Challenges and chances for Young Greens
England & Wales Young Greens co-chair Sam Coastes reflects on the tuition fees vote.
I couldn’t get to London for last Thursday when Parliament voted to give England the most expensive public universities in the world, but I followed the day’s events very closely. I didn’t quite believe the horrifying stories coming out of the kettle about police maliciously ignoring protesters, even laughing at the panic of many people there, often college students. Then I spoke to a friend who was there who explained how an officer laughed in response to her asking how they could stand by while their colleagues used horses to charge the sardine-like crowd on Westminster Bridge.
I don’t want to dwell on the police too long, and ultimately responsibility for the violence suffered at their hands lies squarely with the Government for seemingly enjoying the unrest that their actions are provoking. The feeling last Thursday was that of a crisis of democracy, not only had students and young people been betrayed and patronised by politicians, their right to protest was being brutally undermined. I was watching the coverage totally at a loss of what we do next in the face of such repression. Most of us will be all too familiar with the cases of Alfie Meadows and Jody McIntire, the latter I am pleased to say will be joining Noam Chomsky for his talk in Cardiff next March!
Last night I attended a teach in at my SU organised by a fantastic new activist network springing up, we heard 6 academics clinically dismantle every single link in the arguments made by the Coalition for their polices, the SU President basically admitting he’d changed his mind about a few things in the space of 2 hours. It became clear to me that the policies we’re hearing don’t even make sense internally if you look beyond face value, they’re trying to destroy this country for the sake of their rich mates.
Fees is the prime example, unless some absurdly optimistic predictions about graduate pay and the economy in general come true, the plans will cost the Government more. They won’t help tackle the deficit. It’s becoming clear to so many how mean-spirited this Government is and the need for a compassionate society.
It was this vote itself, rather than the formation of the coalition or the announcement of particular policies, that seems to have sparked a lot of members resigning from the Lib Dems. Lots is being said about a student Labour resurgence but I just don’t see it. The college students being denied access to university know who introduced fees and commissioned the Browne Review. They know the last Government made no effort to argue that education is a public good.
But going back to the police, all 3 major parties have been appallingly spineless in their silence on police suppression of protests. In contrast, the Young Greens issued this statement the day after Millbank seeking to understand rather than condemn and alienate. Caroline Lucas and Jenny Jones have been excellent in supporting students in the following protests, seeking to hold the Met to account by collecting witness statements. The Young Greens have supported all the occupations and launched a petition to ban kettling, which has attracted over 1200 signatures in a week, this will be presented to the London Assembly by our Committee.
And on the day of the fees vote, the Young Greens lobbied the party to open up free membership to students and under 30s, opening our arms to the generation that wants to reclaim its future. When we opened it up, I had no idea how it would go, I was a bit scared of over estimating it, but we had 50 people join overnight and we’re now approaching a 25% increase in membership in a week. I think figure speaks for itself. The offer is still open until the 31st January, so there’s plenty more room to improve on this even more. Intergenerational justice is obviously crucial to green politics which is why we have been proudly championing the cause of the jilted generation, many of the people who keep the party going belong to it. From investing in a million jobs for the Green New Deal to building affordable housing to fighting to ensure we actually have a future, our policies have a natural appeal. And as we recognise our movement isn’t just about fees but how all the cuts will hit us hardest, only the Greens are articulating a serious alternative of investing in the economy whilst making sure everyone pays their fare share. People can see we’re not opportunists but advocating a well thought out vision for society. Many of our generation are now recognising this, the challenge now is how to engage so many new members. Off the top of my head some ideas include getting the economic arguments against cuts out there, and reclaiming the NUS to make it more responsive to the movement, along with other students wanting to do the same. I’d love to hear what people’s ideas are on this, and if you’re one of the many people who have joined in the last week, please do get in touch with your thoughts.
Hi guys and to those who’re reading this, the free membership offer has been extended to the 13st of Jan! So, welcome! 🙂
Very well said, Sam.
Out of interest, which YG group is that pictured and how did they get hold of such an excellent banner? 🙂
@ Chris,
I know where you’re coming from when you express concern about in depth and dry economics discussions putting off potential members.
However, I would argue that economics IS very much a priority for new members and the public alike, even if people don’t fully understand it all, and I think that one of the Green’s biggest challenges is to evidence that, as well as having the right values, they have the economic understanding to govern in a manner that allows these values to be realistically implemented and sustained within the countries economic environment.
And I think this will be especially important when trying to win the public vote in future elections. As you say, it’s not about providing detailed breakdowns of how the party’s economic policy will work. People won’t want to hear that detail. But they will want to hear a strong, justifyable and watertight economic policy ‘pitch’ that sits right alongside the message about values and building a fairer, more sustainable country at a level that is understandable, so that when potential voters see the Green message and think “You know what, I agree”, they’ll also think, “And I reckon they could actually make that happen in government”
I totally agree about listening.
It’s also about asking the right questions: some of which you give one answer in this piece without asking the question. “Where now for the organisation?” and “how do we get green voters and volunteers?” is implied in the title but wasn’t actually asked.
One of our new members pointed out we could ask some new members to volunteer to improve our local web presence. The trouble is how to communicate with them when we haven’t yet processed things, so London YG are planning a party!
In other news here is a funny trailer video about 2 men who plan a vegan, organic, and carbon neutral expidition to the North Pole. This film doesn’t start from the basic debate of whether climate change is happening but asks what we can do?
http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi4048422169/
Haha! There’s a place for it but it’s quite niche.
If we’ve won people over to the Greens recently then chances are it wasn’t through dry economics discussions. The public, on the whole, don’t know or care much about economics. They’re concerned with real problems like jobs, uni places, and the like.
Emotions are running high and we’ve captured their attention. We shouldn’t run the risk of turning them off.
The message needs to continue to be emotional, simple, and direct.
Taking things into the abstract is not a good idea, in my opinion.
That’s not to say there’s no place for it if some people want it. I just think it shouldn’t be a focus.
To engage new members we do NOT want to be attempting any in-depth, dry, economics discussion. Far from it, we don’t need to be telling them anything. We need to be listening. We need to find out why they turned to us and then do more of the same making sure that they are included in any action we take.
But Chris, I like in-depth, dry, economics discussions. Where else do you suggest I go for that if not to the Young Greens?
Thanks for this Great site. I JUST want to correct the petition states it is going to The MPA,and as I haven’t been around that long I was unaware the committee were planning on delivering it to the London Assembly.
Happy New Year etc. Ben
I signed up a Yg called Tilly and her colleague. She opted against putting her email address. She told me to look up some company to do with transport and the climate talks which she thinks went badly.