#young people

[reasonsforhope]

Note: I super don't like the framing of this headline. "Here's why it matters" idk it's almost like there's an entire country's worth of people who get to keep their democracy! Clearly! But there are few good articles on this in English, so we're going with this one anyway.

--

2024 is the biggest global election year in history and the future of democracy is on every ballot. But amid an international backsliding in democratic norms, including in countries with a longer history of democracy like India, Senegal’s election last week was a major win for democracy. It’s also an indication that a new political class is coming of age in Africa, exemplified by Senegal’s new 44-year-old president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

The West African nation managed to pull off a free and fair election on March 24 despite significant obstacles, including efforts by former President Macky Sall to delay the elections and imprison or disqualify opposition candidates. Add those challenges to the fact that many neighboring countries in West Africa — most prominently Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, but other nations across the region too — have been repeatedly undermined by military coups since 2020.

Sall had been in power since 2012, serving two terms. He declined to seek a third term following years of speculation that he would do so despite a constitutional two-term limit. But he attempted to extend his term, announcing in February that elections (originally to be held that month) would be pushed off until the end of the year in defiance of the electoral schedule.

Sall’s allies in the National Assembly approved the measure, but only after security forces removed opposition politicians, who vociferously protested the delay. Senegalese society came out in droves to protest Sall’s attempted self-coup, and the Constitutional Council ruled in late February that Sall’s attempt to stay in power could not stand.

That itself was a win for democracy. Still, opposition candidates, including Faye, though legally able to run, remained imprisoned until just days before the election — while others were barred from running at all. The future of Senegal’s democracy seemed uncertain at best.

Cut to Tuesday [April 2, 2024], when Sall stepped down and handed power to Faye, a former tax examiner who won on a campaign of combating corruption, as well as greater sovereignty and economic opportunity for the Senegalese. And it was young voters who carried Faye to victory...

“This election showed the resilience of the democracy in Senegal that resisted the shock of an unexpected postponement,” Adele Ravidà, Senegal country director at the lnternational Foundation for Electoral Systems, told Vox via email. “... after a couple of years of unprecedented episodes of violence [the Senegalese people] turned the page smoothly, allowing a peaceful transfer of power.”

And though Faye’s aims won’t be easy to achieve, his win can tell us not only about how Senegal managed to establish its young democracy, but also about the positive trend of democratic entrenchment and international cooperation in African nations, and the power of young Africans...

Senegal and Democracy in Africa

Since it gained independence from France in 1960, Senegal has never had a coup — military or civilian. Increasingly strong and competitive democracy has been the norm for Senegal, and the country’s civil society went out in great force over the past three years of Sall’s term to enforce those norms.

“I think that it is really the victory of the democratic institutions — the government, but also civil society organization,” Sany said. “They were mobilized, from the unions, teacher unions, workers, NGOs. The civil society in Senegal is one of the most experienced, well-organized democratic institutions on the continent.” Senegalese civil society also pushed back against former President Abdoulaye Wade’s attempt to cling to power back in 2012, and the Senegalese people voted him out...

Faye will still have his work cut out for him accomplishing the goals he campaigned on, including economic prosperity, transparency, food security, increased sovereignty, and the strengthening of democratic institutions. This will be important, especially for Senegal’s young people, who are at the forefront of another major trend.

Young Africans will play an increasingly key role in the coming decades, both on the continent and on the global stage; Africa’s youth population (people aged 15 to 24) will make up approximately 35 percent of the world’s youth population by 2050, and Africa’s population is expected to grow from 1.5 billion to 2.5 billion during that time. In Senegal, people aged 10 to 24 make up 32 percent of the population, according to the UN.

“These young people have connected to the rest of the world,” Sany said. “They see what’s happening. They are interested. They are smart. They are more educated.” And they have high expectations not only for their economic future but also for their civil rights and autonomy.

The reality of government is always different from the promise of campaigning, but Faye’s election is part of a promising trend of democratic entrenchment in Africa, exemplified by successful transitions of power in Nigeria, Liberia, and Sierra Leone over the past year. To be sure, those elections were not without challenges, but on the whole, they provide an important counterweight to democratic backsliding.

Senegalese people, especially the younger generation, have high expectations for what democracy can and should deliver for them. It’s up to Faye and his government to follow."

-via Vox, April 4, 2024

#senegal #africa #bassirou diomaye faye #elections #2024 elections #democracy #voting matters #young people #political corruption #coup attempt #good news #hope #international politics #african politics #fair elections #autocracy #macky sall

[the-night-picture-collector]

/ Evelyn Hofer, Mods, Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin, 1967

#evelyn hofer #mods #young people

[whenweallvote]

Gen Z voters have POWER.

