The Other View

One does not have to be a science fiction fan to endorse the words of Barbarella -"A life without cause is a life without effect."

My colleague Eddie Kinner has called for a programme of national community service that will help to instill a sense of worth and value in young people. Our young people are our future, yet in many inner city districts and peripheral housing estates we have situations where life for many young people is indeed life without a positive cause. And consequently life without positive effect. The debilitating effects of neo-liberal economics and the social philosophies that have underpinned British politics since the reign of Margaret Thatcher have created an underclass of disadvantaged and disaffected communities that are blamed for all of the ills of society. They are the British equivalent of what middle America writes off as "poor white trash". Within unionism that underclass has another label – "loyalism". But, as Eddie Kinner has pointed out, writing off whole swathes of our young people as being a burden on the state and being forever on the margins of society applies right across the board, to nationalist communities as well as to unionist communities.

As a party of the left we must never accept that there is such a thing as "the underclass", that some people are born to lead and to exercise power while others are born to follow and to remain powerless. The practice of creating an underclass locks society into a vicious cycle of alienation, conflict and violence. If young people attack public service workers and public service vehicles it is because they regard public services as belonging to someone else, not them; if they have no respect for the Rule of Law or for authority it is because very often they see "authority" as belonging to others, never to them. If the are queuing up to join the Young Citizen Volunteers and the Young Militants it is because they find in those organisations some sense of belonging, some cause to identify with, some group within which they can find a sense of meaning and purpose.

Unless we can show our young people that they can have a stake in society, that they are valued socially, that they can be economically viable, and that the term equal citizenship applies as much to them as it does to the grammar school kid, we will condemn both them and their children to an unending cycle of alienation and a perpetual sense of worthlessness. We must encourage our young people to recognise that they are citizens and that as citizens they have a role to play in making society work for all, and for the betterment of all. We must encourage them to consign the term "underclass" to the dustbin of political history.

I believe that a programme of national community service which encourages young people to help create healthy communities, foster principles of positive citizenship and engage in the provision of public services will be a start; and I believe that government has a duty to design and implement such a programme in consultation with local politicians and community leaders. But I also believe that we, as a party, have a crucial part to play in that process.

Another government scheme for young people will not work. Imposed solutions such as the New (raw) Deal, Job Seekers and other "bums-on-seats" schemes that exploit young people and manipulate employment statistics are a curse rather than a cure. There must be a working and equal partnership between government and the community and, above all, with the young people who are most affected by social exclusion and economic disadvantage. If we want our young people to value us, we must show that we truly value them.

Our role as a party that provides political analysis to a paramilitary organisation that wants a moratorium placed on recruitment to its junior wing must be to encourage our young people to aspire to better things. Unless we can provide creative alternatives to paramilitary recruitment more and more young people will join the queue to "sign up". Is that what we really want? Is that what society really wants? Let us encourage our young citizens to empower themselves, to engage in society as active citizens and to make a positive contribution to the social and material well being of their communities.

Neither Eddie or I have worked out a programme in detail, we are simply trying to stimulate debate on the issue and,

if Conference supports the motion, we can go forward to develop the idea confident that we have the blessing of the majority of our members.

Let us at least start the debate.

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