My earliest political memory, though very distant and somewhat undefined, is the civil war in Yugoslavia when I was 7-8 years old and the eventual breakup of the country. I say distant and undefined, because at the time I didn’t really understand much about what was going on, nor did I know much about key events and figures; I only remember how worried and stressed my parents and other adults seemed about it all. To be precise, my basic memory is sitting in our living room and hearing them mention for the first time their worries about the war and the unrest spilling over to Greece and feeling terrified (and at the same time kind of shamefully excited) at the possibility of experiencing war firsthand.
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Last autumn we ran an experimental online public engagement series called 'earliest political memories'. We collected a total of 68 memories that were generously contributed by members of the public. You can read all the contributions here. The series caught the attention of our colleague Rachel O'Connell in the School of English who…
In "earliest political memories"
My first political memory was when I was about 8 years old. I came home and found my mum in the kitchen crying while listening to the radio. I asked her why she was crying - and she told me Princess Diana had died accidentally. I didn't understand why she…
In "earliest political memories"
I was born in 1967 and as a small child I was on my father's shoulders in anti-Vietnam War rallies in which the (U.S.) National Guard was brought out. I don't remember that (or better, any memories I might have had are thoroughly blurred with what I later heard about…
In "earliest political memories"