By Election Day in November, 40.8 million members of Gen Z (ages 18-27) will be eligible to vote, and about 45% of them are young people of color — including 8.8 million Latinx youth, 5.7 million Black youth, 1.7 million Asian American youth, and 1.8 million multiracial youth.

Register to vote right NOW at weall.vote/register, then DM this to three friends as a reminder to check their voter registration too. 🗳️

#gen z #genz #gen z voters #voters #voting #vote #young people #gen z power

[retropopcult]

Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in San Francisco, May 1967

#vintage #1960s #fashion #hair #young people #California #60s #groovy

[forthepleasureofmylife]

Bordeaux France

Photo: Dieter Krehbiel

#bordeaux #bordeaux ma ville #france #couple #café #urban photography #source:forthepleasureofmylife #dieter krehbiel #green eyes 55 #photography #black and white #photographers on tumblr #street photography #urban #black and white photography #urban life #2020s #source: forthepleasureofmylife #young people #restaurant

[brucesterling]

*The Tumblr Five Percent 

#tumblr #young people

[ridenwithbiden]

#TIK TOK #YOUNG PEOPLE #ACTIVISTS

[saywhat-politics]

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Republican Gov. Tate Reeves used the theme “Mississippi Forever” on Tuesday as he was inaugurated for his second term, saying he wants to curb the trend of young people leaving to pursue careers elsewhere.

“For too many decades, Mississippi’s most valuable export has not been our cotton or even our culture. It’s been our kids,” Reeves told lawmakers, state officials and several international diplomats during a ceremony outside the state Capitol on a chilly, blustery day.

He said people from Mississippi hold prominent positions in government, business and entertainment.

“They made other places better, and we missed out on all they could have done here at home,” said Reeves, who has three daughters with his wife, Elee.

Other states in the South — including Texas and Florida — have seen substantial increases in population in the past decade. Mississippi has long been one of the poorest states, and its population has remained stagnant.

#mississippi #republican governor #tate reeves #young people

[tomorrowusa]

It's ironic that the administration of the oldest president could be marked by the emergence of a fresh crop of politically savvy young politicians.

David Hogg, one of the organizers of March For Our Lives, is co-founder of a group dedicated to supporting young liberals who run for office.

Leaders We Deserve describes itself as an "EMILY’s List for young people" and that's a useful way to look at it.

The PAC was founded just over five months ago and it's off to a good start.

A Democratic group that aims to recruit and support young candidates for state legislative office announced it raised more than $3 million in the latest quarter of fundraising.   Leaders We Deserve — a group founded by activist David Hogg along with Kevin Lata, Rep. Maxwell Frost’s (D-Fla.) former campaign manager — announced Wednesday its fundraising haul between October and December. More than 100,000 donations were made, with the average contribution being $25, according to figures first shared with The Hill. The group received donations from every state.

Their original goal was to raise $1 million but they took in triple that. And they are using those funds to help younger candidates in races where they can make the biggest difference.

In an interview with The Hill, Hogg said that the goal last quarter was to raise at least $1 million. Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland high school shooting in 2018 who also co-founded March for Our Lives, said the group would be announcing its next slate of endorsed candidates “very soon” and was in the “final stages” of choosing the next picks.   “Part of what we’re doing is really narrowing in on the states where young people can have the biggest impact and not just in voting for these candidates, of course, but voting in statewide races where they may be more inspired to turn out and vote in the first place, especially in a place like Montana, for example, where we could potentially help to break the supermajority,” Hogg told The Hill. Hogg also noted the importance of keeping young voters engaged, as they’ve proven to make or break key races. “The number one reason why young people have turned out to vote so much over the past three election cycles is because of Donald Trump in terms of voting against him, but Donald Trump is not going to be there forever,” said the Leaders We Deserve co-founder.   “And from the work that young people [have] done in the movements over the past several election cycles like March for Our Lives, the environmental movement, the movement for racial justice and others, we know that young people are one of our best ways of stopping Democratic backsliding, ’cause they turn out and vote in such a high rate,” Hogg said. “But we can’t just keep voting against things. We have to vote for something, and we also need to see ourselves represented in office to know that our votes are actually mattering and having an impact and to give us what I perceive to be the greatest way to help our democracy, which is hope.” 

People who vote are taken more seriously than people who don't vote. And one thing which encourages voting is having candidates who reflect the electorate.

Briefly mentioned in the article is that Leaders We Deserve places a high priority on state legislative races. Many disturbing anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ laws get passed in red states because MAGA Republicans have supermajorities in legislatures.

