8 I spoke for five minutes and accepted the Jewish hunk’s hand when he offered it to me, and the nod of approval from the Presbyterian girl when I sat down. Jacob Coote nudged me, almost sending me sprawling over my neighbour. “Great speech. Only the seniors have AIDS talks at our school, which is a waste because by that stage most of us have had sex for years.” I nodded vaguely in agreement, embarrassed that he had divulged that information to me. “What are you going to talk about?” He dug into his pocket and pulled out a condom. “I’m gonna show these people how to put one on,” he said seriously, standing up. I was horrified. I knew he wasn’t a debater and that he probably didn’t have a speech prepared. I was also worried that by sitting behind him I wouldn’t see anything and was ashamed of myself for thinking it. Until he stood in front of the microphone and spoke. “I’m speaking about the vote today,” he said, digging his fingers into his pockets. I sighed in relief but was disappointed by his boring topic. “I think that all political parties are the same,” he began, sounding a bit stilted. He had taken his fingers out of his pockets by then and was kneading his neck with one. His white sleeves were rolled up to his elbow and I could see that he was tanned. Not a beach tan, though. More like a working, outdoor tan. “These politicians, they make the same promises. They tell the same lies and frankly, I can’t understand why normal voters get influenced by a political campaign. We all know that what they’re gonna say is what we wanna hear.” I could feel my Jewish neighbour cringing at the “gonna” and “wanna”. “I used to think that when it came time for me to vote,” he said, knocking his fist to his chest, “I’d put no effort into it. Maybe I would put in a dummy vote. Maybe I wouldn’t even bother registering at all. “Probably because until recently I wondered what the big deal was. What’s great about our political system here? Why do we call ourselves the lucky country when half of us can’t afford housing payments?” He was pointing his finger now and I could feel my neighbour sitting up and taking notice. Jacob Coote shrugged. “You know, I didn’t know what to talk about today, because I was only told an hour ago that I had to say something. I was gonna speak about the freedom you feel when you ride a motorbike, but that has nothing to do with having a say. When my neighbour up here was talking about ignorance when it came to sex education I was worried. I couldn’t think of anything to say that was as worthwhile as her speech. Until I looked out and saw everyone.” He shook his head and gave a little laugh. “And I felt lucky. Because we have a choice, and I think that we vote, not to get the best party in, but to keep the worst party out. Because we can stand here and protest. We can get all riled up about the Premier’s ideas. We can say he’s a dickhead even. We can call the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition one as well. “We can scream and shout and protest and even burn our flag if we want to. Because we’re free to do whatever we want to do and if we break the law we get a fair trial. “But in some countries, people can’t do that. They can’t go out into places like Martin Place and protest. In some countries people our age can’t concentrate on their schoolwork or their lives because of the sound of gunfire. “In some countries they have one-party systems and they have things called the People’s Army and when the people come out and have a say like we’re doing today – scream and shout and voice their opinion – the People’s Army shoots the people. Young people like us,” he added almost in a whisper. “So, great. Let’s be apathetic. Let’s not vote. Let’s let anyone run this country. Let’s all be ignorant and let’s all be proud of that ignorance. And maybe we’ll have a People’s Army one day, too.” He sat down next to me and everyone in our row leaned forward to stare at him before they clapped. I could sense where his friends were standing because of the shouting and whistling that was coming from their direction. I was stunned. Not about what he’d said, but the way he’d said it. I would never have thought that Jacob Coote would be passionate like that. (From: Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta; abridged) 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130 135 140 145 150 155 160 110 Famous speeches Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjU2NDQ5MQ==