"Defying normal, young people from 10 countries demand to be part of the rebuilding process for a post-COVID world and bring changes to socioeconomic, political and environmental problems.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are increasing concerns among young people about the future as higher education institutions worldwide grapple with deep budget cuts, low student-enrollment and the challenges of distance learning. Yet many of those young people are looking beyond higher education for a better tomorrow, and they are demanding changes now.
More than 90 people, ages 18 to 26, from around the world—the United States, Brazil, India, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Singapore, Tunisia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates—joined a series of virtual conversations hosted by Columbia’s Committee on Global Thought in the final months of the spring semester. During the discussion, the youth shared their uncertainties around their academic futures and engaged one another about how they might change their communities and world for the better. A recurring theme emerged: None of the youth wanted the world to return to pre-coronavirus normal. Seeing COVID-19 as an opportunity to address the socioeconomic, political and environmental issues that underpin the pandemic, they are finding ways to reimagine and enact a new world..."
"Emerson Caetano, an Afro-Brazilian activist in Rio, pointed out, “Lockdown is a privilege. Poor people can’t stay at home.”
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