London - Undemocratic, this is the right word describing the British electoral system which excludes its citizens living abroad and EU citizens in UK from general elections. Look at the electoral register and see people from Antigua, Bahamas, Botswana, Zimbabwe and all the Commonwealth countries can have their say on who rule the UK.
The ‘post-imperial’ electoral system gives ex colonies citizens the right to vote in the country which once exploited their own, and this is absolutely right and fair. But it is utterly unjust citizens from the neighbouring countries living in the UK and the British abroad (who lose the right to vote after a number of years) are excluded from the democratic process by the law since 1969. Why? Is it just for chance or this is the result of the British crossparty establishment's 'domestic defence policy'?
The answer is complex and touches the very founding process of democracy. Every political establishment, in every country, defends itself from whom considers, and wrongly classifies, as defector. This means those who flee their countries of origin are perceived as potential political defectors able to detect the structural, systemic failures of political systems in the countries they left: people emigrate when understand there is no hope for change. But why then Indian or Pakistani, for instance, living in the UK take part to national elections and have MPs representing their communities in the House of Commons while European origin and British expats don't?
Firstly because they are from former colonies and Commonwealth citizens, secondly because nearly all Commonwealth countries (except for Australia, Canada, New Zealand and perhaps few others), are not democracies comparable to the EU ones (exceptions here as well starting from Hungary) therefore people from Nigeria or Malawi have de facto a different political awareness and might not be able to promote changes in the structural system of an advanced democracy such as Britain.
Today the campaign to give British citizens living abroad and EU citizens in UK full political rights launched by Another Europe is Possible, The 3 Million and British in Europe marks a radical change in support of democracy in Great Britain, and goes far and beyond Brexit. The fight is for a fair and just society representing all and for a political system no longer allowed to hide and perpetrate exclusion in the name of a dead ‘post-imperialist’ establishment.
Let Us Vote: campaign and petition launched by Another Europe is Possible, British in Europe and The3Million
African unsustainable development between EU grants and China loans
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Learning to change our future with a big pencil.
Bergamini tells about Shout Out UK, politics and media literacy and why Daily Mail did not like the video 'No vote no voice'
London, 11 Dec. 2019 - There's not a more appropriate time to talk about Shout Out UK than over these troubled days of General Elections. Matteo Bergamini is founder and CEO of the London based organisation giving young people the tools they need to shape their future with a responsible and informed use of media and understanding of their connections with political systems.
Matteo has a lot to tell: from the 700 British schools hosting Shout Out UK's political literacy courses to this week's Daily Mail journalist attack to the video realised with Drillminister 'No vote no voice. #RegisterToVote': "the clip shows a man with an over sized pencil ticking a box showing to use the power of the vote - he explains - now the Daily Mail, for some bizarre reason, constructed as he is stabbing someone. We put out responses online and we got a ton of supporting comments".
Many, Bergamini says, suggested that the Daily Mail's journalist comments were racially motivated therefore "they should be ashamed of this".
Watch video 'No vote no voice' #RegisterToVote by Drillminister
Thursday 12th December 2019 is the most important day in a generation in Britain and the most affected from its results and consequences are the young. More than twice as many young registered to vote for #GE2019 compared to 2017 elections...
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"In all of our secondary schools we run a program to register online. We got 100% of vote registration" of those entitled.
But there's a huge issue with political and media literacy across adults as well. In UK the majority of leave voters are 60+, the ones who, as stats say, are the main readers of print newspapers, right the media leaning for Brexit and the Conservatives.
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"From next year we are going to start political literacy for adults as well", says Matteo Bergamini. A big challenge, maybe even more tough than explaining young students connections and mutual influence between media and politics "right because they were not born with Internet but have to live with it".