Safe Spaces Trail- L1 Activism
This is a transcript from the podcast that guides you to our activism mural in Liverpool One. If you want to listen to the podcast, you can do so here.
Who gets to decide what’s best for you? Are you in the driver’s seat in your life or are there people, who know nothing about you, dictating how you can live your life? For young people in the UK, our existence is ridiculed, limited and often- misunderstood. If you feel heard as a young person- it’s likely because of a specific space that has been made for you, not the current systems being tailored for you and with you.
You may be still looking at our mural, or maybe you are listening to this while you take a walk around the city. Our mural was made by young activists from Comics Youth, we are a group of Liverpool youth who are leading on a nation-wide campaign to get young voices heard, actioned, and involved in the Covid-19 recovery plan. We are tired of young people being tokenised, ignored, and not involved in the decision making that influences the whole trajectory of our lives. When you think of the statement, ‘you are heard’, how does it feel to you? Correct? Uncomfortable? Untrue? For many youths, we are not truly represented in any of the spaces that influence our lives. Analysis of 1,100 governing positions in the city-region suggests that these roles are quite widely dispersed, although 64 per cent are occupied by men, with the average age after the 2019 General Election being 51- this is not the makeup of a truly representative system.
The pandemic has only highlighted pre-existing problems such as under funding of vital services around mental health services, the arts, educational support. As well as not prioritising education and not focusing on young people as a whole. This mural is immune to echo chambers, all sorts of people will see it. We are making people stop and think. We are here to empower you to be reflective and take action for, and with, the people in your city.
How can you do this? There are two separate hashtags on our mural, one being #myreasontolisten and the other #myreasontobeheard.
We want you to share online, a picture of yourself, or maybe a picture of you stood at our mural- with the hashtag you resonate with most and a caption explaining why you are using the one you chose.
If you don’t feel heard in policy making or day-to-day politics, use #myreasontobeheard and tell the world why you deserve to be heard, what unique voice you bring to the table and if you feel you are in a privileged position or are maybe not a young person, use #myreasontolisten.
Maybe you work in a sector that doesn’t always listen to young people, maybe you just want to take a step back and learn more. While Identities are complex and layered, you can be both at the same time. Everyone has a reason for both.
This movement not only humanises the collective power we have, but also shows that people are willing to listen, willing to speak up to be heard and willing to be an ally to the youth. Finding the balance is important.
Privilege is not inherently a bad thing, just use it for good! This good can look like supporting our Listen Up campaign online- you can find out more about it by visiting comicsyouth.co.uk and reading our full Manifesto of demands and checking out our media pack!