The First Public Meeting
Is it ever justifiable to execute criminals?
By Bismah Innas Ali
Our morals were put to test when we debated the latter topic at the Bradford and Keighley Youth Parliament Public Meeting last Thursday.
Held in the impressive council chambers in Bradford, the Public Meeting began with feedback from the new members of the BKYP regarding the progress made in our first term in office. As an MYP, I was humbled by the advances made by every constituency in just a few months: from improving our parks to improving sexual health to combating homelessness within West Yorkshire, the issues tackled were relevant to the youth of West Yorkshire today and close to their hearts. That is perhaps, the most rewarding part of being an MYP.
In traditional BKYP Public Meeting custom, the day culminated in debate. I was proposing the motion, and opposing was Geri Snell. At first, the prospect of debating in front of the whole youth parliament was daunting, but we soon found that debating in front of your peers is a lot less frightening than in front of adults! To round off the day’s debate it was opened up to the floor, where nearly every MYP had something to say; something valuable to add to the debate. In the end, and after heated argument, the youth parliament voted against the practice being reinstated.
All in all, the first public meeting of our new term in the Youth Parliament was not only productive; it was really good fun, and it helped every MYP gain confidence speaking in public.
The role of an MYP however, is not just limited to Public Meetings. Once a week we meet in our constituencies to discuss issues raised by the youth in our area. Recently we completed our first constituency roadshow as MYPs, where we liaised with over 2000 young people from all over West Yorkshire and asked about issues that mattered to them the most and now we look forward to addressing these issues in our next two years in office.
In the Shipley constituency, Youths decided that the most pressing issues were to improve parks and places to go, and decrease the graffiti in the Shipley area. Initially, we liaised with Youth and Community officers and gained valuable contacts and forums to help us improve our parks and decrease the graffiti, such as the Shipley Area Committee, where we put forward our ideas.
Next, we studied parks in the Shipley area, taking photos, talking to the park-goers, discussing ideas, and most of all, having a good play in them! (all on a strictly professional, park-improving basis, of course…). We hope that as Shipley MYPs, we really can make a difference to the parks in our two years in office and tackle the graffiti in Shipley. We’re really passionate about making a difference for young people.
In this last paragraph, I now hope to encapsulate the very essence of being an MYP. True to our motto: make some noise, see some change, we want to give young people the chance to have a voice, to be heard. To stand on their soapbox and make a positive contribution to society. We want to break down barriers and redefine the oh-so-clichéd misconceptions of the so-called hoodie-ridden, knife-carrying youth of today.
Above all, we want to make a positive difference to society.
