Flying high

It is the time of year of commencement speeches – and despite their attempts to be original, they end with the same point: the power of youth is unimaginable. Speechmakers seem to give advice freely and enthusiastically. Excel in math and science to become superb engineers in order to surpass competitive countries. Keep troops out of battle, and do not enter another world war. Save the world from poverty. In short, do not make the same mistakes your predecessors have made.

Youth has a lot of faith in itself. Perhaps it is not as visible in the United States, where graduating classes have become accustomed to finding their own niche and generally agreeing that the distance from point A to point B does not necessarily have to be the shortest, and that they will eventually save the world, but in their own way. Yet, youth as a collective force, as something with the power to change the course of a country’s history is not just an idea posed during a ceremony, but a reality outside the U.S. It is a necessity, even.

An op-ed in today’s The Daily Star, written by a student at AUB, argued for students as the solution to Lebanon’s problems. After almost two decades of political stalemate and little change in the country, it is not surprising to place hope in a young generation that will not abide by the same rules, same games. We all know this is not a new idea. Youth movements have played crucial parts in at the very least establishing dissident voices in places like Pakistan, Iran, India, and Egypt. These expressions of dissent are not limited to rallies, protests and sit-ins. They have been realized through a “revolution of ideas” – blogs, radio, television, and surprisingly music. Laal, a band from Pakistan, for example, recently released a music video written by a poet speaking sarcastically of the country. Perhaps it wouldn’t be effective without the added pictures of Bhutto’s recent death and the chaos that followed. Similarly, Dam expresses the destitute and the hurt inflicted upon people by political institutions in Israel and Palestine. Again, what makes the video powerful are the pictures – regardless of whether they represent Israel or Palestine, they are effective in saying: this has got to stop.

The message is not new either, but essentially what the op-ed rests upon is collective memory and the hope placed in time to enable youth to forget this memory. In the case of Lebanon, it is essential for younger generations to find a political agreement that breaks away from a confessional system based upon religious identities people may no longer recognize. The differences between Sunnis, Shias, Maronites, the Druzes, and the Greeks only make sense for so long. The younger generation can move beyond these differences of which they have no collective memory. In that sense, it becomes easier to find political reconciliation that is not based on emotions. Well, that is the hope.

But then there is the issue of collective memory in another part of the world – Pakistan and India. Ironically, perhaps the memory that the older generations had should be passed along to the younger generations – that of having known a time when the two were friends, were one nation even. We may be entering a time in which the present and future generations will not be able to recall the costs of partition, or the social and political complexities surrounding it. Technically the younger generation does not have a literal memory of partition, but with the continuing Kashmir conflict, they are constantly reminded of everything that came after, not what had come before. But despite this, at least there are movements within both countries to improve their nation, however it stands now.

All right, so what has changed if the youth still go and protest oppressive regimes or bullying governments? The 1970s already gave us memories of listening to the Beatles, protesting in communist rallies, being pummeled by a rowdy crowd…have we been able to offer anything different?

So here, let’s bring in another factor – expats. It is difficult to avoid the progressive movements among youth in the United States, concerned with Pakistan, India, Israel, and Palestine. Their work has been crucial in many instances; for example when students tried to mobilize against and raise awareness about the BJP in India using Hindu Student Councils in the U.S. to raise funds for specific (problematic) endeavors…And yet, it is interesting to think about what type of collective memory the young generations of different diasporas hold outside of their home countries. At times, their views seem more hostile than of the youth residing in the countries in question:

I would never bring a Pakistani home.

Indian culture is better than Pakistani culture.

India is a right-wing Hindu state. It is not a democracy.

Progressive movements in the U.S. for causes elsewhere have become increasingly popular, as they should. But it might be possible that the reality they perceive is slightly different than what those in the country see. So really, who is right: The young generation fighting for national ideals caught up in the spirit of causes, or the young generation fighting for more jobs, more food, and less chaos? Both are important in their own right.