young people and politics in Portugal – Observer
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Joana Fernandes, 18, is one of many young people who, this Sunday, for the first time, felt that they were an active part of the construction of democracy in our country, with their vote, contributed to the election of the Assembly of the Republic. But is this a date they look forward to or, on the contrary, does it pass them by and attach little importance to it?
In order to understand by ear whether young people are involved in these initiatives and in the political process, the Observer has been listening to them over the last few days, in an initiative that culminated in the conference “My first – young people and politics in Portugal”, which he corrects on January 26 at the 42 Lisboa programming school.
In addition to Joana Fernandes, Maria José Brites, Researcher at the Center for Applied Research, Culture and New Technologies (Cicant) of Universidade Lusófona and Specialist in Literacy for the Media, also participated in the conversation, Jorge Fernandes, Political Scientist and Instituto Não Instituto de Ciências Sociais (ICS) from the University of Lisbon, and Pedro Rainho, deputy editor of the society and coordinator of fact checks at the Observer. At the end of the debate, moderated by journalist Paulo Farinha, it became very clear that, in order for young people to be involved – not only in youth politics, but in all dimensions of civic participation – education is fundamental, the family context can be crucial and – very importantly – to feel heard too.
Participation of the youngest and misinformation
Opening the debate, Joan Fernandes, a university student in the first year of the Anthropology course, made clear the responsibility that she feels on January 30th to finally cast her vote on her responsibility or was she born out of responsibility, not responsibility, day in a family where “politics has always been a recurring theme at the table”. And this, as we realized throughout the conversation, can make all the difference. But does the first trip have to understand the messages that the different parties want to pass on, in order to decide their vote in conscience? “I think that, through social networks and the media, there is a lot of publicity about what is happening in the debates, but also about what each party defends and so that the people in my communication, and not only, were aware in who are going to do it and make it do it,” he replied. At the same time, it revealed good news regarding the much-feared misinformation. Despite recognizing that “fake news is quite recurrent”, he considers that “we have a way of understanding whether it is true or not, trying to understand what we are reading”.