Do young people coming up right now have a future? And do we care enough to fight for it? That’s the big question behind this issue of Dynamic. A new poll shows that nearly two thirds of those under 30 believe they will never see a Social Security check: that the system that is supposed to provide for us in old age will be defunct by the time we retire. Well, that may be true – if Republicans have their way.
Privatization – when government-run services, lands, or funds are transferred into corporate hands – is always primarily about profits. In this case, the ‘private accounts’ that Republicans are advocating to take the place of Social Security will generate massive fees for Wall Street financial firms.
But the person holding the private account, who under Social Security would have been assured a steady monthly retirement payment, will be forced or fooled into throwing their future down a big, hungry hole: the stock market. Those peddling privatization are assuming we’ve forgotten the late 90s, when so many ordinary people who had money in the stock market lost all their savings.
There are often profits to be had in dividing people – in this case, the younger generation from older workers. The right wing is banking on the hope that young people who’ve been misled into believing Social Security won’t be around in 40 years, or who just aren’t looking that far into the future, will support the privatization plan. Don’t buy the bull!
Some of us under 30 don’t care about Social Security because we’re not used to thinking of ourselves as having a future at all. No need to worry about retirement or disability insurance (just two of the benefits provided by the current Social Security system), because the prospects of getting a good education and a job are so distant. But a job and a future are not too much to ask! In this issue, C. Webb looks at the realities and the foundations of youth unemployment, addressing the myth that the free market can promise a future.
Under capitalism, we hardly ever see positive images of poor and working-class youth, especially young people of color. Sometimes it seems like we’re supposed to choose between only two possible futures: a criminal (bad) or a soldier (good).
In the Summer 2004 issue, Dynamic explored the possibilities of an upcoming military draft. As expected, the bill proposing compulsory national service was defeated. But that was never really the danger. The conditions exposed remain the same: the poverty draft continues to prey on youth, the military still recruits using deception, and the Pentagon is stepping up the ‘de facto draft’ with stop-loss orders and longer tours of duty. The ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to claim the lives of young people who never thought they’d see combat.
With Bush in office for a second term, we can expect these kinds of attacks to escalate and become more blatant – possibly to the point of reactivating the Selective Service System draft lottery that was used in the Vietnam War era. The possibility of the Bush administration imposing a draft would skyrocket in the case of another terrorist attack on the US or a significantly higher rate of US casualties in Iraq.
Resistance also continues: to the war in Iraq, to the military’s abysmal treatment of its own service-members, and to the very principle of war for empire. Veterans and military families are now on the front lines of the struggle to end the occupation. The renewed interest in challenging military recruiters’ infiltration into our high schools, campuses, public parks, and block parties shows that young people are willing to fight to reclaim our future. Check out the ‘Reports from Iraq’ section in this issue for a firsthand perspective on the war and occupation in Iraq.
In the face of the attempts to steal our future, young people from all over the world are uniting to create the 16th World Festival of Youth and Students, coming up this summer in Caracas, Venezuela. Check out our special section on the Festival, and check out to www.yclusa.org for the most current updates!
For peace and solidarity,
The Dynamic Collective
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Dynamic Magazine
