Year
of 2011can be rightly termed as the ‘year of political upheavals’. The
New Year was welcomed by severe protests in Tunisia that led to toppling
of the longtime President Ben Ali. This was followed by Tehrir square
protests in Egypt ousting the authoritative president Hosni Mubarak.
This awakening took little or no time in spreading to various other
parts of the Arab world. Civil war broke out in Libya, and uprisings
were organized in countries like Syria, Bahrain and Yemen against
saturation in the political systems. All these events are collectively
referred to as the ‘Arab Spring’, which put an end to various autocratic
regimes in the Arab region. We, in India, have also experienced a
systematic anti-corruption movement this year. Though this movement was
not aimed at any particular regime or political party, it attacked the
prevalent evils in the politics in general and society in particular.
These
upheavals mobilized millions of youngsters. The issues they were
addressing were directly related to the lives of the youth; poverty,
unemployment, unequal distribution and corruption, to name a few. This
is the reason why young people spontaneously joined the protests. They
also made use of the communication technology, including social
networking sites like Facebook and Tweeter to widely spread their ideas.
Electronic media also supported the movements.
Contemporary
political uprisings started the discussions about the role of youth in
politics time and again. As we know, the youth in any society is closely
associated with its scientific and technological advancement, economic
wellbeing, industries, entertainment, sports and so on; but not so much
with its politics. Politics has certain inherent qualities in it which
majorly restrict itself to the grey-haired population. In such a
scenario, assertive role played by youngsters in these movements cannot
be ignored.
The
present era is witnessing unprecedented scientific advancement. World
has come closer as never before, through cyber-web, internet, and number
of social networking sites. These are the areas where youth have the
exclusivity. Through various social networking sites such as ‘facebook’,
young people from various parts of the world have befriended their
fellow youngsters from other countries. There take place discussions
over various issues of international concerns. This has strengthened
‘people to people contact’ or what can also be called as ‘track 3
diplomacy’. Youngsters are exchanging the ideas about the worldview with
each other. They are facing common problems and are seeking to find
common ways to deal with these problems.
The
young generation is increasingly taking interest in voluntarism and
related forms of public service and is engaged into community-based,
non-profit charitable efforts in order to make their respective
societies a better place to live. This aspect of youth cannot be
disregarded as they have become part of vibrant ‘civil society activism’
in almost all parts of the world. Historically, youth is identified
with principles such as democracy, peace, cooperation, human rights and
so on. There are struggles going on in the world for achieving these
ideals, and young population is an important part of such struggles.
Nevertheless,
when it comes to role of youth in world politics, there are also
certain challenges. These challenges need a mention.
Firstly,
in almost all parts of the world, more so in the advanced countries,
youth has become self-centered, individualistic, consumerist and
materialist. Many of them are addicted to alcohol and drugs.
Secondly,
everywhere, more so in the third world, youth is increasingly swayed by
reemerging primordial identities, and thus, is going away from
modernism and democracy. The example can be found in the rising number
of young ‘fidayeens’ who are ready to sacrifice their lives pertaining
to religious extremism.
Thirdly,
role played by youth is more spontaneous and less organized. We have
seen, millions of youngsters gathering for the rallies with a lot of
eagerness. But their initial enthusiasm does not persist for long.
Egyptian experience has shown the energetic protests by the youth. But
they have taken a backseat in the electoral game, giving a way to
‘Muslim Brotherhood’ to win the elections. Now, time will decide whether
this energetic youth is really interested in playing role in carving
their future, or it was just a spur-of-the-moment. Similarly in India,
youngsters who took part in the anti-corruption rallies, furthermore
have the responsibility to ensure building of the corruption free
society.
Keeping
all the aspects of contemporary world scenario in mind, it can rightly
be said that, today’s youth has a number of challenging tasks to
fulfill. They are expected to extend their cooperation in the struggles
for democracy, creation of an egalitarian society, preservation of human
rights and end of discrimination in various parts of the world. Even
the tasks such as disarmament, climate change and global struggle
against terrorism and extremism cannot be achieved without their active
involvement.
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