Summaries

Text 1: “My plea to Britain’s young: fight for your Brexit rights”

Author: Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett
Genre: Article
Year of Publication: 2018

The article “My plea to Britain’s young: fight for your Brexit rights” was published in the British newspaper The Guardian on 2nd of April, 2018.

The article begins by looking at a study which found that British youth were one of the most pro-European groups among the population. The article then states that young people in Britain feel a sense of despair at the idea that their EU citizenship will be taken from them, and that they will lose the rights and benefits they value, such as the freedom of movement. However, the UK does not have a mass youth anti-Brexit movement, giving the impression that young people have become resigned to the idea of Brexit.

The author then compares the March for Our Lives protesters in the US and the British young people. In the US, protesting is made simpler by the fact that young people’s lives are direclt under threat. In turn, it is more difficult to morally object to Brexit, since leaving the EU was the result of the democratic process of a referendum. The author proposes that the young people’s acceptance of Brexit might reflect British society’s lack of validation of young people as full citizens. The article continues by presenting further research into youth representation, which has found that the UK government policies see young people in a negative light, even though many are politically engaged.

The author then provides potential explanations of why young people’s views are not present in the Brexit debate. She suggests that there is little room for young voices to be heard because the UK is an ageing society, in which older people dominate the public discourse. It is also possible that young people do not engage in debates on traditional platforms such as newspapers or TV programmes, or that they have given up on expressing their views. However, the author notes that Brexit will define Britain’s future, and argues that if the young people who voted Remain care about their rights, ...