Young people, at least a portion of them, are on the offensive, with mass protests spreading from Paris and Milan to Katmandu New Delhi and Sri Lanka. A generational war has begun, and its consequences, including for North America, could be devastating.
Although conditions differ by country, the spark behind these protests lies in both the real and the fitfully imagined: high housing prices, food inflation, lack of good jobs and failing education systems are not figments of their imaginations. At the same time, cries of poverty seem a bit overwrought for a generation that enjoys the most wealth in history and, in the West at least, their protest seems to stem from being raised to think they were special, only to find out that the world is not such a welcoming place.
