morale.

Youth Activism 21st Century
Youth activism continues to take place in the 21st century at local, regional, national, and international levels. Youth activists today use technology and social media such as; Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Tiktok to share their message. The use of social media allows for local and regional protests to gain national and international recognition. As a result, these social media platforms create a focal point on oppression and inequity, problems that are not recognized by the governments around the world—moving away from the national agenda to economic inequality, police misconduct, and racial injustice through social engagement led by youth activist. Youth engagement has transformed political participation through technology and created a form of engaged citizenship. Social media opens the avenue fo youth to participate in a form of participatory politics.

2011
Heather Jarvis is a youth activist who co-founded SlutWalk with Sonja Barnett. SlutWalk's core principle is that women should be able to wear whatever they choose without being harassed. SlutWalks have occurred in numerous countries.

Matias Ramos is an undocumented youth leader and activist that cofounded United We Dream, an organization to combat oppression and fight for the rights of immigrants. Ramos was forced to wear an electronic ankle monitor distributed by IB Inc. The youth leader quickly turned to Twitter to take a picture of himself to gain momentum for his experience of abusive government intrusion. Ramos announced on Twitter that he was given a two-week grace period before getting deported. Through social media platforms Ramos was able to gain online donations, connections with community groups, and petitions for his case of crimmigration, the criminalization of immigrants.

United States:
While the United States has had a culture of Youth Activism for much of it’s nation’s history. Since the introduction of the World Wide Web to American Society in the nineties, youth activism has shifted to take on a new form. Prior to social media, internet organizing took place through emails, and independent web sites that supplemented offline activism to increase the flow of information[1] Since the widespread proliferation of social media in the 2000’s and 2010’s, youth have significantly altered their form of civic engagement through online means. Social media has become the space for youth to engage in collective activism and gain political efficacy that leads to offline social organizing[2]. Major American social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram allow people from all over the world to stay more digitally connected than previous mediums of communication.

Youth and student protest use these relatively free accessible social media platforms to build broad base coalitions and support online to fuel their cause. Youth have engaged in much of the civil discourse that are popular in contemporary American society including climate change and gun control. In the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting in Parkland, Florida in February of 2018,  several survivors of the shooting came together online, using primarily Twitter, to advocate for stricter gun control legislation. Although this activism started online, it led to broad base coalitions among youth and adults alike, resulting in the March for Our Lives in March 2018. Although a national and widely publicized event, youth from all over the nation have engaged in smaller offline movements such as lobbying public officials to take action on gun control legislation at the local level[3].

More recently, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has received global attention for school striking in order to fight for more progressive climate change policies. This has lead to worldwide student protests such as Fridays for Future. Online activism and collaboration have been essential in coordinating physical protests for young people.