World Economic Forum: the New Global Youth Movement

By Shelby Arthur

Read more: www.weforum.org

A few years ago I participated in the Women and Leadership Program at Antioch University, Santa Barbara. We were having a conversation with a group of women about feminism, and the evolution of feminist movements.  The women who had marched in the 1960s shared stories of putting their bodies on the line, physically joining together to demand change. They were concerned that the 21st century movement wouldn’t have same impact or same physical presence. I remember adamantly reminding them that the conversations about equality, equity, and human rights were thriving online and that revolutions were beginning across the world as a result of the connectivity of social media.
In 2017 and 2018 we are watching online momentum transform into human presence to demand change, and movements across the world are being carried by young people as they lead their communities into a vision of the 21st century that lifts the underrepresented into the spotlight and centers the voices of the marginalized. The New Global Youth Movement was posted by Gordon Brown, UN Special Envoy for Global Education, surveying youth movements around the world and highlighting common themes of access to education, economic equity, and political accountability.