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Making our voices heard
When Nelson Mandela started his journey in politics, he began with the youth. Mandela along with Anton Lembede, Walter Sisulu, and Oliver Tambo established the African National Congress Youth League. The league’s aim was to inspire the youth to take a stand against segregation. In the past, present, and future, the youth have been and always will be the most active group in society.
HANNAH FARBER
Growing up as a teenager in the 21st century is so different to our parents’ generation. They didn’t have the influence of technology, Hollywood, or social media in their lives. Whereas we have no censorship of what we see, we are highly influenced by the people we watch and their opinions, whether they be political, social, or personal.
In this generation, the youth has a voice like never before, whether it be via Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. These platforms are places where we can voice our opinions and be heard. For example, last year’s trending hashtag #genderbasedviolence and #AmInext? was all over social media. It was a campaign online and on the streets, with multiple protests and more than 30 000 posts. It’s just one of the many examples of how our voice can have such a large impact.
On 16 June 1976, multiple school students came together to demonstrate peacefully in the streets of Soweto. These students were protesting the fact that due to the Bantu Education Act, subjects such as mathematics and social studies were taught in Afrikaans, making it extremely difficult for them to learn. Soweto students may not have had a social-media platform, but they had a voice, a voice with which to stand up for themselves, their education, and what they believed in.
Though it resulted in deaths and casualties, the voice of the youth was heard along with a powerful message. It resulted in one of the many steps taken to abolish apartheid.
South Africa became a democratic country in 1994, yet in 2020 we aren’t free to leave our homes without a mask. This Youth Day, even though I’m in lockdown, I’ll make sure that my voice is heard. I’ll be posting on my social-media accounts, and making sure that people are aware what exactly Youth Day is and the power of our unified voice as the youth of South Africa.
- Hannah Farber is in Grade 10 at Yeshiva College.