Press release 5.11.26
For immediate use
A report published today shows that less than a quarter of under-35s believe it is important “to serve in the military during a national crisis”.
The findings, produced by the National Centre for Social Research, come after Ipsos polling in October found that half of the UK population would not fight for their country under any circumstances.
Reacting to the statistics, Socialist Students national chair Adam Powell-Davies said: “The Britain that our government wants us to fight for is the Britain of the billionaires, bankers and big business. It is a country where just 50 families hold more combined wealth than the bottom 50% of the population, roughly 34 million people. With Labour’s Budget doing nothing to reverse this status-quo of profits for a few and crumbs for the rest of us, it any surprise that young people won’t fight for a country where the people currently in charge won’t fight for us?”
Socialist Students is currently leading the campaign in Britain for mass student walkouts and protests on Friday 20 November, as part of an International Youth Strike called by youth and student organisations from across Europe, under the slogan, “fight for our future, not their wars”.
Socialist Students was the founding organisation from Britain initiating the International Youth Strike call at a meeting held in Cologne, Germany in June. In Britain, the National Education Union has backed the strike, the National Union of Students is taking part, and UCU and UNISON have called for protests in every university on the same day. Walkouts are planned at more than 100 schools, colleges and universities, and the main London protest is at 12pm in Parliament Square.
ENDS
Notes to editors
Earlier today TALK News Broadcasting asked for a socialist representative to participate in a live televised conversation about the amount of young people who would not want to fight for Britain if a war broke out. However, when Adam Powell-Davies was offered, TALK suddenly withdrew the invitation. Socialist Students would like to make clear that our members are available for interview and comment. Contact Socialist Students at socialistudents@gmail.com or on 0751521699.
About Socialist Students: Socialist Students is a democratic, student-led campaigning organisation in schools, colleges and universities across the UK. It fights for a socialist transformation of society to meet the needs of all, not the profits of a few. Its members organise campaigns and protests against war, climate breakdown, poverty and discrimination, and link student struggles with workers’ struggles on and off campus. More at https://socialiststudents.org.uk/what-is-socialist-students/
