Every generation has changed so much of the world, but every generation has also created some intractable issues
Monalisa Changkija
A January 25 report by USA TODAY informs that Eva Fipps, a 20-year-old, is America’s youngest serving mayor. She made history in Henderson, Iowa, which has a population of 144. The online college student won her election by 24 percentage points, defeating her 45-year-old opponent, a truck driver, with 31 votes to his 19. The report stated that her victory is part of a national trend for Gen Z: she is among a slew of newly elected or appointed mayors across the United States in their 20s, including Garden City, Kansas’s 22-year-old leader, and Carnegie, Pennsylvania’s 24-year-old mayor. The report further stated that mayoral races, typically nonpartisan in many small or mid-sized municipalities, have shifted in the wake of Americans’ outcry for generational change in politics, adding that likely the most prominent of the bunch, New York City’s Zohran Mamdani, 34, grabbed loads of national attention during his long-shot bid to lead America’s largest city.
In the last couple of years, almost everything about Gen Z has been studied, scrutinized, dissected, analyzed and media-hyped. Gen Z’s different perceptions, perspectives and approaches towards life, as is generally hitherto seen and lived, and their choice to carve a path that differs hugely from the done, appear to be the talking point in global political, economic, academic, social and cultural circles. Perhaps reminiscent of the hippie movement—opposition to specifically the Vietnam War and war in general, and the gospel of flower power, love and peace of the 1960s and early 1970s?
Boomers and Gen Z are incomparable, but the similarity lies in a deep generational desire for change, with changed perspectives on life and how it should be lived. But isn’t young people rejecting their parents’ philosophies and lifestyles a part of growing up? Doesn’t rebelling against the larger status quo come with youth’s turf? Isn’t effecting change a part of youth’s DNA? In fact, isn’t youth expected to effect change and create a better world?
Then there is the issue of homogenizing Gen Z—or any generation—because all things are never equal and the harsh business of life gets in the way of aspirations, dreams and hopes. Every generation has changed so much of the world, but every generation has also created some intractable issues. Only time will tell the positive change Gen Z will effect and the intractable ones they will create. And these changes will ripple across global politics, economics, academia and culture—perhaps even technology. We have seen Gen Z–led political movements in Nepal and Bangladesh, etc., but the long-term consequences are yet to fully emerge. Yes, Gen Z is reported to be more aware of the environment, health and crucial existential issues that were sacrificed at the altar of superpower politics and economics. Will political and economic power take Gen Z’s challenges lying down? We stand at the crossroads of global change that could either alter the global political–corporate–military-industrial nexus or perpetuate it further. However, to expect Gen Z alone to shoulder the responsibility of “changing the world” is unfair.
There are also millions of marginalized and downtrodden Gen Zs across continents whose lives will not allow them to delight in the aroma of morning coffee, leisurely read a book and smell the rose.
Against the existential challenges they confront every day, how many of them can even think of a work–life balance? So, it appears that the Gen Z making headlines belong to specific economic categories in capital-rich countries, apparently gullible and vulnerable to political, economic, social, cultural and religious ideologies, with visible impact in the political arena.
Youth is an ephemeral phase of life and too short to fully understand and appreciate the wisdom of the old, creating much scope for manipulation and indoctrination. Rules and norms are oppressive and, however much they need to be defied, are youngsters capable of replacing them without adverse consequences? Yes, this is possible and a work in progress; therefore, the world has ridden numerous oppressive traditions. This is Gen Z’s challenge in every sphere of human life, but they need unbiased and objective education, guidance and mentoring. Who Gen Z decides to learn from is therefore crucial.
Youngsters in their 20s leading their communities, however small, to reshape the political scenario in small or mid-sized US municipalities is encouraging because US trends are immediately emulated globally. In India too, we have seen youngsters, especially young women, shouldering similar responsibilities in our panchayats. The world desperately needs fresh blood, fresh thoughts, fresh perspectives and fresh strategies to overcome the woes besetting us, as the current leadership seems to be clueless about finding solutions—or they simply don’t care because the status quo works for them. However, youngsters’ enthusiasm must be matched with well-planned and non-cosmetic strategies to counter ground realities. It has been done before and can be done again.
Talking of youngsters in their 20s leading small municipalities or panchayats naturally brings to mind the Northeast. True, our societal systems disadvantage our youth. Generally, our Northeastern tribal societies continue to adhere to tribal traditions, consigning youth to a lower hierarchical rung. Moreover, our 20-somethings—and even 30- and 40-somethings—are still treated as children, overly protected and indulged, nipping their leadership qualities, initiative and enthusiasm for societal concerns in the bud. But surely our Gen Zs are no less than their counterparts elsewhere? Leadership qualities aren’t necessarily inherited—they have to be recognized and nurtured at an early age. If there is no age limit, especially for public leadership, certainly starting young shouldn’t be an impediment. What say you, Gen Z?
(The Columnist is a Dimapur-based veteran journalist, poet and former Editor of Nagaland Page. Published in the February 1, 2026 issue of North East Now)
