News Mondays - Clément Guntern
The political news of recent months speaks for itself. The recent climate strikes, combined with the federal elections, have given young people in Switzerland a strong voice. The scale of these mobilizations in Western countries, and particularly in Switzerland where such mobilizations are rare, represents an opportunity for advocates of rapid action to save what can still be saved of our planet.
As a politician, it's impossible to remain indifferent. You can adopt a pioneering stance and present yourself as the natural representative of these demands, you can also take up part of the demands, say that you understand the young people while proposing your own answers, or you can simply play down these actions and carry on as if nothing had happened, while having to justify yourself. Young people have long been walking targets for politicians. The aim is to seduce them, because they always have the greatest potential for improvement in terms of voter turnout.
What we were talking about the fight for the climate has become almost synonymous with youth, even though youth, even if some of the «old hands» have been at it for a longer or shorter time and with mixed success. To understand these movements, and the images that have emerged to do so, the generational analysis is regularly put forward. regularly put forward. This trend, not so recent as it may seem, has only has only become more pronounced in recent years, with scientists and media alike characterize each generation. A label, a trend, common aspirations and aspirations and goals, depending on the context in which they have lived. in which they have lived.
Some researchers have tried to describe these generations: the military generation (1901-1924), focused on community; the silent generation (1925-1942), lacklustre, conformist and responsible for the ills of its time; the baby-boom generation (1943-1964), idealistic and shaped by revolutions; Generation X (1965-1981), reactive, powerless and vulnerable; and Generation Y (1982-2000), aware and inclined towards unity. Does everyone fit into these descriptions? We'd wager not, even with a little self-criticism.
The new generation, fresh out of the mould, is creatively referred to as «Generation Z»: connected, creative and demanding. The analysis is ready-made for the media and political parties: take climate protests on the one hand, and demanding, motivated young people on the other, and you've got a maxim you've got to live by: young people are committed to the climate. It's only one step to say that older people are only involved in a minority, incidental or opportunistic way.
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All these generational analyses of an age group's aspirations can be perplexing, and contribute to pointing out an injustice: why are young people under-represented in the Federal Assembly? Could it be the stupidity and taste for power of the older generation that drives them to monopolize power in Switzerland? This overlooks an essential fact: every generation is diverse and votes for all parties. There is no such thing as a youth party, a working people's party or a pensioners' party. Ideas are infinitely stronger than any of these, even if each party has its own youth sections.
The Swiss vote first and foremost for a party and its ideas, before they vote for people of their own age, profession or gender. There are certainly generational trends linked to cultural, social, economic and political contexts, but to try and boil down the electorate in Switzerland to generational issues is to miss the mark. The only thing that connects all young people in this country is both a lack of willingness to participate in political life, notably by voting, and a lack of information on the subject. It's here that we should see the major characteristic of this generation: the paradox between the mass of general information and the lack of information on politics. Get informed and you'll be heard!
Write to the author: clement.guntern@leregardlibre.com
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