Our Generation

[Corvus]

Every generation has had its revolutionaries, or social movements. Some have made progress, others have not. Some we remember today, again others we do not. In each generation the movement accomplish something but the large majority of its members fell into the 'norm' of society and gave up their radical ideas. The social movement gets replaced by the following generations, somtimes with similar ideals, and other times with different ideas. Is the current generation any different? We will be replaced by our children and grandchildren? We will be remembered in a frame of view like the hippies? Or are we completly different? Do we have tools -such as the internet - that can help us get out of this generation trap? Is this normal of human society? Is there anything we can do to prevent us from becoming the past?

I think that is going to be the second thesis for school. I need some ideas on where I can should go with this, peoples thoughts on it, suggestions, and ideas.

Anyone?

[Olly1990]

I am 17 and have the fear of "not being listened to" when I get older!! :unsure: The problem is, for any sort of revolution or social/political change, you need energy. Energy to work, argue and demonstrate your beliefs. As you get older, energy is then focussed differently (health, family etc.) so it is easy to get sidetracked. But, you don't just need energy, you need time, space and commitment. Things that are easy for a young mind to grasp but can be lost as you get older. To be able not to lose the momentum, we need to think of a way to keep the physical and mental energy going into our old age and to be able to keep focussed on a goal... easy to say huh?! No one is ever forgotten but we need to find a way to be remembered.

[Xanthus]

I think there is a great difference between our generation and past ones.

The question of socialism or barbarism has never been so plain in sight, so obvious to all who think, and so terrible in concequense.
We have the technology to produce and destribute enough food and basic necessities to take care of a world much larger then our own, yet because of capitalism we do not. Worse still, our world is rapidly being destroyed by the quest for profit, and it is becoming clear that we are reaching the point in which the quantity of capitalism's destructive ways becomes quality represented by unprecidented disasters, both natural, and man-made.

Thanks in part to the new accessability of information, and in part to the growing decay of capitalism, this has become obvious to a large percentage of youth in every nation and social group around the world. The question which so many ask is: can we save the world before it is destroyed? And this has never been so pressing of a question.

We live in the epoc of the ultimate decay of capitalism, it is quite undenyable, and the question of socialism or barbarism is the one that our generation faces.

This is the difference between us and past generations: we have no time left.

What this ultimately means, nobody can say, but I think we are seeing already the first beginnings of a global uprising, which already hasn't left a single part of the world untouched. However, for now, this is mostly a blind uprising, without a unifying programme. Our generation will decide if it finds one.

[Angry Young Man]

i sometimes get worried that england willnever have a revolution now. all hope was lost when the threat of communism as a power died.
nobody even klnows if there are communists anymore.
furthermore, the govt is increasing measures to achieve its orwellian aims. the worrying thing is, i can see tony blair as a fascist dictator. if that is the case, itll be me on the cheese wire.
the media has done everything in its power to tame the working class.
a mass revolution would not be as easy as in 1917. the imperialists have advanced weapons that would make us seem like children playnig.
we need to start the revolution in the north, but to do that, we need to avoid harming innocent people.

[Dyst]

Playing the oracle, I think the revolution will be one of "war", and the "war" will be one of information and propaganda spreading.

It will probably commence as a result of some big incident, perhaps economical crisis or such. The fact that 15 thousand children die in Africa every day doesn't seem to be enough for most people.

With the technology we have today we can reach all parts of the world extremely simply, and communicate between nations and people as we have never done before. This is what separates the past from the present in this case. And this is what makes it possible for us, the world and the future, to achieve a successfull revolution. Don't underestimate the power of global communication.

But it will happen because people realize it is a necessity, or else humanity might simply not survive.

[Angry Young Man]

Originally posted by [email protected] 14 2006, 04:55 PM
Playing the oracle, I think the revolution will be one of "war", and the "war" will be one of information and propaganda spreading.

It will probably commence as a result of some big incident, perhaps economical crisis or such. The fact that 15 thousand children die in Africa every day doesn't seem to be enough for most people.

With the technology we have today we can reach all parts of the world extremely simply, and communicate between nations and people as we have never done before. This is what separates the past from the present in this case. And this is what makes it possible for us, the world and the future, to achieve a successfull revolution. Don't underestimate the power of global communication.

