A photo of a group of Young Greens with banners

The Young Greens is an organisation that is the reason so many of the current-day Green Party activists got into the position they are today. The Young Greens is an inviting and friendly community of like-minded people that push to topple the neoliberal capitalist order. This means we are some of the most radical people in our party, and I want it to stay that way.

My name is Dylan, and I’m running for Under 18 Officer on the Young Greens Executive. This position was created back in December 2020 at the Extraordinary Convention as part of a push to include Liberation Officers on the Executive. I was a primary architect in including the Under 18s in this position, as I believe that we are a vital component of the functioning of the Young Greens – our youngest members need that representation.

Of course, as an Under 18 Officer, I will campaign on Under 18 issues – primarily youth involvement in the political process. After all, young people are the future leaders of not just the Green Party, but the country as a whole. Politics is designed to keep young people out: meetings held in the middle of the day in venues only accessible by car and surrounded by bureaucracy. This keeps us young people not only out of elected office, but also from public galleries where we can speak our minds. The pandemic has shown us that better is possible – meetings held online have given young people the ability to speak their minds and influence the change they want and need in order to make their communities better places to live. We can’t just build back in the same way, we must (as us Greens love to say) build back better.

Under 18s have, like all of us, been deeply impacted by world events in the past year or so – I’m of the generation that got their GCSEs cancelled and replaced by a dodgy algorithm – something that the Young Greens successfully fought against last year. An Under 18 representative needs to understand that Under 18 issues aren’t just Under 18 issues – they are issues for us all to contend with because they are the future of our societies, the driving force that propels the world forward.

However, as a member of the Executive Committee, I will also be expected to help other Officers in their portfolios when necessary – I would be more than happy to do so, as the Young Greens Executive needs to be a collaborative and friendly environment in order for us to get our policies through and fight for what we know is right. So many amazing people are running for the Executive, including some that I have already worked with in the past in other Green matters, and I look forward to working with them to make the Young Greens even better.

The future of the Young Greens is bright – we will continue to be at the forefront of eco-socialist radical politics in this country, and continue to grow. We are the next political force in this country, the young people’s choice, and that is why the Young Greens needs to be as robust and effective as possible, and I believe that I am a good choice to do that.

This article is part of a series from candidates standing in this year’s elections to the Young Greens of England and Wales Executive Committee. You can find all the articles in the series here. Voting is open in the Young Greens elections from July 3 to July 18. 

PS. We hope you enjoyed this article. Bright Green has got big plans for the future to publish many more articles like this. You can help make that happen. Please donate to Bright Green now.