It’s true – a lot of teenagers do prefer Playstation to politics. But in March this year the clatter of game consoles dropping to the ground could be heard all over the UK when large numbers of teenagers got off the couch and took to the streets to protest against the war in Iraq.
For many of the young people who took part in the anti-war demonstrations before and during the Iraq war, the march was probably their first experience of political activism.
Their actions have highlighted a growing movement, in which more and more young people are taking an interest in global matters. But this so-called surge in “kid power” (as one national newspaper recently described it) is not such a new thing for some young people.
We spoke to two London students, Laique and Sangeetha, who were protesting and demonstrating against global injustices long before the Iraqi war began.
Both are studying at a community college in South London and are prolific members of the school’s Amnesty International group.
Laique is 15-years-old and originally from Pakistan. He moved to the UK with his family four years ago because he is Ahmadi Muslim and says him and his family were persecuted because of their faith.
“In Pakistan Ahmadi Muslim people are being treated very badly because others think that we’re not really Muslim and that we teach people wrongly,” he explains.
“They kicked me out of school and they said, ‘If you don’t move from Pakistan, we might kill you.’”
Thirteen-year-old Sangeetha is Hindu and was born in Sri Lanka. She came to London in 2000 for similar reasons to Laique:
“My family moved here because of the war happening in my country with the Tamil Tigers.”
We asked her what her life was like when she lived in Sri Lanka but Sangeetha doesn’t remember much:
“I remember that I always moved from one place to another because of bombs. We actually hid in a cave once so we could avoid being bombed.”
Laique and Sangeetha felt sad leaving their home countries, but both spoke of how lucky they feel to have escaped the conflicts.
“When I first came to the UK, I could not speak English. I had no friends, no relatives. But now I do and I can speak English. It’s perfect now – better than Pakistan,” says Laique.
The two teenagers’ experiences have motivated them to help other young people less fortunate than them.
Laique says: “I started an Amnesty International group at school because I thought that I could help other people who live in Pakistan, like Ahmadi people – young or old.
There are thousands of Ahmadi people living in prison just because other Muslim people think we’re not Muslim. That’s why I joined Amnesty International, so I can help other people around the world.”
Sangeetha didn’t know what Amnesty was when she moved here but when she started school a friend told her all about it:
“Through Amnesty I found out that I could write letters to ambassadors and all sorts of individuals around the world to help people who are in prison for no reason. I feel good helping other people.”
The huge turn out of young people at the recent anti-war demonstrations is clear evidence that we do have an opinion about what’s happening in other places around the world. But we wanted to find out from Laique and Sangeetha, who have experienced first hand what many of us can only imagine or what we have only seen on television, if they felt it was possible for those born in the UK to really care.
Laique acknowledged that what he had been through had made him more passionate about trying to make changes and implied that young people in the UK were open to at least listening, which was a step towards making the world a better place for other teenagers to live.
We had heard of Amnesty International before we spoke to Laique and Sangeetha for the purposes of this story, but neither of us had really thought much about it. We’d both hurried past other students at school pestering us to write letters to political leaders in far off countries for no apparent reason.
However, during the interview, the reasons suddenly became clear, all thanks to Laique and Sangeetha and the way they were able to impress upon us the power of simple things like writing a letter.
It is a pity that it has taken something as tragic as the war in Iraq to motivate the majority of young people in the UK to get more involved in politics. It’s also a shame that the determination of other young people like Sangeetha and Laique has largely gone un-noticed not only by us - their peers – but everyone.
Still, at least we now seem to be on the right track. Better late than never!
About the team
This story was produced by Jimmy Tam, 18 and James Fletcher, 14. It was published on Sky television's Reach for the Sky website.
