Earlier this month almost 10,000 young people from across Europe were hosted at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, for YoFest and the third annual European Youth Event, that debates issues affecting youth people. In this series, Ellen Butler explains the key issues that came up.

Stereotypes
Amandine Gay spoke about the damaging stereotypes that are used casually, citing the example of ‘the angry black woman’. Activists are often criticised for being angry and hot headed, when they are not deliberately being provocative, but are genuinely frustrated by the injustices they are trying to highlight and rectify.

Gay also suggested people from privileged backgrounds should “stop, step back, and look at who you surround yourself with”. She recommended finding and interacting with people of different backgrounds and ways of life, who have alternative perspectives, opinions and struggles to those you and your peers have.

She called for codes of conduct in work places and mandatory training for MEPs to directly address the inclusion of people from diverse backgrounds and sexualities.

For more on this conference, see here.

Photo by Ramón Salinero on Unsplash

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