 Leaders of Now!
It seems that half of the world's population is under the age of 25, according to the 2003 State of World Population report by United Nations Population Fund. And if we assume that all of the worldwide legal authorities, governing classes and decision makers are over the age of 35, today, over half of the global population is not represented regarding all their needs, choices, preferences and desires that can be attributed to their age.
This is because of the old-fashioned idea that the older you get, the wiser you become. Although laws on the minimum age required to be elected a member of parliament was changed to 25 in 2006, a change of mindset still hasn't been achieved. However, what this mindset dictates is no longer valid in our “age” today. Remember the Intertoy commercial: “Age is no guarantee for wisdom.” The image of the omniscient Merlin has become a part of history. Today youths are more aware, more able and more educated than ever.
As technology advances, obtaining information about what is going on in the world becomes easier day by day. And since it is well-known that young people use technology relatively better compared to adults, they can be better-informed about anything including, of course, persisting world issues.
Take, for instance, hundreds of local, regional and international youth networks, youth branches of political parties or simply Facebook Causes. A very recent example is the Youth Run 4 Haiti initiative. As a fund-raising vehicle for the Haitian Earthquake Relief, the youth run was pulled together from the efforts of film and television actor Josh Duhamel and American Red Cross of Santa Monica. In fact, there are so many youth initiatives that there is even a Youth Movement Mapping Project under The FreeChild Project. August 12 is the official International Youth Day, designated by the United Nations and first celebrated in 2000. Since then yearly themes from development to climate change have been adopted. The day serves as an opportunity for governments to draw attention to youth issues in these specific areas through organizing all sorts of activities like concerts, workshops, conferences, etc.
The evidence is out there. The fresh and enthusiastic minds of young people, which are often labeled as “rebellious” among parents, do not and will not stand by and watch the earth perish slowly, will not tolerate people dying from hunger and disease. They will be urged to take action. This is not some great discovery or mind-blowing revelation. It's just simple logic.
However, the first thing that should change in order to pave the way for the empowerment of the world's youth is the mentality that doesn't take young people seriously. We, the world's youth, are often addressed as “the future leaders” in speeches given by world leaders. We are no longer the future leaders of the world. It's doubtful if there will even be a future after the COP15 disaster. We are the leaders of now when we are needed the most. So seeing that we're so full of ideas and eagerness to help make our world a better place, why not give us a chance now?
By Gönenç İnal (TRIN/IV)
g_inal@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
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