In my year as President of Veïns de Parcent I have faced many challenges
but perhaps none has been so incongruous as my recent visit to Alicante University.

Veïns were invited to give a talk to sociology students, studying the formation and effectiveness of protest movements. I found myself telling 20-year-olds how and why we were protesting, when at their age I was already out on the street carrying banners. In our day we would have found it incredulous that our parents were involved in campaigning. These days, the 40-plus generation is showing youth why sometimes it is necessary to take action to make its voice heard. The political apathy of today’s youth is not a new phenomenon. Voting in the under-30 age-group has reached historically low levels. Idealism has been slowly replaced by ambition, materialism and an accompanying cynicism which is partly due to party politics that do not involve or inspire young people. However, it is also the result of a complacency and level of comfort that today’s youngsters are loath to sacrifice. Why give up a Saturday to demonstrate when you need to sleep off Friday night’s partying? Why devote time to meetings and politics when exams and a social life occupy all your time? Why concern yourself with social justice when you don’t lack for anything? The problem is that today’s young people are our future politicians. If they are not fired with idealism and the desire to improve the world, we will end up with politicians who work only in their own interests, who use politics as a stepping stone to a lucrative career. What we need are politicians whose motives are pure and unselfish, who are driven by the urgency to amend injustice, to build better lives for their fellow men. So it is imperative that our young people start to respond to the challenges of today’s society and realise that their input is vital to bring about necessary change. I am hopeful that the mood is changing. People in their early twenties are becoming aware that however hard they work they will find it almost impossible to afford to buy a home in most Spanish cities. Last weekend saw thousands marching in towns across Spain calling for an end to speculative property development, corruption and for the right to decent housing. When young people see that their own lives are affected by government policy, that politics and protest are the only means of bringing about change, then perhaps they will allow us older protesters to rest our banners.

Jacqui Cotterill