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How to change the world!

The world of politics can seem a distant place sometimes and a little detached from our everyday lives. It can seem like a place where middleage people in suits ask questions to other middleage people in suits who’ll say anything except actually answer the question!

Truth is, that’s only a small part of the political world. Politics takes place all around us, and it never switches off. From local councils debating whether to close a school to national governments deciding whether they need nuclear weapons to a local community group campaigning for better social services. Politics happens when people demonstrate, when they write letters to complain, when they decide to not buy something in a shop because of how the people making it are treated or paid, when they vote, when they meet to debate and when they make decisions. The world of politics doesn’t sleep (although there are people who campaign because their sleep is interrupted by noisy airports!)

Politics affects us all
You can’t truthfully say ‘I don’t have anything to do with politics’ because politics affects everything and everyone. You can chose to not get involved, but even that is a political decision! Because by not using your voice, you’re letting other people have a louder voice – your empowering them to make decisions on your behalf.

Of course we’re not all going to be involved in every political decision that affects our lives. But it is important for us to realise that we can get involved in politics, that our views are important and that we can influence decisions that we really care about – issues such as those that affect us, our family and friends or our communities.

There are loads of ways we can do get involved – and it doesn’t have to involve becoming middleaged and putting on a suit or being interviewed by a middleaged person in a suit…

Writing a letter or email
Writing a letter or email may seem like a small thing to do, but even a single letter can make a difference to the way a policy is decided or a service developed. A single letter can influence a decision maker’s perception of an issue, and that can influence a decision. And there may be others who have also written about the same issue as you – you could be adding weight to a collective call for change. Who to write to? It depends on the issue and who has responsibility. You may wish to write to your local council, your local Assembly Member, your local Member of Parliament or your local newspaper. Or why not all four! You’ll find lots of useful contact details below.

Join a campaign
There are loads of groups out there campaigning on just about every issue under the sun. And many of them have been hugely successful in changing not only government policies but also governments themselves! From groups like Amnesty International campaigning on human rights, to Oxfam campaigning on poverty, to Greenpeace campaigning on environmental issues. There are local, national and international campaign groups. They do their campaigning in lots of different ways – from getting their members to all write letters and emails to politicians and the media, to demonstrations, to media events, to direct action. A lot of campaign groups are very active online – especially on social networking sites like Facebook.

Start a campaign
If you think you’re not alone in feeling strongly about an issue and there isn’t already a group campaigning about the issue you could start your own campaign. You could find out if there is a campaigning group that might support you or you could set out on your own or with friends. You could start a petition, send a letter to the relevant decision maker signed on behalf of your group or you could speak to your local newspaper to get a story in the papers.

Arrange a meeting
Assembly Members and Members of Parliament have local surgeries in their constituencies – you can call their office and arrange to go and see them. Local councillors are easy to contact and arrange to meet. Local journalists are often keen to hear from local people with a story to tell.

Join a political party
There are plenty of parties to consider joining – each with its own views about how the economy, health service and education should be run. From the Labour Party, to Plaid Cymru, to the Liberal Democrats, to the Conservatives, to the Green Party and many others. Many of the parties have student groups or a young people section – they offer a great way to find out how political parties work and to try and get issues that you care about taken forward.

Become elected!
Many local councils would certainly benefit from having more younger people elected! If you’re old enough to vote, you could stand as an independent or join a party and work your way to becoming a candidate.

Join a Local Youth Council.
No available everywhere, but Newport has one. It’s open to all young people aged 11-25 and living in the local area. It’s there to make sure the voice of young people is heard and is being fed into decision making locally. If you want to find out more about NYC and how you can get involved, you can contact their Participation Officer on 01633 259767.

However you get involved, the important thing is to know you can. Your voice and views matter and the more people that get involved in influencing and making decisions in our local communities, in Wales, the UK and Europe the better and more representative a democracy we’ll have.

Links and contact details
Name: BBC – Politics News
Web: news.bbc.co.uk
Email:
Tel:
Info: BBC – Politics News

Name: BBC Wales – Politics News
Web: news.bbc.co.uk
Email:
Tel:
Info: BBC – Politics News

Name: National Assembly for Wales – list of Assembly Members (AMs)
Web: www.assemblywales.org
Email:
Tel:
Info: National Assembly for Wales – list of all Assembly Members (AMs) and their contact details. We all have five local AMs – one is out local constituency AMs and four are ‘regional’ AMs – covering a wider part of Wales. You can contact any or all of them.

Name: Westminster Parliament – list of Members of Parliament (MPs)
Web: www.parliament.uk/mpslordsandoffices/index.cfm
Email:
Tel:
Info: Government website listing all MPs by name and by constituency

Name: DirectGov – contact details for all Welsh councils
Web: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Dl1/Directories/Localcouncils/DG_065241
Email:
Tel:
Info: DirectGov – contact details for all Welsh councils and their websites. Your local council can provide details of all of your local councillors.

Name: European Parliament UK Office website – list of all UK MEPs
Web: www.europarl.org.uk/section/your-meps/your-meps
Email:
Tel:
Info: European Parliament UK Office website – list of all UK MEPs with contact details.

Name: National Assembly for Wales
Web: www.assemblywales.org
Email:
Tel: 0845 010 5500
Textphone: 0845 010 5678
Info: The National Assembly for Wales is the democratically elected body that represents the interests of Wales and its people, makes laws for Wales and holds the Welsh government to account.

Name: Welsh Assembly Government
Web: www.wales.gov.uk
Email:
Tel:
Info: The Welsh Assembly Government is responsible for most of the issues of day-to-day concern to the people of Wales, including the economy, health, education, and local government.

Name: Westminster Parliament
Web: www.parliament.uk
Email:
Tel:
Info: The official website for the UK House of Parliament.

Name: The Prime Minister’s office (UK)
Web: www.number10.gov.uk
Email:
Tel:
Info: The official website for the Prime Minister’s office.

Name: European Parliament UK Office website
Web: www.europarl.org.uk
Email:
Tel:
Info:

Name: Europa – the European Union’s portal web site
Web: europa.eu
Email:
Tel:
Info: EUROPA is the European Union’s portal web site. It provides all the information made available on the Internet by the institutions and bodies of the European UnioEUROPA is administered by the European Commission in partnership with the other European institutions.

Name: The Labour Party
Web: www.labour.org.uk
Email:
Tel:
Info:

Name: Plaid Cymru
Web: www.plaidcymru.org
Email:
Tel:
Info:

Name: The Conservative Party
Web: www.conservatives.com
Email:
Tel:
Info:

Name: The Liberal Democrats
Web: www.libdems.org.uk
Email:
Tel:
Info:

Name: The Green Party
Web: www.greenparty.org.uk
Email:
Tel:
Info:

Name: UK Independence Party
Web: www.ukip.org
Email:
Tel:
Info:

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Name: Newport Youth Council
Web: Newport Youth Council
Email:
Tel: 01633 259767
Info: Open to all young people aged 11-25 and living in Newport. It’s there to make sure the voice of young people is heard and is being fed into decision making locally.

Name: Oxfam
Web: www.oxfam.org.uk
Email:
Tel:
Info:

Name: Amnesty international
Web: www.amnesty.org.uk
Email:
Tel:
Info:

Name: Greenpeace
Web: www.greenpeace.org.uk
Email:
Tel:
Info:

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