The Future is Back
Today, it seems increasingly evident that old political forces—on both left and right—have become obsolete when facing the youth movement rising around the world. The old political guys are confronted by a younger generation that possesses a high degree of social aptitude and shows little interest in the old political parties and old ideologies which are dead anyway.
These kids come from the future! And it seems that the old guard, across the political spectrum, has forgotten that they aren’t in measure to dictate the pace of social time.
Gentlemen, social time is the engine of history; holding a position in a political party or leading an institution does not grant anyone a form of authority to dictate how things should be— the flow of social time has started to move again around the world. Gentlemen, it seems that you have forgotten that without social flux and the contribution of successive generations, society—and indeed civilization itself—cannot exist.
It’s clear that in most of the countries where there are youth in the streets the central authorities will attempt to stifle these youth movements by drawing them into their own sphere—often by highlighting the violence generated by their demonstrations. They will be firm and will ask for social control and most of all they will shape the public narrative.
In truth, if the youth movements around the world are advancing in a humanizing revolutionary direction, they must be clear that violence itself is the core problem. They must be clear that the State exerts violence directly on them such as: economic (budget cuts in education and in others services) and ideological violence (perpetuated by the old political parties and ideologies).
In fact young people must distance themselves from violence as a means of struggle— which is deployed by various groups.
Ultimately, if young people are able to move beyond the forms of spontaneous action, social unrest, and social upheaval, they will be capable of initiating a global humanizing revolution—something quite distinct from a political revolution. A global humanizing revolutionary cultural direction as to do with the human being. We are talking about the humn being as the central value —rather than other values such as productivity (PIB), money (capital and businesses the right), or a socialist society and state (the left).
Placing the human being at the center as a core value implies a fundamentally different conception of what it means to be human. Today we are still very far from truly grasping the reality of the human condition. Yet, youth movements are in search of this reality – they carry the hope of the human species. It is a matter of defining a new way of being—a way of being in freedom. This is a revolution that transcends class-based demands, human rights, and the climate crisis, while encompassing all these struggles—centered on the human being, its evolution and future.
