One common feature of revolutionary movements, seen clearly in the successful transformations which took place during Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent campaign for independence in India, Václav Havel’s Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, and Nelson Mandela’s struggle against apartheid in South Africa, is the significant involvement and commitment of passionate young people.

In struggles for greater liberty and emancipation, young idealists have often provided the enthusiasm and energy that has helped turn the tide, spark reform, and positively reshape entire societies. But the mere presence of enthusiastic youth does not automatically validate the causes to which they rally: after all, the Nazis had their committed Hitler Jugend and the Soviet Union had its dedicated Young Pioneers.

For better or for worse, young people, by the very fact of being young, provide a useful barometer of society’s hopes, fears and expectations. Relatively unburdened by tradition, young adults are more likely to be buoyed by dreams of fulfillment than to be weighed down by old compromises and the cynicism that often comes with experience. Their attitudes towards the status quo and their goals and agendas for reshaping society can tell us much about the world we live in and where we may be heading.
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