Role of Youth in World Politics

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.

After all, today’s youth are going to be tomorrow’s leaders. At the moment, they have a choice in shaping their future, whether peaceful, democratic and egalitarian, or that full of chaos, fights and bloodshed..!!

War on Terror after Death of Laden

“What was more important to the history of the world.. the Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet Empire??..  Some stirred-up Muslims.. or end of the Cold War???”

These were the words by Zbigniew Brezinski, the National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter, when asked about the revival of Islamic extremism. The Cold War dynamics had such great influence over the US foreign policy makers that they had completely lost their far-sightedness. They were partially successful in giving the Soviets back their ‘Vietnam’, as Afghanistan had become a bleeding wound for Soviet Union. But the tactics US employed to deal with this were much more dangerous. The medicine proved to be more hazardous than the disease!!!

The encouragement to Mujaheddin groups, revival of the age-old concept of ‘jihad’ and cries of ‘Islam in danger’, all backfired against the Americans, who are still paying heavy price for it. ‘Some stirred-up Muslims’ have made life miserable for the whole human race. These non-state actors have posed serious ‘non-traditional security threat’ to world.

The eggs of Cold War started hatching immediately after the end of Bipolarity. But US was so in the mood of celebrating its victory over the Soviet Union and emergence of a myth called ‘unipolarity’, that it completely ignored developments of Islamist revivalism. Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 1996 and still had cordial relations with the Americans. US neither supported the ‘Northern Alliance’ (a bulwark built by the people in north Afghanistan against the Taliban and were aided by Russia, India, Iran and Tajikistan), nor did it itself came forward to curtail this menace.

Islamist extremists had already started spreading their wings in various parts of Europe and Asia. It was evident from the terrorist activities in Kashmir (India), Chechnya (Russia), Xinjiang (China), Ferghana valley region in Central Asia and also in Bosnia and Kosovo, the break-away republics of former Yugoslavia.

After 9-11, US declared ‘global war on terrorism’ and attacked Afghanistan, with the help of its NATO allies. But, this so-called ‘global’ war never became a global fight in the real sense. There was ‘trust deficit’ in US’s dealing with other Asian big powers like Iran, Russia, China and also India. On the contrary, America trusted its ‘ally’ nations unconditionally.

No non-state actors can function effectively without the support of the concerned state-actors. Pakistan continued with its double standards. On one hand, it provided support in ‘war against terror’, but on the other hand, it kept providing safe heavens to the terrorist networks on its soil. US appeasement of Pakistan was so strong that they never said a word about Pakistan’s weapons of mass destruction. Nor did they pay attention to India’s complaints about Pakistani support to terrorist groups operating in various parts of world.

Two days back, US killed the so-called face of terror, Osama Bin Laden, who was staying in peace near a military Academy of Pakistan, in Abbotabad. This incidence has brought up several issues. US, while celebrating the victory, has come to know about Pakistan’s true face. It is in the mood of withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan. But, this is certainly not going to end the complex issues.

It is very easy for a far-away nation to jump in a region and after 10 years of chaos, to withdraw from there. But the regional dynamics cannot be addressed in such a manner. A vast Muslim-majority regions in Asia; from west Asia, Af-Pak, Kashmir, Caucasia and Central Asia to South East Asia have been stirred by these dangerous extremist factions. Islamist revivalism has inversely affected the peace and order in this region.

Killing of Laden is not likely to make any difference as far as functioning of Al Qaida is concerned, as the organization itself is based on decentralization, and operates from its thousands of centers spread across the globe.

The way ‘war on terror’ has been handled would not certainly lead to restoration of peace and stability. Instead it might lead to some serious consequences.