DELINQUENTS
chat back, act out, stand up!

About

We are DELINQUENTS.

We are anti-ageist agitators resisting age-oppression in solidarity with youth. We are a movement, not an organisation. You may already be a DELINQUENT yourself…

DELINQUENT (always in all capitals) is a reclamation of how ‘misbehaviour’ and ‘disobedience’ have been used as tools to weed out rebellion. Delinquency is weaponised to often specifically exclude and oppress Black, brown, neurodivergent, queer, and poor teenagers who are labelled as ‘too much’ before we’ve even walked in the door. DELINQUENTS are in solidarity with all those across the world who experience repression through school, foster care, ‘juvenile’ prisons, their families or any other forms of adult supremacy.

DELINQUENCY is a rejection of adult supremacy, ageism, and respectability politics. A DELINQUENT, as defined by the dictionary, is someone who “fails to fulfil their duty”. The so-called duty of children and young people is to be obedient. We reject this narrative. We will be seen and heard.

We are united for:

• youth liberation, autonomy and power;

• the destruction of adult supremacy;

• and abolition of age-oppressive institutions (e.g. schools, factories, foster care/homes, psych wards, juvenile prisons).

Anyone can align with the DELINQUENCY as a philosophy for freedom. Everyone can take action in alignment with youth liberation. All of us can chat back, act out and stand up!

Our Values!

for a youth liberationist A.R.M.Y.

Abolition – We are against all cages, confinements and prisons both internal and external. We support the abolition of the prisons, the foster and adoption system, the school system, capitalism and many more institutions of repression.

Respect Your Youngers – We’ve all heard the phrase “respect your elders”, but we aim to challenge adult authority so we want to flip that narrative. Respecting your youngers applies to both the young people in general and the childishness that lives within all of us.

Mutual Power – None of us are experts and may not have all the answers. The empowerment of young people must be centred, but nobody is in charge. Freedom is a community effort where we want everyone to be seen and heard.

Youth Liberation – We want young people to be liberated from ageism and patriarchy. We are against the oppression of all people based on age, including elders. We want self-determination and autonomy for young people so we can be who we are (rather than what adults want us to be).

Youth Support

There are so many ways to act in DELINQUENCY…

Organised autonomous support in local communities is what is needed to support children and young people. Liberation requires the empowerment of youth and solidarity of adults. Here are just some ideas for youth support…

• Can you support each other in getting school lunches and equipment?

• Can you pay for or offer places to stay for young people in difficult or abusive situations?

• Can you sort out a childcare rota for local parents in your community to have a night off?

• Could you set aside some regular opportunities to do creative, fun activities together away from oppressive adults/school?

• Can adults organise anti-ageism learning spaces so they can collectively learn how to better their solidarity? Could those spaces be led by/taught by young people?

• Can people who organise/attend events ensure that children are included in the space and that it is made accessible?

• Can adults with access to money and bank accounts (who have privilege over young people as we have no financial freedom) set aside some money to give out to young people, no strings attached, without policing what we do with it?

If you already run a community project similar to the examples above, that is in alignment with the DELINQUENT philosophy, please contact us so we can feature it on the website!