By Joel Tichinoff, Editor-in-Chief
We say that war is the continuation of politics by other means, and politics the continuation of economics by other means. War, for all its horrors, is the quickest way to force a transfer of power, recreate order, and produce real change. Yet the burden of waging war has always fallen to a group traditionally absent from the waging of politics and economics.
Young people are rarely aware of the means by which they are exploited. Like many exploited groups, their exploitation is grounded in a limited participation in political and economic decision-making. What sets young people apart from other groups wandering the basements of the halls of power is that young people, en masse, are powerless almost by choice.
We tell ourselves that we’re young for a good time, not a long time. We eat up the myth that youth is the time to be free from all but the most immediate and selfish concerns; that big ideas and big decisions are best left to those who ‘know better,’ that worrying is for the elders, for those with responsibilities.
As Bank of Montreal economist Tim O’Neill, advisor to the Nova Scotia government on the future of universities, recently put it in a CBC interview: “People who are 35 years old with a small family are dramatically different than an 18-year-old who is single and fancy free.” It’s no problem to acknowledge the “dramatic” differences between a 35-year-old and an 18-year-old, but labeling of young people as “fancy free” is a problem. Not just because this is how we are perceived by the rest of society, but, more importantly, this is too often how we perceive ourselves.
We don’t care because we tell ourselves we shouldn’t. For the most part, young people willingly keep ourselves uninformed and uninvolved. What’s worse, those young people who are informed, are involved and want to make change are left to beg for concessions from their power-holding elders.
There is great work done by young activists but in general, as a demographic and a force for change people our age punch far below our weight. Out of apathy, we fail to mobilize ourselves and when decisions are made, young people are too small a voice at the table, if they’ve bothered to show up at all.
War happens when the wheels of economics and politics grind to a halt. When push comes to shove. At that point, young people have no choice but to be involved, un-informed or not, and, although we didn’t do the decision- making, we inevitably end up getting the most shoving.
The federal government is currently moving towards the purchase of 65 new warplanes, which will cost Canadians $16 billion. These are to replace a current fleet of warplanes that recently underwent a $2.6 billion upgrade.
How many Canadian lives does $18.6 billion in fighter-bomber jets save? Average student debt in Canada is $18,800.
Why is it that when young people are needed to fight and die the full resources of the country are put at their disposal, yet when we try to prepare ourselves to live good lives we are told to go to the bank?
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