But it will happen because people realize it is a necessity, or else humanity might simply not survive.
Yes but I think that the revolutions will be in countries in the Global South. As British and German workers were being paid starvation wages in Marx's time, this is happenning in places like India and China.
Furthermore, it may be a long time before any revolt. These Governments have a stranglehold on people, although, so did the Czar, so there's hope yet, we just have to wait for it to spread to the West

[Fascist-Hunter]

To answer your question: yes, this generation is different. The media has had a huge influence on the people for the last 40 years. - that is something which neither marx nor other people could have thought of. but there is still a need for freedom and the struggle for justice continues. poverty is growing in western europe and people begin to realize that there is something wrong. the last five years the movemnet has become much stronger. i'm pretty sure we are going to see a new generation of people who want to change the world. so even if this generation is lost, there will be other people who start again. there will be a second chance for mankind.

[redstar2000]

I can certainly tell you one difference between "your generation" and mine: you know enormously more at a significantly younger age than was the case in my generation.

When I was a teenager, I was bright and rebellious and "well-read" for my age...I was convinced that all of the authority figures in my life were lying to me.

But what was true? What base of knowledge did I really have to "go on"?

Maybe I did know enough "to find my ass in the dark with both hands and a flashlight"...but not much more! :o

The change has been truly incredible!

And I think it's going to accelerate! :D

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/cool/123.gif

[Delirium]

I worry about my generation's lack of intellectual activity all together. Communication technologies have increadable potential when used for education and organization, look at this site!
But much of my generation does little else than sit in front of the tv. When you are watching tv the last thing you are doing is thinking.

I think that the youth are losing their capacity to think in a critical way.

[Dyst]

That is what I meant with a war of information.

It will be us versus them. Our method is obviously to use education and knowledge, awareness. Their method is (and will be) misdirection, and it is extremely effective.

The internet can give us a small advantage since it is, to a certain degree, open to the public, and it, as a media, is currently for the most part not dominated by corporates' will.

[Hegemonicretribution]

Change is not just from generation to generation, but also nation to nation.

Are we really more conscious and aware though, as RS suggested? Certainly information is more freely available, and this allows the possibility for greater awareness. However the ruling class still control this largely, and seek to reduce the impact of information not conducive to their needs by saturating audiences.

Even with this saturation there are many young people that become interested in politics earlier, and this is because society counts them as a part of society earlier. However there is often an attitude of indifference or apathy, and this is because most media still implies that everything is O.K. and that the minority is nothing (except for when it suits the).

Even the more intellectually advanced prospective revolutionaries have to side step areas of acadaemic study such as post-modernism. These theories can seem very impressive to the uninitiated, and are just a more fancy pants way of reducing a will to change.

The current world does increase the ability for the new generation to develop consciousness, but the capitalists still have quite a lot of power. We need to associate with the working class, and fight alongside them to gain trust and a platform. So long as we remain distant from the average worker little will happen.

The gap between the rich and the poor is growing however, and when more people catch onto the myth of "striking it rich" they will become disillusioned with current society. The task at hand is structuring a viable alternative, and presenting it thus.

[bunk]

Originally posted by [email protected] 15 2006, 05:42 PM
I can certainly tell you one difference between "your generation" and mine: you know enormously more at a significantly younger age than was the case in my generation.

When I was a teenager, I was bright and rebellious and "well-read" for my age...I was convinced that all of the authority figures in my life were lying to me.

But what was true? What base of knowledge did I really have to "go on"?

Maybe I did know enough "to find my ass in the dark with both hands and a flashlight"...but not much more! :o

The change has been truly incredible!

And I think it's going to accelerate! :D

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/cool/123.gif
If your judging todays teenage generation on the specific group of people that frequent this forum then you might come to that conclusion.

Perhaps i've changed my mind while thinking about this thread though. My peers know what's going on, they know and realise how wrong some of the stuff that goes on is.

Maybe the main problem for my generation is realising that they can change it. Apathy is a big problem in that my peers are generally bored.

[Xanthus]

Originally posted by [email protected] 15 2006, 12:26 PM
If your judging todays teenage generation on the specific group of people that frequent this forum then you might come to that conclusion.

Perhaps i've changed my mind while thinking about this thread though. My peers know what's going on, they know and realise how wrong some of the stuff that goes on is.

Maybe the main problem for my generation is realising that they can change it. Apathy is a big problem in that my peers are generally bored.
Apathy is a political question. There are few competant mass revolutionary organisations in the world, they have mostly been wiped out by decades of reaction, and we must remember that most people in the world are not leaders so if there's nobody competant to follow, apathy is completely natural. Also, most people will not follow a single person or a small group, they will only come on board if an organisation or tendancy is a significant force, which makes the necessary organising in ones and twos which is going on at present very difficult work.

The test of this generation will be in how well it organises... and that question may well be decision maker between the reorganisation of society, or in the next several decades, the mutual destruction of the contending classes.