If you're interested, visit their site. If you do contact them, encourage them to become active on Tumblr.

Leaders We Deserve | Invest in Young People

And because state legislative races deserve more attention, look up who represents you in your state capital. If it's MAGA Republicans, get active in the campaign of their Democratic opponents.

Find Your Legislators Look your legislators up by address or use your current location.

Thinking of running for state legislature yourself? The age and residency requirements are mostly lower than for Congress. See what the requirements are in your state.

Eligibility Requirements to Run for the State Legislature

Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama (among others) all served in their state legislatures at one time.

Perhaps you are one of the leaders your state deserves. 🙂

#democrats #young people #leaders we deserve #david hogg #kevin lata #support younger liberal candidates #state government #state legislatures #run for state legislature #election 2024

[nodynasty4us]

Kennedy’s sway with young voters, as it appears in polls, has caught some Democrats off guard. ...  Kennedy received a sizable amount of support among under 45-year-old voters in a poll released by The New York Times/Siena College. The same toss-up states that show voters supporting Trump slightly more than Biden also show Kennedy leading that constituency over the two front-runners. He’s been consistently on the rise, too. An even younger group of voters, between 18 and 34 years old, in a national Quinnipiac University survey also gave Kennedy the edge, in this case 6 points ahead of Biden and 11 points leading Trump, coming in at 38 percent to their respective 32 percent and 27 percent.

5 biggest questions around third-party and independent bids in 2024 | The Hill

#robert f kennedy jr #young people #2024 #polls #featured

[nottrusttworthy]

cool

(is hot)

Cool people look great when they get hot. Chic looks best a little messed up. Macho is sexy when it's really not. Girls look better with boys on top.

Photography: Michael Jansson

Fashion Editor: Karl Templer

#I LIVE AND LOVE AND DIE FOR THIS PHOTOSHOOT #THIS IS EVERYTHING I STAND FOR #PEOPLE LOOK HOTTER WHEN THEY ARE LITTLE MESSY!!!!! #fashion #photography #photoshoot #hot people #young people #adult model #beautiful model #fashion model #hot as fuck #editorial #iconic #bikni girls #half naked #THIS IS ICONIC #grunge #cool #cool look #effortlessstyle #nightlife #concept art #this is iconic #fashionandrelated

[myobsessionsspace]

“If it was me I’d…”

“I don’t understand why he just doesn’t…”

“why doesn’t he say/do…” “It’s not enough they should…”

“This person has it so easy…”

Do we understand the members are between the ages of 25 years of age and the oldest is 31?

Do we understand their only JOB is to make music, fulfil their contractual obligations to their company?

Do we understand that they still have to work for the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years? They can’t just up and quit. They have WAGES, as much as we would like to think, money doesn’t go directly from your PayPal to the members accounts.

Fans money doesn’t go directly to the idol. It goes from the company. We’ve seen idols who have been in the game for decades (nationally known and lesser known but still known internationally) struggling with their company to even get a look at the figures of how much they’ve earned in their time working. They don’t even know how much money they’ve earned! They have gone months without pay from their companies, yet still working and producing content their fans see. Yet still having albums sold, merch sold, tickets sold, fan support.

Even the most popular, richest western celebrity still works when they don’t ‘have to.’

Why? Because they look after other households, family? Because money gets spent, the more money you have the more you spend? Because what else would they do? They still have a passion, a need to be engaged, work, be occupied.

Do we understand they are watched by MILLIONS all over the world, they every move photographed, discussed online, on the news, by the water cooler.

Do we understand that unlike the regular everyday person, someone wouldn’t know your cats name, your hometown, your high school unless you told them, there are actually personal security questions because it shouldn’t be that well known. Yet with the members we can find out nearly anything about them, their pets, their families etc. where is their safe zone??

They have become more than singers, not by their choice, it has been thrust upon them.

They have become presidential special envoys, exposition ambassadors, they speak against hate and discrimination in foreign countries, at the White House, the speak of love in all its different forms at the United Nations. They have had soo much weight put in their shoulders, more than any of us could ever dream of AT ANY AGE.

We hated our high school haircuts, we delete the pictures off of Facebook, we hide the years books.

Don’t wanna speak at an event, don’t have to, or if we do only those present may know about it, maybe LinkedIn or the company site etc, still insular, not international news.

Wanna quit your job, lie on your resume, you are more likely to get away with it, than the members.

Any company they chose to go to, if they ever wanted to, would know EVERYTHING about them, what they accepted in the past, what they would and wouldn’t do at a company.

