15 Points of Youth Liberation with Examples (Part 1)
The Youth Liberation Organization was a multiracial coalition of 20 kids between the ages of 12-16.
At a recent Zinn Education Project event my breakout room got feisty. The event was part-pedagogical workshop, part-book launch, and part-educational crowdsourcing; Jesse Hagopian read from and discussed his new book, Teach Truth: The Struggle for Anti-Racist Education, we reflected on 44 states with new laws restricting freedom of education and, in breakout rooms, we discussed how we would implement what we learned in our lives. One of my breakout room buddies commented on how kids today are so much more vocal and engaged then kids in past generations, probably due to social media. I couldn’t let that one slide.
Don’t get me wrong! Kids today are absolutely kicking butt when it comes to effective and radical political engagement- they are activists, community leaders, and educators in their own right. My students at Solve for Why will just as often tell me about their strategic actions as they’ll add incisive political reflections to lessons.
But kids today are far from the first generation of youth to lead their contemporary movements. I could rattle off a list to my breakout buddy without thinking - the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Edelweiss Pirates, the Factory Girls Association, the Nashville Student Union. There is a long, storied history of young people organizing across different protest and political movements. There is also a history of young people organizing specifically and intersectionally for their rights and against their marginalization as children.
Youth liberation does not live only in theory, but in practice. In this series, I’ll be using a youth-developed framework (The Youth Liberation Organization Platform) to highlight historic and modern examples of youth resistance to systems of oppression.
News clipping of Sonia Yaco’s School Board campaign (1972)
“We believe ideas should be judged on their merit and people on their wisdom or kindness…. If the human species is to survive, the young must take the lead..” Ann Arbor YLO
1. THE POWER TO DETERMINE OUR OWN DESTINY
These 15 demands are not universal across youth liberation movements. This platform was created in 1970s Ann Arbor, Michigan by the group “Youth Liberation Organization” (YLO). Leading up to the founding of the YLO, Ann Arbor was a hub of left-wing activism and anti-war organizing. The YLO fit right in and immediately got to work on youth self-determination; 15- year old Sonia Yaco ran in a public election for a seat on the school board. While she was supported by adults in her life and from the YLO-backer Human Rights Party, other adults were not so helpful. Her opponents called her names, kept her off of stages, and eventually brought her to the state supreme court, which prohibited her campaign.
In addition to electoral campaigns, the Youth Liberation Organization published an underground newspaper with comics, essays, and stories from kids across the country, released books and pamphlets, held rallies, and collaborated with other community organizations, Despite their disbandment in 1979, the YLO was a forerunner of the youth liberation movement and their message of youth self-determination resonated with a large audience. This principle guides much of our work at Solve for Why- I am candid with parents that my ultimate goal is to support students in identifying, pursuing, and actualizing their educational desires. Here, youth are in charge - always.
Aniyah Juicy performs at Christopher Street Pier
“Our lives are considered the property of various adults. We do not recognize their right to control us. We call this control Adult Chauvinism and we will fight it”.- Ann Arbor YLO
2. THE IMMEDIATE END OF ALL ADULT CHAUVINISM
Chauvinism today usually refers to oppression of women. In its first recorded use (1840) it meant, more generally, "exaggerated, blind nationalism; patriotism degenerated into a vice." As a youth liberation concept, adult chauvinism refers to the structural restriction of the rights and options of children due to their perceived inability to exercise those rights and choose the “correct” options. Adults know best, and if children disagree, they are corrected- often by coercive, forceful, or downright violent means. Adults control or attempt to control whether, when, and how children eat, sleep, move, and socialize.
Historically, some of the youth most impacted by this structure of control are queer and trans people of color. Youth who are abused, ostracized, and unhoused find home and family with each other and with queer and trans adults. In New York City’s Kiki scene, youth can themselves become house parents and create cultures of love and care for themselves and each other. The Kiki scene is a youth-centered offshoot of the ball scene and is likewise a culture of creative expression, interdependence, and mutual solidarity. Kiki balls often include free STI testing, support services for unhoused kids, calls for political participation, and organic mutual aid. Adults in the community know that they are there to care for kids- to consistently and materially support youth in surviving and thriving.
Adults in Teaneck, NJ express support for protesting students.
“We believe young people are necessary participants in democracy. We must have complete freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion, and the right to vote.” Ann Arbor YLO
3. FULL CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Last month I wrote about how Palestine’s liberation is a youth rights issue. As an example, I shared how university students across the country continue to face criminal charges, suspensions, and expulsions for “incendiary comments”, “unauthorized use of amplified sound” (come on y’all, it’s a megaphone), and “trespassing” on their own campuses, among similarly thin charges. But younger students also face backlash, interpersonal violence, and institutional marginalization when they exercise free speech in Israel, in the United States, and around the world.
In November of 2023, students from Teaneck High School in New Jersey organized a teach-in and walkout at their high school. Within a few weeks, a small group of high school girls received a deluge of violent threats, the full force of a Zionist lobbying agency, and (at their state representative’s request) an investigation from the federal Department of Education. Still, the students are committed and diligent, and have hosted several more walkouts and events over the past year. Now, they not only organize for the liberation of Palestine- they organize for their own right to free speech.
Discussion Questions
What roles do youth play in political and social movements? What can young people contribute that adults cannot?
What obstacles do kids face to full political participation? How can kids overcome these obstacles? How can adults support kids challenging these obstacles?
Who in your local community is working toward youth liberation? Who in your daily life? How can you participate?
Why do the kids in these examples persist in organizing, despite backlash?
What other historic or contemporary examples of youth liberation can you think of?
Further Learning:
Lose an afternoon to the YLO archives and help out with the archival efforts!
Watch the beautiful documentary Kiki and then fund Kikiers directly or through local orgs
Read about your local student movements and then show up to a scheduled event and support them!