Bringing young people closer to politics, and combating the distrust they feel towards the political system and its institutions, is usually one of those vague objectives of almost all electoral programs, but ignored in practice by a political ecosystem that is not very accessible to the voices and ideas of new generations (in addition to the claque logic of party youth).
This disconnection with political institutions and the lack of effective civic education in the education system fuel feelings of disillusionment and exclusion that can have harmful consequences for the future of democracies. If many young people today mobilize through other manifestations of civic participation, exploring different forms of social and political activism, many others also end up being “easy prey” for populist movements that exploit this feeling of exclusion, offering an “against the system” narrative, which presents itself as an easy and tempting banner.
It is urgent, therefore, to move from good intentions to concrete measures that strengthen the voice of young people in political institutions and reflect their concerns. A serious step on this path came this week through the voice of the president of the National Association of Municipal Assemblies, Fernando Santos Pereira, when defending the legal consecration of Young Municipal Assemblies in all municipalities. Not as a symbolic initiative or an annual photography event, as happens today, but as a regular space for participation, with a real impact on the daily construction of democracy.
These assemblies can allow young people to have their first contact with democratic rules, election methods and representation models, encouraging the presentation of concrete proposals for their municipalities. Opening a legal channel of communication with the “adult” City Council, which follows up on proposals and projects decided on at a youth level, even reserving a small annual budget for them, is an excellent form of inclusion, a concrete democratic experience that can influence the daily lives of these young people and that of their community, making them feel that their ideas really matter and that political power is not a distant abstraction.
There is, from the outset, an obvious risk to be combated: that of transforming these spaces into an extension of the party youth apparatus. For this, it is important to involve the educational system, which would have a good practical component here for its citizenship dimension. And ensure diversity, creating mechanisms that include students from different academic and social contexts.
Democracy needs renewal. And this will not come by simply updating the electoral rolls naturally, but rather when young people feel effectively part of the process. Well designed, Young Municipal Assemblies can be one of the most effective instruments for transforming empty speech into consistent practice.
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