In facing off against repression and standing firm against growing autocracy in one place or another, there’s a weird and powerful de facto alliance taking shape that’s worth learning more about: Boomers and Gen Z are at the frontlines.
With the caveat that any survey that is more self-selected than random, The Economist reported a scholarly effort by several researchers at the American University on protestors. They polled 7500 “people who signed up for the ‘Free America Walkout,’ a national protest that took place on January 20th.” Here’s what they found:
“…84 percent of respondents were female, three-quarters were college-educated, and that the media age was 71. Some 99 percent of these aging boomers, said they were supporting nonviolent civil disobedience, and 65 percent of them said they would be willing to take part themselves.”
This conservative journal notes that Republicans have absolutely noticed this phenomenon. They have a name for it: AWFULS, for affluent white female urban liberals.
These children of the 60s and veterans of civil rights, anti-war protests, women’s marches, and the beginnings of the environmental movement aren’t through yet and seem more than willing to make another stand, perhaps not the last. They have the time and many of them are still fueled by raging fire at injustice. A quick tour of my own Facebook feeds this cohort with picket signs, on street corners, delivering food to immigrants, and more. I’m not as familiar with these AWFULs, but the grey heads seem to have the time and energy to still kick it up and stand and
They aren’t alone. Gen Z takes some beating in the press and within the business community, but when you look at the faces in the crowd, as you would expect, there are a lot of young faces. Gen Z has a better record on the frontlines around the world than it has in North America. They brought down governments in Kenya, Nepal, Madagascar, and Bangladesh. They rallied against corruption in Nigeria. Police killing brought them out in Indonesia. It takes a lot of kindling before they flame, but when the spark is right, they have become a powerful force in some countries.
I’m not clear what their influences might be. They are different than the movements of the 60s and 70s for sure. I was sent a picture from the frontlines in Minneapolis, which has shown up around the world where a young man is was raising the Straw Hat flag representing the fictional Jolly Roger of the Straw Hat Pirates from the anime “One Piece,” featuring a skull wearing Monkey D. Luffy’s signature straw hat. All of this for Gen Z represents freedom, camaraderie, and resistance against oppressive, corrupt, or authoritarian systems. Sound familiar? I guess so, it’s a statement of our times.
Maybe I’m the one grasping at straws? Nonetheless, put these two generations together and they have proven in many places that they can rock governments to their core and force change. We may not have that all together, but we need this alliance now, and it might just be coming together as the Minneapolis model, forged from experiences in Los Angeles and Chicago, takes hold in our cities.
