Britain today faces a political crisis, and I don’t mean the successive corrupt governments. I refer to the crisis of apathy that is plaguing the country. Turnout in elections across the land are at pitiful levels and are getting worse all the time. This is being fuelled by a younger generation that has seen nothing but corruption and greed in its life time. Ask the average person under 25 anything at all related to government and they’ll most likely tell you that all politicians are the same corrupt breed and that whoever he votes for it will make no difference therefore they pay no attention to politics and have no interest in voting at all. They cannot identify with the parliamentary system, they don’t know how it does anything to help them and they want no part in it. They are right to think this way. This tory government has trebled tuition fees, cut housing benefits for under 25’s and presided over the worst youth unemployment crisis in a generation. So the attitudes of the young towards politics are thoroughly understandable, but are they right to say that they are not politically minded? I would have to argue not. The young have no faith in the system, but when their rights are attacked they are the first to stand up and fight back. Look at the student riots of 2010, days and days of public disorder across the country aimed at opposing the tory attacks on their education system. As recently as November 2014 the students movement is still fighting, with the no fees march in London descending into; scuffles with the police, an attempted attack on the tory party headquarters, vandalism of tax dodging businesses like starbucks and a mass breach of police lines to occupy parliament square. Look also at the occupy movement in Britain, the majority of people involved in the original occupations were students and disillusioned under 25’s and many of the buildings occupied were universities. Are these the actions of a truly apathetic generation? The youth of Britain does care, it cares greatly, but it has no faith in any government to right the wrongs in the land. They call the entire system corrupt and they feel they must take direct action themselves if they are to be heard and have any success. There is a name for such belief’s, Anarchism! The majority of this generation may not realise it yet but they hold a world view that is closely aligned with the belief’s of anarchists. Also perhaps the only large scale political movement that today’s younger generation hold in any regard is the internet group Anonymous, who are an overtly anarchist group fighting for personal freedom and liberty across the globe. The youth of Britain today has had its future sold to pay for the economic crisis of the rich and it is starting to feel the strain. The 2010 student riots, the occupy movement, the rise of anonymous and indeed the 2012 riots (the majority prosecuted were under 25). These are just warnings as to what this generation could do if it wakes up and decides enough is enough. There is an appetite for change, but as yet there is no common banner under which it can be fought for. The current “revolutionary” groups in the UK today are all socialist or communist in ideology, banners this generation will not stand with as years of media bias and propaganda have made these ideologies dirty words. But anarchism could be the banner to unite the individuals who want change. The young believe in anonymous, they believe in occupy, they believe in direct action, they believe… And that is a dangerous thing for this and any successive government. The annual million mask march held by anonymous on November 5th attracted only a couple of hundred people in its first year, 2013. In 2014 it attracted 10’s of thousands and spread to many cities. In 2015 that number could well be 100’s of thousands, in dozens of cities. All driven by the anger of youth. This could be the tipping point, or any attack from the government could bring them out onto the streets at any time. The anger is there. All that is needed to spark a revolution is for the young to turn their apathy, into anarchy!

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