SYP presses for a fair deal for young people
2009 looks like it could be the year of SYP! At our National Sitting in Dunfermline we took our campaign ‘Being Young is Not a Crime’ to the shoppers of Fife as we invited them to have a free cup of tea and a chat with a young person to challenge the label that young people are ‘thugs in hoodies’!
We also had time to directly challenge the negative coverage young people often receive in the press by making our own newspapers and TV news bulletins, as well as recognising the great work of our MSYPs at the SYP Awards Night!
Our first Sitting of 2009 was generously hosted by Fife Council on the second weekend in March. The SYP has big plans for our national campaign ‘Being Young is Not a Crime’ and we got into action challenging negative stereotypes of young people in both the media and by the general public, as well as showcasing the work of some of Scotland’s best young political activists.
Research amongst young people consistently shows that young people find their treatment is anything but fair – in fact they feel that it is so bad that it creates fear and dislike in their local communities. The SYP is always keen to tackle these views head on so we spent the Saturday of the Sitting looking at young people’s portrayal in the press. Armed with newspapers, glue and scissors, MSYPs set about making their own papers that gave fair coverage to young people, telling the world about some of the many good things that young people regularly do for their communities!
In debates around the subject, MSYPs recognised that while bad news might sell papers, stories about crimes committed by young people shouldn’t be used to tar an entire age group. They set about presenting the good stories they had found into news reports, filmed for SYP TV that highlighted the positive side of being young in Scotland. The MSYPs also heard from top journalists Iain Macwhirter and Kenny Kemp about why the media reports in this way as well as some good advice about how to turn this view around and having young people’s voices heard.
On the Saturday, MSYPs lent their support to Menzies Distribution’s ‘Pressin’ Scotland’ campaign which aims to give 17 year-olds a year’s free subscription to a newspaper of their choice. This exciting project could have many positive benefits for young people, letting them find out more about the world around them and become politically aware.
Keeping up the theme of showing off the best side of young people, MSYPs dusted off their best clothes and dancing shoes to take part in the glitzy SYP Awards Night! The six awards recognised the fantastic work MSYPs and support workers do to raise the voice of young people in Scotland. The top prize of MSYP of the Year was scooped by Glasgow Springburn’s Julie Lennox, who has given up much of her free time to set up a youth forum in her local area, as well as ably representing Scotland at several international events. MSYPs joined councillors and top invited guests to hear just some of the stories of how MSYPs are helping to change Scotland for the benefit of young people across the nation, as well as say farewell to some of the members that are leaving the organisation at this spring’s SYP elections, by inducting them into our Fellowship!
SYP Awards – The Winners!
MSYP of the Year – Julie Lennox (Glasgow Springburn)
Support Worker of the Year – Shirley Crawley (Fife)
Area of the Year – Renfrewshire
Most Improved MSYP – Steven McKenzie (Kirkcaldy)
Unsung Hero – Brian Borland (Ayr)
Outstanding Achievement – Robin James & Hilary Lynn (Glasgow Kelvin)
Fellowship of the SYP – Gillian Slider, Iona Stevenson, Gordon Ellis, Andrew MacQueen, Robin James, Hilary Lynn
On the Sunday we took our message to the general public when we threw the ‘Dunfermline Tea Party’ in Kingsgate Shopping Centre. MSYPs set out making banners and signs before changing into striped t-shirts to introduce themselves to the public. We offered free cups of tea and a chat with an MSYP to shoppers to show off the many positive qualities that young people have that go unreported in the media. As over 100 MSYPs explored the centre and chatted to old and young people and families, the positive messages spread and we received a lot of goodwill from the good folk of Dunfermline as well as creating a real buzz about ‘Being Young is Not a Crime’!
The March Sitting was enjoyed by MSYPs and support workers alike, with the action-packed weekend being called “the best Sitting ever” by many of the people that took part. It won’t be long until we meet again in around six weeks for an EGM to make SYP even better at representing young people, and we’ll attempt to go even better on the 13th and 14th June when we hold our June Sitting in Edinburgh. Stay tuned to www.syp.org.uk for all the latest info about these two events…and much more!