Be Heard

Photo: Felix

This debate was aimed to bring young, primarily black and minority ethnic people into the world of politics pre-General Election happening in May 2015. The main topic of conversation was the disengagement of Britain's youth within the world of politics, and essentially, the lack of voting that this incurs from both young people and the non-white populations in the UK.

On the panel was three BME young people: Deborah Stevenson, Artistic Director and Founder of Mouthy Poets; Anthony Cheung, Nottingham Ambassador for British Chinese Project; Imani Rae of Chat'Bout, a youth led socio-political group in inner city Notts. Additionally, Antonia Zenkevitch, Green Party candidate for Nottingham East and Garry Hickton, Conservative Candidate for Nottingham East.

Held in the Newton Building, this event was curated by Ankunda Joel Matsiko as the Young People’s Chair of the CPF (Community Partnership Forum) and brilliantly managed by a young member of Chat’Bout Jendayi Davis who acted as Chair for the debate itself. Ankunda’s diligence in organising Be Heard comes from the desire to teach young people about politics so they can vote knowingly in May, and to bring out new leadership on a grass roots level. With recent movements like I Can't Breathe indicating a thriving political heartbeat within the Black community in Nottingham in solidarity with the rest of the World, it is a highly relevant time for all groups of people to get more active and Be Heard by politicians.

So, what prevents young people from voting? Why are middle class, middle aged white men the largest voting group in the UK? What could engage young people, and furthermore all people of ethnic descent?

Imani from Chat’Bout cooly pointed out there are a large number of organisations in Nottingham working with both young people and diverse ethnic groups, and that parties could go speak to them directly and ask what they need, if they were genuine about engaging these communities.

Imani also wondered if you were to enter any number of schools, colleges, or universities, if the vast majority of the young people there would even know how to go about actually voting, what is the process? Where would they go? We are not actively taught these things in the classroom. Debroah re-iterated a number of times there should be a political dynamic to every subject, taught throughout the education system, and that is one way to get young people understanding what is going on. A young member of the audience, Junior Reza, suggested that it is comprehensive school children who are kept from knowing these things, as when he went to private school, politics was encouraged, and in his later adolescent education moving to public school, it was entirely absent, despite approaching the age of voting.

Anthony Cheung raised a number of great points, saying for his generation of Chinese British people, the incentive to be more politically active would come with seeing a Chinese face in parliament to identify with. Everyone agreed that the white-heavy MP list was something that hindered ethnic participation. Anthony closed with an anecdote that for his parents and the older Chinese living in Britain, there was an ingrained fear of expressing political opinion, as in China, they would be jailed, or worse, for such an "offence" that we take for granted in the UK. We are encouraged to speak out, for the time being, in this country, and many people live in absolute fear of such a privilege the world over.

Deborah invited Antonia Zenkevitch and Gary Hickton to ask an articulate sixteen-year-old in the audience what would engage the young more, because if the voting age was lowered, more sixteen-year-olds would need to be as informed as her.

The next Be Heard event is Friday 27 March in Lecture Room 4, Newton Building - everyone is welcome. Learn about politics and debate why you might not already know these things, as this year is a momentous and pivitol year for Britain when UKIP, Conservatives, Labour, Green Party and Liberal Democrats are all vying for your attention.

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