Young People Re-Generating Politics in Times of Crises
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
PALGRAVE STUDIES IN YOUNG PEOPLE AND POLITICS young people re-generating politics in times of crises edited by SARAH PICKARD & JUDITH BESSANT Palgrave Studies in Young People and Politics Series Editors James Sloam Royal Holloway, University of London Dept of Politics and International Relations Egham, United Kingdom Constance Flanagan School of Human Ecology University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison, Wisconsin, USA Bronwyn Hayward University of Canterbury School of Social and Political Sciences Christchurch, New Zealand Over the past few decades, many democracies have experienced low or falling voter turnout and a sharp decline in the members of mainstream political parties. These trends are most striking amongst young people, who have become alienated from mainstream electoral politics in many countries across the world. Young people are today faced by a particu- larly tough environment. From worsening levels of child poverty, to large increases in youth unemployment, to cuts in youth services and education budgets, public policy responses to the financial crisis have placed a dispro- portionate burden on the young. This book series will provide an in-depth investigation of the changing nature of youth civic and political engagement. We particularly welcome contributions looking at: • Youth political participation: for example, voting, demonstrations, and consumer politics. • The engagement of young people in civic and political institutions, such as political parties, NGOs and new social movements. • The influence of technology, the news media and social media on young people’s politics. • How democratic innovations, such as social institutions, electoral reform, civic education, can rejuvenate democracy. • The civic and political development of young people during their transition from childhood to adulthood (political socialisation). • Young people’s diverse civic and political identities, as defined by issues of gender, class and ethnicity. • Key themes in public policy affecting younger citizens – e.g. youth (un)employment and education. • Cross-cutting themes such as intergenerational inequality, social mobility, and participation in policy-making – e.g. school councils, youth parliaments and youth wings of political parties. The series will incorporate a mixture of pivot publications (25,000–50,000 words), full-length monographs and edited volumes that will analyse these issues within individual countries, comparatively, and/or through the lenses of different case studies. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15478 Sarah Pickard • Judith Bessant Editors Young People Re-Generating Politics in Times of Crises Editors Sarah Pickard Judith Bessant Université Sorbonne Nouvelle RMIT University Paris, France Melbourne, Australia Palgrave Studies in Young People and Politics ISBN 978-3-319-58249-8 ISBN 978-3-319-58250-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-58250-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017945369 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub- lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The pub- lisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland This book is dedicated to the memory of Professor Andy Furlong who did so much for Youth Studies and young people. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank all the contributors for their valuable insights into the diverse and rich ways young people are engaging politically. Thanks also go to the young people around the world involved in proj- ects like those documented in this book who give hope for our future. We are grateful to Ambra Finotello and Imogen Gordon Clark at Palgrave Macmillan for their enthusiasm and support. We are also most grateful for the constructive observations and com- ments made by the anonymous peer reviewers. Lastly, we are indebted to our respective universities for providing the institutional support that allowed us to develop this project: Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, France and RMIT University, Australia. Sarah Pickard and Judith Bessant Paris and Melbourne, March 2017 vii ALSO BY SaRaH PICKaRD Pickard, S. (2018). Politics, protest and young people. Political participation and dissent in Britain in the 21st century. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Pickard, S. (2017). Civilisation Britannique-British Civilisation (bilin- gual). 12th revised edition. Paris: Pocket. Pickard, S. (Ed.). (2014). Anti-social behaviour in Britain: Victorian and contemporary perspectives. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Pickard, S. (Ed.). (2014). Higher education in the UK and the US: Converging university models in a global academic world? Leiden and Boston: Brill. Pickard, S., Nativel, C., & Portier, F. (Eds.). (2012). Les Politiques de Jeunesse au Royaume-Uni et en France: Désaffection, Répression et Accompagnement à la Citoyenneté. Paris: Presses de la Sorbonne Nouvelle (PSN). Pickard, S. (2009). Phénomènes Sociaux en Grande-Bretagne Aujourd’hui. Paris: Ellipses. Pickard, S. (2007). Les Anglais. Paris: Cavalier Bleu. ALSO BY JUDITH BESSaNT Bessant, J. (2018). The great transformation, politics, labour and learning in the digital age. London and New York: Routledge. Grasso, M., & Bessant, J. (Eds.). (2018). Governing youth politics in the age of surveillance. London and New York: Routledge. Bessant, J., Farthing, R., & Watts, R. (2017). The precarious generation: A political economy of young people. London and New York: Routledge. Bessant, J. (2014). Democracy bytes: New media and new politics and gen- erational change. London: Palgrave Macmillan. General Editor for Book Series: ‘Criminalization of political dissent.’ London and New York: Routledge. ix CONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 Sarah Pickard and Judith Bessant Part I Young People and Student Activism 17 2 Young People and the #Hashtags That Broke the Rainbow Nation 19 Rekgotsofetse Chikane 3 Students Taking Action in Los Angeles Schools: An Ethnographic Case Study of Student Activism in the United States 41 Analicia Mejia Mesinas 4 ‘Professional Students Do Not Play Politics’: How Kenyan Students Professionalise Environmental Activism and Produce Neoliberal Subjectivities 59 Grace Muthoni Mwaura xi xii Contents 5 The ‘Good,’ the ‘Bad’ and the ‘Useless’: Young People’s Political Action Repertoires in Quebec 77 Nicole Gallant Part II Young People and Online Political Action 95 6 The Crisis of Democracy in Hong Kong: Young People’s Online Politics and the Umbrella Movement 97 Rob Watts 7 Momentum and the Movementist ‘Corbynistas’: Young People Regenerating the Labour Party in Britain 115 Sarah Pickard 8 Right-Wing Populism and Young ‘Stormers’: Conflict in Democratic Politics 139 Judith Bessant 9 ‘How Not to Be a Terrorist’: Radicalisation and Young Western Muslims’ Digital Discourses 161 Andrew Hope and Julie Matthews 10 Young People’s Political Participation in Europe in Times of Crisis 179 Maria Grasso Part III Young People, Collective Identity and Community Building 197 11 The Gezi Resistance of Turkey as Young People’s Counter-Conduct 199 Nilay Çabuk Kaya and Haktan Ural Contents xiii 12 Off the Radar Democracy: Young People’s Alternative Acts of Citizenship in Australia 217 Lucas Walsh and Rosalyn Black 13 (Re)Politicising Young People: From Scotland’s Indyref to Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement 233 Susan Batchelor, Alistair Fraser, Leona Li Ngai Ling, and Lisa Whittaker 14 New Forms of Solidarity and Young People: An Ethnography of Youth Participation in Italy 253 Nicola De Luigi, Alessandro Martelli, and Ilaria Pitti 15 Youth Heteropolitics in Crisis-Ridden Greece 273 Alexandros Kioupkiolis and Yannis Pechtelidis Part IV Young People and Protest as Politics 295 16 Youth-Led Struggles Against Racialized Crime Control in the United States 297 Tim Goddard and Randolph R. Myers 17 Youth Work, Agonistic Democracy and Transgressive Enjoyment in England 315 Graham Bright, Carole Pugh, and Matthew Clarke 18 Political Participation and Activism in the Post-15m Era: Young People’s Political Identifications in Lleida, Catalonia 333 Eduard Ballesté Isern and José Sánchez García xiv Contents 19 New Modes of Youth Political Action and Democracy in the Americas: From the Chilean Spring to the Maple Spring in Quebec 349 Ricardo Peñafiel