Edward Krutsch
Australia
Founder and director of Run For It
Profile
Edward Krutsch is a campaigner and community organiser from Melbourne, Australia. He participated in grassroots community activism in high school, and has since been involved with many social movements. He has also coordinated campaigns and executed programs for several national organisations, charities and social enterprises in Australia. From 2018 to 2019, Edward worked with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, where he organised a national team of young volunteers to campaign during the 2019 Australian Federal Election. He also helped coordinate logistics for the School Strike 4 Climate events in November 2018 and March 2019. Edward then became an Election Campaigner in the City of Port Phillip council elections in 2020, and that same year, founded his organisation, Run For It.
The organisation’s mission is to engage young people in political and democratic processes and to assist and amplify the election campaigns of candidates under the age of 35. Edward is currently working part-time as the campaign manager at Make it 16 Australia, where he supervises an initiative aimed at lowering the voting age to 16 for Australian federal elections. He is also completing a research honours degree in Australian politics, focused on the representation of children and young people in Australian federal politics. He said he continues to embrace the spirit of youth in the political arena and to champion social progress with all of his efforts.
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Edward said he is reluctant to call himself a ‘peacebuilder’. He finds it difficult to identify himself as such while living in Australia, a country free of conflict and with relative political stability. ‘I think I’d rather call myself a political organiser, because we’re organising young people to best respond to the challenges that we face,’ he said. He also focuses on building coalitions among organisations with similar goals so that they can collectively lobby for better policies for younger generations.
Edward said his journey into political organising and advocacy began with his high school involvement in various social movements, primarily focused on climate change. However, it was not until the 2019 federal election in Australia that Edward’s efforts gained momentum. His work with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and campaigning though grassroots movements became a joint effort to make climate change the most pressing issue in the federal election. Unfortunately, the results were quite disappointing as the elected government refused to cooperate with them.
This frustration pushed Edward to establish his own movement called Run For It. ‘It is an organisation that helps bridge the gap between young people and politics,’ he said. He stressed the importance of youth participation within the political landscape. ‘It’s about their future,’ he said, ‘because ultimately it’s young people who are going to experience the consequences of these policies in the long term.’
One of the primary goals of Run For It is to aid youth participation in election campaigns. The organisation has also initiated a campaign to lower the voting age in Australia to 16. Edward said he hopes this can serve as an instrument to systematically change democracy. ‘We believe that once we change our democracy, we can create better policy outcomes for future generations’ he said.
He added, however, that in order to increase youth representation at the government level one must overcome significant financial barriers. Running for an election can cost up to a million Australian dollars, and funding relies entirely on philanthropic support, which is difficult to access. In the absence of financial aid, Run For It supports young candidates by amplifying their voices during elections through media coverage. ‘We try and get them on the radio and then also put their campaigns on our social media and encourage everyone to share it,’ he said.
Edward aspires to advance his organisation to a level where he can compensate active participants for their meaningful contributions. Moreover, he would like to see a more intersectional approach to social issues in Australia, as many climate change activists often disregard other pressing social issues. ‘All issues do come together, so I think we should also be tackling racism at the same time that we tackle climate change and social and economic issues,’ he said.
A last word of advice from Edward is to always acknowledge the small wins. The absence of immediate results can be a source of frustration for young peacebuilders and can take its toll on their mental wellbeing. ‘You just have to count all the small things and take breaks when you need to,’ he said.