“Do you also think that the youth
are indeed writing the future”? Do you also think that the future belongs to
the youth”?
I notice that the majority of you
believe that. But the rest, really do
not!
Personally I won’t hide the fact
that I don’t believe it. I don’t believe this sentence that is often hammered into
our heads like a truism, an absolute truth, or the obvious.
Indeed, in its essence, the
future is the result of the past and the present combined.
This is on the one hand. On the
other hand we cannot forget that today’s youth will not be young in the future,
or at least will not be as young as they are today.
From here, I’m on the verge of
believing that the affirmation: “The future belongs to the youth” is just a
lure, abait, a hoax, or a vast deception!
Let’s see!!!
Who really decides what our
countries, our Mediterranean, or our world
will be like in 1O, 15, or even in 2O years? Are they really the youth?
What is the real weight of the
youth in the economic, political, and management decision-making processes that
will shape our cities, regions, countryside and environment in the decades to
come ?
Who will obtain the levers of power
in 5, 1O or 2O years? Will young people
seize them? Will at least a small part of the youth be involved in
decision-making positions?
Personally I see no sign, no hint
of evidence, and no clues to believe that the sentence: “The future belongs to
the youth” is not misleading!
Some of you, including those
older than you, would object: But youth is not a question of age! It is rather
a matter of soul, mind and heart!
I can only recognize and bow down
before this objection.
Actually, my friend the French author and human rights
defender Stephane Hessel
remained young, creative and full of vitality until the sad day that he left us.
His creativity mainly targeted the youth.
He had been working to make us
understand that our future is built, “Here and Now”.
He taught that we have to aim for the moon and
to reach for the stars, to reconstitute the world and rebuild the human here at
the point where we are standing, immediately and relying on our own strength
and capacities. He urged us to get angry! It’s time for outrage he wrote!
But in your opinion, is Sephane
Hessel the exception or the rule?
Look at those who are planning
wars, those who are polluting the earth and the sky, those who just seek profit
regardless of the harm that they can cause to the depths of our planet (through
shale gas, horribly managed mines, over-exploitation of ground water etc.) as
well as the damage they can cause to its surface (through deforestation,
insecticide sprays and other pollutants)
Look at all those who instead of
bringing us closer to each other are everyday building new barriers and higher walls,
as is the case for travelling from south to north, or for the racist separation
wall between Palestinians and their occupiers.
Then, from another perspective,
do you really believe that the youth who are involved in governing our world,
managing its affairs, and drawing and redrawing its face to come really represent
the youth?
For my part, I don’t think so. I
am not just skeptical. I don’t believe it at all.
And to better explain why I don’t
believe it at all, I will tell you rather concisely, about a part of what my
country Tunisia has experienced in recent times and what it continues to
witness now.
I suppose that all of you have
heard about our revolution, which western media was quick to label “the Jasmine
Revolution” and which proclaimed the announcement of “the Arab Spring”.
In case you did not know, my
country did not experience more than two presidents for more than half a century.
Both of those presidents have been forced to leave office; the first following
a coup hatched by his successor, and the second under the conditions that you
already know. In Januray 2O11, he cowardly fled the wrath of the youth; the
youth who challenged his oppressive forces, his minions, and the omnipotence of
his party-state.
Being one of those who lived almost
entirely under the regime of the second, I can tell you that at the time, I had
never known about a sit-in, a demonstration, or any other kind of protest
actions except in books, movies or on TV channels, not to mention free debates,
the exchange of opposite ideas, freedom of speech, or the ability to engage in
another party aside from the one dedicated to serve the dictator and his clan.
Around me, in my family and in my
parents’ circle of friends, and despite
being prone to protest and refusing to line up, I mainly heard nihilistic,
negative, pessimistic commentaries on the situation.
It was said, as if it were an
implacable decision of the fate that things were far from evolution or change;
that our people have concluded a non- reviewable contract with resignation. We
considered the acts of refusing to kneel down, not being involved in corruption
and nepotism, and refusing to be among the vibrant advocates of the regime as
acts of bravery and revolution!!!!
Of youth, it was said that their
ambitions were mainly materialistic. That they were just seeking to lead a
luxurious and good life at any price, and that they had lost all sense of
responsibility, solidarity, devotion and dedication to others and to their
country.
The movement that led to the
ousting of the dictator Ben Ali on January 14th 2O11 and many of the
events that have taken place from that day until now have proven the opposite.
Indeed, the youth, and many among
our women and girls, mainly and defied and challenged the regime and its
oppressive forces. They offered their bare chests to the bullets and truncheons
of the repression forces. They inhaled the tear gas and slept on the public
squares. Yes, our youth managed to rekindle the flame, and to make the
impossible possible, and to threaten a regime that seemed untouchable and
cowardly, a regime to whom the majority
of people and governments used to show loyalty and complacency.
It was mainly the youth who
chanted: “employment, freedom and dignity”. It was mainly the youth who
immediately refused the establishment of a new dictatorship as a replacement of
the one that started to crumble.
It is our youth who mastered
computer skills and new technologies of communication, and who managed to go through
the threads of this wall of silence and leaden shroud that muzzled our countries
for decades. But can’t you see that the very old, the old, the not-very young, and
the less- young are the ones who came to master the situation, to once again
take power and sit down with all their weight on our destiny?
Once again, it has been shown that
saying that “the future belongs to the
youth “is selling wind and sowing illusion.
Just one more example, and then I
will release you. Too bad for you if you have a difficult time, you shouldn’t
have invited me.
So, another example:
May be you didn’t know it, but
travelling has became for us,the inhabitants of the southern shore of the
Mediterranean a challenge and a dream that is often impossible to fulfill.
This was not the case when my
mother was a student. When my mother was a student, she had the opportunity to
travel easily especially in Europe. On the other hand, a young teacher and
presenting no signs suggesting that I had the intention to settle down, I would
have never been able to travel as much as I do if I weren’t the blogger you invite
to give speeches and to take part in conferences.
Try to find out and you will
realize how it is hard, painful and insulting to queue in order to beg for a
few days paid visa. You would realize that once arrived to your destination you
would face new obstacles.
Ask yourselves all these
questions, then tell me if it is still possible for young people to communicate
with each other, to organize, to dream together of a better world, to destroy
all these walls that countries build around their territories.
Tell me if it is really possible
to believe in a shining, glittering and luminous future for our youth?
I will finish by confessing to you
that despite my harsh words, that are difficult to digest. I remain convinced that
it is still possible to build a better world and a brighter future.
But this will only happen if the
youth become aware that it is up to them to do so , by themselves, and Here and
Now ;
It’s time for outrage! Lets’ get
angry! And let’s start to build our future now!
Right now
Each according to his abilities and powers!
