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The Liberation essay: writing for a better world
The Morning Star talks with LIZ PAYNE of Liberation’s education committee about the essay competition launched to encourage children and young people to set out what they think a better world might look like and how to achieve it
Liberation fights for an education curriculum in Britain that teaches the truth about the criminal colonial past and that of other colonial powers. The legacy of empires and contemporary neo-colonial domination continues to limit and impoverish present generations across the world.
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Before we talk about the competition Liberation is launching for the first time this year, can you say something about its campaigning work for a transformation of the education curriculum?
Liberation has campaigned for nearly 70 years to end colonialism and all forms of post-colonial domination — the racism and oppression on which they depend and the misery they heap on millions of people.
Central to our work is the fight for an education curriculum in Britain that teaches the truth about our criminal colonial past and that of other colonial powers. The legacy of empires and contemporary neo-colonial domination continues to limit and impoverish present generations across the world.
It is our responsibility to them to expose our government’s part in this and demand that foreign policy ceases to be driven by greed and profit.
We believe that it is only through knowing and understanding what has taken place and in whose interest countries were stripped of resources and used as never-ending sources of cheap and slave labour that children and young people will come to appreciate that the past cannot be allowed to shape either the present or a future that mirrors the injustices of history.
We campaign for a curriculum that assures upcoming generations that a different world, one of our own making, is possible and gives them the confidence to go out and build it.
In what way do you hope the essay competition will support Liberation’s educational work and why did you choose the theme of how to achieve a better world?
We think that it is crucial to understand that education is not only about imparting knowledge but empowering young people to develop and articulate their views. Inviting them to send in their thoughts and ideas in a short essay seemed a good way to encourage this.
In future years, we hope to extend the competition to include, for example, art, drama and music. If Liberation is to be a successful campaigning organisation, we must always be a learning organisation and that includes listening to our children and young people and taking on board their experiences and aspirations.
Because we not only work to expose the crimes of the colonial past and neo-colonial present, but also to build another future, we decided that our first essay should focus on what young people imagine that future might look like, their priorities and how they might be achieved.
Who can enter the competition and how do they go about it?
Liberation is inviting young people to enter by writing on the theme “How do we achieve a better world?” Each entrant can choose a title for their piece.
There are three categories. The under 12s should write up to 400 words. We do emphasise that this is a maximum and we will be very happy to receive even a few sentences. Young people from 12 to 17 have a maximum word limit of 1,000 words and 18 to 25-year-olds 1,500 words.
Texts can be handwritten or typed. Entrants should send their essays either by email to essay@liberationorg.co.uk or by post to 75-77 St John Street, Clerkenwell, London EC1M 4NN, marking the envelope “essay competition.” Each submission must include the entrant’s name, age, school or university (if any) and a postal or email address at which they (or their parent, guardian or teacher) can be contacted. There is more information at www.liberationorg.co.uk.
The closing date for entries is May 1 2022. After this, our panel of qualified judges — prominent teachers and people involved in education and learning — will decide who are the winners, those with the best and most creative ideas. We think they will have a very hard job!
What will Liberation do with the entries you receive?
We look forward to reading all the entries and we will listen to and take account of what everyone has to say as we develop Liberation’s education work and our future campaigns.
We will publish the winning submissions in Liberation’s journal and invite their authors to receive a prize presented by Jeremy Corbyn MP, Liberation’s co-president.
How can Morning Star readers help to promote the competition?
We hope that students and young workers will put in an entry and spread the word to friends. We are also asking Morning Star readers who are parents or teachers of younger children to encourage them to enter, to tell their friends and family and ask their children’s school to take part. We are sure we will have a great response.
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