Media: the tool between activism and apathy that’s not being used

 “We’ve opted out of politics and into jagerbombs.”

At the NUS Scotland conference a motion was passed that mandates their Full Time Officers to break the gagging law, which could potentially lead to some of NUS’s leaders spending time in prison.

An admirable stance by those Full Time Officers, no doubt, but the problem is that previous to this rather radical challenging, how many students were aware that the gagging law had passed two months previously and the effect it could have on their freedom of speech?

Not many. Political apathy is infectious and very difficult to combat, but I don’t believe political groups and active students are doing everything they can to do so. As the editor of a tabloid news site I can guarantee that the power of media is most certainly being overlooked in a time when every tool at their disposal needs to be utilized.

To many, “tabloid” is not what they want to associate their politics with. The thing is – what if the tabloid route is exactly what this country’s student movement needs? Thanks to social media we’re creating generations that thrive from gossip and instant gratification – online media and online news makes anything and everything instantly accessible and so can be picked up by national papers.

However, when they’re used to communicating in 140 chars, young people don’t want to read voluminous essays about what’s wrong with the world – they don’t want to have to digest and process (part of the problem), they want to be informed in an accessible, relatable manner that they can then present to their peers.

Gordon Maloney – NUS Scotland President

Young people that are willing to make a change are already doing so and are willing to sift through blogs, articles, reports, and reach out to likeminded people. But they’re the minority, and not the audience that needs targeted. Politically apathetic students are those that need to be engaged because they are the majority, and until they are on board with political cause, then those who resist will only ever be labeled as “extremist minorities”.

It has always been far easier to side with a majority, and until political groups start communicating exactly what it is they want to achieve on a wider platform to a broader audience, they will always be battling against the ease of conformity that labels them as “radicals”.

But I believe non-conformity can become normal again, and when the “extreme” tag is dropped from activists – and when ‘active’ stops being a dirty word itself – then big changes can be implemented with a far stronger force behind it.

The government and universities and student unions are not communicating with us as students, as pupils of an education. We are marketed as consumers with education being a product. It is the easy way out for everyone involved – but many do not realize dissatisfaction is not the only option.

There are those that won’t want to get involved because ignorance is bliss and change ‘defamatory’. Activism is only something that has recently played a part in my own life, because I was unsure of how to challenge a system that I thought was failing me, and if it would be worth my time. As it turns out, there are, and always have been, hundreds of active ad dissatisfied students around me but we have no inkling how to reach out to one another and get involved with one another because causes and events are not being publicised or advertised.

I reiterate: communication is key. Activists must start utilizing every tool available to them in order to reach those they are trying to aid – including the media. I believe it’s time for activists to ask for help from those they may have previously mistrusted – including publications like The Tab. Media gives you access to platforms and audiences you may not have otherwise been able to communicate with. Having media on side also puts you on the same playing field as those you are challenging.

Manipulation of media by higher powers is something to be wary of. It takes a moment for the government to label those in disagreement “terrorists”, and from that moment your argument takes place under an extremist umbrella that society is not willing to be associated with.

But activists must not be afraid to combat it with exactly the same technique by expressing their side of the argument and promoting their fight. For example, considering how detrimental this gagging law could be to British democracy, why was the jump to mandate NUS leaders to break the law and potentially spend time in prison the first move made two months down the line? This extreme move would probably have more backing by the student body if the bill’s effect on freedom of speech had been initially presented to students, and the NUS had reached out for support from its members. Now, instead of the focus being on government creating dogmatic and extreme laws that threaten our freedom, students are more concerned with the fact their full time officers are going to break the law, because they have not been told why.

What this country needs is not a pressure group that includes a lot of their strongest leaders being flung in jail – it needs a wider platform to engage with the majority that aren’t willing to risk prison. Perhaps, instead of breaking the law, activists should inform their peers WHY they want to break the law, and ask their peers if they will help them NOT have to break the law.

Garnering a bigger student backing would achieve results, and also promote democracy, thus undermining the government’s stance in a far more potent way – by encouraging society to use its voice, which stands us in far greater stead for our future democratic state. Further, if the masses came on board, the act of breaking the law would no longer be decreed as “radical” or “extreme”, but instead as necessary, and have a much greater impact on that which is being challenged.

We can be free, we must be free, and we must be progressive. However, to do so students must be informed why it affects them, and how they can help. Young people must be given options otherwise they will run in fear for their future in a time when government mandates fear to control futures.

Would I go to prison for freedom of speech? I would – but then again I’ve always been a drama queen. Would I ask my friends to? No, because I care about their welfare.

But would I ask them to protect free speech? Absolutely. Because that protection doesn’t have to be an outright attack – we have a right to defend our freedom and our education, and such a defense is a far wider and more accessible tool. It is also far easier to promote. There is a scale from petitions to jail time, and active groups need to detail exactly what that scale is to give students a choice on how to get involved – and to do so they should be using the media.

Going to jail should not be the first step in getting people’s attention, but the final straw. I fear that the jump has been made too quickly and the NUS won’t have the masses on side because they have not informed Britain’s students as to why they will be doing so and what change they would like to see happen. There is no point in creating a martyr if society does not know what he/she is doing for them.

Student activists have jumped ahead of the crowd, as usual. But in a time of apathy this has not only left the masses in the dust, but also left them blind.

If fighting for education, student activists should put educating their fellow students – through whatever means necessary – at the top of their priorities. If we (yes, we) don’t communicate then we risk becoming that which we are desperately trying to affect.

Of course change needs to happen – the whole state of democracy in Britain needs to change – but it won’t happen successfully in the shadows.

We are all aware of the meaning behind the phrase “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” But in a post-modern society that is already free, is radicalism the most potent tool available to us, or is exactly that – our freedom to discuss, challenge and unite – perhaps a far stronger mode of engaging with our fight to remain free.