{"id":218312,"date":"2022-08-22T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T11:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=218312"},"modified":"2022-08-22T04:34:04","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T03:34:04","slug":"of-aristotle-orwell-and-the-young-heirs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/08\/of-aristotle-orwell-and-the-young-heirs\/","title":{"rendered":"Of Aristotle, Orwell, and the Young Heirs"},"content":{"rendered":"

18 Aug 2022 – <\/em>A couple of decades ago in Athens, a conversation over a \u2018souvlaki\u2019 and wine dinner with a young Greek economist led to talking about democracy. Asked for his opinion, he said \u201cBy then, when philosophers like Aristotle formulated their theories about democracy, the society was dominated by the rich.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"In<\/p>\n

In spite of their high preparedness and growing consciousness and activism and their indisputable right to decide upon their present and future, today\u2019s youth voice is still far from being heard. Credit: Maged Srour\/IPS<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

When asked \u201cwhat about the people?,\u201d the young Greek economist took a long sip of wine and answered with a visibly sarcastic smile \u201cThe people were their servants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether this young man\u2019s interpretation of democracy was wrong or right, accurate or not, more controversial or less, is something too long to explain and anyway it is up to you to judge.<\/p>\n

The poisoned inheritance<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

Anyway, the pressing question now is if today\u2019s 1.5 billion youth can bear the baleful load that they inherit from the previous generations.<\/p>\n

A swift answer would be \u201cyes.\u201d After all, previous and current generations coped with two European-manufactured Great Wars which soon attracted their decendents\u2013the United States, and other military powers like the \u2013also European\u2013 Soviet Union, among others.<\/p>\n

Not only, these generations had also to confront dictatorial regimes, civil wars, poverty, hunger, destruction, and a long list of hardships.<\/p>\n

Another question would be if the current and future generations will be able to fix up the so many horrifying wrongs made by the previous ones, such as the looming threat of a nuclear war, the voracious depletion of natural resources, the dominance of private corporations, the supplantation of human beings by robots\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026 Let alone the never-ending game of the world\u2019s top guns \u2013the US, the UK, France, Russia and China, precisely those who hold the unexplainable and unjustifiable power to override, through their veto, the decisions made by the world\u2019s over 190 countries. They exercise such a power in their ironically called \u201cSecurity Council.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever the future will be, reality shows that the world\u2019s youth now receive a very heavy inheritance, in a scenario already shaped by two George Orwell\u2019s masterpieces: \u201c1984\u201d and \u201cAnimal Farm.\u201d<\/p>\n

See this dozen facts, selected among so many others, which have been provided on the occasion of this year\u2019s International Youth Day<\/a>, marked 12 August.<\/p>\n

The figures<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n