The street bankers

The world's youth show precious little homogeneity as a social group, and they're not a financial sector poised on the edge of bankruptcy. Too bad for them. Otherwise emergency parachutes would have been handed out long ago and national and international consortiums would have pumped billions into training them, creating jobs and affordable housing for them and securing a future for all – just the future envisaged in the so-called ‘generational contract’ between those of working and retirement ages.

But an inability or unwillingness among politicians to create consensus in these key areas is eroding away the foundations of affluent societies, whose citizens are increasingly turning into mere onlookers in a cheerful, increasingly elitist capitalism. Capitalism is only tolerable so long as it offers the possibility to share in it. But now this fickle plaything of the free markets, it’s losing its appeal: it's a discontinued model with nothing else next to it on the shelf. For young people taking a place in society for the first time, this breeds uncertainty, scepticism, and fear of the future. And those who takes away from the young their prospects and opportunities for the future will eventually find them at the door in their thousands, demanding them back.

Countries such as Greece, Spain, Chile, Israel and Great Britain are currently going through such experiences with varying degrees of passion. As different from country to country as the motives behind the sometimes violent protests may be, they still all come down to basic demands: open access to education, the desire for work and for a place to live.

But standing in the way of those needs, which are really fundamental rights, are obstacles that the young of today either cannot overcome, or do not wish to. In some cities of Britain and Israel, having a good education and a job no longer means you can afford an apartment, let alone a school for your children.

Governments are showering billions into the markets with one hand to keep our resident devil, the Dow Jones, happy. With the other, they’re slashing social benefits. That policies of this sort are received as pure cynicism in countries like Spain, Greece and Britain, where youth employment is around 44, 38 and 20 percent respectively, is a puzzle for the minuscule elite, who discuss the difference between frustrated protesters and criminals over tea while worrying only about the state of the money markets.

But value wiped off in the stock markets is nothing compared to decaying social cohesion. If, despite a hard-won education, one sees precious few opportunities for oneself and one’s dreams, eventually Facebook ceases to be an adequate safety valve. Then – as in England – a truly tragic but ultimately mundane reason is enough to unleash all people's pent-up frustrations under cover of the mob. Then people may have just cause to turn into rioters and looters. On a small scale, such chaos merely reflects the example handed down from above: grab what you can and make off with it. In spirit, these are the bankers of the street.

This downward slide can only be stopped by politicians. Not with extra police and empty phrases, but with action. And quickly. But who knows whether the generation demonstrating in the streets will see that day come.

Young people

Europe swept by winds of revolt

"Have Europe’s young people given up on the future?" wonders Jyllands-Posten. The Danish daily points out that the riots in London have followed hot on the heels of demonstrations involving students from Britain’s most prestigious universities, including Cambridge. And the UK is not alone: young people have also taken to the streets in Rome, Madrid and Athens.

According to a number of experts consulted by the newspaper, it is only a matter of time before the riots in Britain spread to other countries in Europe. “Many other European countries have the same underlying problem, with young people in working class neighbourhoods facing social exclusion,” explains University of Stirling professor, David Bell.

The financial crisis has played a significant role in upsetting young people’s lives, points out Jyllands-Posten. A generation that has grown up during a period of prosperity is now faced with the prospect of austerity. And the newspaper notes that the downturn will have a major impact: young people tend to benefit more from growth in the economy, but their age group is also hardest hit by economic decline.