Freedom Index
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Zoomers – the young people born between 1997 and 2012 – have been taking to the streets this summer. They haven’t got a common ideology but they are angry about the state of world and feel hopeless for the future.
In the UK we have seen them on Saturday marches for Palestine, but in countries where Gen Z make up a significant proportion of the population, they have been toppling governments.
In Morocco, from where we have a frontline report, the government has remained in place, but police acted with a huge show of force, detaining almost 2,500 young people including under-12s. Near Agadir, normally known as a tourist resort, three young people were killed when the police fired on them with live ammunition.
In Madagascar and Nepal, leaders did flee in the face of what looked like a mass uprising. But as the editor of the Nepali Times writes, the young revolutionaries can’t decide what happens next. Nor are they particularly sympathetic to others’ freedom of expression. Journalists reporting on what happened in Nepal found themselves trolled online.
There is something else that marks out Gen Z. They are digital natives to their fingertips, theoretically able to exercise freedom – at least online – on a scale previous generations could only dream of. And yet many are afraid to say what they really think in public forums.
FEATURING
Kemi Ashing-Giwa
About the writer
Kemi Ashing-Giwa
Kemi Ashing-Giwa is an American writer known for her books, 2024 Compton Crook Award winner The Splinter in the Sky (2023), This World Is Not Yours (2024), The King Must Die (2025), and a number of short stories.
Marci Mehringer
About the writer
Marci Mehringer
Marci Mehringer is a Hungarian musician who appeared on the 10th season of Hungary’s X-Factor and whose music has been critical of the country’s government.
Naomi Alderman
About the writer
Naomi Alderman
Naomi Alderman is an English writer best known for The Power (2016), winner of the 2017 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Her other works include Disoberdience (2006), The Lessons (2010), Borrowed Time (2011), The Liars Gospel (2012) and The Future (2023).
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The post Gen Z is revolting: Why the world’s youth will not be silenced appeared first on Index on Censorship.
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