April 2009

www.compassyouth.org

LET US BE THE CHANGE

By Luke Pearce
vas. Compass Youth recognises Welcome from the Chair,
Compass Youth is fast becoming that collectivism, environmentalism Sam Tarry www.samtarry.com
the most active and influential and democracy must be pursued
political youth organisation in the in the here and now. Many mem- In recent
UK. With the Labour government bers will no doubt go on to gain m o n t h s
still lacking a radical social de- influential positions in government, Compass
mocratic policy agenda despite public services, NGOs and business Youth has
the departure of Blair and the in years to come. But in the mean raised its
huge popular demand for an al- time there is a huge pool of en- profile and
ternative to neo-liberalism, a ergy available to fight for change continued to
space has opened for organisa- and the Good Society as advo- build links
tions which provide a voice for cated in the Compass Programme with trade
politically and socially conscious for Renewal. Compass Youth pro- u n i o n s ,
young people. Inspired by its par- vides the necessary umbrella to NGOs, politi-
ent organisation, Compass Youth bring together and empower cians and
seeks to provide activists with the campaigning groups from across fellow social-
tools, contacts and support to the political left. ists in the UK and Europe.
pursue single-issue causes and Frustrated by many politicians’ In December, a delegation of
more generally a left-of-centre continuing inability to realise that20 visited the European Parlia-
agenda in tune with both the power and principle are two sides ment in Brussels. We met MEPs to
general public and the electoral of the same coin, ambitious but discuss working time legislation,
base of the Labour Party. conscientious young activists and the Party of European Socialists to
Other youth organisations affili- thinkers have been attracted to hear about the upcoming cross-
ated with the Labour Party con- Compass Youth in large numbers. EU elections, along with the Soli-
centrate on providing opportuni- To be part of this movement, visit dar NGO umbrella organisation.
ties to socialise, network and can- www.compassyouth.org Compass Youth had a notable
presence at February’s Progres-
A GUIDE TO IRRESPONSIBLE AND IGNORANT ENVIRONMENTAL sive London conference with a
POLICY-MAKING By Ruth Walker-Grice workshop and debate around
Want to lead the world in environmental hypocrisy and idiocy by build- ‘progressive future’ campaigning
ing a third runway at Heathrow? Just follow these simple steps below: ideas. We also held a popular
1. Raze all of Sipson, and parts of Harlington and Harmondsworth to the ‘Obama Campaigning Workshop’
ground (overall destroying 700 properties, many acres of greenbelt land, in Parliament and produced a
wildlife and animal habitats) ‘Living Wage Toolkit’ to assist cam-
2. Increase CO2 and NO2 levels (don’t worry that Heathrow already paigners across the UK.
breaches EU regulation on NO2 levels) The coming months will be cru-
3. Put Londoners’ health at risk and breach current noise pollution limits cial in building our presence in the
4. Increase road congestion in and around the London area debate about what kind of soci-
5. Make Heathrow solely responsible for one fifth of UK emissions by 2050 ety can be constructed from the
6. Make UK climate change targets a near impossibility recession. If you’re interested in
Go on, do it, the environment can always take one more hit. Besides, getting involved with Compass
think of the money you’ll get from the airlines for all those extra flights! Youth, please do get in touch.

“We are not just here to manage capitalism, but to change society
and to define its finer values.” - Tony Benn Send your inspirational and
humorous political quotations to
youtheditor@compassonline.org.uk
 2

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT .ORG.UK

By Nick O’Donovan funds and mobilise supporters
As things presently stand, the next online. They are quickly learning
general election will be decided that the internet cannot be
by apathy and anger. The finan- treated as just another medium for
cial crisis has brought long- the message: you cannot 'use'
simmering resentments to the boil. new technologies to catapult peo-
While the government is on the ple from sofa to voting booth, you
receiving end of much of the re- can only use them to communi-
sulting vitriol, there is an increasing cate, and whether people re-
awareness that the Conservative spond depends on what you're
solution bears a startling resem- saying. So far, the likes of Conser-
blance to the policies that got us vativeHome, LabourList, WebCam-
here in the first place. The result eron and GoFourth have not been
could be an election that sets a saying anything new. There are
new low in voter turnout. websites out there offering much
In an effort to engage the mil- more to the progressive-minded
lions of people who were unin- browser, with newspapers, think-
spired by the last election, to say tanks, charities, and bloggers all
nothing of the 4m or so new non- serving up cutting-edge content.
voters who were too young not to But the profusion of progressives
bother in 2005, politicians of all sites is not without its problems. Po-
parties have turned to the inter- litical parties run for election; the
net. Impressed by the success of blogosphere does not, and even if
Obama's presidential campaign, it did, it would probably prove too
and the sheer size of activist fractious to have much of an im-
groups such as MoveOn.org, they pact. Disembodied designs need
hope that they too can raise living advocates, and the force of
the better argument is
even more dilute in the
real world than in its virtual
counterpart. The internet
makes it possible to organ-
ise petitions and protests
on a massive scale, and
online activism of this ilk
can influence policy-
makers. But because there
is no relay connecting
these single-issue cam-
Cartoonist: paigns to the world of
Cat Smith electoral politics, politi-
Send cartoons to cians can ignore them
email below right with relative impunity.
DoSomethingAboutIt.org.uk, a
new progressive group, aims to
change this situation. The website
is at heart a rolling petition, one
that enables members to stay
connected from campaign to
campaign so they can back up
their protests with a coordinated
electoral response. The organisa-
tion aims to work alongside exist-
ing think-tanks, charities, pressure
groups and discussion forums,
combining the expertise, ideas
and commitment of political ac-
tivists with the numerical strength
of busy but concerned individuals
frustrated by the lack of an elec-
torally viable progressive alterna-
tive to a defunct status quo. If
enough people join, we can
make that progressive alternative
electorally viable, empowering
progressive MPs and candidates
of all political denominations to
speak up, and providing tools for
progressives all over the country
to coordinate their time, resources
and votes, constituency by con-
stituency, once an election is
called. It's free to sign up, and you
can do as much or as little as you
want- even just by registering, you
are showing politicians that there
is a constituency for genuine
change in this country, and help-
ing to put a progressive agenda
on the political map.
The best cure for apathy is
something worth voting for, but
we need to act now to choose
later. If our leaders won't lead us,
we will have to lead them. To do
that, we have to organise, quickly.

Labour CND
Labour CND is a specialist section of CND campaigning within
the Labour movement for nuclear disarmament. We were
proud to work alongside Compass against Trident
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