Youthquake

Youth organisers share their experiences on how to start a campaign whilst testing the audience’s ideas in an interactive workshop that brings together key elements of direct action, political engagement and campaigning. Young people have always driven social justice movements, and have always been on the frontlines of grassroots and nationwide organising. The surge of youth strikers has been a wake-up call for many of today’s youth; that being the digital generation is not a hindrance but can actually help us get involved in organising and changing our world for the better. So how do you start a campaign? Who can help you get organising, and how do you set up your own group? What about when the going gets tough – what keeps you going and how? With Noga Levy-Rapoport, Dan Lawes, Lola Fayokun, and other young activists, this panel will draw together the experiences of current youth organisers whilst testing the audience’s ideas and experiences in an interactive workshop that brings together key elements of direct action and political engagement and campaigning. Lola Fayokun (@femlxla) is an 18-year-old environmental activist and Politics student at LSE. She is heavily involved in the UK Student Climate Network, the grassroots organisation which hosts the youth climate strikes in the UK. Her work here is focused on the decolonisation of the environmental movement and promotion of the Green New Deal. She is a Labour Party volunteer, organising as a Havering & Dagenham Young Labour's Campaigns and Membership officer and as LSESU Labour Society's BAME officer. Daniel Lawes (@LawesDan) is the 18-year-old Founder & CEO of YouthPolitics UK, a national organisation dedicated to encouraging political engagement among young people. The organisation provides free and non-partisan campaigning sessions to help youth in deprived areas develop the skills to enact positive change. He has led the organisation to reach over 14,000 young people by embarking on grassroots initiatives like campaign workshops, talks in school assemblies and collaborations with youth centres with over 55 volunteers working with the organisation. He is also an ambassador of HRH #iWill Campaign and an active campaigner for increased funding to youth mental health services. Noga Levy-Rapoport (@Noga_LR) is a 17-year-old climate activist, public speaker, and organiser of the UK climate strikes at the UK Student Climate Network. On 15 February 2019, she led London's first climate strike march, before joining the UK Student Climate Network as a volunteer, and began organising around the Green New Deal with GND UK. Since February, the 17-year-old has spoken at numerous panels, events, strikes and protests around the UK and across Europe, with key speeches at the Children’s Media Conference and the UN’s International Maritime Organisation. In October 2019, she was selected by the Evening Standard as one of London's most influential people of 2019 as part of their annual Progress 1000 list. Dr Thomas Smith (@DrTELS) is Assistant Professor in Environmental Geography in the department of Geography & Envirnonment at the LSE. He teaches a number of climate and environmental change courses; his research is concerned with the causes and impacts of wildfires.