March With Hope, But Verify

Hope, particularly when embodied by the young, can be uplifting, but the article cautions against equating youth with a singular worldview or ideology. Young people have demonstrated both inspiring hope and deeply concerning perspectives, the author observes.

Examples cited include youth marching against America's alliance with Zionism, alongside the assertion that 90 percent of Israelis advocate for genocide in Palestine. Closer to home, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is mentioned as cultivating youth, drawing a parallel to the Nazi youth movements. The author also recalls the faded dream of the Young Communist League in the USSR.

In South Asia, young activists elicit mixed responses. Politics there has largely abandoned traditional left-right discourse for what is termed "centrist and pragmatic politics." The author dismisses pragmatism as often a superficial guise for underlying issues.

The piece concludes with a warning: rulers, holding a monopoly on coercive power, may feel threatened by youth movements. This could lead to a determined pushback from the state, as glimpsed in events like Delhi's "Cockroach" incident. The author suggests that such a posture is worrisome.