Young Turks Versus Old Guards

‘Jasmine Revolution’, Tahrir Square’ and ‘Arab Spring’ are the terms that have defined the youth unrests in Middle East against the old languishing regimes during the last few months. The role of social media in mobilizing the discontented youths against long languishing regimes is a facilitating factor that seems to perpetual from now onwards. The global flow of information and media reach in shaping and building the global opinion is a lead in democratization process.

The discontent brewed from the local failures to global economic slowdown, demands for democratic reforms and new employment generations have raised new questions about the old guards. The youths largely targeting the old, self styled democracies like Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria have come on streets, faced water cannons, brutal police assaults and bullets. The spirit behind such forceful demonstration shows the determination of youths for the change to a better system of governance and future possibilities of potential employability. In this respect, to achieve the goal of a systemic government, equitable justice and social security will bring the stability in lives of the people.

The peace is a pre-requisite for the development but a forced change (brutal) may prove short run stay than a change wrought through the democratic processes and institutional reforms gradually. Change from the top will not help much in structural democratic reforms. The institutional reforms at micro and meso level of democratic set-up will lead to sustainable democratic evolution of the institutions in electoral democracy. To do away the biases in health, education, employment and development policies from selective groups or regions of the society for equitable justice and empowerment in long drawn contours of social and economic development should be the priority. The gradual changes evolved in a systematic manner will be cohesive than short term superimposed fragmented ones from the top. The horizontal changes will be more effective than vertical ones.

Change is the beauty of democracy and self styled democracies must go for electoral process to claim their legitimacy of power in the current situation. The will of the people is sovereign in a democracy not the choices of the despot rulers. The revolution in Middle East is against the old jinxed system for a better tomorrow. The sudden outburst of anger among youths is much of manifestation of frustration against unemployment, sluggish development and bleak future prospects under long languishing regimes.

The times ahead, countries with young demographics of the world will face the stress of newer job creations, economic expansion, institutional developments as well as global green concerns in the near future. Growing disparity of class intervals between ‘have and have not’s due to sharp skill differences are fuelling the social discontent not the process of globalization. Despite all odds the World seems to be heading towards a more secular, developmental, liberal, democratic and sustainable ideas than before. Definitely not, if winter comes can spring be far behind.