John Wall - Give Children the Vote: On Democratizing Democracy

Give Children the Vote

Give Children the Vote

On Democratizing Democracy

John Wall

BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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First published in Great Britain, 2022

Copyright John Wall, 2022

John Wall has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.

For legal purposes the constitute an extension of this copyright page.

Cover design by Jade Barnett

Cover image YAY Media AS / Alamy Stock Photo

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Wall, John, author.

Title: Give children the vote : on democratizing democracy / John Wall.

Description: London ; New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2022. |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021023543 (print) | LCCN 2021023544 (ebook) |

ISBN 9781350196285 (hardback) | ISBN 9781350196261 (paperback) |

ISBN 9781350196292 (pdf) | ISBN 9781350196308 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Voting age. | YouthPolitical activity. |

Election law. Classification: LCC JF841 .W36 2022 (print) |

LCC JF841 (ebook) | DDC 324.6/2083dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021023543

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021023544

ISBN: HB: 978-1-3501-9628-5

PB: 978-1-3501-9626-1

ePDF: 978-1-3501-9629-2

eBook: 978-1-3501-9630-8

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Contents

The ideas in this book originated with my involvement in the Department of Childhood Studies at Rutgers University Camden, the Childhood Studies and Religion Group of the American Academy of Religion, and the Child Studies Department at Linkping University. I am grateful for early discussions with Don Browning, Marcia Bunge, Bruno Vanobbergen, Anandini Dar, Trygve Wyller, William Schweiker, Anna Mae Duane, Pamela Couture, Barbara Pitkin, Wendy Love Anderson, Jonathan Josefsson, Anna Sparrman, Bengt Sandin, Wendy Russell, Michael Freeman, Nigel Thomas, Shelly Newstead, Wendy Russell, Annemie Dillen, Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, Jana Mohr Lone, the students in my annual graduate course in Childrens Rights, and others.

I have been fortunate over the years to learn from many inspiring interlocuters and activists. These include members of the Childrens Voting Colloquium, especially its cofounder (with myself) Robin Chen, as well as Kristiina Vares-Wartiovaara, Markus Wartiovaara, Kalle hman, Joseph Rathinam, Claudio Lpez-Guerra, Michael Cummings, Neena Modi, Katherine Walton, Ralph Hall, David Runciman, Cheryl Milne, Luigi Campiglio, Lavinia Mello Rella, Miles Corak, Adam Fletcher, Brian Conner, Alex Koroknay-Palicz, Robert Ludbrook, Nicholas Munn, Mary Birdsell, Lily Stelling, Jester Jersey, Neil Bhateja, and others. I appreciate the invaluable input of my graduate students Elisabeth Yang, Sebastian Barajas, Ines Meier, and Diana Garcia. I have also learned much in my time as director of the Childism Institute, including from Hanne Warming, Tanu Biswas, Sarada Balagopalan, Lauren Silver, Kate Cairns, Dan Cook, Erica Burman, Karin Murris, Nathan Walker, Fikile Nxumalo, Anne Graham, Antonia Canosa, Justyna Deszcz-Tryhubczak, and others. I am grateful for the support of my Rutgers University Camden colleagues Stuart Charm, Charlie Jarrett, Melissa Yates, Nicole Karapanagiotis, Eric Chwang, Craig Agule, Margaret Betz, Michael Palis, Daniel Hart, Beth Rabinowitz, Lynne Vallone, Kriste Lindenmeyer, and Howard Marchitello.

As always, I am especially thankful for the love and support of Mili Lozada and my parents, Tony and Geraldine Wall. I dedicate this book to my daughters, Isabel and Simona Wall.

So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote I do not possess myself. I cannot make up my mindit is made up for me. I cannot live as a democratic citizen, observing the laws I have helped to enactI can only submit to the edict of others.

Martin Luther King Jr.

In September 2019, I participated in a Fridays for Future climate rally in my home town of Philadelphia in the United States. It was a powerful and moving event. Thousands of demonstrators filled up the square and streets around City Hall cheering and holding up homemade signs, listening to impassioned speakers, and then marching for a few blocks past commuters, onlookers, and clapping passers-by. But as I stood and chanted with the crowd, it eventually dawned on me that I was far older than most of the other protesters around me. There were a few infants and young children with their parents, plus a few other adult stragglers. But the vast majority of sign-waving, hugging, and shouting demonstrators were between about eight and eighteen years old. As were virtually all of the speakers. It became clear that the rally was organized by, and meant to give voice to the urgent concerns of, primarily children and youth.

This was an expression of young peoples political power. Inspired by fifteen-year-old Greta Thunbergs school strikes outside the Swedish parliament, Fridays for Future rallies had been taking place for months in thousands of cities around the world and involving millions of child and youth strikers. Perhaps never before had there been such a global outpouring of grassroots solidarity. And never before had the climate emergency gained such global attention. The climate movement has turned into one of historys most powerful social actions. Minors are showing that serious action is needed if their lives are to approximate the quality of life of their elders. It is they and not adults who face its most serious immediate and long-term consequences. And it is they, more than adults, who are joining forces to bring about real change.