‘Keep Going And Be Specific About Your Goals,’ Tony Blair And George Osborne Tell Parkland Students

 From chastising Jeremy Corbyn, UK’s Leader of the Opposition, for his “disgraceful behaviour of being an apologist for the Russian regime” to candid views on Brexit and US President Donald Trump, former British prime minister Tony Blair and George Osborne, editor of London Evening Standard and a former Chancellor of the Exchequer, offered varied perspectives on contemporary politics at their ‘Coffee House’ meeting at the sixth Global Education & Skills Forum (GESF) 2018 in Dubai.

However, the compelling moment came in their support of the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, who are leading the #NeverAgain campaign for gun control regulation in the US. On the opening day of GESF 2018, Suzanna Barna, Lewis Mizen and Kevin Trejos, three school students who survived one of the deadliest mass shootings, had put the spotlight on the incident and the mass support that is being rallied by students in the US to drive gun control reforms.

Blair, the founder of the Tony Blair Institute of Global Change, told the students: “My advice is to keep going and to make sure that you reach larger numbers of lawmakers who will listen to your case. Try and bring them over; you must also speak up against those who are more interested in getting their face on TV than achieving the objectives of the campaign.”

Osborne urged the students to “be quite specific about what you want to achieve. You can either inspire them [the lawmakers] with your example, making them genuinely change their minds or you can threaten them with political consequences as you have the numbers”.

He said Donald Trump’s comment about potentially arming teachers in the wake of the Parkland shooting is “totally bizarre” stating that the UK’s response to a school shoot-out many years ago was to ban handguns.

Underscoring the role of education in preparing young people for the future, Blair called for thinking about education differently, to shape “young people to become creative thinkers not just pass the exams”. He said that “next generation technology will revolutionise the world, including education.

Osborne said the incredible advancements in technology have not overtly changed the education sector. “The classroom today looks very similar to that from a hundred years ago”. With computers, the teacher isn’t the only source of knowledge today, he said, but the ability of foster “creative thinking, absorbing and making sense of knowledge” is lacking. He highlighted the need for “an education policy that promotes an individualised sense of learning”.

They also reiterated the need for lifelong learning, by extending the purview of education beyond school and university years. “Learning through life is more important and hard because you are asking people to think differently about their future and prospects,” said Blair. He said that three aspects are crucial in transforming modern economies: “Macroeconomic stability, infrastructure and education – look at these and focus on them relentlessly.”

They added that it is important to engage young people in social issues, as they often do not see political decision-making as relevant to them. On Brexit, Blair and Osborne observed that by getting out, the UK will “diminish its standing” by not being part of the largest commercial market and political union.

On the increasing role of social media, Blair said that those who shout loudest are not necessarily the ones to be heard. He said that the “loud shouting on social media” has led to intense polarisation in politics that goes against the spirit of “politics as a means of building bridges” being completely lost today. Taking a “progressive centre round,” he said, “is “important to rekindle a narrative of optimism about the future.”

On the recent Russia-UK row, Osborne said that “Jeremy’s [Corbyn] behaviour has been disgraceful; he is entitled to raise questions about the government’s response but to appear as an apologist of the Russian regime is just nonsense.”