When the young march, the world changes

The old have throughout the course of history sent the young off to wars. The young have always resisted, have marched on the streets to let the old know of the dangers they are constantly putting the world to.

As students on campuses in America march in support of Palestine, in condemnation of the killings of Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere in occupied Arab land, it is time to celebrate the vigour of youth once again, the power which has consistently caused change in society.

Those young people at American colleges and universities embody hope. They convey the message to an entire world that ageing men and politicians with little idea of the grandeur of democratic politics cannot be permitted to set the world on fire. On those campuses, the protests in support of the people of Palestine are but a reaffirmation of the idea that the young matter, that it is the world's youth who yet hold the power to wrest the planet back from the predatory instincts of old men clinging to power.

There is huge symbolism in these protests. And a similar symbolism has been there among the young who have marched in London, Berlin, Paris, Tunis, Amman, Kuala Lumpur and Baghdad to demand that the murder of Palestinians be brought to an end. For those who believe in a better, more peaceful world, these young in every corner of the globe have sent out a purposeful message: that whenever old men put the world at risk through their faulty policies and malign politics, it becomes the moral responsibility of the young to wrest the baton from their hands and inform them that they cannot be trusted to shape dreams of the future.

The power of youth we observe today in America, in Europe and elsewhere comes in line with tradition. In the late 1960s, young men and women marched in Paris, almost bringing the government of General Charles de Gaulle to the verge of collapse. Back in the 1930s, it was youth which put up resistance --- and lost --- against the fascism of Francisco Franco. In the 1960s, again, American campuses resounded with loud protests against the war in Vietnam. It was the young who propelled the anti-war Senator Eugene McCarthy to political prominence in New Hampshire. The collective voice of the young put paid to any chances of a sitting American president gaining a second term in office.

The young are always imbued with ideas. They are resilient. When politicians fail their societies, when decadence threatens the fabric of life, it is youth which comes to the rescue. In a yet to be sovereign Bangladesh, it was the young who raised the banner of protest in defence of the national cause. Be it the Language Movement of 1952 or the struggle against the education commission report of 1962, Bengali young men and women did not flinch from waging battle against the powerful forces which sought to undermine the national spirit.

In the late 1960s, it was the young of Dhaka University and of other educational institutions in the land who shaped and provided substance to the struggle against the Ayub Khan regime. These were the young who smashed the citadels of entrenched power, brought Sheikh Mujibur Rahman out of prison and honoured him as Bangabandhu.

Bangladesh's youth have demonstrated their power and their principles through repeated periods of historical time. It was the young who streamed out of villages and towns and cities to become the Mukti Bahini and wage war for freedom. Driven by the nobility ingrained in causes, the young are often happy to die. Many of the young of Bangladesh never returned home after the war, for they perished in combat with the enemy. In the 1990s, it was youth which drove an authoritarian regime from power in Bangladesh. The rise of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in Pakistani politics, on the strength of youth power, gave a rude jolt to the Ayub regime.

Dynamism has historically defined youth, given it its mesmerising power to instill fear into the agents of repression. It was the young who carried out raids against entrenched British colonial power in India, with many of them bravely marching to the gallows. They never showed fear. Nor did they expect a reprieve. In their death on the scaffold, it was the spirit of youth which sang of better days. And better days too were a powerful message sent out to the world by the young who identified with the freedom struggle of Netaji. Those young did not know when freedom's sun would rise, but idealism drove them on through the intense darkness.

It was youth who kept the flame of resistance against apartheid alive in South Africa. In Soweto, the young died. In French-dominated Algeria, the young created the conditions which compelled Paris to take its men back home. Youth power was demonstrated by the Viet Cong, with thousands of them dying in the twilight struggle for freedom from colonial oppression.

The protests on American campuses in support of Palestine reinforce the ancient but undying message --- that whenever reactionary and opportunistic politics threatens the well-being of nations and societies, whenever old men in power are obsessed with wielding authority and remain at a distance from the aspirations of the huddled masses --- youth will always come to the rescue of nations.

That is the power of youth. In that moral exercise of power throbs and thrives the resilience of society. All around the world, therefore, we celebrate the vigour of youth, for the magic of youth revives us when our interest in life flags, for youth persuade us into reasserting our faith in the present and our confidence in the future.

When the young march, the world changes. On those campuses in America the future for Palestine has become brighter. Hope rises once more.

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