Cheated on your ex, there are ways your current may never find out. Not the members, they can’t even be on the same street with someone without it being brought back every 5-10 business days. Can’t be in the same event without close up analyses and theories that they blinked too long near someone. Nothing stays in the past for them. Old differences/hurts brought up 7 years later. Millions of people who can’t even speak the same language as them dictating who they can have in their home, go to eat with, watch movies with, though they’ve NEVER set foot in their country before.

Fans wishes cannot be directly implemented by the idol. Idols don’t call the shots. The wildest things they can do are live everyday human lives. The most autonomy, ‘rebellion’ they can have is switch on an unscheduled live or *gasp* date (what are they 13??).

It’s A LOT. We need to catch ourselves. The pressure on them is already immense.

As fans we should be their support, their comfort, their safe zone.

Not another group of people telling them where to look, how to breathe, what to say.

Give them understanding, give them the benefit. Let them act in the ways they can, we don’t know everything. We don’t know we could do ANY DIFFERENT in their shoes.

🖤🤍

#BTS #Jungkook #Jimin #Namjoon #Jin #Yoongi #Hobi #Taehyung #Idols #Celebrities #Young People #Adulthood #We Don’t Have All The Answers #Neither Do They #They Are Human #Let Them Be Human #Life is Hard for Everyone #Choices Have Consequences #More Understanding #More Compassion #More Empathy

[360degreesasthecrowflies]

I was chatting to my grandmother the other day, discussing the [remarkably high] A-level results. She said exams must be getting easier, I said kids are studying harder than ever before.

Young people cannot afford to take risks any more. You can't get a good job on the back of 4 GCSEs, so you need to try hard at school. But everyone is trying harder, so now you need 3 A's to get into a Russell Group uni, and extracurriculars for your personal statement, because everyone is trying to get into university and you need to stand out with your Grade 7 piano and Duke of Edinburgh gold award, and voluntary work at the animal shelter.

Once you're there, you still need a 2:1 plus some extracurriculars at university for your Grad scheme application, because you want to be on £32k living in a flatshare in Ealing.

And if you miss any step there, between 14 and 22, your life becomes significantly harder. For example, a friend of mine got a 2:2, spent a year or so working in a petrol station, and had to move 100 miles to get a job in his chosen field. If you don't get on a Grad scheme you end up getting a job for £18k as an office assistant or junior data entry clerk or something, and have to spend your time developing skills, hoping that you get lucky and find a decent job in your next role.

There's this huge lack of awareness within the media of just how tough it is as a modern young person. By definition the people who make it there are the ones who "succeeded"; who did well at school, edited the Cherwell for a term, and now write ponderous articles in the Telegraph about their narrow frame of reference, scarcely mentioning their dad also had a long career in journalism.

via reddit, Aug. 2022

#via reddit #society #young people #gen z #millennials #uk politics #british politics #politics #tories #anti tories #dystopia #failed state #education

[just-a-blog-for-polls]

#plz reblog #polls #age #young people

[futurebird]

For years when teaching exponential functions I ask “Why is the global human population over a billion fewer people than what we would predict using a perfectly exponential model and population figures from the 1950s and 1960s?”

Up until about 5 years ago my students always said “people don’t want big families anymore” which is an OK answer. But now they all say “the model doesn’t account for enough death”

… the model fails in many ways, but I think the young people are very depressed 🙁

Not that I blame them, but the slowing of the constant of exponential growth for human population isn't due to "more death." People are living longer and infant mortality is lower. Both would have speed up growth alone... but the bigger factor is smaller families. There are a whole host of good and bad reasons for smaller famlies:

more education among women

contraceptives

China's one child policy

higher incomes

fewer people being farmers

expensive housing

expensive to raise kids

etc.

Some of this is people reshaping their lives how they want, some of it is people being shaped by forces beyond their control. There has been "more death" but it's not on the scale and intensity as these other changes. And to the extent it is people shaping their own lives it's objectively good.

yet

I don't think the kids are foolish. But it's interesting how they see this in a much darker way than my students just 5 or 10 years ago. We aren't really taking care of them enough, I think.

#young people #population #population growth #death

[samijami]

EH EHE HE EHE EHEMMMMMMMM

YOU DONT 'TRAIN UP' A FUCKING CHILD THEY ARENT YOUR GODDAMN PET FUCK YOU

GOOD DAY

#tw child neglect #child neglect #children rights #child rights #children are people #children are the future #human rights #basic human rights #basic human decency #insane parents #neglectful parents #fuck parents #parental figures #children are humans #kids are human #young people #teenagers #teenagers are human #teens are human #teenager rights #teen rights #tw child abuse #tw child harm #tw child exploitation #tw childhood trauma #childhood neglect #childhood trauma #childhood #protect children #protect kids