Compass Points

April 2009 www.compassyouth.org

LET US BE THE CHANGE By Luke Pearce Compass Youth is fast becoming the most active and influential political youth organisation in the UK. With the Labour government still lacking a radical social democratic policy agenda despite the departure of Blair and the huge popular demand for an alternative to neo-liberalism, a space has opened for organisations which provide a voice for politically and socially conscious young people. Inspired by its parent organisation, Compass Youth seeks to provide activists with the tools, contacts and support to pursue single-issue causes and more generally a left-of-centre agenda in tune with both the general public and the electoral base of the Labour Party. Other youth organisations affiliated with the Labour Party concentrate on providing opportunities to socialise, network and can-

vas. Compass Youth recognises that collectivism, environmentalism and democracy must be pursued in the here and now. Many members will no doubt go on to gain influential positions in government, public services, NGOs and business in years to come. But in the mean time there is a huge pool of energy available to fight for change and the Good Society as advocated in the Compass Programme for Renewal. Compass Youth provides the necessary umbrella to bring together and empower campaigning groups from across the political left. Frustrated by many politicians’ continuing inability to realise that power and principle are two sides of the same coin, ambitious but conscientious young activists and thinkers have been attracted to Compass Youth in large numbers. To be part of this movement, visit www.compassyouth.org

Welcome from the Chair, Sam Tarry www.samtarry.com

In recent m o n t h s Compass Youth has raised its profile and continued to build links with trade u n i o n s , NGOs, politicians and fellow socialists in the UK and Europe. In December, a delegation of 20 visited the European Parliament in Brussels. We met MEPs to discuss working time legislation, the Party of European Socialists to hear about the upcoming crossEU elections, along with the Solidar NGO umbrella organisation. Compass Youth had a notable presence at February’s ProgresA 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 cam2. 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 cru3. 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 soci5. 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 Send your inspirational and and to define its finer values.” - Tony Benn

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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 peoWhile the government is on the ple from sofa to voting booth, you receiving end of much of the re- can only use them to communisulting vitriol, there is an increasing cate, and whether people reawareness that the Conservative spond depends on what you're solution bears a startling resem- saying. So far, the likes of Conserblance to the policies that got us vativeHome, LabourList, WebCamhere in the first place. The result eron and GoFourth have not been could be an election that sets a saying anything new. There are websites out there offering much new low in voter turnout. In an effort to engage the mil- more to the progressive-minded lions of people who were unin- browser, with newspapers, thinkspired by the last election, to say tanks, charities, and bloggers all nothing of the 4m or so new non- serving up cutting-edge content. But the profusion of progressives voters who were too young not to sites is not without its problems. Pobother in 2005, politicians of all litical parties run for election; the parties have turned to the interblogosphere does not, and even if net. Impressed by the success of it did, it would probably prove too Obama's presidential campaign, fractious to have much of an imand the sheer size of activist pact. Disembodied designs need groups such as MoveOn.org, they living advocates, and the force of hope that they too can raise the better argument is even more dilute in the real world than in its virtual counterpart. The internet makes it possible to organise petitions and protests on a massive scale, and online activism of this ilk can influence policymakers. But because there is no relay connecting these single-issue campaigns to the world of Cartoonist: electoral politics, politiCat Smith cians can ignore them Send cartoons to 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 organisation aims to work alongside existing think-tanks, charities, pressure groups and discussion forums, combining the expertise, ideas and commitment of political activists with the numerical strength of busy but concerned individuals frustrated by the lack of an electorally viable progressive alternative 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 constituency, 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 helping 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.

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