SUVA, Fiji, Dec 20 2017 (IPS) – “Today’s youth should think of new solutions for old problems like climate change and social injustice.”
That’s the strong message of the South African activist Kumi Naidoo. The former executive director of Greenpeace says young people need to be more innovative and visionary, “because the solutions of my generation have failed.”
After battling apartheid in South Africa, Kumi Naidoo led numerous global campaigns to protect
human rights.
Among other organizations, he headed CIVICUS, an alliance for citizen participation. It was at the International Civil Society Week (ICSW), organized by CIVICUS in Fiji in December, that Naidoo spoke out on youth and innovation.
“My advise for young people is: don’t put any faith in the current leaders. They are the biggest bunch of losers you are going to find. Because they are unwilling to accept that they have got us into this mess,” says Naidoo.
“Basically, we are using old solutions that have never worked in the past anyway,” Naidoo contin-ues.
Albert Einstein said: ‘the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting to get different results.’ If humanity continues to do what we always did, we will get what always got: inequality, unsustainability and environmental destruction.”
How can young people steer the planet away from insanity?
“The most valuable role that they can play, is bringing fresh lenses to old problems. And not to be scared to be called romantic, unrealistic or idealistic. The so called realistic solutions to today’s
problems are ineffective.”
Transition Studies 