All the parties talk about wanting to do something for young people, who today can frequent public places and event halls, consume and contribute to keeping the economy going, but have no internal spaces where they can meet freely.
From an early age they are attracted to shops by gadgets that they receive only if the accompanying adult spends more than a certain amount. A lot of advertising is also aimed at them indirectly.
In the adolescence phase, so delicate due to the difficult search for the self and the construction of one’s personality, they are bombarded by cinematographic images of reckless and harmful attitudes for their health: the actors smoke, drink, take drugs and are the protagonists to emulate! They are pushed to buy designer clothes for which they go into debt, just to obtain that acceptance from the “pack” which is so important for the sense of belonging. Exploited to the core, woe betide giving them free spaces in which to discuss without being “maneuvered”, because the risk is that of getting out of control of the system, of creating a different, perhaps better, system where the human being has his dignity and he is not considered just a consumer, a taxpayer, a voter, an economic slave.
We don’t like self-managed centers because they escape the control of those who want us caged, silent and obedient. They are not tolerated even by those who live nearby due to the noise and the transgression that scares.
Who knows how many beautiful ideas could arise instead if we gave them free spaces to meet, work together and discuss, ideas that are different from always just proposing the same type of dream-killing society. Young people need strong ideals and role models to follow, which is why the saga of The Lord of the Rings and His Fellowship has been so successful. But the system offers them ideals, such as that of the climate, to persevere in its intentions of conformity and imprisonment of the human being, reduced for the “good of the planet” to living in the city (or even just in buildings) for 15 minutes, also called smart cities, totally digitalised, where the citizen is monitored on sight and receives “freedom vouchers” based on the degree of conformity (or obedience). However, no one explains that living in these electrified cages requires a lot of energy, and so off we go with very expensive projects to cover our beautiful landscape with wind and photovoltaic centers and new nuclear power plants! But what do we do with the environmental footprint? How can we talk about ecological progress when energy and raw material consumption does not decrease?
Perhaps if young people were truly free to organize themselves and we gave them the consideration they deserve, more sustainable proposals would emerge. Perhaps a youth parliament should already be possible at municipal level. Perhaps the political class should set the logistical and financial conditions for them to be given this opportunity. Maybe then we could talk about real youth politics.
