00:00Let's explore what's fueling the widespread protests and unrest across Europe.
00:04I'm joined by Donizella della Porta, founding dean of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences
00:09at the Scuola Normale Superiore, an Italian university in Tuscany.
00:13Thank you for your time this afternoon.
00:15Are we seeing a new generation of political and social activism coming through,
00:20or were these protests inevitable, given the multiple social and economic crises
00:25young people across Europe have been dealing with?
00:28I think we are seeing a common mobilization which has been triggered by the protests of the French students,
00:38but have spread beyond France and beyond the generations.
00:43The Generation Z, the ones born between 1997 and 2010, is an important component of this protest.
00:52They have been living through financial crisis, they have been living through environmental crisis, pandemics,
01:01and nowadays they fear for the future.
01:04They fear for militarizations of Europe, they fear, as you mentioned, for conscriptions,
01:10they fear to be the generation who will be forced to die on battlefields.
01:14But also they complain about the fact that spending in the military means spending less in welfare.
01:24And the specific calls at the beginning was especially more concrete material investment in public educations.
01:34But in the meantime, these claims have been broadening, at least to other main topics,
01:43which is the right to protest, in the sense that what they saw as unjust repressions of their claims,
01:52has brought about the more political issues of how much people should be able to participate,
02:01not only through elections, but also by making their voice heard.
02:07Right. So if I may just jump in there briefly, because youth unemployment rates are stepping back
02:13and looking at some of the wide economic data here.
02:15Youth unemployment rates have fallen steadily over the last decade,
02:18but even in places where it's comparatively low, Germany's youth unemployment rate is half of the Eurozone level,
02:24we're seeing Gen Z protesters still coming out to demand better funding for education and healthcare.
02:29Why do young people feel they've been shortchanged by their predecessors?
02:36Because the type of jobs that they are offered to get are precarious.
02:44They have less protections, also in terms of the type of working conditions.
02:52And often they live in situations in which housing costs have so much increased
02:59that they need to work for longer hours.
03:05In many cases, the 36 working hours, working day, has been overcome,
03:18and they feel that their own rights to work, to housing, to health are under threat.
03:28So it is not only working which is failing, but it is a satisfactory way to work.
03:34And the risk of the perceptions of the risk to see their own life at risk
03:43because of the pandemic, of the climate crisis, and of wars.
03:51Right. One last question for you, very briefly, if I may.
03:54Would it be fair to argue that young people feel that these current institutions,
03:59traditional European institutions have simply failed them?
04:03They don't work for them anymore?
04:06Well, they have the impressions that all these crises have been converging
04:15on the new generations as main type of victims.
04:21They are convinced that these crises are not unavoidable.
04:25But that's said that all generations, but especially the politicians in power,
04:33have been corrupted by the idea that the market alone can produce,
04:41reduce inequalities and help people to achieve welfare.
04:48And so they want to have their voice heard.
04:51They want to be able to think again about a future.
04:55They say often in this course, they want to be able to dream again.
05:00Indeed. Let's see how this all plays out.
05:02Donatella Della Porter, founding dean of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences
05:07at the Scuola Normale Superiore. Thank you.
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