HYC Newsletter October 2007

News October 2007

The newsletter of haringey youth council

The Voice of Young Welcome to the first edition of HYC News, Haringey Youth Council’s newsletter.

The Youth Council is run by young people - we decided what it should do and how it would work.

It was set up to give all young people in Haringey a say in what happens in the borough, to explore new ideas, hold events, raise money for charity and campaign for more activities for young people.

The Youth Council is made up of 12 to 19 year olds who represent their schools, their youth clubs and smaller groups like children in care, young disabled people and young travellers.

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I already represented Haringey Young Carers around the borough and on the radio and stuff, so I joined the Youth Council to help other young people get their voice heard.

James Brown, Youth Councillor

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The Youth Council makes sure that young people have a say in the things that matter.

The Youth Council sits on committees like the Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership, and we have helped to develop things like Haringey’s new youth website and new anti-bullying and discrimination guidance.

Wherever you live, or whatever school you go to, you should have someone who can represent you to the Youth Council, the UK Youth Parliament, Haringey Councillors, local MPs and even the Government.

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It’s been our job to make sure the voice of young people in Haringey is heard, and let me tell you, it is being heard loud and clear.

Adam Jogee, Male Leader

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People in Haringey

And we’ve got money to spend too.

We look after Haringey’s Youth Opportunity Fund, which gives money to young people to run their own projects. We’ve been trained by Youth Bank UK to look at young people’s bids and decide which projects to fund, like the MPower gardening project at Markfield, which won a national Youth Challenge ‘Actions Speak Louder’ Award.

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We have made it our business to really fight for more youth provision and facilities for the young people of Haringey.

Shayan Moftizadeh, Female Leader

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We are also making a film to raise awareness of youth democracy in Haringey and to get more young people involved in politics. It will be in schools by October. And we’re planning an anti-bullying event on 22 November for Anti-Bullying Week. We’ll be marching from Wood Green to White Hart Lane Stadium - where there will be workshops, talks, and local celebrities and bands - to raise awareness of bullying.

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You don’t hear about the good young people do and that is part of the reason for the anti-bullying event. In time, maybe we can change what people think of us.

Alisha Bartlett, Media and Marketing Group

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The Executive One of the first things the Youth Council did was hold elections to decide who should do what.

Leader

Leader

Treasurer

Adam Jogee 15, Crouch End

Shayan Moftizadeh 16, South Tottenham

Romane Hemmings 14, Tottenham

Senior Champion

Junior Champion

Secretary

Nadia Maria El-Aabdi 15, Crouch End

Ernesto Guthrie 17, Wood Green

Juanita Ofosu 17, Wood Green

UKYP Rep

UKYP Rep

Chair of Media & Marketing Group

Fabrice Yala 16, Tottenham

Yuniger Redguard 15, Wood Green

Alisha Bartlett 15, Crouch End

Vote! At 16?

Will new plans to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 get more young people into politics?

No way!

Gordon Brown might think it is a good idea to encourage young people to get involved in politics by lowering the voting age to 16, but what would be the point? Politics is seen as something for middle class, middle-aged men with a dull suit and even duller policies, and Citizenship lessons aren’t usually anything more than word searches on values and ethics, so how can 16 year olds make an informed vote?

At the same time they are talking about raising the minimum age to buy alcohol to 21 and the school leaving age to 18. It’s as if 16 year olds can take responsibility for running the country but not their own lives. The government want to give us as few rights as possible while loading us with a bunch of responsibilities. It is no wonder more votes were cast for the latest pop idol winner than in the last general election.

51%

of young adults (18 to 24 year olds) didn’t vote in the last general election.

Viewers and Voters, ICM Research

Why not?

Not being taught about politics is no excuse for not knowing about it.

Nobody gets taught about governments and policies, you have to learn what you can from the television, newspapers or the internet. And just because you’re not allowed to vote, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t tune in to what’s happening. Did women or black people just ignore politics when they weren’t allowed to vote? No. And it is because the Government is thinking about raising age limits for buying alcohol and leaving school that we should be allowed to vote at 16. We have to have our say, or those middle class, middle-aged men in suits will have it for us.

Speaking Out What young people really think about the way they are treated in the media and in our communities.

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Not only does the community judge young people by what they wear, but also by how they do anything: if they walk in a certain way, does that make them a bad person? If they speak loudly or use slang, does that make them nasty pieces of work?

Sometimes communities forget we are real people with feelings. We need the freedom to wear what we like without worrying about what everyone around us thinks. But if the community is against youths and ‘hoodies’, what can we do about it?

Wassima el Habassi,13

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Young people aren’t treated fairly in public places - imagine if they only let two pensioners at a time into a shop!

I went swimming with a bunch of mates and we were thrown out because we were in a group. There were only few other people in the pool but they said we were under 18 and had to leave. How is this fair?

Staff don’t treat us anything like they do adults. They don’t recognise all these rules are frustrating, and that young people have to put up with them thanks to a couple of teenagers who spoil it for everyone.

Jem Erguvenler, 15

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When I was younger, me and about 15 kids played all day everyday outside our block of flats. All of us had different ethnic backgrounds and we had no problems with each other, and parents on the block encouraged our interaction. But the new generation of kids are facing a different situation. Not only are they stopped from playing outside on bikes or with footballs, they are not allowed to sit outside and face threats of ASBO’s. This stops people getting to know each other and adds to some children’s isolation due to language barriers.

The knock on effect is that communities are broken down further. My community is no way near as enjoyable, accepting and free as it once was, and that has only brought tension and dislike between neighbours.

Karima Dakhama, 17

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71%

of press stories about young people are negative.

Young people and the Media, MORI

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It’s common to see newspaper headlines like ‘Cricket is hit by curse of the yobs’ or ‘11-year-old yob gets electronically tagged’. When young people are called ‘yobs’ it’s pretty obvious we aren’t appreciated much. Words like ‘ghetto’, ‘hoody’ and ‘chav’ all give an unconstructive representation of young people, and exaggerate the feeling of fear and even hatred towards us.

Young people are not perfect, we never have been. But instead of condemning us, tabloids have to recognise the good young people actually do instead of only giving us attention when the minority do something wrong.

Ololade Oyatoye,15

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News Email your views and ideas to youthcouncil@haringey.gov.uk or find out more about the Youth Council at www.youthspace.haringey.gov.uk

HYC News was produced by Haringey Youth Council Media & Marketing Group with help from young people at Haringey Summer University and Exposure. It was funded

by Haringey Youth Opportunity Fund.