Youth and politics in Azania (south africa)

[XXPANTHAXX]

Redefining political engagement

Far from being politically apathetic, as is often claimed,
South Africa's youth are redefining the way they engage in
struggle in a democratic society. In an article in the most
recent edition of Umrabulo, it is argued that the new
generations have placed politics in the centre of a new youth
culture, which has emerged in the context of the victory of
the liberation struggle, and which has transformed the nature
of liberation politics and black assertion in the democratic
era.

While the youth movement stood at the forefront of political
engagement in the struggle against apartheid, why in the
democratic order are the youth often believed to be
disengaged from political institutions? Youth disengagement
from democratic institutions is sometimes explained by
invoking a powerful myth: that the youth are apathetic.

While youth were regarded as the most politically engaged
detachment of the revolution in the apartheid era, they have,
on the terrain of democratic politics, become among the most
disengaged. The evidence pointing in this direction is
considerable.

Since the social ferment of the late 1980s and early 1990s
youth membership of public organisations has declined
substantially. In 1992, 15% of youth in a survey said they
belonged to a political organisation, 17% said they belonged
to a youth organisation and 5% a civic. In 2000 only 4% said
they belonged to a political organisation, 7% to a youth
organisation and 1% to a civic. In 2000, over half of all
youth surveyed said they belonged to no organisation.

Youth disengagement from the new institutions of democracy
compared with older age groups is also apparent in the voter
registration figures. At the time of the 1999 election only
77% of those in their twenties were registered to vote,
whereas more than 95% of those over 40 were registered. By
the 2004 elections, only 50% of those between the age of 18
and 25 were registered. Put differently, while census 2001
estimated that people aged 18-35 constituted 52% of the
voting age population, only 44% of registered voters were in
this age group at the time of the 2004 election.

Low levels of youth participation in democratic politics are
not a uniquely South African phenomenon. Youth 'apathy' is
common feature of so-called 'mature' democracies. This is
typically expressed in low levels of voter turnout among the
youth. A study of youth voter participation conducted in
western Europe in the 1990s found that: "Turnout [of
registered voters] is usually low amongst the youngest age
category (80%), then increases more or less pronouncedly as
electors approach middle age, reaches the highest levels of
participation amongst people between 60 and 69 years of age
(around 93%), and finally decreases slightly to around 90%
for the oldest age group."

Global trends are relevant to South Africa. But the reasons
for youth disengagement from formal politics in South Africa
cannot be read from an international barometer.

The democratic order defined new methods of engagement that
the youth (along with the rest of the democratic movement)
were not familiar with. Democratic political engagement
required precisely the skills and tools that the youth in
particular lacked. Whereas workers had a long organisational
memory of negotiation and democratic engagement, youth
organisations had to fundamentally change in order to adapt
to the new circumstances. Whereas gender activists were
united across the divisions of apartheid society by the
common creed of feminism, the youth were as divided (if not
more so) by the lines of apartheid society.

Some have argued the youth were consciously demobilised by
the leadership of the democratic movement. The message was no
longer "youth to the frontlines", it was rather "go back to
school". But the movement failed to articulate other forms of
political mobilisation that could channel the energies of
youth in the direction of democratic engagement, and realise
the potential of the energy and commitment of our young
people.

The myth of apathy

Yet public opinion research consistently provides evidence to
refute the view that the youth are politically apathetic. A
host of surveys find that youth are the most interested in
politics and elections, are most satisfied with process of
change, are most optimistic about the future, and are most
supportive of the liberation movement.

One study found that: "Although young people may not be
politically active to the extent their predecessors were,
they remain politically aware and engaged. Asked a series of
questions about the extent to which politics was seen as a
waste of time or a civic duty, youth were least likely (10%)
to agree that politics was a waste of time. They were most
likely (at 38%) to agree that it is very important to keep in
touch with politics, while the remaining 52% felt that while
politics was unpleasant it was important to stay in touch...
[Only] 7% of youth agreed that voting is a waste of time
compared with twice that number of respondents aged above 50."

More recently, an SABC/Markinor Opinion poll (2003) asked
more than 3,500 respondents if they were interested in
politics: "With regard to age, the interest among different
age groups was almost on a par with 64% of 18-24 year olds
and 65% of 25-34 year olds reporting being 'very' or
'somewhat' interested. The generation who were teenagers and
young adults in the tumultuous mid-seventies and early
eighties (the 35-49 year olds) were the least interested in
politics."

This survey indicates that it is not the 'born frees' who are
politically apathetic. Rather it is the 'young lions' of
yesteryear, the generation that cut their political teeth in
the late 1970s, who are the most apathetic age group in
today's South Africa.

In the absence of an exit poll, it is impossible to
scientifically estimate the turnout of youth in the 2004
elections. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that a large
number of youth did participate in the election, in contrast
to the predictions of some analysts. Although disengaged from
many of the democratic institutions created, it is not that
youth are not interested in politics, but rather that the
institutions of democracy are failing to engage them.

Youth culture

Today's youth culture is much maligned in society in general
as being self-centred as opposed to community oriented,
dominated by foreign influence, apolitical and disrespectful
of authority. The 'born frees' are regarded as unworthy heirs
to the legacy of the 'young lions'. Kwaito music is said to
epitomise these tendencies.

In fact, the vast majority of the 'Kwaito generation', while
obviously not as politicised as the youth of the 1970s and
1980s, are highly conscious of their identity as black people
living in a society that has not yet achieved non-racialism,
and they are generally sympathetic to the project of
progressive transformation. But in a context where politics
ignores and excludes the youth, new generations have sought
other means to express energy and idealism. This has led to a
renaissance of youth culture not witnessed since the days of
Sophiatown.

Kwaito music, house, hip-hop and reggae form a single
cultural milieu among South African youth, and are a fertile
expression of a truly South African, non-racial culture.

While strongly asserting African and black identity, it is a
fundamentally non-racial movement, and draws in large numbers
of youth from all national minorities. As a direct
consequence of the democratic victories of the last decade
this is the social context in which a new subjective non-
racialism is emerging.

Anyone familiar with the lyrics and symbolism of the emerging
black youth culture in South Africa cannot but be struck by
the extent to which politics of the liberation struggle and
the discourse of emancipation have been reinvented by new
generations. The youth are giving new meaning to the politics
of their mothers and fathers and are creating a new politics
of human liberation that is entirely appropriate to the
democratic order.

It is necessary to ask not why the youth have disengaged from
political and social movements, by why political and social
movements have become disengaged from the youth. It is
political movements that have consistently failed to
communicate to youth and address their concerns. It is this
that lies at the root of youth disengagement rather than the
erroneous idea that the youth are politically apathetic.