You may have missed this one, but the video below shows 15 year old Barnaby Raine speaking out against the UK Government on the recent hike in University Fees. From the Huffington Post:
The impassioned plea was made at the Coalition of Resistance National Conference in Camden, U.K., on Nov. 27, a youth, students and education workshop…
He builds up to this sequence toward the end of the video: “They can’t stop us demonstrating, they can’t stop us fighting back, and how ever much they try to imprison us in the streets of London, those are our streets. We will always be there to demonstate, we will always be there to fight.”
The comments on the Huffington Post and Boing Boing articles are interesting to follow, with many praising Barnaby for his courage and articulation, and others criticising his over-simplification of the political issues. Regardless of opinion on the university fees rise and the violent protests that occurred in London as a result, I’m simply amazed at the oratory skills of such a young man. I don’t know many people in their early 20’s who could do public speaking like that, let along mid-teens!
2 responses to “Incredibly Articulate 15 Year Old Protester”
I am not so sure this is a great speach at all. I actually think these protests have been about the very thing he said the generation was not – most of the students are standing up for selfish reasons, – the selfish reason being that the state should pay for them to spend half thier time in study – half thier time at parties whilst we have people dying because we cannot afford cancer treatments (probably because the state is having to fund STI clinics because one in 6 young people in the UK have an STI probably obtained after being drunk at a party whilst at uni). Most police officers have a Uni education – face re-lentless challenges everyday and a young lad who has very little experience in life is applauded for rubbish. Most of us will never know how difficult it is to balance the books of a nation who spend more in a few minutes running this country than we will ever learn in a life time. Let him protest – but maybe one day when he is ill he can ask why he is not getting the treatment he wants – and the reply will be “you got a free education instead”!
Hi Nate,
Thanks for the comment. I know the content of this speech isn’t to everyone’s taste and people will disagree on a number of points. Personally, I don’t agree with some of his assumptions either, but I posted this because his oratory skill.
To be able to make such a powerful, impassioned and articulate plea is beyond many of us. For a 15 year old to stand up and deliver that kind of address is impressive regardless of whether he is correct or not!