November saw the third annual Mock COP organised by Open University, Highland One World, and DYWICH at Highland Council Chambers in Inverness. At Speyside High School, we had our team of senior student delegates prepared to represent the USA, but we also had a team of our newly formed Model UN group ready to bring something different to the proceeding – a demonstration. The students stormed the conference floor, dressed in animal masks and stage an “extinction event”! Here’s S4 student Ollie, who took the mic, to tell us more…
“We don’t have single issue struggles because we don’t have single issue lives.”
“The experience for me from Mock COP as part of the Model UN was thought-provoking. I hope in turn we encouraged a new position for our fellow classmates and collaborators with our demonstrations. Audre Lorde stated, “We don’t have single issue struggles because we don’t have single issue lives”. I quoted this during our protest, as an attempt to activate our peers’ critical thinking skills – influencing them to connect the dots between issues discussed and their resolutions.
Youths are generally drawn to actions rather than smaller symbolistic-displays of protest. This shows the impact that our actions of storming the council chamber, making noise and criticism had on our peers’ decision-making, impacting the resolutions they ended up voting for, compared to what they may have previously.”
“It was astonishing to watch a group of younger students from our small rural school, storm the stage and own the space.”
We hear a lot in education about learning through rights, pupil participation, student-led learning, and the entitlement of Learning for Sustainability. All too often these translate into activities that lack the necessary activism. It was astonishing to watch a group of younger students from our small rural school, storm the stage and own the space. They acted with conviction, passion, and integrity. I was so proud of our young activists (and of the many other students who supported them). As educators, we must create the experiences to allow our students to strive and act for a better future for all of us.
