POWER TO THE PEOPLE
PROGRAMME 5: U TO Z
ACTIVITIES
Guidance
Teachers should be familiar with relevant guidance on how to deal with controversial issues (see Links) before using the programme. They should also decide in advance whether to view it in its entirety or in parts.
The activities below support a mix of individual, paired and group work. You may wish to revisit the outcomes of the 'before viewing' activities once learners have seen the programme.
Before viewing
List a) the reasons why people protest and b) the methods that they use. Review your lists and identify the top three items in each. Justify your choices. What would you be prepared to protest about, and which methods would you use?
Discuss one or more of the following:
- People protest because they think that they can change the world
- A democracy cannot survive without protests
- A strike is the best protest method for employees to use
- Women need a protest movement to help them achieve equality with men
- Voting in elections is a powerful form of protest
- A protest will only be as successful as the amount of media coverage that it gets
- Protestors should not break the law
- Protestors should not put lives at risk
- Young people are more likely to take part in protests than older people
- Apathy will be the downfall of democracy.
After viewing
To view 4Learning video clips you will need Windows XP/2000 and Windows Media Player 9, 10 or 11. Unfortunately, the clips are not supported on Macintosh computers.
The video clips may contain a few seconds of extra material at the beginning and end. We have therefore included opening and closing descriptions to help identify the intended scene.
Clip one: Unions 00:42 – 02:31
- Opens with the narrator saying, 'U is for unions.'
- Closes with Sally Hunt saying, 'That's what you do.'
Discuss the pros and cons of union membership and strike action for employees and employers. Use the internet and other resources to research three examples of strike action that has taken place in the last ten years. Review your findings and use them to create a poster supporting or condemning strikes as a protest method. Display and discuss your ideas.
Clip two: Women's Movement 09:54 – 11:56
- Opens with the narrator saying, 'W is for the Women's Movement.'
- Closes with the narrator saying, 'A pay gap of nearly £20,000.'
List the social changes that 100 years of women's protest have achieved, and those that have yet to be achieved. Discuss whether a women's movement is still needed and, if so, what lessons it could learn from the Gay Rights Movement (see Queer, programme 4).
Clip three: X=Vote 14:16 – 16:28
- Opens with Dr Beckford saying, 'In recent years, we've seen the growth of what's called single issue politics.'
- Closes with Julia Clark saying, 'It means young people's voices are not being heard.'
Explain why increasingly fewer young people use voting as a way to make their voices heard. How would you persuade young people to see voting as an effective protest method? Share and discuss your ideas. Conclude by creating a media message that could be communicated to young people via a range of new technologies.
Clip four: Youth 16:49 – 19:48
- Opens with Dr Beckford saying, 'If you look at the recent protest against the war…'
- Closes with Kierra Box saying, 'I think it needs to be made a lot easier.'
Discuss why young people are at the forefront of protest and suggest reasons for the upsurge in youth protest in the last five years. Visit and review Kierra Box's 'Hands Up' website (see Links). What are its strengths and weaknesses? How could it be improved? Develop a 'Make Your Voice Count' website for your school or college.
- Opens with Toyah Willcox saying, 'There is no excuse for apathy.'
- Closes with the narrator saying, 'It's up to you.'
Define the term 'apathy' and explain why many people regard apathy as a problem in modern society. Prepare and run a debate on the following motion, which is based on a quotation from Albert Einstein: 'This house believes that the world is a dangerous place to live in, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.'
