Yoof speaks

The Guardian  has an article by a yoof spokesperson, a 'co-president of Our Future Our Choice' today, demanding a(nother) say on Brexit -- a PV.  The headline is typical:

Young people won’t forgive those who deny us a vote on this botched Brexit

We refuse to let politicians create a more isolated, insular nation and destroy our futures. We demand a final say 

There is what might be called dog-whistle stuff on generational struggle. Explicit rebukes of the elderly are denied: 'This is not a war on the old'. The promise of endless resentment is entwined with attacks on the 'ageing activists' of the Tory Party who could not deliver at hte Tory Conference. The young claim to speak for the future -- so the rest of us can just go away and die? The age at which one loses the right to have a future is not clear, however.  

As is the case with activism in general, generational politics also induces reaction among the futureless, of course. I am not a young person, so why should I support what they apparently want and not what I want? The appeal at the end of the piece seems unlikely: 'Join us. Bring your friends. Bring your parents. Bring your grandparents.'

More interestingly, and as usual, I read the piece to try to find out exactly what is so good about the EU for the young. The subheading might help There might be the bones of an economic argument in the remark about a destroyed future? There is the common view that a Brexit Britain will be more isolated and insular -- politically? Culturally? We will never travel to Europe, read any Europeans or watch their films and TV programmes?

In the article itself, there is a clue in the opening paragraphs: 

During this time ['for years'], we were priced out of housing, had our tuition fees trebled, and were told to be grateful for the gig economy – because our failure to take part in democracy meant we did not deserve any better.

This is a retort to some imagined or real scolding parent perhaps? The writer thinks the economic woes would be stopped by continued membership of the EU? There is a slightly more specific anxiety about any possible Labour policy:

Many young people believe Jeremy Corbyn offers hope and change. But we know any grand social pact will be near-impossible outside of the EU and in a new decade of austerity. With economic uncertainty and a more isolated, insular nation, idealism will turn to cynicism if all those visionary words fail to address the towering challenges of our time.

It is hard to see what sort of 'grand social pact' they have in mind -- sounds a bit like the Social Contract of 1970s Labour designed to manage industrial militancy. Economic uncertainty and austerity might be more secure issues -- but Labour's ability to address those with old-fashioned social democracy and State spending will be easier outside of the EC?  The EC is the home of financial austerity and its absurd 'freedoms' entrench inequality.

Finally,there is an appeal: 'for a politics in which we can engage meaningfully. We want our leaders to listen to us by giving us a final say on the issue we care about the most.'. And this is more likely in an organization with a massive democratic deficit?

The manifesto of Our Future Our Choice is slightly more explicit. The subhead claims to be speaking on behalf of 'the very people these crises [social and economic] affect', but the focus soon narrows

Our European identity is the only one most of us [so -- young people] have ever known. Many of us have been fortunate enough to travel around Europe, to work in Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris hassle free [really? They mean students on gap year?] . All of us, so far, have enjoyed the right to do so. Many have met loved ones abroad, and settled either here or there [requiring a multilingual capacity? There seems to be an ever shrinking group being represented]   ... it is only younger Brits, who desire these opportunities the most, who are to be deprived of them...Our generation wants the opportunity to lead in the world, to write history - not just read it [the old mass media myth of youth as progressive and future-oriented]. We want to solve the problems we care about, like climate change, cooperating hand in hand with our most important friends and allies on the continent...We fear Brexit will deprive us of these opportunities - to be the engaged, outward looking [there will be no phones after Brexit? No mail? No internet? No travel? Do they mean opportunities to apply to European funds --some of them are young academics?]

What makes their European identity 'the only one'? What does that mean exactly? Is it something those settling from outside Europe will lack? Are there any problems with 'European identity'?. Clearly being young, affluent, of European descent and cosmopolitan in the English sense (ie also monolingual)  is also important.

73% of young people voted to Remain. We are overwhelmingly pro-EU, and yet our country is continuing on its current isolationist path regardless....[yet] ...To be sure, the youth vote is worth just as much as anybody else’s. We are not campaigning to disenfranchise anyone, and we wholeheartedly support British parliamentary democracy. But this is an issue which demands generational sensitivity,...We will soon confront the reality of what we have been left, and if we do not like it we will simply reverse it. [The tone getting increasingly millenarian if not millenial] If it is a soft Brexit, which represents nothing but a minor and ironic loss of sovereignty, then we will return to our seat at the table. If it is a hard Brexit, we will be so furious with the wanton destruction inflicted on us that we will knock down [silly posturing -- but so much for liberal tolerance] any and all of the barriers imposed between us and Europe.

Much to discuss here.Their views will stay the same when they age? They will deny any future young generation a voice if they disagree? They will demand another PV before they knock down the barriers? This is a politics designed to replace one perceived gerontocracy with another as soon as millenials come of age.

Britain does not have the time or energy to cope with the demands of Brexit....Our country is plagued by several social and economic crises - crises which pushed some into voting leave in the first place....But we cannot realistically achieve [some unspecified programme of reform]... while Brexit diverts precious attention and resources away from the issues which really matter.

A lovely idea-- that the only thing standing in the way of substantial social and economic reform is the effort put into Brexit.

I can't help but get a bit pedagogical and suggest that some debate with Brexiteers might help here. That is rejected on generational grounds I suppose. What remains is only the politics of rather unfocused affect in a generational framework. Any generational split is likely to deepen? Are the travelling young an actual constituency?